So, call me biased but I think Vikings are pretty fricken awesome. Tough, violent, crazy, funny, and with a kind of F*** the World attitude seen only in the most badass of warriors. They’re probably some of the coolest things to come out of Europe, since ever. But there is one thing that can give them a run for their money in the World of Awesome things:
Dragons. Those flame throwing, flying, reptilian monsters of legend that have adorned myths and legends as both wise teachers and terrible foes. So awesome were they that the Viking put carved dragon heads on the prows of their ships.
So, what could be cooler than a movie that has both Vikings and Dragons? Well, to be honest not much. The new How to Train Your Dragon movie that came out over the weekend figured this out and ran with it. Based on a pretty popular book series, which I haven’t read, it rocked the Awesome Meter to 10. Starting out with the basic, but very enjoyable premise of Vikings fighting Dragons it played jokes and ran around with all the common tropes, including Horned Helmets.
And then the Vikings learned to ride the Dragons.
As if two of the most badass killers of the ancient world fighting was enough to doom the world, they go for the team up. That’s right, Vikings ridding Dragons.
You’re so F***ed now.
Yet, this didn’t stop the movie from being a very heartwarming and touching story, even for a badass Viking like myself. (Well, crazy ass Viking at least.) Hiccup and Astrid had a very well put together and written relationship. Hiccup and the Nightfury dragon Toothless worked well together. And having Gerard Butler (the greatest man of our time) and Craig Ferguson as Vikings was all kinds of epic funny and awesome.
I recommend everyone with even a passing interest in Vikings or Dragons to check it out. You won’t be sorry. Btw, try Imax 3D. It makes everything better.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
The Noble, The Capitalist, and the Socialist. A Case of the Economic Theories.
I wish to talk today about economics. I can’t claim to be a master of economics, but I do consider myself a decent student of history and philosophical arts, in addition to knowledge of the arcane. It is with these skills that I will use to look at the evolution of “economics” in a very basic sense.
Economics are based on Value or Capital. Now, Capital has changed in its nature over the ages, depending on the philosophy of the people living in that time, or perhaps more appropriately, the philosophy of the elites in charge. Now, the vast majority of people writing about this would work from the past and move forwards, detailing why these changes occurred. While I will touch on this, I will be comparing the nature of these three movements, rather than creating a detailed evolution. That is for a different argument for another time. Rather I shall focus on the pros and cons of these movements.
Let us look first at the nature of capital in the three movements.
For the Noble, capital is based on hard, physical objects: land, precious metals, precious stones, art, homes, etc. This value was based on the rarity of an item. There is only X amount of land that can be used for life. There is only Y amount of gold/silver/etc. and the rarer it is the more it is valued. The aesthetic value, based on how beautiful something is gives it value. Also, the utility of a substance can give it value, such as steel in the pre-industrial age, when most weapons and armor were hand crafted by skilled workers.
For the Capitalist, capital is based on money, namely in at this time on paper money that represents a set value, independent of the value of materials that paper is made of. It costs as much to print a one dollar bill as a one hundred dollar bill, but one is valued more based on an agreed upon, psychological construct. Money itself is all but worthless, but it is easier to carry around than a bag of gold coins. Initially, paper money was tied to precious metals and one could exchange it back for gold, though this has changed.
For the Socialist, capital (though they may hate the word/concept) is based on work. More specifically, the time and effort a worker gives on a project. In theory, everyone’s work ultimately is counted as equally important, and thus each base amount of work is of the same value. (At least, this is my understanding of it.) Hence, all workers are equal and should be paid an equal amount or living wage.
Having established the nature of capital, I wish to give the philosophical reasoning behind these three movements, as I see them. I know many will most likely not agree with them, but I humbly ask for consideration of these theories. Also, I will be working on a “Pure System” of how these work. By that I mean a theoretical thought experiment based on each system being regulated only by its nature, outside of local social contexts.
The Noble Economic System, or NES, works on a Pagan/Heathen philosophys, which typically are hierarchical in nature. Each individual, at least in western Heathen religions, had an inherent value, but believed that not everyone was equal. Some people, regardless of gender or race, were better than others due to either being stronger, smarter, or more healthy/beautiful. This can be seen best in the ancient Scandinavian/Germanic pagan ways, though it translates through most of them to various degrees. These people, by dent of their greater talents, became elevated above others into what would become later the Nobility, hence the use of that name for the NES. Additionally, as Pagan/Heathen religions tend to either value the physical world to either a greater or equal degree as any metaphysical world or Hinterwelt, physical objects were deemed very important and the rarer an object the more it was valued. Those individuals who were lifted above the average person gained greater access to the valued materials, as people trusted them to use said materials for the betterment of the community and deemed them strong enough or smart enough to protect and use them wisely. From this arose a system by which bartering over the value of things came into being, as each person valued things differently, but close enough to find common ground. Thus X number of cows was worth Y number of gold coins, or Z number of sheep.
Capitalist Economic System or CES, on the other hand, is slightly more complicated. It acts as its own philosophy, but it is also a transitional one which leads to socialism. The biggest reason for this is the birth of Christianity and its rise to power. Christianity focuses more on metaphysical realms, or realm, namely that of Heaven. It is a religion based not on the land and elements, but on ideas and feelings. While Christianity dominated the west from roughly 1000 CE, give or take, it was a religion that worked from the top down and the transition was not smooth. Remnants of Pagan/Heathen culture and traditions lasted and influenced the non-elite heavily for several more centuries. With the Enlightenment and a desire to turn away from the ancient Western ways, and its spread through all levels of society, the face of Western Economics also changed. Here we see the rise of Capitalism, though it had existed alongside the NES since Roman times, commerce was still based on hard exchanges of gold or materials and more closely resembled the NES, because the Nobles were in power. This practice or hard currency would continue on till the Revolution Age, starting with America. What happened in the Enlightenment was the true rise to power of the Middle Class. The Middle Class rose from the non-Noble peoples, and thus were not tied as closely with the land as the Nobles, in bother physical and spiritual terms. Where Capitalism truly took off was when the creation of paper money came about. Suddenly, one didn’t have to carry around heavy objects in order to trade them, one could carry paper/cloth slips that were agreed upon to have set values that could theoretically be traded for physical objects. The debate that raged over the use of paper money over physical currency in America and elsewhere represents the ideologies of the NES and CES seeking to triumph over each other. Ultimately, CES won for reason I will talk about in a minute, as we all know, but vestiges of the NES can be seen in our modern coinage system that goes with the Paper system. Still, CES forms a bridge or fusion of the Pagan NES and the true end result of Christian economic theory which is the Socialist Economic System.
Socialist Economic System, SES, is born out of the true end result of what Christianity is about, on several levels. Modern Science plays a major role in this, but as it is born out of Christianity’s desire for Ultimate Truth, which ultimately leads to the current conclusion that there is no God or Gods. However, Christian philosophy has become such a part of civilization in the West at this point that the denial of god doesn’t remove the ideas put forth by that God. One of the central principals is that Everyone Is Equal. No one is better than another, we are all the same in God’s eyes and only God is superior. People grew used to relying on a supreme being and once God was Dead, Governments took over that place (but that is a different discussion). Another remnant, and this is closely tied to both Christianity and CES, is the idea of non-physical value assignment. In the SES, this translates as Work, or the Worker’s Work.
