The Demise of Unions

It is amusing to watch U.S. companies grovel before the Chinese Emperor. Gap, Marriott, and all of these huge multinationals obey Chinese censorship, even when selling products in the U.S. Interesting. All it takes is power.

Who cares what Americans think?

The working man used to have power, when he gathered together to form unions, but the smart folks brainwashed the masses, to make them think unions are bad. In the end, working people lost a great deal--benefits, job security, and salary. And that's not ever going to come back, because without unions, workers can be treated just any which way. If the American worker gets too uppity, then companies need merely to shift production to China. Who really cares what Americans think? What's important is what the Chinese Emperor thinks.

Now China owns both our politicians and the heads of companies and can get them to do whatever it wants them to do. Everyone is scared to death of incurring the wrath of China. The writing is on the world--U.S., has-been, washed-up relic of something that used to be. China, ascendant master of the Universe, with just a matter of time before it seizes Taiwan and other territorial ambitions. Is democracy doomed? Probably. If the best that the U.S. can do is put up a dolt like Trump, then the best is behind us. The U.S. got tired of smart (Obama), so settled for its opposite. Twenty-plus trillion in debt, with no end in sight to the national debt, and quite likely to default on Social Security and Medicare obligations, the U.S. has betrayed the working people. Who cares? Working people have no power.

So Trump Axed the Iran Deal

So what? A big ho-hum from the American public, reason being that Iran has been a bad actor all around the world, showing its behind all the time to neighboring countries and expressing its desire to destroy the United States and everyone living here. I think Trump is probably right that the time has come to nix the deal. The deal was worth a try. In theory, Iran could have accepted the olive branch and changed its ways, modernizing its economy and its system of government. Certainly, Iran would have been welcomed back into the community of nations, after establishing trust. Instead, Iran has chosen poverty, ignorance and backwardness. And that is what they will get. Time to stop hearing about Iran, it is just another horrible, backward country that no one would ever want to visit, where oppression, censorship, torture and misery are the norm.

As for nukes, if Iran goes nuclear, so do the other countries in the Middle East. It was only a matter of time anyway. The dam was sure to break. If North Korea has nukes, then Iran was sure to get them, one way or another, quite possibly from a North Korean submarine, sold in exchange for oil, food, and gold. Of course, the Iranians would pay just about any price for the weapon they so desire, billions, even. It is rather precious to suppose that a treaty and inspections can prevent a massive, well-funded intelligence apparatus from obtaining nuclear missile technology. I have no doubt Iran will eventually get nukes. Then catastrophe is simply a matter of time. The Iranians can always rationalize that Allah will reward the faithful after pressing the button. That's how the Islamic terrorists think, before they blow themselves up.

In truth, the most likely scenario is global nuclear war at some point in time. Everybody seems to want to jump on the nuke wagon. All these stupid boys have to play with dangerous toys. For the same reason, real boys play with firecrackers. Just the desire to make things go boom. Stupid, mindless leaders in North Korea, Iran. What bigger boom than a nuke?

The key is to prepare for the Apocalypse, to salt away knowledge and learning, that it not be forgotten, and, if desired, to try to survive what comes next--probably, nuclear winter, a mini-Ice Age, as Carl Sagan predicted. At any rate, most of the Earth's surface will probably become radioactive or otherwise uninhabitable for a time. It may even be that H. Sapiens will die out, and there will be no intelligent life left to blog about the state of the world. In which case, you know, too bad. I rather think a degenerative mutant species will dominate composed of individuals somewhat resistant to radiation.

As for me, I had my time in the Sun, and it was fun, for the most part. My hope is that I live out the remainder of my days before the end, but if I do see the end, I imagine there will be a certain satisfaction in knowing I'm among the last to know the civilized, modern world as it once was in all its glory. Luckiest of all will be the really old folks. They will have savored a complete measure of life before the catastrophe.

