Whatever happened to encyclopedia salesmen?

Notice at the Uniting Church op-shop in Ulladulla

 

They obviously made a bad career choice when even op-shops no longer accept encyclopedias. We do live, after all, in an age when we have GOOGLE - or at least wives who know everything.

I've always liked Christopher Hitchens' writing and the world is poorer for his untimely death in 2011 at the age of only 62. I also share his conviction “... that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and dumping ground by a superior civilization, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit”.

As for religion, I hold with Heinrich Heine who wrote in his 'Gedanken und Einfälle', "In dark ages people are best guided by religion, as in a pitch-black night a blind man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. When daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind old men as guides". (In dunklen Zeiten wurden die Völker am besten durch die Religion geleitet, wie in stockfinstrer Nacht ein Blinder unser bester Wegweiser ist; er kennt Wege und Stege besser als ein Sehender. Es ist aber töricht, sobald es Tag ist, noch immer die alten Blinden als Wegweiser zu gebrauchen.)

I was very pleased to find another one of Christopher Hitchens' books, God is NOT Great - How religion poisons everything, ironically at the Uniting Church's op-shop. To give you a taste of what awaits you, here's an excerpt.

“Nothing proves the man-made character of religion as obviously as the sick mind that designed hell.”

And here's something to really cheer you up:

Feeling good now? ☺

 

The king rat is leaving the sinking ship

 

So Sepp Blatter. the 79-year-old Swiss FIFA president for 17 years who had only been 're-elected' on Friday, has resigned. It's certainly a stunning capitulation to critics as a mounting corruption scandal engulfs world football's governing body.

However, as The Onion reports, "FIFA officials assured the public Friday that the ongoing U.S. Department of Justice investigation will in no way affect the 2022 Qatar slush fund. 'While our organization takes these allegations very seriously, we can guarantee with total confidence that the charges will not hinder or restrict the 2022 slush fund in Qatar', said FIFA president Sepp Blatter, adding that the unreported personal expenditures and under-the-table government kickbacks will take place at multiple venues throughout the Middle Eastern country as scheduled. 'Regardless of this ongoing probe, our officials are committed to accepting bribes in exchange for FIFA media and marketing rights, redirecting construction funds to personal expense accounts, and offering lavish gifts to Qatari political ministers in order to sidestep government regulations exactly as originally planned. These accusations of wrongdoing will not be a distraction as we prepare for what we all hope will be the greatest FIFA slush fund yet.' Blatter added that the indictments will also have no effect on the 2018 slush fund in Russia, noting that the country’s framework for corruption is already firmly in place"

Qatar, whose only national sport is flaunting their wealth, is currently spending some US$200 billion - that's 'illion' with a 'b' in front! - on infrastructure to stage the 2022 World Cup. Far be it from me to suggest that they may have spent a few millions of those many billions on bribes to get the games. However, if they were found to have done so, they'd be hard pressed to find another use for all those stadiums (or stadia, take your pick) although public stonings and beheadings spring to mind.

As for understanding Blatter's machinations, you have to read one of my favourite little books, Machiavelli's The Prince (strange! his successor is a Prince ☺). Here are a few Machiavellian quotes (which sound even better in Schwyzerdütsch):

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”

“…he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.”

“The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.”

“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”

“It is safer to be feared than loved”

“For, in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying”

“Men are so simple, and governed so absolutely by their present needs, that he who wishes to deceive will never fail in finding willing dupes.”

“Verträge bricht man um des Nutzens willen.”

 

Islamic State and global terrorism: where to now?

"David Kilcullen" by Australian Civil-Military Centre
Flickr. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DavidKilcullen.jpg#/media/File:DavidKilcullen.jpg

 

Last night I listened to ABC Radio National's 'Big Ideas' program and was absolutely blown away by what David Kilcullen had to say about the rise of terrorism, ISIS, and the things we did (and still do) wrong in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

David Kilcullen is a former Australian army colonel, with a PhD in insurgency movements. He has been a counterterrorist adviser to the US and worked closely with Iraq War supremo, General David Petraeus, and US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Kilcullen is critical of many aspects of the West’s strategy, post 9/11, which, he argues, led to the rise of Islamic State. He warns the global terrorist threat is now the new normal and poses the question, "So how do we defeat ISIS?"

He gives some of the answers in his essay Blood Year: Terror and the Islamic State which is a must-read for anyone interested in this the greatest challenge of our times (well, apart from legalising same-sex marriage and whether public servants should be allowed to wear ugg boots and onesies to work ☺)

I'm not into ebooks and ordered the hardcover from Penguin - see here.

David Kilcullen discussing another one of his books
"Out of the Mountains: The Coming Age of the Urban Guerrilla"

 

They Live (but only just)

 

They Live is a 1988 American science fiction film in which John Nada, a drifter, discovers that the ruling class are humanoid aliens with skull-like faces who manipulate people to spend money, breed and accept the status quo with subliminal messages. With a special pair of glasses he sees the dictatorship in democracy, the invisible order which sustains our apparent freedom.

Obey. Submit. Consume. Watch TV. Do not question authority. Money is your god. No independent thought. No imagination. They live. We sleep. Lucky for us all, John Nada is a man of action and so begins the fight (including perhaps the longest fistfight in cinema’s history) to save humankind.

Of course, we now know that there are no humanoid aliens and that this is not science fiction. This is a documentary of the world we live in. And the year 2025 is only ten years away - click here.

 

"Am fed up with everything here. Next Friday I go to Zakynthos."

 

So wrote an ex-staff member from my previous office in Piraeus. And she continued, "Still have a lot of things to do before I can go. It's too much for me, especially the packing."

To which I replied, "Whoopey! You're off to your favourite island again which means I can look forward to receiving another pretty postcard ☺ As for packing, DON'T! The best part of travelling is the liberating feeling of leaving behind everything that weighs you down. Don't even take your toothbrush; I am sure you can buy one on the island!"

Sound advice which I followed for twenty years: from 1965 to 1985 all my worldly possession fitted comfortably into one medium-sized suitcase. Then, after my return to Australia, I started to accumulate: stuff, stuff, and more stuff! How I wished I could leave it all behind and go to my own Zakynthos! I wouldn't even bother to take my toothbrush!