Now, work has always had value, and this is important to keep in mind, but it has had value based on different things. Under the NES, work produced physical objects, like grain or metals which had value and the corresponding value of another physical object. In other words, work was valued based on the product’s value, not the worker’s. War, being the most dangerous and glorious as it protected or gained physical objects, was valued highest and hence the nobles being of greatest value (when they did their jobs right). Under the CES, this was changed to the value assigned to an object in money rather than another object, especially in the time of paper money. Industry also contributed to the ultimate change, because now objects could be produced faster and by unskilled workers and in larger quantities. Combined with the nature of paper money, this meant a worker was paid for his work with a substance he could later trade for an object, but which held only an agreed upon value rather than an inherent value. Now work, which had once had a physical value only held a theoretical value. Also, objects now held theoretical value as opposed to a physical value.
Added to this is the ultimate nature of Christianity, which is embraces, a bottom up social order in which everyone is equal in value. It is the meek, weak, and poor who are valued over the proud, strong, and rich. About the time of the Industrial revolution, these ideas had finally been absorbed by society itself on all levels. This is when we first see the rise of Socialist Economic Systems or SES, as a theory and slowly being put into practice up to today. The SES is at its heart the perfect Christian (based) Economic Theory.
With the SES, as stated before, the thing that is valued is the Worker’s Work, or just the Worker as a person in that it values what they can be used for, or more appropriately as a group. Now, as the Worker is the most valuable thing in the system, as opposed to a physical object or currency, it is the worker which is the basis for the value of everything around it, just as objects were under the NES and currency was under the CES. Since everyone is equal, and thus no one is worth more than another, then any and all things that have a value must be based off that equality. What this leads to is the concept that everyone should have the same amount of valued items, be they objects or currency. This also leads to no one can be greater than anyone else, if all are to be equal as they should be. This translates in theory to the concept that if Adam has a gold ring, Adolf should also have a gold ring, as should Shakira, Heather, Chun Li, or any one else, and that all rings ultimately would be the same lest one ring be better than another. This is all well and good; it would work in a perfect world that is either theory or the hinterwelt of Christian thought/ideology. But, it will instantly hit a road block of massive proportions.
This is where we come to the pros and cons of each system, which are very often the same things at the same time.
With the NES, value is based on physical objects and what a person is/does, as is right under a Pagan/Heathen system which values the physical world. The Pro is that one can hold a physical object in their hands and know it is real and that its value can be agreed upon based on how limited the supply is. The Con is that there is a limited number of each object, some objects will always be worth more than others, and not everyone can have an object, so those with the greatest talents come to obtain them.
With CES, value is based on currency that is traded for objects. In the early stages it slightly resembles the NES when currency was based on objects, but as paper money was taken off the Gold Standard, it was its own value based upon agreements between people. The pros of Capitalism is that there can, in theory, be an unlimited amount of money (which isn’t true) and that everyone has an equal chance of becoming rich or poor based on their work, skills, and luck. The Cons are that money is not physical and if people don’t always agree on the value of money, that it is mostly theoretical, and that currency isn’t infinite, (despite the beliefs of some Governments and they’re populaces).
With the SES, value is based on Equal Workers regardless of what they are/do, as is right under a Christian system which values the non-physical world. The pros of this are theoretically that everyone being equal, everyone would have an equal amount of benefits, objects, and money wouldn’t be needed (as it “Divides People”) since everyone would work and receive equally, no matter what work they do. The Con of this, however, is the same thing that gave rise to the original NES: that there are a finite amount of objects in the world. There is not enough of each object for every person to have one. Probably the best example of this is fertile land to grow food on. What this will ultimately lead to is two things, the denial of certain to everyone (since zero is the ultimate even number), or a reduction in population to the size were everyone can have an equal amount of an object. The problem of the second option is that it leads to extinction or degradation of the species, not to mention it would be very difficult to get everyone on earth to agree to that option. Then the only viable option is the first result, the denial of objects to people because not everyone can have them. A perfect example of this can be seen in the USSR, especially before its fall. An early stage of this process can be seen in the new Healthcare Bill in America, where everyone will be forced to by a carbon copy policy that offers the exact same protections at the exact same price to everyone, regardless of their needs. Also, as we are still working mostly under a CES, the currency has to come from somewhere, as people don’t yet agree with everyone’s Work being Equal or as the primary value of society. And to further the idea that All are Equal as it is in an SES, one is forced to go along with the actions dictated by the bill or pay a fine, thus generating capital for said bill’s use of SES based economics. Details of this can be seen in the link below:
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=528137
In conclusion, which economic system is best? That is almost impossible to say, for an Economic System has a value set by an agreement of peoples and is determined by that which it and those that follow is value most. The Governments of the Modern Era in Asia, Europe, and the Americas seem to value the SES most. The people who live in America seem to value the SES as much as they do the CES, which seems to be true in most “Modern” countries at this point as far as civilians go, based on people working Capitalist jobs and paying (fairly) Socialist taxes.
Individually, they break down like this:
SES leads to the greatest level of equality for all peoples, in its purest form. This is due to the fact that individual skills aren’t what are important, but rather what the person can do for “society.” While many, myself included, would argue that this is the equality of everyone having either nothing or next to nothing, it still remains the most equal.
CES leads to a more equal society, and possibly to the greatest levels of wealth in those societies. However, I will admit that it does tend to drain people of their lives as they work for theoretical gains in a consumerist system.
NES leads to an unequal society, with a potentially wide gap in wealth (though this is not really an issue in small groups, but rather larger groups). It does, however tend to lead to a greater valuing of both the physical world and of the people in it, based on their talents. I will admit it is what many would consider a “cruel system,” where the weak serve the strong, but it is one that lasted for thousands of years before Christianity.
I shall end with real world examples of each system at its best and let you decide personally which was best. For the NES there are the Greeks, Romans, and Norse. For the CES, there is the British Empire and America (pre-WWI). For the SES there are the USSR, China (present day government), and America (Obama administration.)
Economics are based on Value or Capital. Now, Capital has changed in its nature over the ages, depending on the philosophy of the people living in that time, or perhaps more appropriately, the philosophy of the elites in charge. Now, the vast majority of people writing about this would work from the past and move forwards, detailing why these changes occurred. While I will touch on this, I will be comparing the nature of these three movements, rather than creating a detailed evolution. That is for a different argument for another time. Rather I shall focus on the pros and cons of these movements.
Let us look first at the nature of capital in the three movements.
For the Noble, capital is based on hard, physical objects: land, precious metals, precious stones, art, homes, etc. This value was based on the rarity of an item. There is only X amount of land that can be used for life. There is only Y amount of gold/silver/etc. and the rarer it is the more it is valued. The aesthetic value, based on how beautiful something is gives it value. Also, the utility of a substance can give it value, such as steel in the pre-industrial age, when most weapons and armor were hand crafted by skilled workers.
