Zombies in Western Culture: A reflection/review

 A twenty first century crisis

 One of the most popular genres  in movies in recent times in the West is that of the zombie. The zombie  phenomenon represents a type of horror movie that has captured the imagination, particularly of 21st century audiences. In 2001, a performance art event took place in Sacramento, California and was repeated in several other US cities. In late 2011 in New Mexico over 9000 people dressed up in zombie gear and goolish make-up to parade grotesquely through the town. Since then there have been many zombie walks throughout the world. 

Cultural malaise

The zombie zeitgeist has now become a pervasive metaphor that has seeped its way into post-modern popular culture. The zombie would seem to have become a symbol of a cultural malaise portraying human degradation and loss of meaning in a post-Christian world. It represents the decay of moral and ontological meaning that has managed to survive after the World Wars and the threat of a nuclear holocaust. This trope has replaced the alien invasion movie genre that was popular in the 1950's when there was a sense of hope for the future after defeating the Nazi and Nipon empires. At this time America had overcome the sacrifices of the war years and was poised to enter a new era upon the back of its industrial might. However, this vision of the future began to fade with the US entrenchment [in foreign wars of questionable morality] and the sacrifice of young people to a war machine that seemed to be motivated by profit. This was the time of mass protests and the beginning of the civil rights movement. As the population entered the new millennium, the vision of the age of Aquarius, and the disintegration of the dreams of psychedelia faded and poverty reared its ugly head in the richest country of the world as the US seemingly pursued policies detrimental to its own people. There is little wonder why the zombie has become so popular. 

Zombie Walk in Stockholm 2017

The living dead

The image of the zombie is haunting and pervasive. They are usually referred to as the walking dead because of their typified hollow staring looks and decaying bodies. They are not alive but not altogether dead either, they are the living dead. They congregate together without connecting or communicating with each other. Their only preoccupation is to eat the brains of living human beings, because of their mindlessness they crave the thing that they do not have. They envy human life but have a consuming need to destroy it. Once a living person is taken by the 'walking dead' their fate is to become as one with this aimless and eternal cabal. There is no escape since their numbers keep increasing exponentially while the depleting numbers of the living are what sustains wanderings. The new norm  becomes a nihilistic world of meaninglessness and decay with body, not only separated from mind, but also from God. 

To some degree it is what befalls a civilisation that is consumed by materialistic capitalism with no regard to the environment. The post-apocalyptic movies of the late 20th century portrayed a degraded world affected by a nuclear holocaust. Later, this was replaced by pandemic genres that demonstrated nature's punishment for the extinction of plant and animal life. In response the Zombie movie is an extension of the pandemic genre depicting mankind's self-loathing and inescapable guilt. Thus the zombie trope shows a world of anxiety and lack of hope. This is truely a post-modern existence with no purpose, no meaning, and no grand narrative. It is a fallen reality with no hope of reconciliation and restoration. This is encapsulated in the recent series called "The Walking Dead" where we see the human survivors struggle to hold back the tide of the living dead. There is never any resolution, the narrative has no end, the series  cycles though reiterations of searching for safe havens only to find human betrayal. What is presented is a downward cycle of decay and hopeless degradation.

Victor Frankl hope

There is obviously a direct relationship between hope and economic agency.  "... it seems apt to say that the anticipation of agency being usurped, of losing one's place in the world in the order of things, is fundamentally what drives the anxiety, depression and suicide associated with economic instability, an effect that is amplified if one's agency in the political arena is also threatened." This quote is quite pertinent, the politicisation of society in contemporary Western culture has replaced religion and has, itself been deified in the form of predatory cancel culture. This is the new emerging, but unsustainable religion that is nihilistic, tribal and unforgiving, one that ostracises others offering no pathway for atonement.

Click on image to go to video discussion

It is no wonder that there is an associated pandemic of youth suicide, particularly with white males. Vervaeke et. al. posit ..."the rate of suicide among whites is almost four times greater than that of blacks, and three times greater than hispanics. ... People have in part, lost confidence in the institutions that are supposed to nurture both individual and collective economic prosperity." Disappointingly this book does not offer hope but does give a brief mention of Victor Frankl's book Man's search for Meaning(1946) as a seminal work that explores the possibility of finding meaning even in the Nazi concentration camps. There is meaning to be found - but sadly not in this book. One starting place will be in a future book review in this series of Frankl's book. Another starting point will be Roger Scruton's book, Beauty, which is the antithesis of zombification.

