World Leaders - do we really need them?

 

I had to smile at the lead article in the Economist this week, that was trying to advise its readers what China was going to do about the Ukrainian war. It clearly had no idea how China was going to react, but I suppose  they have to make up some sort of nonsense to fill their pages*. However,they shouldn't worry, as like most managers, leaders, and heads of state such as Mr Putin and Mr Xi Jinping, they haven’t got a clue what they are doing either, they are just better than the rest of us at pretending they do.

For example, the book "On time and water" contains an interview from the 14th Dalai Lama from 2010. In this, his Holiness predicts confidently in his happy laughing style that the 21st Century will be one of peace and that China will become progressively more liberal and tolerant to alternative thinking. Well the Dalai Lama is a wise man, and the 21st century isn't over yet, but when it comes to prediction I'm sure the people of Ukraine and Hong Kong would see him as just human like the rest of us.

Why do you think there have been so many old Etonions as British Prime ministers? Its not because they are taught the skills the job requires, but are taught how to project an image of competence by demonstrating their skills of debate, education and confidence which hide the fact that they are just as useless as the rest of us. It was scientists who got us through the pandemic, not Boris. Implications of Brexit - he had no idea, so he just made it up as he when along with a confident joke or two. Thanks Boris.

Actors and comedians also make great leaders. Ragan and Zelensky spring to mind. Play the part that is required and all will be well. I grew up in the cold war of the 1980's and used to love a show called "Not the Nine o'clock news". Ragan was portrayed as a mindless idiot (which wasn't really fair) and my favorite song written by Mel Smith went "if I had a bomb, and a place to drop it from, I'd drop it on you world leaders, drop it on you world leaders." It would probably be banned today. (I wonder if the internet security algorithms will pick this up).    

I’m becoming more anarchist in my thinking every day. Anarchists are no threat to anyone – they can never get organised to do any harm! Who needs leaders anyway, like the mafia, they all use force to control our resources - have you tried not paying your taxes recently? Ants have been doing just fine without leaders for millions of years by sharing and recognising what needs to be done and just getting on with it.  Read Ant Encounters by D M Gordon if you don't believe me.

Once again many thanks for reading my nonsense, it takes my mind off the unbearable  “misery and folly of the world” as Thomas Carlisle called it. I said in my last post that that would be my "last post" but when I see such rubbish being written as that in the Economist magazine, I can't help but think why shouldn't I chip in with my own. 

*(Incidentally, based on the fact that the Chinese do not worship a God but do worship money, and that the Chinese Communist Party stays in power only because it continues to raise the living standards of the Chinese people, I predict that China will react to the Russian Ukrainian war in order to boost its economy. It will not help Russia and stay neutral thus keeping access to western markets.) 

Update Oct 2022. Boris has been booted out for breaking his own covid containment laws only to be replaced by another useless leader, Liz Truss. Fortunately this economic illiterate could only fool the aged tory membership, but not the financial markets, who saw through the unrealistic policies and forced her to resign. It's amazing that the people who voted for her are such poor judges of character and this sorry saga only proves that democracy only works if the people voting have reasonable level of understanding of the world we live in and don't purely vote in their own self interest that is based on prejudice and delusion. 

Human Progress - Don't make me laugh!!!

 I read Herodotus’s Histories recently and  the events he describes from 2500 years ago have uncanny parallels with today’s news. As the summary on the back of my copy (Penguin Classic) says

“Herodotus’s Histories is the first great prose work of European literature. It’s main theme is the heroic and successful struggle of a small and divided Greece against the mighty empire of Persia - with the underlying conflict between the absolutism of the East and the free institutions of the West”

The book records the story of the massive slave army of the Persian King Xerxes heading for Small democratic free Greece (if you ignore the slaves and womens lack of rights) with the sole aim to conquer and bring the Greeks into his empire. Under the leadership of Leonidas, the Greek advance party of  a few Spartens heroically halt the Persian advance at Thermopylea, and fight to the death in order to give the Greeks time to prepare the defence of their country, The Greeks eventually win the war by abandoning Athens and fighting a sea battle at a location that gives them the advantage. Defeated Xerxes heads home, defeated but still King of Persia.

I’m sure you can see that if Greece is replaced by Europe, Persians by Russians, Spartans by Ukraine, Leonidas by Zelensky, Xerxes by Putin it’s all too familiar to watchers of today's news programmes.

It would appear that Putin has not read Herodotus, which is a pity. If he  had he would know that massive slave armies are not as mobile, skilled or motivated to fight as freemen, who with their voting rights and freedom have much more to lose. They fight to the death to protect their rights. You have to whip the masses to fight for something they don’t believe in and generously reward the elite warriors in order to get them to do the whipping. Free men fight for nothing but an idea. Herodotus learnt this 2500 years ago and recorded it as he thought it was important, Some called him the father of history, others the father of Lies, so you could pick and choose your delusion then, just as we choose between truth and fake news today.

What will happen in our current Greek Tragedy is still to be decided, but if you follow the plot, Ukraine is doomed, but they give Europe time to prepare and eventually push Putin back into Russia. If you continue a few hundred years later Alexander the Great revenges Xerxes and invades Persia, sacks the capital, Persepolis, and continues on the rampage as far as India, making the Greeks just as bad as the invading Persians. So who could the modern Alexander be? Trump with nuclear weapons? Lets hope not.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It seems we have learnt nothing since Herodotus‘s time, and whilst the technology has changed, human nature hasn’t and we may as well be living in the Bronze age. Human Progress is a sham, and we will only start to progress when human nature changes and we all start to use our Brains rather than be ruled by our hormones and selfish genes.