For the Capitalist, capital is based on money, namely in at this time on paper money that represents a set value, independent of the value of materials that paper is made of. It costs as much to print a one dollar bill as a one hundred dollar bill, but one is valued more based on an agreed upon, psychological construct. Money itself is all but worthless, but it is easier to carry around than a bag of gold coins. Initially, paper money was tied to precious metals and one could exchange it back for gold, though this has changed.
For the Socialist, capital (though they may hate the word/concept) is based on work. More specifically, the time and effort a worker gives on a project. In theory, everyone’s work ultimately is counted as equally important, and thus each base amount of work is of the same value. (At least, this is my understanding of it.) Hence, all workers are equal and should be paid an equal amount or living wage.
Having established the nature of capital, I wish to give the philosophical reasoning behind these three movements, as I see them. I know many will most likely not agree with them, but I humbly ask for consideration of these theories. Also, I will be working on a “Pure System” of how these work. By that I mean a theoretical thought experiment based on each system being regulated only by its nature, outside of local social contexts.
The Noble Economic System, or NES, works on a Pagan/Heathen philosophys, which typically are hierarchical in nature. Each individual, at least in western Heathen religions, had an inherent value, but believed that not everyone was equal. Some people, regardless of gender or race, were better than others due to either being stronger, smarter, or more healthy/beautiful. This can be seen best in the ancient Scandinavian/Germanic pagan ways, though it translates through most of them to various degrees. These people, by dent of their greater talents, became elevated above others into what would become later the Nobility, hence the use of that name for the NES. Additionally, as Pagan/Heathen religions tend to either value the physical world to either a greater or equal degree as any metaphysical world or Hinterwelt, physical objects were deemed very important and the rarer an object the more it was valued. Those individuals who were lifted above the average person gained greater access to the valued materials, as people trusted them to use said materials for the betterment of the community and deemed them strong enough or smart enough to protect and use them wisely. From this arose a system by which bartering over the value of things came into being, as each person valued things differently, but close enough to find common ground. Thus X number of cows was worth Y number of gold coins, or Z number of sheep.
Capitalist Economic System or CES, on the other hand, is slightly more complicated. It acts as its own philosophy, but it is also a transitional one which leads to socialism. The biggest reason for this is the birth of Christianity and its rise to power. Christianity focuses more on metaphysical realms, or realm, namely that of Heaven. It is a religion based not on the land and elements, but on ideas and feelings. While Christianity dominated the west from roughly 1000 CE, give or take, it was a religion that worked from the top down and the transition was not smooth. Remnants of Pagan/Heathen culture and traditions lasted and influenced the non-elite heavily for several more centuries. With the Enlightenment and a desire to turn away from the ancient Western ways, and its spread through all levels of society, the face of Western Economics also changed. Here we see the rise of Capitalism, though it had existed alongside the NES since Roman times, commerce was still based on hard exchanges of gold or materials and more closely resembled the NES, because the Nobles were in power. This practice or hard currency would continue on till the Revolution Age, starting with America. What happened in the Enlightenment was the true rise to power of the Middle Class. The Middle Class rose from the non-Noble peoples, and thus were not tied as closely with the land as the Nobles, in bother physical and spiritual terms. Where Capitalism truly took off was when the creation of paper money came about. Suddenly, one didn’t have to carry around heavy objects in order to trade them, one could carry paper/cloth slips that were agreed upon to have set values that could theoretically be traded for physical objects. The debate that raged over the use of paper money over physical currency in America and elsewhere represents the ideologies of the NES and CES seeking to triumph over each other. Ultimately, CES won for reason I will talk about in a minute, as we all know, but vestiges of the NES can be seen in our modern coinage system that goes with the Paper system. Still, CES forms a bridge or fusion of the Pagan NES and the true end result of Christian economic theory which is the Socialist Economic System.
Socialist Economic System, SES, is born out of the true end result of what Christianity is about, on several levels. Modern Science plays a major role in this, but as it is born out of Christianity’s desire for Ultimate Truth, which ultimately leads to the current conclusion that there is no God or Gods. However, Christian philosophy has become such a part of civilization in the West at this point that the denial of god doesn’t remove the ideas put forth by that God. One of the central principals is that Everyone Is Equal. No one is better than another, we are all the same in God’s eyes and only God is superior. People grew used to relying on a supreme being and once God was Dead, Governments took over that place (but that is a different discussion). Another remnant, and this is closely tied to both Christianity and CES, is the idea of non-physical value assignment. In the SES, this translates as Work, or the Worker’s Work.
Now, work has always had value, and this is important to keep in mind, but it has had value based on different things. Under the NES, work produced physical objects, like grain or metals which had value and the corresponding value of another physical object. In other words, work was valued based on the product’s value, not the worker’s. War, being the most dangerous and glorious as it protected or gained physical objects, was valued highest and hence the nobles being of greatest value (when they did their jobs right). Under the CES, this was changed to the value assigned to an object in money rather than another object, especially in the time of paper money. Industry also contributed to the ultimate change, because now objects could be produced faster and by unskilled workers and in larger quantities. Combined with the nature of paper money, this meant a worker was paid for his work with a substance he could later trade for an object, but which held only an agreed upon value rather than an inherent value. Now work, which had once had a physical value only held a theoretical value. Also, objects now held theoretical value as opposed to a physical value.
Added to this is the ultimate nature of Christianity, which is embraces, a bottom up social order in which everyone is equal in value. It is the meek, weak, and poor who are valued over the proud, strong, and rich. About the time of the Industrial revolution, these ideas had finally been absorbed by society itself on all levels. This is when we first see the rise of Socialist Economic Systems or SES, as a theory and slowly being put into practice up to today. The SES is at its heart the perfect Christian (based) Economic Theory.
With the SES, as stated before, the thing that is valued is the Worker’s Work, or just the Worker as a person in that it values what they can be used for, or more appropriately as a group. Now, as the Worker is the most valuable thing in the system, as opposed to a physical object or currency, it is the worker which is the basis for the value of everything around it, just as objects were under the NES and currency was under the CES. Since everyone is equal, and thus no one is worth more than another, then any and all things that have a value must be based off that equality. What this leads to is the concept that everyone should have the same amount of valued items, be they objects or currency. This also leads to no one can be greater than anyone else, if all are to be equal as they should be. This translates in theory to the concept that if Adam has a gold ring, Adolf should also have a gold ring, as should Shakira, Heather, Chun Li, or any one else, and that all rings ultimately would be the same lest one ring be better than another. This is all well and good; it would work in a perfect world that is either theory or the hinterwelt of Christian thought/ideology. But, it will instantly hit a road block of massive proportions.
This is where we come to the pros and cons of each system, which are very often the same things at the same time.
With the NES, value is based on physical objects and what a person is/does, as is right under a Pagan/Heathen system which values the physical world. The Pro is that one can hold a physical object in their hands and know it is real and that its value can be agreed upon based on how limited the supply is. The Con is that there is a limited number of each object, some objects will always be worth more than others, and not everyone can have an object, so those with the greatest talents come to obtain them.