The Book:

Vervaeke, J., Mastropietro, C., & Miscevic, F. (2017) Zombies in Western culture: A twenty-first century crisis. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers.

 

Links:

Cognitive science and the sacred: Johnathan Pageau and John Vervaeke: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PGglfl5j_I&t=1s

Cognitive science and the sacred: Johnathan Pageau interview with John Vervaeke: YouTube

Synchronicity

 Joe Biden falls up the stairs three times

This morning I was listening to Steve Bannon's War Room Pandemic on Rumble while driving in my car. He was interviewing Sean Parnell, a decorated-ex-captain in the US army in Afghanistan who expressed concerns about the optics of Joe Biden falling up the stairs as he ascended to Airforce One earlier this week. He expressed horror as to what he saw as a humiliating incident that sends a clear message that America is weak. Media commentators are also reiterating that what we are witnessing is nothing less than a metaphor of the degradation of the US under the present administration. Sean alluded to a meme circulating the internet of late which shows Trump playing golf: after hitting the ball from the tee the golf ball flies into the air and the frame switches directly to the above mentioned video  as if Trump's ball knocked Biden over. 

Sean said that it was not a laughing matter because the Commander-in-Chief needs to show that he is strong in the face of his enemies. Of course one should be mindful of the fact that Biden is 78 years old and that is what you could expect from someone in that age group. However, he ascended the stairs unassisted - possibly for the sake of optics. This would be consistent with the careful media concealment of Biden's feebleness before and after the election: basement video interviews, crafted questions, etc. This particular incident is important as there are many US troops overseas and their safety depends upon the appearance of strength. This comment is particularly relevant this weekend as the a top diplomat representing the CCP in discussions in Alaska gave the US Secretary of State an embarrassing rebuke, "The US does not have the qualification to talk to China from a position of strength." This does not seem to be coincidental.

While Biden's fall was alarming it is significant that his fall happened three times (I will explain the significance of this number in a future blog) while going up the steps. Normally people fall while going down stairs, the fact that it happened this way is noteworthy. Also noteworthy is the fact that it happened three times in a row. Most media pundits downplayed this by explaining that the wind blew him over even though there was only a slight breeze (see the two Rumble videos below). This situation reminds me of  a New York Times article entitled "Trump's haunting walk down the ramp raises new health questions" by Maggie Haberman published on 14th June, 2020 (see link below). In this article she affirms:

"President Trump faced new questions about his health on Sunday, after videos emerged of him gingerly walking down a ramp at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and having trouble bringing a glass of water to his mouth during a speech there. Mr. Trump — who turned 74 on Sunday, the oldest a U.S. president has been in his first term — was recorded hesitantly descending the ramp one step at a time after he delivered an address to graduating cadets at the New York-based academy on Saturday. The academy’s superintendent, Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, walked alongside him. Mr. Trump sped up slightly for the final three steps, as he got to the bottom."

It is interesting to note the biased "reporting" reflected in Haberman's false assumptions but also by most of the legacy mainstream media. People normally do not walk quickly down a slippery ramp wearing leather soled shoes. And avoiding water splashing onto your expensive silk tie while drinking is a given. As far as Trump's health was concerned he showed that even Covid 19 could not keep him out of action for more than a few days. When the reporting does not match the facts one begins to wonder what reality actually is!

Jung's Synchronicity 

What really caught my attention was the synchronicity that has presented itself, particularly, since posting "Biblical symbolism of shapes and numbers: Trump and symbolism" in a recent blog.  In that blog I talked about the mystical language of symbolism, or rather, Donald Trump's apparent intentional use of Biblical symbolism and its significance. I also made the analogy of traversing stairs and escalators by travelling up or down (and sometimes the wrong way). The  example of Biden's fall was obviously accidental but it would appear, at times, that even seemingly random occurrences may not be merely coincidental.

