Tag Archives: politics

Carl Jung’s observations about Hitler and the “madness of crowds”

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What Carl Jung had to say about the leadership and characteristics of large groups of people would also seem to apply to social groups linked together by the Internet and bonded by religious causes such as Islamic Fundamentalism:

“There is no question but that Hitler belongs in the category of the truly mystic medicine man…since the time of Mohammed nothing like it has been seen in this world. This markedly mystic characteristic of Hitler is what makes him do things which seem to us illogical, inexplicable, curious and unreasonable….Don’t you know that if you choose one hundred of the most intelligent people in the world and get them all together, they are a stupid mob? Ten thousand of them together would have the collective intelligence of an alligator…. In a crowd, the qualities which everybody possesses multiply, pile up, and become the dominant characteristics of the whole crowd. Not everybody has virtues, but everybody has the low animal instincts, the basic primitive caveman suggestibility, the suspicions and vicious traits of the savage age. The result is that when you get a nation of many millions of people, it is not even human. It is a lizard or a crocodile or a wolf.”

~Carl Jung interview with H.R. Knickerbocker in Cosmopolitan [1938] See: C.G. Jung Speaks; Pages 115-135.

Boys for Sale

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Boys For Sale....
Perhaps this arrangement of boxes could be viewed as an artwork commemorating Maryland’s history as a slave state? Yesterday was the day decendants of the soldiers who fought for the Confederacy honored the memory of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson by participating in a ceremony held at the site of a statue erected to honor those two Generals in Baltimore. See my image set Ceremony Honoring Confederate Soldiers
About 25,000 Marylanders VOLUNTEERED to fight for the Confederacy. I just thought it ironic that this ceremony took place the day before America’s first black President was to be sworn in to serve his second term and two days before the Federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King.

How about a Billion Dollar Coin with Alan Greenspan’s Image On It?

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How about a Billion Dollar Coin with Alan Greenspan's Image On It?
The reverse side of the coin would contain the following quote from Alan Greenspan:
“The whole notion of a debt ceiling makes no sense”
The Treasury could legally mint coins worth enough to cover debts for several years and deposit the coins with the Federal Reserve. The funds would not be used for spending that isn’t authorized and appropriated by Congress, but only to pay debts.
According to the US Treasury Department , the largest currency denomination ever printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was the $100,000 series 1934 gold certificate, which featured a portrait of President Woodrow Wilson. That bill would be worth $1,700,000 in today’s currency.

Regardless of who wins the Presidency, expect to see red/blue gridlock in Congress over taxes.

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Regardless of who wins the Presidency, expect to see red/blue gridlock in Congress over taxes.
I would hope however that Romney’s top priority as President would be job creation and not tax reduction.

UPDATE AFTER THE ELECTION:
If one examines the image, one will notice that the best way to eliminate the gridlock is to remove some of the cars that are RED (i.e. Republican)

Iranian fortune teller? / An Iranian wizard cooks up a “mushroom surprise” (for Halloween)

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Iranian fortune teller? An Iranian wizard cooks up a "mushroom surprise" for Halloween

In response to the question:

“What I don’t understand is the need to control Iran. How does one control a sovereign country without going to war? Both parties are of the mind that they will go to war rather than let Iran have a nuke. If so, then I guess they have both agreed to go to war with Iran because all the sanctions in the world will not stop them.”

I would offer this reply:
The situation brings to mind the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, which occurred exactly 50 years ago. The USA used a combination of diplomacy and a blockade to persuade the Soviet Union to remove its nuclear missiles from Cuba. The USA was successful in its negotiations with the Soviet Union because of what it offered in return for the removal of the missles from Cuba. The Soviet Union was able to use its missiles in Cuba as a bargaining chip to get the USA to remove its missiles from Turkey and a promise never to invade Cuba. The Iranians perhaps could use their purported nuclear weapons program as a bargaining chip. But for what? The Iranians could agree to abandon their nuclear program in exchange for assurances that the USA and its allies won’t intervene in Syria, nor attack Iran.

“Reasoning Together” on Graffiti Alley, Howard St, Baltimore

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"Reasoning Together" on Graffiti Alley, Howard St, Baltimore
As Senate majority leader, Lyndon Johnson became the most effective legislative leader of his time. Johnson believed that finding the middle ground was the essence of legislative leadership. Referring to one of his father’s favorite passages from the Bible, he would say to a Senator, “Come now, let us reason together. . . .” which is an excerpt from the Bible verse Isaiah 1:18.
After he became president, Johnson continued to use his skills as a master legislator. One of the most important laws he pushed through Congress was the Voting Rights Act of 1965. President Obama’s election in 2008 was really the culmination of a push that had its origins in that Voting Rights Act.
The full verse from the Bible is: “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
It’s ironic that Lyndon Johnson, who was such a successful politician in domestic affairs, became so vilified by liberals because of his foreign policy decisions in Vietnam. Being successful in politics is as much a matter of instinct as anything else, and Lyndon Johnson’s instincts failed him 🙁

A visual interpretation of the current state of the Republican Party

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appears to be on the same side as fellow Republican Mike Huckabee, who had this to say about the Republican Party :

“I think that there is just such a toxic atmosphere right now, specifically in the Republican party. I would love to say that it’s going to be all about ideas and solutions, but unfortunately a lot of it is about just being able to say, ‘I’m more angry at the Obama administration than somebody else.’ That’s not what motivates me politically or governmentally. I believe it ought to be about solutions.” –Mike Huckabee, former Gov of Arkansas

The situation with the Republican party could be depicted as a tent plagued with a toxic atmosphere. In the depiction below, the Republican tent is being protected by guards in black wearing gas masks to protect them from the toxic fumes.

And here’s a clothing mannequin depicting a photojournalist about to enter the Republican tent, wearing a gas mask so as not to be overcome by the fumes of the ” toxic atmosphere”

mannequin in clothing store window