With CES, value is based on currency that is traded for objects. In the early stages it slightly resembles the NES when currency was based on objects, but as paper money was taken off the Gold Standard, it was its own value based upon agreements between people. The pros of Capitalism is that there can, in theory, be an unlimited amount of money (which isn’t true) and that everyone has an equal chance of becoming rich or poor based on their work, skills, and luck. The Cons are that money is not physical and if people don’t always agree on the value of money, that it is mostly theoretical, and that currency isn’t infinite, (despite the beliefs of some Governments and they’re populaces).
With the SES, value is based on Equal Workers regardless of what they are/do, as is right under a Christian system which values the non-physical world. The pros of this are theoretically that everyone being equal, everyone would have an equal amount of benefits, objects, and money wouldn’t be needed (as it “Divides People”) since everyone would work and receive equally, no matter what work they do. The Con of this, however, is the same thing that gave rise to the original NES: that there are a finite amount of objects in the world. There is not enough of each object for every person to have one. Probably the best example of this is fertile land to grow food on. What this will ultimately lead to is two things, the denial of certain to everyone (since zero is the ultimate even number), or a reduction in population to the size were everyone can have an equal amount of an object. The problem of the second option is that it leads to extinction or degradation of the species, not to mention it would be very difficult to get everyone on earth to agree to that option. Then the only viable option is the first result, the denial of objects to people because not everyone can have them. A perfect example of this can be seen in the USSR, especially before its fall. An early stage of this process can be seen in the new Healthcare Bill in America, where everyone will be forced to by a carbon copy policy that offers the exact same protections at the exact same price to everyone, regardless of their needs. Also, as we are still working mostly under a CES, the currency has to come from somewhere, as people don’t yet agree with everyone’s Work being Equal or as the primary value of society. And to further the idea that All are Equal as it is in an SES, one is forced to go along with the actions dictated by the bill or pay a fine, thus generating capital for said bill’s use of SES based economics. Details of this can be seen in the link below:
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=528137
In conclusion, which economic system is best? That is almost impossible to say, for an Economic System has a value set by an agreement of peoples and is determined by that which it and those that follow is value most. The Governments of the Modern Era in Asia, Europe, and the Americas seem to value the SES most. The people who live in America seem to value the SES as much as they do the CES, which seems to be true in most “Modern” countries at this point as far as civilians go, based on people working Capitalist jobs and paying (fairly) Socialist taxes.
Individually, they break down like this:
SES leads to the greatest level of equality for all peoples, in its purest form. This is due to the fact that individual skills aren’t what are important, but rather what the person can do for “society.” While many, myself included, would argue that this is the equality of everyone having either nothing or next to nothing, it still remains the most equal.
CES leads to a more equal society, and possibly to the greatest levels of wealth in those societies. However, I will admit that it does tend to drain people of their lives as they work for theoretical gains in a consumerist system.
NES leads to an unequal society, with a potentially wide gap in wealth (though this is not really an issue in small groups, but rather larger groups). It does, however tend to lead to a greater valuing of both the physical world and of the people in it, based on their talents. I will admit it is what many would consider a “cruel system,” where the weak serve the strong, but it is one that lasted for thousands of years before Christianity.
I shall end with real world examples of each system at its best and let you decide personally which was best. For the NES there are the Greeks, Romans, and Norse. For the CES, there is the British Empire and America (pre-WWI). For the SES there are the USSR, China (present day government), and America (Obama administration.)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Do you Command, or are you Commanded?
This weekend, watching the major news channels cover the vote on Healthcare Reform. As is an often happens to me, I fantasized about appearing before the Representatives and putting forth my views on this massive bill that has been at the heart of so much controversy. Yet, ultimately, beyond any epic speech I could have given, one question hit me hard and I wished more than anything I could have asked it of that Body.
Do you command the American People, or are you commanded by them?
And, even though I did not get to ask my question in person, I did receive my answer last night. The Bill was passed and is set to become law, in spite of about two-thirds of the American people not wanting this to be passed.
Pelosi, a woman who is arguably as hated at Palin, spoke with joy of the historic moment upon the bill’s passage. Indeed, the line “historic moment” was probably used a historic number of times. But, I will agree with Speaker Pelosi. This was a historic moment.
But probably not for the reasons she thinks it is.
What will come in the future, I cannot say. What I can say is that it will not be pretty. Even as I write this, I’m sure there are massive protests being waged both online and off. Celebrations are being held, backs are being slapped. And, in dark places, the proverbial sword is being sharpened.
My question was answered last night. The government, and those who lead it, see that they command the American people.
There were many, many speeches last night, by people from both sides of the Party line, neither of which I felt much love for. (I can be classified as an Independent, and have as little love for Republicans as I do Democrats). Yet, perhaps the greatest speech by a living politician I’ve ever heard was given last night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj4tH6mCd-w&NR=1
Rep. Boehner, it seemed, got the true idea of what a democracy was meant to be. He got, at least in my eyes, what it meant to represent the American people. He portrayed himself as one who is commanded, not who commands. Now, I’m sure there’s plenty of evidence that he has not done this, that he is as bad as every other politician, but I’m not interested in this at the moment. It was his words, right then and there, that said more than anything.
Yet, his words seemed to fall on deaf ears. I’m not going to discuss the costs or wording of the Bill. That has been done ad-nausea and will continue to be so. Rather, I would like to talk about what I think it means, for me and every other little person on the bottom of the pile.
We will now be ordered, by law, to buy health insurance. Now, buying health insurance is a good idea, but it should be a persons choice. This Bill was sold to America as a way to insure the uninsured. I’m not going to get into the numbers of who is uninsured or why, plenty have done that. But forcing people who don’t have health insurance to buy it, regardless of if they want it or not, regardless of if they can afford it or not, is wrong. Speaking for myself, I rarely go to the doctor, and paying tons of money for insurance that I may not even need is not an expense I want, especially in light of all the other expenses I already face entering the world on my own. I have had dreams of starting my own business, if just a small one, but now I face the problem of providing health insurance to any workers I hire. Now, I don’t know about other businesses, but the one’s I’m interested don’t really produce a lot of capital in the initial stages. Indeed, most small businesses don’t, and every expense incurred in the early stages is something that makes it that much harder to succeed. The economy is already down, people are still losing jobs, and the jobless rate, counting the unreported, is probably in the mid to high teens. Business are having to cut expenses to stay afloat, making the buy healthcare or pay fines is only going to crush the little ones.
Also, I am now going to end up paying more in taxes to cover the bill for people who can’t afford health insurance but must now still have it. I don’t care about Government number crunchers telling me this new law will save money. I’ve been studying history in collage for over four years and covered Governments all over the globe. Every single one of them cost more to run than it ever made. Previously, there was always the ability to invade and gain more resources in order to balance the expense of government, but as that is no longer socially, legally, or UN excepted, I doubt we can invade anywhere to get more wealth. And, since America is pretty much the top of the wealth game anyways, I don’t know of anywhere with the resources to justify such an action economically.