This latest presidential incident is a segway into a book that I had intended reviewing next: "Synchronicity" by Carl Jung.  Rather than reflecting or reviewing his work I will share with you some very pertinent quotes (and hopefully you can see the synchronicity for yourself).

"The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality. ... However, ..."the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and requires another principal of explanation. "... He goes on to question our very understanding of space and time as it relates to causality. "... space and time have a very precarious existence. They become 'fixed' concepts only in course of his mental development, thanks largely to the introduction of measurement. In themselves, space and time consist of 'nothing'. They are hypostatized concepts born of the discriminating activity of the conscious mind, and they form the indispensable co-ordinates for describing the behaviour of bodies in motion. They are, therefore, essentially psychic in origin, which is probably the reason that impelled Kant to regard them as a priori categories. But if space and time are only apparently properties of bodies in motion and are created by the intellectual needs of the observer, then their relativization by psychic conditions is no longer a matter for astonishment but is brought within the bounds of possibility. This possibility presents itself when the psyche observes, not external bodies but itself."

Jung's argument is that the very notion of causality and even our notions of time and space cannot always explain the sometimes unexplainable, so called coincidences. What Jung calls Synchronicity makes psychic connections to other entities beyond the individual psyche.

The Book: C. G. Jung (1960) Synchronicity. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Associated Videos: 

Rumble: Joe Biden falls up the steps 3 times

Rumble: Biden falls three times while boarding airforce one

Rumble Commentary: Sean Parnell Questions Biden's Fitness: "Who is running the country."

New York Times Article: Trump's halting walk down ramp raises new health questions

Life After Google

 The fall of Big Data and the rise of the blockchain economy

According to Gilder and other researchers the digital industry is rapidly approaching a "moment of singularity". Supercomputers and the cloud are becoming much more powerful and intelligent with accumulated multi-sensorial data banks that are appropriating data from our brains and bodies with the increasing power to even make many decisions for us. Added to this is the growing realisation that Silicon Valley seems to be merging a neo-Marxist political ideology with their expanding technological vision for the world. Historical Marxist vision for  mankind was one of redistribution of the scarce resources of the society, whereas Google's vision would seem to be one of redistribution of an abundance. However, rather than thrusting us into a utopian world of prosperity, the reality would be an 'algorithmic eschaton ' that 'renders obsolete not only human labour but the human mind as well.

Chimira

This would-be doomsday scenario has been rendered possible by a redefinition of what it means to be human. After the introduction of the seminal 'On the Origin of Species' by Charles Darwin man was re-conceived as just another animal, an ape that has evolved to be just a smarter product of random natural selection. Google's techno-Marxism has taken this development beyond natural selection to the point that it views technology not just as a creation of man but a superior chimera to mankind. 

Fiat system

Abundance is normally measured by accumulated wealth, and in today's information society wealth is a product of knowledge. Moving on from our previous review of circular and linear time (see previous blog - The Fourth Turning) knowledge can be seen as a product of an accumulation of wealth over linear time. Isaac Newton, like many other alchemists finally discovered that gold could not be produced from other elements, nor could it be reducible. For this reason it was seen as an ideal basis for the tangible accumulation and storage of wealth. This notion reinforced Newton's view of the world as a homogenous conception of one universe, one money and one God. However, Google would have us believe that this view has been eclipsed by the notion that money, like the cosmos can be viewed as relativistic and reversible. Under president Nixon in 1971 the gold standard was replaced by a fiat system that meant that the world financial system was linked to the American dollar, a system that relied on printed paper and trust that the American dollar could be a measure by which other currencies are valued.

The Judeo-Christian world view inspired a notion of progress that was linked to human creativity and free will. The Google conceptualisation of progress is also a religious one in that it sees the purpose of mankind as a blend of human and machine cognition that combines technology with metaphysics in a type of cyber singularity. What emerges from this is a creation of a new world order that redefines the very nature of mankind. The apple CEO, Tim Cook envisioned a digital space where everything would be free. However, the reality of this relationship is that if everything is free then you are not the customer but the product. Thus, the accumulation of personal information is the currency of advertisers and corporations. From your perspective, as a personage, you pay in time. Google aggregates your personal information and advertisers use this accumulated data. What is important to techno-conglomerations is that they want you to be kept online and involved for as long as possible. However, what could be Google's demise is its lack of personal security. This is the same problem as our current fiat money system with its lack of trust, particularly when America decides to print more dollars than their accumulated wealth should dictate.

