From a safe electronic distance, we watch the horror movie of some country disintegrating, the lives of people just like us destroyed for no reason. Why does it happen? The latest one is Syria: ”The Assad regime itself is not so cohesive,” argues Nadim Shehadi of London’s Chatham House. ”What binds them [Syria’s leaders] together is negative tension. They will only trust someone because they know they have some kind of hold over them.” (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/assads-loyal-elite-grows-ever-smaller-20120721-22gt0.html#ixzz21IpxtkT1). Here is a potent idea. Negative tension. We stick to the surface of mother earth because gravity holds us down. Centrifugal force wants to send us spinning off to visit the moon. Is it gravity or centrifugal force which is the negative tension here? Maybe it depends upon your point of view. Nature doesn’t have a point of view (does it?) but humans do. There seem to be endless marriages that hang together by negative tension, once the first thrill of sex dies: there’s the mortgage and the kids, in some countries maybe religion to bind them, and so on. Then there are all those millions and millions and millions of people unhappy in their jobs, kept there by not knowing how else to eat. If they win the lottery, will they work for love? Think next of those huge collections of people we call nations states or countries. How many of their leaders are leaders because the people love them? In some countries we play a game of illusions called democracy, pretending to let the people choose. That’s tricky, and the truth behind it varies hugely, but there is some spark of a positive idea in there. A little positive hope is enough to keep the people together. In other countries, so many of them, it is mostly negative tension. Power in those places comes out of the barrel of a gun. Between the people and the rulers there is zero trust, no matter how many “patriotic songs” they sing. When the gun is lowered, the centrifugal force of sudden hope blows these countries apart.
-
Recent Posts
- 277. Democracy – Comment on a Proposal
- 276. The Mental God Bot
- 275. Live and Let Live
- 274. Come the Revolution
- 273. What Is Going On Here?
- 272. God, defined
- 271. Security & the Neo-feudalists – One Dimensional Chess
- 270. King Kong and Big Data
- 269. Almost the same, almost forever (but not quite)
- 268. Trouble with the Sock God
- 267. All hidden truth to bring to light
- 266. Pity your neighbour’s cat
- 265. The Limits of Education
- 264. Evidence – The Alchemy of the Ages
- 263. When an Arm is not an Arm
- 262. The Factory Makes Six Million Left-Footed Shoes
- 261. Boo! So What Are You Afraid Of ?
- 260. Trust
- 259. What is Your Greatest Weakness?
- 258. From Small Beginnings …
Archives
- April 2014
- February 2014
- December 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- December 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- May 2010
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- January 2009
- July 2008
- May 2008
- July 2007
- April 2006
- January 2006
- May 2003
- May 2002
- March 2002
- April 2001
- November 1999
- November 1991
Categories
Pages