Obama and his administration have now succeeded in creating a debt so massive as to be incomprehensible. It is in the trillions of dollars. It is in the double digits of the trillions of dollars, and it’s only going to get higher. 10,000,000,000 is a big number, and it isn’t even the correct amount of the debt. To put this in terms people can maybe grasp, I’ll use the example of LEGO bricks. A 2x4 brick, the standard size, runs about an inch long by half an inch high by half an inch wide. Placed so that each bricks is stacked on top of each other we would get a tower 5,000,000,000 inches high, or 78,914.14 miles high, roughly half the distance to the moon. As a wall, half an inch thick and 6 feet high, you’d get a length of 2893518.52 feet or 548.01 miles. I’ll let you come up with something that is that long.
And the ink isn’t even dry and already there are calls to get immigration reform done. I hate to even think about what that will entail or cost. Suffice it to say, however, that it will indeed cost.
I am left with a rather sour taste in my mouth, and not from anything I’ve eaten. What happens now? I’m not sure. I do know that at least 38 states have prepared legislation to counter this bill. I know it will be an ugly, drawn out fight in which more than feelings are likely to be hurt and people will be used as political, and maybe even literal, cannon fodder depending on how it goes down. The bill itself is enough to overburden the government’s empty coffers, which seem to have inverted the meaning of positive and negative numbers to begin with. Obama will be lauded as a great hero and even greater villain. The Republicans will most likely sweep the next elections, but in all fairness they can reverse it nor halt it. People around me who didn’t like Obama have said he’ll be a lame duck president, but at this point he’s been anything but. He has fulfilled his biggest campaign promise. He brought Change to America like we haven’t seen in a hundred years. It’s not a change I wanted though. The government controls more each day, and that means I have less control. As much as people like to say everyone’s equal, this isn’t true, because in a finite system there will always be those who have and those who don’t. Arguably, Obama and Co. are working to change this, but it looks more and more like equality equals zero.
The government stated that it Commands the people. Now we’ll see if the people will be willing to give up Command of their government. It will be historic, the only question is in what way.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
A Need for Heroes
I think, in this day and age, we are in need of heroes. While this has been true of every age, it has because especially relevant to ours because of one simple fact.
We have no heroes.
Athletes, the main stay of cultural icons at the turn of the 1900’s and the following decades used to provide us with ‘heroes.' Yet this is no longer the case, thanks in large part to the near continuous series of steroid, sex, or crime scandals that taint that profession.
Astronauts no longer are our heroes, and with President Obama finding better things to spend money on, he has all but killed the American space program and killed NASA.
In centuries past it was our soldiers and generals who gave us heroes: Washington, Patton, Jackson, Lee, Grant, and so on. Yet with the current anti-war sentiment that has existed from at least the 1960’s, we can’t draw our heroes from there. Indeed, the average American citizen can’t name the current general of the Iraq/Afghan wars.
Actors and Rock stars fall under the same blanket as Athletes. Sex, Drugs, Crime, so on and so fifth (increased due to inflation) strip them of any heroic status as fast as ink dries on tabloids or someone can log into a web page.
A while back I heard people discussing this issue, I believe on Huckabee and they mentioned the idea that the last presidential election had all been about trying to obtain a hero for the American people: Obama as an African-American Messiah-like figure, McCain the War Hero, Palin the First Republican Vice President, Hilary Clinton as the First Female President.
Yet even that has rung hollow. Obama-the-Messiah (and don’t kid yourself, left and right saw those images and embraced the idea to various degrees) has proven all but incapable of obtaining his goals. Palin has been vilified. McCain is off the radar. Clinton got relegated to a position with no air time.
So where do we turn? Anymore, people turn to comic books and movies. Hence the resurgence in those industries, where a $10 ticket sells like donuts at a cop convention. The revival of movies like Clash of the Titans, grand epics with incredible monsters and larger than life heroes is not just because we finally have the technology to make such things look real.
It is because we are looking for something more.
When society constantly tells us that we are all equal and all the same, that no one is better than anyone else. When no one can stand above everyone else, because they’ll be torn down by the mob as fast as they are raised above it, there is no place for anyone to prove themselves as great.
In education, the common practice of “Leave no child behind” has translated into dragging down those in the front rather than pulling forwards those that lag. The current epidemic of ADD and ADHD that has left waves of medicated zombies in its wake and has destroyed active, excitable kids with the desire to live and explore as much as they can. School days get longer and longer, and people wonder why their kids get fat.
It is because kids can no longer strive to become their idols. They are taught to mock those who stand above, or taught the very things that disgrace their heroes are what they should be doing. Fifty years ago kids wanted to be astronauts, businessmen, politicians, soldiers, or superheroes.
Now though…
I’ve lost track of how many kids I see today dressed up like ganstas. Not the Mafia of the 1920’s, full of power and dressed in press suits, but thugs dressed in rags, acting tough, as if they know what violence is and that makes them superior, as if lots of heavy gold chains and a bunch of girls that are used and abused at will are what makes a man great.
Perhaps my generation is the last to remember what it was like. Heroes fell in our day, but for our early years we had a few, and we could remember the ones our parents had. I know my heroes, the ones who taught me what it was to be a man in place of an absent father and a troubled home life; Corran Horn, Leonidas, Harry Dresden, Wolverine, Magneto, Darth Bane, and many others.
I know what violence is. I looked deep in myself and discover the true nature and power of violence. It isn’t waving around a gun, smacking bitches, dealing drugs, or capping someone for dissing you, especially when you have no idea what disrespect is, much less honor or glory or nobility. Violence is brutal, horrible, elegant, and beautiful all at the same time. Violence is a sword in one’s hand, living on the edge, knowing the next moment is your last and only the Gods and your skill choose if you breathe the next moment or not. It is a painting made with blood and tears and pain and power. It provides meaning to life in a way nothing else can.
I know what power is. It is Nobility, Honor, Glory. It is the ability to choose your fate, to choose the fate of others. Power is what makes the world function.
But there is no one to teach this anymore. No great men and women to stand up and say this is how you should live. This is what it means to be a True Man or a True Woman.
There are many psychological reasons for why this is. I complain about Christianity and its mindset, but I recognize that the teachings of the Christ god are not fully responsible for this downfall, however much it may permeate all aspects of our culture.
It isn’t about what is here, today, that is responsible for why we don’t have heroes. It is about what isn’t. With the current resurgence of Paganism in the West, Western civilization has simultaneously finished rejecting the last tenants of pagan culture that had been buried deep in Western culture. The process of Multiculturalism that has attacked Western Culture so strongly and vilified it, has succeeded in leaving only Eastern Culture in its wake. The religion of the Christ god may be dying, but the basic beliefs are still around, only in casting off the religion, we’ve cast off the bones of the pagan traditions that filled Europe, regarding them as evil or useless.
It is my hope that in Paganism we will see heroes arise for heathen people, but I don’t think society at large will have that many more after this. There is a trend in society that others have been talking about, where the elite have been training people to feel that they don’t deserve their rights, that they deserve to be victims because their ancestors did things that are now viewed as wrong. White children don’t respect white culture. In fact, there is a sense that there is no white culture anymore and when something resembling "White Culture" appears it is normally called racist. I once remarked in a civil rights class that it seemed to me the current pinnacle of manliness was the Black Gansta, and though I was roundly shouted down I feel that I was right. As stated before, lots of “Cool” kids now dress Gansta. Even on colleges, I see more guys rocking the Gansta look than anything else.