Emergence of the blockchain

What is emerging, instead, is a revolution in the digital universe in the form of a distributed peer-to-peer technology that could spell the end of Google as we know it. This new cryptocosm builds on trust and  transaction security. Every entry in the crypto-ledger is time-stamped and decentralised, it is, therefore, a deterrent for information theft. The main difference is that Google is hierarchical or a top-down entity. This means that information (accumulated wealth) makes it way to the the top of the digital hierarchy:  consolidating wealth to the controlling techno-oligarchs. What is emerging, however, is a newer system that is bottom-up or heterarchical. This bottom-up cryptocosm will enable future users to control their own information and thus retain their identity, knowledge and wealth. 

"Consciousness is who we are, how we think, and how we know. It is echoed in religious institutions and in the form of psychological identity. It is the essence of mind as opposed to machine. It is the source of creativity and free will." Essentially the human mind is not defined by electrical impulses and digital algorisms and it is not determnistic but creative and independent. The machine is part of the deterministic order and, as such, confined to human interpretation and moderation. The emerging cryptocosm is built on the notion of the blockchain platform that supports this type of human intelligence and ownership. 

Cryptocurrency

What has emerged is a cryptocurrency that is enabled by the secure blockchain ecology. As transactions are recorded and timestamped immutable transactions become a form of currency which are much more reliable than the current paper fiat currency. The advantage is that it is also more transportable and more dynamic than gold or paper. After all, gold is merely dug out of the ground and placed in another hole dug into the ground to keep it safe! Just as gold is proof of work (knowledge) the blockchain is also secure and therefore, valuable. Cryptocurrency, like gold, is limited and therefore precious. Bitcoin, a type of cryptocurrency, is an artificially limited commodity, which, means that as more people use it the value increases. Fiat paper currency on the other hand can be printed at will and so the value decreases as more US dollars are made available.

At the end of the day Google will have to change or fall by the way as it relies on the false narrative that machine learning and the 'singularity' can improve human quality of life. However, what human kind needs is a dynamic platform that enables individuals to retain their identity, free will, and independence while at the same time empowering them to achieve more than they could by themselves.

Gilder, G. (2018). Life after Google: The fall of Big Data and the rise of the blockchain economy. New Jersey: Regency Gateway.

The Fourth Turning: An American prophecy

What the generational cycles in time tell us about America's next rendezvous with history

 

In the last two blogs I discussed the notion of patterns and numbers that reoccur in our society. Signs and symbols have been useful across time and space to convey multiple levels of meaning.  Strauss and Howe identify a fascinating cluster of generational patterns of behaviours that enable the reader to understand our current cultural zeitgeist.

Natural structures

Our lives, in many ways, are defined by certain rhythms and cycles that intersect and converge in many ways. For example, each day is governed by a cycle of waking, rising, working, eating, and sleeping. Our daily routines harmonise with the regular rhythms of our clocks. In nature we observe the life cycles of butterflies and experience the rhythm of the water cycle. In many instances time itself is conceptualised as cyclical in that it is geared to the rotation of the earth. The number 4 is related to the seasons of the year, we also think of the four directions (four corners of the earth) of north, south, east and west. Thus, the number 4 is linked to the Earth's rotation as well as the notion of cyclical time.

 

Ancient cosmology

Ancient cosmologies reflected these natural patterns, they had a cyclical understanding of what it meant to be human and part of the natural world. It also gave them a spiritual connection and ontological meaning. From stone age tribal societies to ancient Greece and Rome patterns and rhythms were put in place by mythological gods and spirit-like beings of ancient times. For them, to be fully human meant that they were part of the cosmological patterns which gave purpose and meaning to their existence.  Their cultural lives also reflected the natural patterns and those patterns were incorporated into their festivals, holidays and ceremonies through music, dance and design.
 
