by Sepka » Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:44 am
It's not so much that I don't "get" the parapolitics, or disbelieve in it, as that I consider it to be background noise. It's flashy and showy, but in the end really signifies nothing more than business as usual. If someone could point to a time or a place where the ruling class really had the best interests of the ruled at heart, where politics was open and honest, and where public officials thought first of those they served, I might reconsider. <br><br>The rich and powerful have always acted in ways calculated to preserve their power and riches. There's nothing new or novel to that, and there should be nothing especially surprising about that. Most importantly, it's not a conspiracy. It's the simple result of human nature. People with riches and power act to preserve them. Hunting endlessly for the lynchpin of the Grand Conspiracy gets you nowhere, because there isn't a Grand Conspiracy. There never was. All there is is a cabal of rich people with common interests, most of whom are completely ruthless and amoral, and all of whom are dedicated to preserving their station in life. <br><br>Most importantly, the ruling class evolves inevitably into the form that it shows because of the pressures put upon it by the ruled. The people in power didn't get there by performing some trick or magickal operation - they got there because they understood the nature of power, and because they understood that no-one, King, President, Comrade or Fuehrer, can rule without conforming to the expectations of those he rules. Part of those expectations involve helping to maintain the people's illusions and myths about themselves and their society. A people get not just the government that they deserve, but the one that they want, consciously or not. <br><br>In the end, the study of parapolitics is simply the study of politics. I can't work myself into a froth because my rulers say one thing but do another. It has been that way since time immemorial, and there's little to no prospect of a change. I strongly doubt that I or most people would be happy or comfortable in a world that ran differently. If the current stratum of rulers were swept away, the ones who replaced them would turn out the same. We all like to talk about idealism, but we're not idealistic creatures. Each of us, with rare exceptions, is most interested in ourselves.<br><br>In short, politics and parapolitics are no more than bread and circusses, to placate the masses. <br><br>Now UFOs and the Fair People, on the other paw... Something very interesting is happening there, and has been since 1947 or so. Such encounters were common in ancient times, then slowly died away until they were almost unknown for the previous few centuries, recalled only in stories thought fit for fools and toddlers. Now, suddenly, they're back again, and with a vengeance. <br><br>Why? What changed? I haven't the first clue, and I'm trying to keep an open mind. Maybe Parsons' Bablon Working had something to do with it. Maybe the government did something ill-advised. Maybe it was just time. Maybe it was none of those, and I'd not recognize the answer if it hit me over the head.<br><br>Regardless... A change has occurred there. Things are not as they were. Something has happened. Study may well turn up clues as to what it was. Politics and parapolitics, though, rumble timelessly along, imperturbable in their course. The outer forms change, the Important Cause is occasionally swapped out for a new one when it grows stale and loses its power to motivate, but by and large things remain as they were.<br><br>In the end, my attention is caught more by an unexplained phenomenon than by a stage play.<br><br>-Sepka the Space Weasel <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=sepka>Sepka</A> at: 2/25/06 6:54 am<br></i>