I want this to change, but not because I'm racist or feel White people are superior, cause we're just like every one else.
I want us to have heroes again. Not just the ones in movies and books, but physical men and women who stand above the masses and proclaim that they are alive, they are great and powerful and noble. I want to see kids of each ethnic heritage be proud of who they are, especially white ones. Writing this, I know that many would call me a racist if they read my words. I want to know when that happened. I want to know when it became wrong to be proud of my white skin and European heritage, even when I do not hate any other races. I don’t declare white supremacy. I think such things are a joke. There is no superior race, but there can be superior individuals, and I want to see them again.
I want to see violence and power reach the level they did centuries ago. When people understood that they weren’t evil, but good. When people knew when to be violent, and when to be peaceful. In news feeds and television I see leaders bow down and submit when they should stand and fight, giving into people who know what violence is for and have no care for my people and our ways, but rather view them as evil and to be destroyed. I am not speaking of just Islam and Socialism, but so many others that I cannot count them.
I want to see Holger le Danske, Charles Martele, Harald Hardrada, Cnut the Great, King Arthur, and so many others come back in spirit and name, to lead us into an age of Nobility and Power.
I want to see a hero once more
We have no heroes.
Athletes, the main stay of cultural icons at the turn of the 1900’s and the following decades used to provide us with ‘heroes.' Yet this is no longer the case, thanks in large part to the near continuous series of steroid, sex, or crime scandals that taint that profession.
Astronauts no longer are our heroes, and with President Obama finding better things to spend money on, he has all but killed the American space program and killed NASA.
In centuries past it was our soldiers and generals who gave us heroes: Washington, Patton, Jackson, Lee, Grant, and so on. Yet with the current anti-war sentiment that has existed from at least the 1960’s, we can’t draw our heroes from there. Indeed, the average American citizen can’t name the current general of the Iraq/Afghan wars.
Actors and Rock stars fall under the same blanket as Athletes. Sex, Drugs, Crime, so on and so fifth (increased due to inflation) strip them of any heroic status as fast as ink dries on tabloids or someone can log into a web page.
A while back I heard people discussing this issue, I believe on Huckabee and they mentioned the idea that the last presidential election had all been about trying to obtain a hero for the American people: Obama as an African-American Messiah-like figure, McCain the War Hero, Palin the First Republican Vice President, Hilary Clinton as the First Female President.
Yet even that has rung hollow. Obama-the-Messiah (and don’t kid yourself, left and right saw those images and embraced the idea to various degrees) has proven all but incapable of obtaining his goals. Palin has been vilified. McCain is off the radar. Clinton got relegated to a position with no air time.
So where do we turn? Anymore, people turn to comic books and movies. Hence the resurgence in those industries, where a $10 ticket sells like donuts at a cop convention. The revival of movies like Clash of the Titans, grand epics with incredible monsters and larger than life heroes is not just because we finally have the technology to make such things look real.
It is because we are looking for something more.
When society constantly tells us that we are all equal and all the same, that no one is better than anyone else. When no one can stand above everyone else, because they’ll be torn down by the mob as fast as they are raised above it, there is no place for anyone to prove themselves as great.
In education, the common practice of “Leave no child behind” has translated into dragging down those in the front rather than pulling forwards those that lag. The current epidemic of ADD and ADHD that has left waves of medicated zombies in its wake and has destroyed active, excitable kids with the desire to live and explore as much as they can. School days get longer and longer, and people wonder why their kids get fat.
It is because kids can no longer strive to become their idols. They are taught to mock those who stand above, or taught the very things that disgrace their heroes are what they should be doing. Fifty years ago kids wanted to be astronauts, businessmen, politicians, soldiers, or superheroes.
Now though…
I’ve lost track of how many kids I see today dressed up like ganstas. Not the Mafia of the 1920’s, full of power and dressed in press suits, but thugs dressed in rags, acting tough, as if they know what violence is and that makes them superior, as if lots of heavy gold chains and a bunch of girls that are used and abused at will are what makes a man great.
Perhaps my generation is the last to remember what it was like. Heroes fell in our day, but for our early years we had a few, and we could remember the ones our parents had. I know my heroes, the ones who taught me what it was to be a man in place of an absent father and a troubled home life; Corran Horn, Leonidas, Harry Dresden, Wolverine, Magneto, Darth Bane, and many others.
I know what violence is. I looked deep in myself and discover the true nature and power of violence. It isn’t waving around a gun, smacking bitches, dealing drugs, or capping someone for dissing you, especially when you have no idea what disrespect is, much less honor or glory or nobility. Violence is brutal, horrible, elegant, and beautiful all at the same time. Violence is a sword in one’s hand, living on the edge, knowing the next moment is your last and only the Gods and your skill choose if you breathe the next moment or not. It is a painting made with blood and tears and pain and power. It provides meaning to life in a way nothing else can.
I know what power is. It is Nobility, Honor, Glory. It is the ability to choose your fate, to choose the fate of others. Power is what makes the world function.
But there is no one to teach this anymore. No great men and women to stand up and say this is how you should live. This is what it means to be a True Man or a True Woman.
There are many psychological reasons for why this is. I complain about Christianity and its mindset, but I recognize that the teachings of the Christ god are not fully responsible for this downfall, however much it may permeate all aspects of our culture.
It isn’t about what is here, today, that is responsible for why we don’t have heroes. It is about what isn’t. With the current resurgence of Paganism in the West, Western civilization has simultaneously finished rejecting the last tenants of pagan culture that had been buried deep in Western culture. The process of Multiculturalism that has attacked Western Culture so strongly and vilified it, has succeeded in leaving only Eastern Culture in its wake. The religion of the Christ god may be dying, but the basic beliefs are still around, only in casting off the religion, we’ve cast off the bones of the pagan traditions that filled Europe, regarding them as evil or useless.
It is my hope that in Paganism we will see heroes arise for heathen people, but I don’t think society at large will have that many more after this. There is a trend in society that others have been talking about, where the elite have been training people to feel that they don’t deserve their rights, that they deserve to be victims because their ancestors did things that are now viewed as wrong. White children don’t respect white culture. In fact, there is a sense that there is no white culture anymore and when something resembling "White Culture" appears it is normally called racist. I once remarked in a civil rights class that it seemed to me the current pinnacle of manliness was the Black Gansta, and though I was roundly shouted down I feel that I was right. As stated before, lots of “Cool” kids now dress Gansta. Even on colleges, I see more guys rocking the Gansta look than anything else.
I want this to change, but not because I'm racist or feel White people are superior, cause we're just like every one else.
I want us to have heroes again. Not just the ones in movies and books, but physical men and women who stand above the masses and proclaim that they are alive, they are great and powerful and noble. I want to see kids of each ethnic heritage be proud of who they are, especially white ones. Writing this, I know that many would call me a racist if they read my words. I want to know when that happened. I want to know when it became wrong to be proud of my white skin and European heritage, even when I do not hate any other races. I don’t declare white supremacy. I think such things are a joke. There is no superior race, but there can be superior individuals, and I want to see them again.