In the Greco-Roman civilization cyclical reality was supposedly punctuated by ‘inklings of human improvement"  but the overall members were locked into a purposeful hierarchical position in society. In other words, a noble man is born into a high position and likewise a slave fulfilled the purpose for which he/she was made. In the same way they also viewed the material world as being imbued with  this same ‘Telos’, the idea that all objects are directed towards a specific end. Thus, the entire universe was set in endless cycles and specified purposes to sustain society and to avoid 'chaotic time'. 

Cyclical and linear time 
The spread of the Judeo-Christian monism changed the cosmology of time and space. It created a sense of 'linear time' whereby humankind was no longer fated to 'cyclical time' with its endless patterns and fixed class roles. Linear time had a beginning and an end, it had a purpose and a grand narrative. This was given impetus by the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Reason. Humankind was no longer cast into a fixed pattern of chaotic or cyclical reality but could become a creative entity using reason and inventiveness to move forward beyond the ancient moulds. The key notion was that mankind was created in the image of God and as an image bearer could be creative like the creator of the universe. However, this cosmological view was dependent upon the idea that God is relational and that the divine being had a purpose for the world. In the ancient world the Jewish people had a unique sense of history and an understanding of progress toward higher values and human creativity and improvement.  

In Europe, at the end of the Middle Ages the hermetic fields of alchemy and astrology were abandoned as archaic branches of non-linear space. Technology was developed during the industrial revolution and cyclical time was flattened and no longer completely reliant on seasonal variations. Enlightenment and scientific method reduced the whole into parts and projected modern man beyond the confines of the natural order of things. In the New World,  the prevailing view was that, “Unless there was progress there could be no God in history.” The number three symbolised masculine or linear time that prepresented the progressive narrative structure with a beginning, middle and end. Cyclical time, however, had more or less the same three-part structure but was punctuated with a fourth element that cycled back to the beginning.

 

History is cyclical
Strauss and Howe contend that history is not directionless and not wholly linear either, but can be understood as reoccuring cycles or seasons that progressively move forward in history. In other words time is a series of cycles that move through turnings that follow seasonal patterns. The sacculum is a seasonal segment that is roughly the length of a long human lifetime and eventually culminates in a turning. Each sacculum segment is comprised of a constellation of 4 generations that exemplify 4 Jungian (Based on the 4 generations of the Biblical exodus to the promised land) archetypes: prophet, nomad, hero, and artist. However, periodically there will inevitably be a turning or a new sacculum (4 generations) as each generation adopts different values according to their generational characteristics and proclivities. “A turning is a social mood that changes each time the generational archetypes enter a new constellation." These turnings will eventually reach crisis point, particularly at the fourth turning. 

            
The First turning is a High – an upbeat era of strengthening institutions and weakening individualism, when a new civic order implants and the old values regime decays. (Nomads enter elderhood; Heros enter midlife; Artists, young adulthood; and Prophets, childhood).

The second turning is an awakening- a passionate era of spiritual upheaval, when the civic order comes under attack from a new values regime as Heroes enter into elderhood, Artist, mid-life;  Prophets, young adulthood; and Nomads, childhood. 
 
The third turning is an unravelling - a downcast era of strengthening individualism and awakening institutions, when the old civic order decays and the new values regime implants. Artists enter childhood; Prophets, mid-life: Nomads, young adulthood; and Heroes, childhood. 
 
The 4th turning is a crisis - undecisive era of secular upheaval, when the values regime propels the replacement of the old civic order with a new one.  Prophets into elderhood: Nomads, mid-life : Heroes, young adulthood: and Artist, childhood. 
 
A crisis point

At this present time in American (and possibly in other Western countries such as Australia and Canada) we are approaching a crisis as exemplified by a peak at the fourth turning. Modern societies too often reject the notion of natural cycles: believing that we are inherently more advanced and progressive than our ancestors. We are also increasingly rejecting the history of Western culture and our Judeo-Christian heritage. Our society is no longer anchored to the past, it is often characterised as being chaotic and purposeless, it seems to have no direction and no meaning. In contemporary culture it is expressed in phrases like, ‘if it feels good – do it’ or 'my truth'. In academia this relativity is usually expressed in terms of deconstructive nihilism or postmodernism. It often manifests as a fractured amalgum of chance experience where space and time are viewed as haphazard and events are without purpose. Tribalism and hated for difference is now endemic and chaotic.
 