When we start thinking about what we do, how it effects others and the future, and choose to only do things that benefit every one, not just ourselves, when we choose to only do things that make the world a better place, then will we start to make progress.

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I started .this blog a year ago with a “History of the World in a Single object” (please read it) and it now seems I have come full circle. I don‘t think I will write any more, as what else is their to say?
I’ve written to Ambassadors, I’ve had  a letter published in the Economist magazine but so far only 53 people have looked at my blog and I bet only a handful have actually read any of the essays. We seem to be fixated on our tiny screens, too busy destroying the planet and ourselves to  take time to  stop, learn and think, too busy  to look and listen to the whole wide world in all its majesty, grandeur and beauty, that is right there before us.  We don't deserve it.
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I Thank YOU for reading my thoughts, I have no idea if they are right or wrong, wise or foolish, but I know one thing for certain, they are 100% me, expressed freely and without fear from anyone or anything, for which I’m truly grateful. .

Its up to you and others now. Doing nothing is not an option. For me, the cats need feeding and the toilet is blocked!!! 

Make the World a better Place. 

My Love to Every one 

Trevor Prew.
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Mr Putin - it's ok to be Gay

 Dear Mr Putin

I know you read my blog, so as a friend, I would like to give some advice - it’s the 21st Century, it's ok to be Gay.

I know you live in a hyper Macho society, where the Alpha Male rules and the effeminate man is deemed mentally ill, but judging by your recent actions, I can see that it is not making you happy. You say that you feel threatened by Nato, Ukraine, the west, democracy, the internet and people protesting on the streets, but I’m not buying it. How can a man in control of over 1000 nuclear warheads feel threatened?

Have you heard of Toxic Masculinity?  It refers to the imagined “rules” that men need to act tough and avoid showing all emotions. It leads to damage of their mental health and to suffering both  physically and emotionally. Well I‘ve seen you playing ice hockey, strutting bare chested, etc and don‘t you think this is over doing it a bit? Aren’t you displaying classic symptoms of Toxic Masculinity, over compensating for the real you?

So, If you need to come out, and declare the truth, be brave, have a word with Mr Macron, he‘s French, he will understand. If you do, I can guarantee that you will feel a whole lot better. It will be a release of the real you, a truthful and honest you that will no longer feel threatened by the world.  And the world will learn to love you as you really are, unconditionally.

Have you seen drag race? Did you enjoy it? How magnificent you would look in a big taffeta meringue dress and high heels.

Much Love


Trev   XXX

(if you are wondering why I wrote this,  I very much doubt if the Russian army would fight for a Gay leader, so spread the rumour - Putin is Gay! )

How do we break the cycle of endless wars?

 It is wishful thinking on the part of Mr Harare (author of Sapiens) to believe that there have been long periods of human history where peace predominated.     

As history is one unending tale of misery and woe, he refers to prehistory  (ie archaeological and palaeontological evidence) to assert this claim, but as knowledge of what our prehistoric ancestors got up in their day to day lives is extremely limited, I would say that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

I would point out that primate behaviour does include troop warfare and killings, and, as  we evolved from the similar primates, I think it is highly unlikely that in the gap between the apes and our historic period, there is an idyllic “garden of eden” when humans didn’t fight each other. Such thinking comes from our mythology, not archaeological evidence

Humans need to face up to what they are - which isn’t very nice - and only then will be able to address the problem and change our nature.

We should start by asking  why do we fight wars? Taking the current war, the Ukrainians are fighting for their independance and Russia is fighting because it believes it can win. Russia would not have invaded if it was not sure it could not.                

The economic and technological advantage of one group over another means that the leaders of the more powerful country will profit from the war thus increasing power and status of that country. The temptation of easy pickings is too great if you have machine guns and your opponents have swords.
The leaders, elites and warriors want to increase their wealth status and power, and if poorly defended peoples of a different culture are nearby, the easy way to get it is to raid, war and kill, using your technological advantage, rather than trade, negotiate or co operate. Humans usually take the easiest path, not the right path.

So why do males, (rarely do females fight) want more wealth status and power? The answer comes from evolutionary biology. Powerful, wealthy, high status men get the best pick of the women and lets face up to it, women like powerful, wealthy high status men, who will provide excellent homes, protection and support to bring up their offspring. Aren’t 50% of people in Asia descended from Genghis khan? Didn’t Russian soldiers rape lots of German women at the end of the second world war? Do homeless men have wives or girlfriends?

So to stop wars we have to change human nature, or more bluntly female sexual selection. If women no longer see the profits of war as a peacocks tail, war would stop instantly. If women said, on mass “if you start a war - I don't think that's attractive, so no sex for you” peace would come swiftly. I’m not a misogynist, I love my partner and women, and I’m not blaming women for wars - men, not women start and fight wars, I’m just trying to highlight a way of breaking the cycle of humans fighting wars for ever more.

History can only teach us so much. Humans are animals with atomic weapons and need to evolve fast. Education should not specialise if humans are to become wise.

TV footage of the horrors of war should not be censored. Everyone should see what humans do to other humans and be revolted by it. The truth will bring about change.