Republicans Have No Class

Honestly, some Republicans are acting like trash. McCain is dying, and they criticize his guest selection for his own funeral? Zero compassion. That explains Republican ideology 100%.

Platinum Can't Keep Its Trousers Up

As the internal combustion engine gradually gets phased out from worldwide usage in motor vehicles, platinum's trousers keep falling. I anticipate $600/oz., or about where we were in 2000. From there, it could decline further. After all, from an aesthetic point of view, it has nothing over silver.

College is Worthless

The four-year university track is another symptom of chronic stupidity. Perhaps some deserve crushing debt, being jobless and not having anything, while being highly educated at the same time. One can purchase book-learning, but one cannot purchase true merit, courage and work ethic.

NPR recently published a report on the shortage of trade workers in the United States. The truth is, people are lazy, and would rather go into debt drinking alcohol and popping pills for four years than actually get out there and work. Mom and Dad will buy the story, right? A four-year degree. Oh yeah, going to climb up that corporate ladder and be a big shot executive type, right? Yeah, sure. Just like all the other millions.

The best plan is to learn what is termed a "blue-collar" trade and go immediately to work, not after high school, but during--at the earliest age humanly possible. If, later, one is compelled by the desire for higher education for its own sake, then sure, that option will be readily available to one who has already paid for a house, set up a comfortable retirement and accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. Blue collar workers are making $30 - $60 an hour, which dwarfs the salary of most college professors!

Education means nothing in today's world. It used to mean something, but people need to get their head out of the 1900s and get with the times. This is 2018. It is all about finding a niche in the global economic jigsaw puzzle. The fact is, skilled trades are what are needed. Not more entitled folk clutching worthless degrees. Get in line at the McDonald's and see whether you can impress the shift manager with your mad skills. "Would you like Fries with that?"

Young people should spend their teenage years working in fast-food jobs, like McDonald's. It would do them a world of good. In high school, if the pool of teachers is no better than what it was in my day, then bad habits are being learned, like vaping and nonsense with their phones and pointless, mindless obsessing over social media. Four hours an evening, working the grill at McDonald's, would demonstrate the value of money in a meaningful manner, conveyed to tired muscles.

My first job was at the age of 15, and I worked at a fast-food restaurant, grocery store and also did odd jobs around the neighborhood. I learned the value of money and to treat it with the utmost respect. If a dollar costs tired arms, legs and aching back, well then, that dollar is not something to be tossed around lightly, is it?

The problem with our university system is that it has not changed since the 1800s, and really, people need to get work much, much faster. College teaches charming little nuggets of knowledge, the bulk of which goes unused or gets forgotten. It is basically something people buy as a ticket into the middle class, except it doesn't work that well anymore as a ticket into the middle class, because everybody and their brother already has a degree, and degrees are handed out to pretty much anyone with a pulse, anyway. Grade inflation is more than a thing, it's a fact of life, and professors are scared to death to flunk a student, because the professors are making peanuts with peanutty benefits anyway. Most professors get no benefits and earn less than $40k a year; they are called "adjuncts." By the time a person is 22, a lot of good years are already behind them, years when youngsters were quick and agile with technology. So, what college does in effect is actually reduce the effectiveness of workers, by ensuring they are older before they start work, while conveying zero benefit.

Tyson

I suppose this can be classified under the "celebrities" category, although most people reading this particular post will have no idea who I am talking about or will think of the boxer. Well, to me, he is a celebrity, how about that? If one publishes a popular book that can be found in every major bookstore, then that meets a basic criterion.

In my studies, I have been reading books by my favorite writer of the moment, Donald Tyson, taking in not just what is written in black and white, but also some of what was concealed, not too artfully. To work on the public stage one must give of oneself, so he is blameless. Perhaps there is no choice, no "artful" alternative, when seeking to produce good art. His main objective was philosophical and scholarly, rather than material. He chose a subject which cannot be popular, not today and not even within his lifetime. Such a choice speaks of honesty, and I think that he is very honest and does not lie with self-awareness, although that does not mean he is always right. I have found an instance where he did lie, about a trivial matter, for a good and valid reason, but his ruse was transparent, speaking to his unfamiliarity with the practice. Indeed, the lie cast him in a positive light, because it showed that lying is foreign to his nature.