I want to see violence and power reach the level they did centuries ago. When people understood that they weren’t evil, but good. When people knew when to be violent, and when to be peaceful. In news feeds and television I see leaders bow down and submit when they should stand and fight, giving into people who know what violence is for and have no care for my people and our ways, but rather view them as evil and to be destroyed. I am not speaking of just Islam and Socialism, but so many others that I cannot count them.
I want to see Holger le Danske, Charles Martele, Harald Hardrada, Cnut the Great, King Arthur, and so many others come back in spirit and name, to lead us into an age of Nobility and Power.
I want to see a hero once more
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Who I am...
Who I am…
I am a man. I was born this way and I will die this way.
I am straight. I take female lovers, because it is what I desire, despite social pressures and the ideas of other people.
I am a Heathen. I believe in many Gods and Goddesses who demand strength, honor, and nobility from me.
I am White. I come from Scandinavian and Germanic peoples and I feel no shame in this. I am no worse than any other person out there, nor are my people. We have done nothing that everyone else hasn’t done before.
I am Free. I have the Right to speak my mind, no matter how abhorrent others find my views. I have the Right to carry any weapon I desire, because I am a freeman and it is my birth right since old times. I have the right to Life, Liberty, and Property and these rights shall not be stripped from me without me rising up in protest.
I am filled with Pride. I know who I am and where I come from and no one, man or woman, god or slave, shall remove from me my past without first taking my life.
I will die for what I believe in, because there is more to life that living and there is more to death than dying.
I will not hesitate to live what I believe, because if I do any less, how can I say I believe it?
I do not kneel before monotheistic gods of slavery and submission. Their Eastern ways are not mine, for I am a man of the West.
I do not hate because of the color of a man’s skin. I am not superior because I am white. But neither am I lesser for it!
I am tired. I live each day watching my kin fall into the trap of believing they don’t deserve to be free, of believing that Western culture, European culture, Germanic culture, is bad and weak and evil and needs to be done away with in favor of African and Eastern ways. I am tired of the One God leading to One Way, One Government, One World.
I am Tired of being told that those who came before were less evolved than we are now, when the only thing I see having evolved is the ability to delude ourselves into think we are Progressing and that the world wants to be unified with us, when all they want is to see us submit, die off, and become slaves to their ways and lose our history, our stories, our peoples for the rest of time.
I am Tired of people living as if Life was the only thing out there. I am tired of people denying my gods, denying the meaning of our being, in favor of the secular, scientific, nihilistic dreams of men who dreamed of nothing by emptiness and obedience and meaninglessness.
I am tired of people screaming that violence is not the answer, that we shouldn’t fight back, even as wives, children, husbands, and kin are slaughtered, because to take life ourselves is to horrible and it is better to let ours be taken because we are worthless.
I am Tired. Of being told that my views are wrong. That I am inhuman. Simply because I look out for myself first, my family next, and my kin third and tell the rest of the world to screw off.
I am Tired, and I laugh. Because people scream that there are too many of us on this planet and instead of killing other peoples as is the custom of this world, they kill their unborn children, because it is better to kill one’s own people than to kill for them.
I am Tired, and I laugh. For the soldiers called baby killers by people who slaughter entire nations in the womb, unborn, without a chance to fight for life.
I am tired, and I laugh. Being told that because I am straight, I am homophobic, and therefore I must secretly desire to be gay. I laugh, for what need have I to fear mortal men and their sexuality.
I am Tired, and I laugh. Society raises itself on a pedestal made of sand which is being burned away. When did Peace become the norm simply because weak men grew sick of war? Did the Arab, the African, the Mexican, the Chinaman, or anyone else agree to lay down their arms simply because the elite of the Eastern West wanted to never see death again, knowing as they do that there is no hereafter, hinterwelt, or heaven. I have Valhalla, and do not fear my death.
I laugh. The world turns and the striving of the man who follows the Eastern way will fall to the man of the Eastern submission.
I laugh, for the Christ god has killed his followers, in the destruction of freedom, power, and self obtaining.
I laugh, and I weep. For I am a Heathen man, and my kin are Pagan, and the Asatru shall be strong, but everything ends and I foresee only the destruction of my peoples a second time, a final time, as the next form of the East rises up and lays us low in our graves, and all I can do is pray to the Gods and Goddesses that we die fighting as our ancestors did, taste that lost glory one last time, because I am not sure with so few in number that we can win against those who would see us gone.
I laugh, and weep. Tears of joy, for I know the end I choose, and even if I am wrong and there is nothing after, I lived and died in a manner that I can be proud of, regardless.
I weep, and rise up again. Let come the Christian, the Socialist, the Marxist, the Progressive, and the Muslim. Even the Gods will die, but even after Ragnorok there is life and so too will my peoples rise up one more. A hundred years, a thousand, a million, it matters not, because within my peoples are the blood of the free, the strong, the powerful. Make my people slaves, and we shall rise up and destroy our enslavers. We’ve done it again and again in history, the future will be little different.
I rise up, anew. I am filled with hope, for that which is built on slavery will falter. Only freedom is eternal, as long as we carry our sword in hand to ensure it. Let the Christian beat his sword into a plowshare and submit. Let the Muslim bring his War of Peace.
I am a man. I am a Norseman. I am a Warrior, and a Poet, and a Son of ancient peoples.
My existence will not be denied.
My people will not be denied.
My power will not be denied.
Our power will not be denied.
Our Gods will not be denied.
Our Goddesses will not be denied.
Our future will not be denied.
By sword, and gun, and pen, and magic, and everything within the human spirit, we shall rise anew. We shall be as we are, what we are, where ever we are. And not matter what, not death or slavery shall triumph over my people.
Rise up, my kin. Rise up my people. Throw off the Eastern God and his ways. Throw off the sickness of nihilism. Throw off the chains of believing that in order to be equal, you must be lesser than everyone. Look at thy flesh, look in thine own eyes.
Tell yourself you are worth something. Tell yourself that you can have pride. Ours is freedom, democracy, and equality of men and women. Not from a Christian god, but from the HEATHEN! It was our pagan forebears that gave us these! Do not let the Eastern peoples tell you that the West is Evil. We are Good! We have wrought forth so much that has aided mankind. It is the Western man that reached the Moon, because he dreamed not of serving masters of this earth, but of making his own place in the heavens.
Look to the East, and see how they are. They beat there women, enslaving them. We gave ours rights, and freedom. We spake unto them and called them equal unto us long before the Christ god came unto us. But under the Eastern way we too enslaved our women. Return now to the Pagan, and become free, and let women be women, as they were meant to be: feminine and equal and loved, not masculine, superior, and feared.
The West is Evil, yet it was we who first freed all slaves in our lands. We fought a war about it, but that was a war over who was to say when slaves were to go free, not that they shouldn’t. We killed our brothers, not just to free the slaves, but trying to make we didn’t become slaves to a massive government ourselves. Yet those who hate the West still possess their slaves and are slaves themselves in turn.
Will you stand with me?