In the past chaotic time has been discouraged in favour of  civil society and the fostering an ordered relationship to the cosmos. In the present time it has been dominated by critical theories and postmodern fractionalism. Assuming the authors are correct it would appear that this present age is a time of change crisis. When you consider time as seasonal in terms of turnings the huge spans of time will become more comprehensible and history become more important to us. When you view time as cyclical you can see patterns emerge in predictable ways. The end result will be that the culture is eventually renewed and old difficulties will be resolved.
 

Seasons of life

At the end of the book the authors quote Ecclesiaties 3: 1-8

To everything there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

a time tio kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to get, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silent, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time of war, and a time of peace.

The Book:

Strauss, W., Howe, N. (1997). The fourth turning: An American prophecy. N.Y.: Three Rivers Press.

Biblical Symbolism of Shapes and Numbers

 Trump and Symbolism

Ascending and descending

When Trump left Washington on Biden's Inauguration day there appeared an unforgettable media image of President Trump descending the staircase with Melania on his way to Mar-a-Lago. The 'Conversation', a left-leaning Australian academic think tank, noted the significance of this imagery (see adjacent photo). The 'Conversation' made an analogy to another media image of Trump and Melania descending the escalator symbolically heralding his decision to run for the presidency of the United States of America in 2016. He would often refer to this presidential beginning as, "When we descended the escalator". Thus, Trump was seen going downward from a higher state to a lower state - into 'the Washington swamp'. This illustration was in stark contrast to when Justin Trudeau ascended an escalator:  traversing it (the wrong way) and giving the impression that he was ascending to a high position against the downward movement of the escalator. Maybe Trump's descent from Airforce 1 was a type of inversion or  transformation (Who knows?). In any case, at first glance, the dress that Melania wore resembled the apparel of the joker (see below - right) as shown on the joker card. Following on from my previous blog where the fool or the joker (the wild card) can flip the fortunes in a game of cards. In Euchre this card is the highest card, it can be extremely beneficial or very dangerous. In poker it is referred to as the wild card.

The hexagon

Consider the possible symbolism: Mar-a-Lago was originally gifted to the US government as a Winter White House. Also consider that Melania's outfit maybe highly symbolic. The shapes on her dress became progressively larger from the top of her dress to the the hem. The enlarging size of the patterned shapes tended to emphasise this descent as the larger shapes were closer to the viewer. The dark blue at the top (the Swamp) transmutes into the yellow orange at the bottom possibly emphasising a movement towards the light of day, a higher element, or gold.  

Basalt formations in Iceland

Not only were the enlarging shapes and contrasting colours strategic but the hexagon shapes suggest a progressive movement in the direction of stability and permanence. The hexagon is a shape found in nature from minute structures such as DNA, snowflakes, beehive cells, and formations of basalt rocks. In the natural world hexagons usually form strong and stable constructions. It is a very powerful geometric shape, which Biblically symbolises harmony, structure, strength and balance. On Melania's dress snowflake like symbols are also positioned between some of the hexagon shapes making a direct link to natural structures and order. 

The number 17

Not only do shapes have Biblical significance but the language of spiritual semiotics also includes other signifiers such as: animals (e.g. sheep and goats),  colours, shapes and directions such as high low, right and left. Numbers are also very important in the Bible cosmology, whenever numbers are mentioned they often have significant spiritual meanings embedded. For example the New Testament story of the unsuccessful fisherman bring together other symbolic relationships to suggest the reality of transformation and resurrection. 

C17 decked out as Airforce 1 

The symbolic meaning of the number 17 in biblical cosmology is associated with transformation and resurrection, overcoming the enemy and having complete victory. For example, God overcame the rebellion of Noah's day when the rains fell from the heavens and the waters below the earth flooded the earth on the 17th day of the second Hebrew month. Noah's ark with its 8 passengers (meaning of 8 - new beginning) came to rest on Mt Ararat, again, on the 17th day of the 7th month. What emerged was a world that had been transformed with the survivors having, in a sense, been resurrected from the chaotic flood waters. 