Little bits of the puzzle come together in my mind, things he alludes to, just touches upon in passing, achieving meaning. I wonder whether it is a kind of magic or mere deduction. Some might prefer the former, I prefer the latter explanation. One thing about Tyson, and he is by no means alone in this, he's a superstitious gentleman. I do not read him in isolation, but by my side are the many works of Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan, Robert Heinlein, these mighty scientific and literary giants, reproving me for my credulity and harshly criticizing the book in my hands.

Although my criticism could be equally applied to others in the genre, he is my favorite, the most coherent, intelligent, and, ironically enough, respectable, so I single him out, not of negativity but as a kind of compliment, because it is a compliment to receive any attention at all, positive or negative, in our crowded, busy world, where so many people do not even bother with books anymore. I think he granted too much to the spirits, in importance and relevance. One should hold one's own territory with fierce possessiveness. Credulity should be opened just a bit. Too much, and there is the risk of gullibility, of self-deception, or deception by others. Occam's razor and all that. So much of what feeble Man believes is bunkum, wishful thinking, vanity, narcissism, and much of what is written in the occult literature smacks of the grossest OCD and superstitious folly. There is little reason or rationale to offer the time of day. What mind of ancient time could contend with the mighty giants of today? Dee pales before the greatest of our scientists, the noble class that Tyson has no time for. There is a danger as well. By believing, by allowing spirits to consume one's thoughts, a certain power is granted to these entities, whether they be within, as Tyson maintains, or without. Ask first, should I grant belief? What is the objective? What is the cost? There is always a cost.

The King of Cups in his kingdom by the sea built a bridge over the waters of material poverty to the Kingdom of Pentacles, pursuing in his titles the latest fad, be it the Norse fetish or the Necronomicon. Now it is interesting that all his hard-earned knowledge is offered for peanuts. With little expense, one half his age acquires much of what he knows. Is this charity? No, it is the depressing reality of the book market, nothing more than that. Scholarly effort toward the mastery of magic proved to have been of little value in this material world. He does what he can, pursues the avenue that is open to his indisputable skill in words. Writing was not the only avenue to prosperity. His esoteric art assisted in certain acquisitions from time to time. I have two opinions. One, he offers his knowledge to strengthen the practice of magic, because he fears it has decayed in the modern world, and he seeks to reform certain popular errors, nailing his letter to the door like a kind of Martin Luther of the Occult. Two, he wants to be recognized for his attainment. The ego is strong in him, an overriding force in fact, as it must be for any writer in any time. To be recognized, admired, he finds empowering. Everyone wants to be loved, the King of Cups most of all, and in order to be loved, he must be just a bit more agile and industrious than the others that strive, so he advances in his studies, gathers more knowledge, acquires more experience, and seeks with his skill to put it to better use than they.

Like Crowley, he appears obsessed with the dark side. Lilith and the Necronomicon speak for themselves. Lightness and joy, he is not about, but I suppose that is rather inevitable, given our culture and the heavy influence of Christianity with its diametric view of the world. Lilith appears the most disturbing of his books. I do not know why he chose that subject, but perhaps it is due to his focus on the Qaballah, or however one wants to spell it. Why not focus on an angel instead? And why does he accept so much of the Bible literally? In many ways, he is no different than a fundamentalist Christian.