Will you embrace your heritage, your ancestral Gods and Ways?
Will you throw off the oppression of those who think themselves more evolved,
because they are cut down by the sword rather than doing the cutting?
Will you stand with me?
I shall I stand alone and take all glory and honor for myself and alone be able to face our ancestors and say: “Behold my mighty deeds. I have lived as you lived and died as you died, a Freeman or my peoples.”
I am a man. I was born this way and I will die this way.
I am straight. I take female lovers, because it is what I desire, despite social pressures and the ideas of other people.
I am a Heathen. I believe in many Gods and Goddesses who demand strength, honor, and nobility from me.
I am White. I come from Scandinavian and Germanic peoples and I feel no shame in this. I am no worse than any other person out there, nor are my people. We have done nothing that everyone else hasn’t done before.
I am Free. I have the Right to speak my mind, no matter how abhorrent others find my views. I have the Right to carry any weapon I desire, because I am a freeman and it is my birth right since old times. I have the right to Life, Liberty, and Property and these rights shall not be stripped from me without me rising up in protest.
I am filled with Pride. I know who I am and where I come from and no one, man or woman, god or slave, shall remove from me my past without first taking my life.
I will die for what I believe in, because there is more to life that living and there is more to death than dying.
I will not hesitate to live what I believe, because if I do any less, how can I say I believe it?
I do not kneel before monotheistic gods of slavery and submission. Their Eastern ways are not mine, for I am a man of the West.
I do not hate because of the color of a man’s skin. I am not superior because I am white. But neither am I lesser for it!
I am tired. I live each day watching my kin fall into the trap of believing they don’t deserve to be free, of believing that Western culture, European culture, Germanic culture, is bad and weak and evil and needs to be done away with in favor of African and Eastern ways. I am tired of the One God leading to One Way, One Government, One World.
I am Tired of being told that those who came before were less evolved than we are now, when the only thing I see having evolved is the ability to delude ourselves into think we are Progressing and that the world wants to be unified with us, when all they want is to see us submit, die off, and become slaves to their ways and lose our history, our stories, our peoples for the rest of time.
I am Tired of people living as if Life was the only thing out there. I am tired of people denying my gods, denying the meaning of our being, in favor of the secular, scientific, nihilistic dreams of men who dreamed of nothing by emptiness and obedience and meaninglessness.
I am tired of people screaming that violence is not the answer, that we shouldn’t fight back, even as wives, children, husbands, and kin are slaughtered, because to take life ourselves is to horrible and it is better to let ours be taken because we are worthless.
I am Tired. Of being told that my views are wrong. That I am inhuman. Simply because I look out for myself first, my family next, and my kin third and tell the rest of the world to screw off.
I am Tired, and I laugh. Because people scream that there are too many of us on this planet and instead of killing other peoples as is the custom of this world, they kill their unborn children, because it is better to kill one’s own people than to kill for them.
I am Tired, and I laugh. For the soldiers called baby killers by people who slaughter entire nations in the womb, unborn, without a chance to fight for life.
I am tired, and I laugh. Being told that because I am straight, I am homophobic, and therefore I must secretly desire to be gay. I laugh, for what need have I to fear mortal men and their sexuality.
I am Tired, and I laugh. Society raises itself on a pedestal made of sand which is being burned away. When did Peace become the norm simply because weak men grew sick of war? Did the Arab, the African, the Mexican, the Chinaman, or anyone else agree to lay down their arms simply because the elite of the Eastern West wanted to never see death again, knowing as they do that there is no hereafter, hinterwelt, or heaven. I have Valhalla, and do not fear my death.
I laugh. The world turns and the striving of the man who follows the Eastern way will fall to the man of the Eastern submission.
I laugh, for the Christ god has killed his followers, in the destruction of freedom, power, and self obtaining.
I laugh, and I weep. For I am a Heathen man, and my kin are Pagan, and the Asatru shall be strong, but everything ends and I foresee only the destruction of my peoples a second time, a final time, as the next form of the East rises up and lays us low in our graves, and all I can do is pray to the Gods and Goddesses that we die fighting as our ancestors did, taste that lost glory one last time, because I am not sure with so few in number that we can win against those who would see us gone.
I laugh, and weep. Tears of joy, for I know the end I choose, and even if I am wrong and there is nothing after, I lived and died in a manner that I can be proud of, regardless.
I weep, and rise up again. Let come the Christian, the Socialist, the Marxist, the Progressive, and the Muslim. Even the Gods will die, but even after Ragnorok there is life and so too will my peoples rise up one more. A hundred years, a thousand, a million, it matters not, because within my peoples are the blood of the free, the strong, the powerful. Make my people slaves, and we shall rise up and destroy our enslavers. We’ve done it again and again in history, the future will be little different.
I rise up, anew. I am filled with hope, for that which is built on slavery will falter. Only freedom is eternal, as long as we carry our sword in hand to ensure it. Let the Christian beat his sword into a plowshare and submit. Let the Muslim bring his War of Peace.
I am a man. I am a Norseman. I am a Warrior, and a Poet, and a Son of ancient peoples.
My existence will not be denied.
My people will not be denied.
My power will not be denied.
Our power will not be denied.
Our Gods will not be denied.
Our Goddesses will not be denied.
Our future will not be denied.
By sword, and gun, and pen, and magic, and everything within the human spirit, we shall rise anew. We shall be as we are, what we are, where ever we are. And not matter what, not death or slavery shall triumph over my people.
Rise up, my kin. Rise up my people. Throw off the Eastern God and his ways. Throw off the sickness of nihilism. Throw off the chains of believing that in order to be equal, you must be lesser than everyone. Look at thy flesh, look in thine own eyes.
Tell yourself you are worth something. Tell yourself that you can have pride. Ours is freedom, democracy, and equality of men and women. Not from a Christian god, but from the HEATHEN! It was our pagan forebears that gave us these! Do not let the Eastern peoples tell you that the West is Evil. We are Good! We have wrought forth so much that has aided mankind. It is the Western man that reached the Moon, because he dreamed not of serving masters of this earth, but of making his own place in the heavens.
Look to the East, and see how they are. They beat there women, enslaving them. We gave ours rights, and freedom. We spake unto them and called them equal unto us long before the Christ god came unto us. But under the Eastern way we too enslaved our women. Return now to the Pagan, and become free, and let women be women, as they were meant to be: feminine and equal and loved, not masculine, superior, and feared.
The West is Evil, yet it was we who first freed all slaves in our lands. We fought a war about it, but that was a war over who was to say when slaves were to go free, not that they shouldn’t. We killed our brothers, not just to free the slaves, but trying to make we didn’t become slaves to a massive government ourselves. Yet those who hate the West still possess their slaves and are slaves themselves in turn.
Will you stand with me?
Will you embrace your heritage, your ancestral Gods and Ways?
Will you throw off the oppression of those who think themselves more evolved,
because they are cut down by the sword rather than doing the cutting?
Will you stand with me?
I shall I stand alone and take all glory and honor for myself and alone be able to face our ancestors and say: “Behold my mighty deeds. I have lived as you lived and died as you died, a Freeman or my peoples.”
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