In the New Testament another life changing encounter involving Jesus of Nazareth took place at the Sea of Galilee. At that time the sons of Zebedee were beginning to despair after fishing all night in their boat without catching a single fish in their net. However, when they came close to the shore Jesus commanded them to cast their net on the right side of the boat instead of casting on the other (left) side. This time, to their amazement, their net was so full that it was difficult for them to haul the catch in over the side of their vessel. To their surprise they caught 153 fish, this was significant particularly when you consider the Biblical symbolism of the number 17. Each consecutive number from 1 to 17 can be added (1 + 2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 ) to get to a total of 153 fish. This miraculous event was life transforming for the fisherman. They would, hence forth, become fishers of men that would, in turn, transform the world across space and time. 

There are many similarities to the story of Noah's Ark.  Noah and his family were resurrected from a world of chaos (represented by water). The number 17 is also made up of 1 + 7 = 8, in the Bible 8 represents a new beginning (think about the symbolism of the 8 people inside Noah's ark). President Trump appears to use biblical symbolism to convey his message. What is certain is that the number 17 figures highly in his symbolic lexicon. Earlier during Biden's Inauguration Day he made his farewell speech with 17 American flags positioned strategically behind him. 

The Fool Flips Reality

 

The extraordinary events of January 6th this year (2021) will probably live in our minds for a long time to come. The so called storming of the Capitol building in Washington DC was an event likened by the mainstream media and some congressmen as an insurrection that will go down in history as a day of infamy. 

Was it a 'storming', an 'insurrection', an 'affront' to  the American Republic, or was it a false reality enacted on mass media and FaceBook? Was it a circus that would up-stage all other performances to become the greatest show on earth? If there were no human tragedies leading to tragic deaths, would it seem like just some fantastic theatrical event staged in one of the most iconic venues on the planet.

In the picture above we see Jake Angeli on the mezzanine level of the congressional chamber wearing a buffalo/Viking hat complete with horns and animal fur. This is a Man (Oops! - not supposed to say gendered pronouns in the congressional chamber) who looks like he is a refugee from "Burning Man" (Oop, did it again). Jake proudly displayed a conglomeration of tattoos emblazoned across his half naked body. In his hands he clasped the Stars and Stripes on one side and a megaphone in the other. 

He is a not so successful actor often frequenting Stop The Steal rallies and ANTIFA riots. It would seem that he is someone full of contradictions; he is sometimes called 'Antifa Jake' and sometimes a 'QAnon Shaman'. What is certain is that he does not fit the typical profile of either identity. It would seem that he is the proverbial fool or the jester in the King's (Oops) court who, like the modern political cartoonist, ironically depicts the antics of the powers-that-be. The jester uses the ridiculous in such a way that it breaks through the serious reality of the moment with laughter and bewilderment. 

Normally, I would review a book in this blog but this time I will be using some of the ideas that I have gleaned from two Johnathan Pageau videos (follow the hyperlinks below) on YouTube. In each of the videos he discusses the symbolism and role of the jester, joker, fool and comedian in modern and historical contexts.

When the world seems to be upside-down and nothing seems to make sense the joker, jester, fool, or even the comedian can flip reality in such a way that our contradictory, post-modern world can be flipped over. Consequently, there is a possibility that a new reality can break through the masks that we often wear (so to speak - LOL) and real change can be realised. Thus, the role of the fool can be for better (or for the worse). 

For example, Ricky Gervais, at the 2020 Golden Globe awards gave the opening epic monologue that stunned the celebrity audience with jests like "So if you do win an award tonight don't use it as a platform make a political speech. You're in no position to lecture the public about anything." And then, "You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time at school than Gretha Thunburg." While many of the  celebrities in the audience looked like they had been struck by a frozen mullet many viewers applauded his honesty and bravado by uncovering the hypocrisy and false virtue.

