126) All Cops Are Not (Necessarily) Bastards: The Inescapability of Hypocrisy for Inherently Flawed and Limited Humans
To be honest, I don’t know quite what to do with this whole thing. I still judge the police, mostly, for their aggressiveness, too-frequent callousness and lack of empathy, and for the oh-so-painfully-slow pace of the institution evolving in a progressive direction. I still judge the many, many officers I have witnessed engage in unnecessary violence at peaceful protests. I still will raise my children to avoid calling the cops for most situations involving vulnerable people, based on my conviction that the police will likely make the situation worse. I still will advocate for and attend protests and sign petitions calling for police reform and demilitarizing them and holding public inquiries for police violence and redistributing a big chunk of their budgets to community-level organizations, mental health workers, and the like. But….
125) If I Could Write a Poem
I want to write a poem about beauty and love and laughter and kindness and inspiration and heroes, about Grandma’s hands, and Grandpa’s chuckles, and the smell of the dog I had as a child and the sweet tartness of apples and the purring pleasure of an orgasm and snowflakes sparkling in sunlight and those moments when you feel hushed and perfect and there’s no need to say anything…
123) Arm the kids. (Sort of.)
Give those kids some training, and pretty soon, any person who wants to take down a school is going to face an army. And no, I don’t want a society where kids form armies for their own survival. But we already have a society where kids go to school and get killed. Regularly. So personally, I’d choose my kids being in an kid-army in their classrooms, bonding with their peers, knowing how to take care of themselves, and knowing that their friends “have their backs”, far more than I’d choose my kids being trained to be helpless, in a society that so readily arms killers.
122) All cops are bastards: School shootings, the police, and taking back our society
Now, we are told that the police are “to serve and protect”. That is, to serve and protect us, the public.
My experience has repeatedly shown me this is not true.
117) Moral hypocrisy and the consequent impossibility of lasting international peace
Do we really believe, as a society, in a system of morality in which we get do precisely what we deny to others, because we are convinced of our moral superiority? Can “we” kill but “they” can’t, because we simply believe “we are Good, and they are Evil?”
And this will lead to lasting peace…how?
115) Dealing with the Devil: Adventures in parenting, Part 3 — Philosophizing with Asmodeus
“What happens during war is terrible, Siskenet. Terrible, but necessary, until the Hierarchy establishes itself and stabilizes things.”
“The Hierarchy?” Siskenet scoffed. “You mean like, until you control everything, right? Like, things are ‘stable’, because everyone who was fighting against you is, what, dead?”
The man shook his head. “No Siskenet. Hierarchy should never be imposed. It should evolve naturally. It’s like they say, ‘the cream rises to the top.’ Right?”
114) Dealing with the Devil: Adventures in parenting, Part 2 - Asmodeus and Siskenet
Siskenet crossed his arms. “Fine. You want me to trust you? Let’s start with you showing me what you really look like. Nothing to hide, right?”
“No tea then?” The man sighed. “Very well. But there is nothing to show you, Siskenet. I have no true form.”
“But…how…. What do you mean? That doesn’t even make sense.” Siskenet set it firmly in his mind, he wasn’t going to be persuaded by whatever this Demon said. It was a Demon! They were in the Hells. He must not forget that, no matter how slick this creature’s whole schtick was.
“I’m an abstraction. A coalescence of patterns that very commonly replicate in consciousness, throughout the self-aware, sentient creatures of the worlds.” The man smiled, spreading his hands and shrugging. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”
113) Dealing with the Devil: Adventures in parenting, Part 1 - A Sentient Universe
So, the other day, my kids and I made a deal with Baphomet.
It was our second time making a deal with a Lord of Evil.
Hmmm, you may be getting the wrong impression here. Let me explain.
108) War, Part 4: Solutions?
It seems to me that war stops only when one of two conditions are met. Neither of these conditions are very likely, or easy. They are definitely easy to critique, easy to dismiss. But the alternative, as we discussed previously, is more war in a world, bristling with weapons, poised on the brink of global ecological collapse. So….yeah, we can have that, or we can figure out which of the following conditions we are most likely to be able to meet.
107) War, Part 3: The 21st Century
Can you imagine how you’d react if, in each of those stories, just as the Enemy is at the gate and the Heroes are gathering for their courageous final battle, the whole thing just….stops? The heroes decide at the last moment to just say fuck it and go do something else? Like, instead of battling for the Earth, let’s take our IronMan suit and Captain America shield and let’s go fuck something up, take over a country maybe, and make ourselves rich! MWAAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!
106) War, Part 2: Hate and Heroism
Most critically, what we give the Bad Guys, what’s more important than money and weapons, is followers. It’s obedience. Invariably, the Aggressors of history are aggressors because lots and lots and lots of people follow them.