I wonder what his views are about gays. He is always harping on about sexual union between man and woman, and how powerful that is, and never once mentions any other possibilities save spirits, and pretty much quotes ancient homophobes without comment. The ancients speak for him, which is why he quotes them. There is a passage in Ritual Magic where he denigrates shamans as freaks, listing qualities such as epilepsy, homosexuality or mental instability. He would have got on well with the alt-right and may indeed be in bed with them with his Norse runes. Gays he consistently refers to as "homosexuals," citing the classic pretext that the precious word "gay" has been led astray over the course of history. Well, he does know his dictionary, doesn't he? Of course, old and obsolete meanings of words are more important than people's feelings, at least to a misanthrope. At length, Tyson's old time religion and antiquated notions seem threadbare. But that is just as well. No author must be placed upon a pedestal. All reveal their essential humanity before the intense light of scrutiny. Tyson gets sloppy with anything outside his zone of interest.

In "The New Magus," we get the unfiltered Tyson, spouting all his political beliefs, which seem confined to a narrow range of social issues. He seems a fairly typical conservative Catholic and all his opinions can be predicted based on the teachings of the Church, although he would prefer the Church of five hundred years ago to the one of today. That is, he is more conservative than today's conservatives. Also, I doubt he would accept the authority of Pope or priest, because he wants to be the same, and negotiate with the Deity on his own terms without any intermediary, hence his interest in magic. His conservative beliefs are convenient. He looks down on and disapproves of a host of people and practices in today's society (they fill him with "revulsion," he says), which serves to justify his innate misanthropy and dislike of other people. Perhaps if he had been nice to other people, a friend might have taken the time to proofread some of his books, which have a fair sprinkling of grammatical errors. Maybe the "homosexuals" in the publishing business did not take as much time working on Tyson's output, and who can blame them? Tyson likes the Kaballah, but hates the Jew. Basically anything that is an idea, he likes, but the people in the world, he has no use for, regards as sinners, inferior to him and possibly dangerous.

He rejects global warming because, you know, those silly scientists! What do they know, eh? The spirits say everything's O.K., and that's what's important. It is amusing to observe the verbal gymnastics Tyson engages in to explain various occult phenomena throughout the ages, hardly ever conceding an instance to pure human gullibility, delusion and mass hysteria. No, these factors are explained by spirits. I suppose everything, in the end, is explained by spirits. If global warming exists, it is due to spirits. If gays exist, it is because they are possessed or influenced by spirits. That's what causes a gay, apparently. Spirits said so.

Tyson may have been unduly influenced by the ancient and medieval texts he consumed. Spending so many nights in the company of enforcers of the Inquisition, wizards, charlatans, artificers, seers and alchemists from olden days, naturally they exert from beyond the grave an intellectual and emotional influence upon his thoughts, ideas and expressions, reinforcing certain habits and discouraging others. Some of the ones he fills his mind with have the capability to quite overwhelm whatever defenses he can muster.

Perhaps many folk do enter the odd, strange world of serious esoteric studies due to a sort of aversion to the modern, mainstream pathways and to modern people in general. From what I have observed of this author, I think he is not shy, but averse to social interaction unless it has a stated goal in harmony with his immediate needs. He is results-oriented, goal-driven, and would not go to a party just to be with people, because people fail to impress him, about ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Why else scorn the world of man in favor of the world of spirits? I cannot imagine a Tyson that likes people, with rare exceptions, but it is easy to imagine a Tyson with an eye for pelf. As I said before, bits of the puzzle come together. Aye, he would walk into a store, and if it were a big chain store, impersonal and corporate, he would not feel any compunction against helping himself to whatever items he happened to need, and it is within his power, or so he says, to escape detection--such a useful capability.

So one reads Tyson with a grain of salt, because he offers the other side, the Yin to one's Yang, and offers useful observations. I like the way he expresses himself, even if I don't always agree, and his books are worth keeping for their many ideas borne of practical experience. As with any source, one absorbs and improves upon, if one is wise. He encourages the same, and I think his books have the potential to be useful to many different practices. Everyone has their bias, and opinions are the mark of high intelligence. To be without any opinions would be boring, and there is no doubt Tyson wants to sell books and get some Pentacles moving his way. Time to monetize all those years sacrificed to esoteric studies. Magic is useless to get money in any but the most indirect ways. As RuPaul put it, you got to werk.