> Now that Justin is a rich lawyer, his career as a poor professor of > philosophy derailed by the politics of academia, he should take a > break and travel abroad, which I think will reinvigorate his > political spirits more than any PEN-pals can.
It's not for me to say what Justin ought to do, obviously, but he's always welcome to stay with me while I still live here. We still have freedom of speech here, although the liberals and christianists both want to shut us down. Benito Spinoza was in favour of it, and it's been a tradition since that time here, it's actually very difficult to shut down. I hope some American lawyers will go to Venezuela though, to demonstrate that there also still some Americans at least, who DO respect international legal agreements. >If I am too pessimistic, no one has > explained to me why. The consensus that has emerged > from this discussion is that we should not think to > hard about the odds or the future, but should just > keep fighting. I suppose we must, but it does seem > like trying to empty the ocean with a sieve. I cannot explain your pessimism either, at least not on this list. But these optimism/pessimism themes have no interest for me anyway, I'm a bit beyond that really these days, it's just distracting. Do we always have to fight ? I think often we're doing well enough just by being ourselves, doing our thing, and sharing what we have to share. Mainly I just like to think about the arguments, otherwise I get bored. Personally, I struggle more with myself and getting enough things done. I'm fifteen years behind with my life, because of the hassles I had, mistakes I made, the spying, Hollywood games, media complexities, lying accusations and all that, all the troubles you have, when you get all these people parenting you without your consent. It's demoralising, absurd. You end up with many bad feelings, a confused sense of responsibility, and an empty bank account, and then you still have to do all the stuff you wanted to get done, 15 years ago. I think John Kerry is correct, in stating that the world's governments want Mr Bush to step down, even if he gets lots of corporate handouts in return for his rich handouts to the corporations. The main reason for that is, that the international relations scene has suffered a cultural regression by the unilateral Judeo-christianist imperialism of his cabinet, and that sensible, rational discussions can no longer take place by people who are experienced in the field (with a few honourable exceptions). It basically doesn't really matter who is in power, Bush or Kerry, from the point of view of the financial markets, except that with Kerry, there's a possibility we're still talking sense in international relations and that there's more honesty, rather than superstitious anxiety stories about Moses, the prophets and the apocalypse. Personally I'd vote for the Greens if I was a US citizen. Anything to break up the tweedle-dee, tweedle dum politics. I think America needs politicians who understand that most of the world isn't America, and that they are only one player in the concert of nations, and that America has caused the death of far more people than the USSR ever did. In other words, no more brainless, unscientific ideology as a basis for policy. How are they going to get them ? There must be an absolute stop to the idiotic "war on terrorism", "axis of evil" and other manic, fear-mongering theories, which hide mass murder while the focus is on a few individual terrorists, who, when caught, are treated bestially just to prove who has moral superiority here. Jurriaan