So it’s not just Bad Guys that are “the problem”. It’s Followers.
105) War, Part 1: Love
“Hey Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma…..What did you do during the Great War?”
Have you ever thought of how you will answer questions like that? Because your future will, if you are lucky, arrive, and you will have lived through whatever atrocities humankind inflicts on each other in the present days and coming years. And someday, someone you will care about very much is likely going to ask you that question. … Nobody wants to know, “deep down inside”, that when it really mattered, they failed.
104) Freedom Convoy "vs." the Police
Such a “convoy” of Indigenous people (or say, BlackLivesMatter supporters…), would never, ever, ever make it to Canada’s capital without any real policing occurring. They would never have selfies with friendly police officers who were proud to get recorded talking about how much they support “the movement”. They would NEVER be allowed to parade themselves into the city’s core, to harass local residents, to violate practically every by-law that exists without the police lifting a finger. And the rhetoric of the police would most certainly NOT be about how they don’t want to confront them or are unable to because of a lack of resources.
100) A New Century
3:45 in the morning, January 1st, 2000.
(yawn, stretch, roll out of bed, go pee…)
Well, it’s the dawn of a new century! Actually, a new millennium! Well…I guess it isn’t really, until Jan 1st, 2001, but hey, nobody really cares about that. Anyway, whoa, that’s pretty cool. This sure feels like a unique, maybe even transformative, moment in history.
(sit down on the floor, lean against the couch, pack a bowl….)
(Blurble blurble blurble. Exhaaaaaale….)
Ahhhh….
99) From the River to the Sea
These are people whose families and communities are, right now, experiencing practically unimaginable terror and violence. Their future is a question mark. And their people have lived as literal prisoners, for 3/4 of a century. That’s three generations, an entire human lifetime, birth to old age, imprisoned.
And they feel joy. Along with rage, fear, and no doubt often hopelessness.
I don’t have words to describe what that feels like, to encounter that depth of love, community, sharing and openness. It’s….Well, straight-up, it’s one of the most absolutely beautiful experiences I have had in my 49 years on this planet as my current incarnation.
So, to my brothers and sisters, thank you. You collectively inspired me and touched my heart tonight. I will raise my voice with you, anytime, “From the river to the sea…”
91) The great unraveling: A horror story of life on Earth
When I started teaching at the UofT, in 2002, I still believed a citizen-led evolution of politics would be enough to reinvent the economy and turn things around. Not in time to save the natural world as we used to know it, but in time to save enough of it that we wouldn’t experience large-scale collapse, leaving humanity to fight each other for the scraps left on a dessicated, charred planet.
I still try my damnedest, day to day, to believe that, because giving up that belief is to give up the belief that “we will make it”. But honestly? Most of me doesn’t believe that anymore; I just cling to it in order to stay somewhat sane in the face of a global holocaust.
89) Jordan Peterson: In Conclusion - No Rules for Life
I don’t believe people need “rules,” any rules, for living an optimal life, and for creating an optimal society. Let me say that again — we don’t need Rules. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
88) Jordan Peterson: Part 7 - Psychology at the Ending of the World; Subsection 2 - The Doctrine of Original Awesomeness
Learning to be a responsible, productive, healthy, moral and reasonably successful human being does NOT come from rules. It comes from having one’s inner goodness nurtured, embraced, accepted and loved PLUS having one’s inner shittiness also embraced, accepted and loved, so that the power of being loved and accepted in our totality teaches us that we ARE “good”! We ARE worthwhile, beautiful, wonderful little beings. Maybe we don’t exactly behave that way all the time, but intrinsically, we are creatures of love, far more than we are creatures of selfishness.
86) What's it like to go to a protest?
The reality is, when you show up, your ally-ship is clear, and your acceptance is instantaneous. Are there moments of discomfort sometimes? Of course. And as you push through those moments, you realize how deep the practice of respect and listening can be, and how quickly people can see past your skin-based “group membership”, to the person you actually are.
That’s bloody inspiring.
85) Jordan Peterson, Part 6: The myth of "the myth of white/male privilege" - Subsection 2: Flat-Earthers, Climate change deniers, and Jordan Peterson on the Patriarchy
So Jordan, go tell the old Grannies of the world that they grew up just as empowered as their brothers, and emerged into womanhood with just as much power as men. That they had just as much say over their lives as their husbands. That they weren’t shamed for their sexuality (relative to males), impeded from entering business and professional workspaces (relative to males), had the same types of economic opportunities (relative to males), suffered the same amounts of criticism and humiliation and violence in their homes (relative to males), etc.
And when you convince the world’s grannies and aunties that there is no Patriarchy, then ok, you win.