My friend Bill Sumrall left a comment on yesterday’s post quoting George Orwell’s “1984.” That got me to thinking about the symbolism in this small but powerful book.
“Room 101” in the book represents that which every man fears most. I believe the “101” might represent the trepidation of college freshmen in the rudimentary courses ending with that number. It gave me pause then when I discovered in college that my psychology101 course was to meet in room 101.
All this brings to mind a quote I read somewhere along the way, “Man fears most that which he does not understand.”
I’m not about to write on this blog about the economic crisis faced by the countries of this world. I do a good job of managing my personal financial affairs, but when the talk turns to “millions,” “billions” and even “trillions,” it’s way over my head.
What follows are two seemingly unrelated statements:
Red flags go up when I receive articles via email from Web sites – right or left – which have an ideological agenda to push.
I am knee-deep in research on "la moria grande" – The Black Death, the plague which swept Europe in the 14th Century, and The Great Plague of London in the 17th Century – and the subsequent breakdown of societal structure and mores. An economic disaster of global proportions could have the same effects.
I am trying to read about all this economic handwringing and grasp as much understanding as I can. CNN.com (LINK), a source I trust, tells me:
“This week's London Summit brings together the leaders of the world's 20 largest economic powers, known as the Group of 20, to discuss the global financial crisis and decide new measures to set the world on a more stable economic footing.”
To me, that’s a start.
Then, I received an emailed article from one of those “red-flag” sites, prisonplanet.com (LINK), with the headline: “UN & IMF Back Agenda For Global Financial Dictatorship: Frog march to new world reserve currency system continues apace.”
Basically, the Group of 20, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, according to this article, are bogeymen who want to establish a single world currency and a “new world financial order.”
So what’s going on in London is – what? – an attempt to take over the world and establish one world government?
The article goes on to say that Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner – and by extension President Barack Obama – are complicit in this heady conspiracy.
At the bottom of the article are links to 12 related articles on the same Web site with headlines such as “Obama Denounces Global Currency While Creating The Very Means For Its Introduction” and “Two-Faced Geithner Assures CFR (BJ: Council on Foreign Relations) Puppet Masters He’s ‘Open’ To Global Currency.”
Man!
A lot of people smarter than me and possibly smarter than you are working on this global financial problem.
What I fear most, and what I don’t understand, is the inability of persons to attempt research and to separate the wheat from the chaff – the truth from propaganda and poppycock.
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10 comments:
Afterthought, after just tuning in to CBS’ report on what’s going on in London: is this a modern-day Tower of Babel and is the societal breakdown nearer than I thought? BJ
Tiny thought the Twin Towers coming down was the Tower of Babel because humankind was trying to make a name for itself. (Based on Biblical scripture).
The millions, billions and trillions is too deep-or to high- for this mind to grasp too. If Tiny ever has that much in her possession to count, she might learn a bit more about it.
Not understanding the economic numbers does not illicit fear for Timy. She leaves it to those who gets paid to deal with them.
The "red flag" bunch are going to breed all the fear they can. That's all they understand and it's their means of trying to control the masses of the people.
Tiny thinks the 10th plague mentioned in the Bible is what is being experienced today because it hits people in the pocket book. It's only when people get hit in the pocket book that the economic conditions get their attention.
That's just Tiny's metaphysical two-cents worth.
Folks like you and I BJ will never understand the forces at work in governments when it comes to managing the economic engines of the world. I like you, forget to to carry the one, divide by some enumrator and round up to the nearest billion.
What we do know is that the world is in a true financial crisis brought on by greed set free. When the oil companies were allowed to charge $100 more than the cost of a barrel at todays prices not even a year ago they were feeding to fast and frenzy at the world trough. Ditto for Wall Street. All of that money, to put it simply, was not in the economy that truly makes things work. Ergo trickle down economics do not work.
Re: billions and trillions. [sigh] I'm counting on you smarter heads to explain it all in words I can understand. I find people I can trust and hang on . . .
There's a mentality, found among extremists and obsessives of all stripes (though probably commoner on the right) that seems unable to be happy unless it's got some gloom and doom to moan about. Every international meeting is a world-government plot. Every bad thing the government does means the total abolition of the Constitution and the end of democracy. The current recession is another Great Depression. Bush was Hitler and Obama is Lenin. Unsurprisingly, this kind of thinking easily drifts into stuff like Jewish/illuminati conspiracies and even space aliens and total disconnect from reality. It's not just that such people fear what they don't understand, it's that they need something to fear, so they refuse to understand.
“It's not just that such people fear what they don't understand, it's that they need something to fear, so they refuse to understand.”
Good point, I-753. I have an acquaintance, a nice young man, smart and talented, who latches on to every conspiracy theory that comes along. And, he believes this Earth is inhabited by subterranean aliens. I will never understand the thought process. (I do have a good article on “conspiracy theories.” I’ll have to fish it out.)
BJ
"...paranoia strikes deep, into your life it must creep. . ."
Frodo's fanatical belief in the relationship between life and art is mirrored once again by what you are all saying. Our lives come with a score, a musical accompaniment to help us ride off into the sunset, in control of our own destiny. Indians, outlaws, cattle men, space aliens, religious zealots, and foreign spies are cast aside by a six-gun and a fervent belief in truth, justice, and the American Way. We aren't bad people, we simply don't want to admit that we are unlike Patrick McGoohan (Google will help us remember "The Prisoner").
I just wonder why people have to understand what is really going on. The majority of people will never understand because they are too wrapped up in their own little bubbles, unable to go beyond themselves.
I guess if one really wanted to understand why things are the way they are one would study the 'way of the world'. But that would take a lot of studying. Years ago I started studying such a thing. And one thing I discovered is how well things work under the circumstances, the circumstances of the world being human.
Michelle Obama is meeting with Queen Elizabeth II today, and the Britons are ga-ga for her. Not certain Obama is going to get the same reception at the Summit. The Czech Repulbic premier, who is president of the European Union, has said Obama’s economic strategy is “the road to hell.” SHEESH. And, the Paul Krugman op-ed piece under “opinion” in my sidebar made me cry! BJ P.S. Frodo, I know about "The Prisoner."
BJ, the Czech Premier is toast. A new government is in formation. To Frodo, that gives his opinions equal weight with Dick Cheney.
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