In the card illustration above there is a typical joker prancing around in clownish apparel. You can imagine the King watching and laughing with the audience while taking their cue from the king as to whether or not is is safe to laugh along with the monarch. Again, notice that the double image of the king can be flipped so that it can be viewed top-down or bottom-up. Is this like the story of the 'Emporer's new clothes' - no one would dare to disagree with the king. Only the jester could do this with laughter and when the emperor realises the truth he can go along with the joke and save face. But, what is certain is that his reality will have been changed.

In many card games the joker actually becomes the 'trump' card. The question at this time is (12th Jan, 2021), is Donald Trump the joker card that flips the great game. Is he the one that begins to flip the up-side down world that we inhabit. Certainly, he was made to look the fool by the biased media but, like Ricky Gervais, will he in essence, turn things around and enable us all to see reality differently.

Johnathan Pageau demonstrates how the symbology of the story of Christ on the cross. Jesus is whipped and stripped of his clothes and nailed to the wooden cross. A crown made of thorns is placed on his head and he is mocked and his clothes are divided by lot amongst the soldiers. In a strange way he becomes the fool that flips the world view of that time in such a way that his death and resurrection becomes the source of eternal life for believers and empowers the change needed to create a new world order. 

Hidden tribes: Social dysphoria in the time of uncertainty and polarisation

https://hiddentribes.us

Hidden tribes: A study of America's Polarised landscape.

The report (November, 2018) outlines the findings of a large scale national survey of Americans about the current state of civic life in the United States. The report was conducted by 'More in Common', it was designed to identify and promote resilience in  the face of mounting political polarisation and social division. Consequently, the researchers conducted research across a wide diversity of the population with varying lines of social division.

Today many Americans (and other Westerners) feel that they are financially insecure, are socially isolated and suffer from a loss of identity and belonging. Many others suffer from injustices stemming from race, sex, gender, religion and other facets of their identities. These issues have been even more exacerbated by the advent of the Corona Virus. As a consequence, many people would surmise that American society (possibly including the rest of the Western world) are deeply divided, such a sentiment would posit that there is approximately 50%/50% divide, aligning with the two major political tribes.

However, their research uncovered a completely different story. The researchers, in fact, identified seven groups (tribes) that were defined more by their core beliefs,  than identified by a popular perception based on politically correct notions of race, gender, class, etc. Furthermore the research undertaken claimed that these groups were classified  as:

1. Progressive activists - 8%
2. Traditional liberals - 11%
3. Passive liberals - 15%
4. Politically disengaged - 26%
5. Moderates - 15%
6. Traditional conservatives - 19%
7. Devoted conservatives - 6%

Each segment have distinguishing characteristics that show internal consistency of political and social issues. The commonality of the views within each group predict political trends better than demographic, idealogical or partisan affiliation. Despite the differences, interviews conducted with a  large  sampling of American society on a wide range of social issues showed that Americans have more in common than views that should divide them. 

It would seem that in the current age social media and partisan news media outlets emphasise differences that would divide people. Many commentators overreach with claims of racism, homophobia, sexism and a whole host of other dehumanising pejoratives.  In a pluralistic society one would expect that debate and the open sharing of ideas would generate much needed innovation and social progress. However, sensible debate is often shut down due to the overreach of political correctness. The danger is that creativity and considered reflection will also be shut down as a result.  

This social atrophy is not, however, insurmountable and will eventually pass. The researchers of this report aim to give hope to a society that has more in common (particularly tribes 2-6) than we have been led to believe and that with a renewed sense of national pride these positive and essential social qualities may come to the fore.

Gold Coast based political and social media commentator, Daisy Cousens ('Is this the end of social justice'), has recently positioned this report in the context of the Corona Virus Pandemic. She seems to infer that the virus might generate a coming together in a time of a world wide crisis. It is a time when people need to work together to fight an invisible but a real and formidable enemy. As a result political correctness and other trendy views may pale into the background  as common sense and innovation is needed to overcome COVID-19 pandemic within our fragile humanity. 

Links:

Hawkins, S., et al. (1918). Hidden Tribes: A study of America's Polarised Landscape. New York, N.Y.: More in Common https://hiddentribes.us

see also

Heterodox: https://heterodoxacademy.org/social-science-hidden-tribes/