Is it really a Wonderful Life? Or a Wonderful Lie?

I love you truly, truly dear

Life with its shadows, life with its fears

He really has two choices.

• He can go mad, descending into a pit of alcoholism and drug addiction as he seeks to escape from the cold, hard world which he finally sees…
• Or he can go full Potter.

The thing is, George Bailey has seen two different realities. And the horrible realization is that they are actually the same reality.

Oh, in the one he in which he lives, things are inherently nicer — for him. Sure, his niceness has created a bubble of goodwill, charity and Christmas cheer. But take one step outside of Bedford Falls…and it’s Pottersville.

Sam Wainwright, the plastics millionaire lives in POttersville. He is betrothed to Mary but actually has a piece on the side the whole time, as evidenced by the fur-clad bimbo massaging him while he coos at his naive, small-town girlfriend and barks at his so-called best friend, George Bailey, a big-eared sucker whose physical appearance and inherent ‘’goodness”— read “stupid naivete” causes Sam to mock him with a vicious hee-haw, because in Sam Wainwright’s eyes, George Bailey may be lovable…but he’s basically just a jackass.

What about Uncle Billy? An alcoholic nincompoop employed only because George is too soft to throw him out on the streets, a man who uses George and joyfully allows him to go to prison for a crime he commits.

And don’t get me started on Nick, the cheerful manager of Martini’s bar. An ethnic man who exemplifies the working class spirit of the immigrant class, a ccharming example of the Melting Pot of America in one reality; but change a few things and he becomes a vicious violent asshole who literally sprays water or rum or something in an old homeless drunk’s face and then has him thrown out face first into the snow, basically condemning him to death by frostbite and hypothermia.

What about his brother, Harry Bailey, the handsome war hero? A man who gleefully uses his inherent privelage to sexually harass and abuse their African American maid? George turned a blind eye to that all his life.

And Violet? He sees her as little more than a glorified prostitute: a human one with a heart of gold in his reality; an angry fucked up borderline personality in the reality without him.

Mr. Gower. Was it really an accident that he put poison in the diphtheria medicine? Or was it the raging, senselessly vengeful act of a man driven half-mad by grief for the son taken away by influenza? This is a man who fucking beats his own twelve year old employee in his already deaf ear,drawing blood fromit. Of course he comes to his senses, later, once the booze has worn off. But this shit happened in the REAL world, not the world in which George didn’t exist.

What about the affable, jovial Ernie and Bert? A cop and a cab driver, singing in two part harmony:

I love you truly, truly dear

Life with it’s shadows, life with it’s fear

In this seemingly innocent couplet, we see the two warring notions of It’s a Wonderful Life brought to life: and we see the cab-driver, who moments before demanded a tip for his service and was rewarded with water from Bailey’s fedora, a metaphor for the bourgeousie pissing on the proletariat if I’ve ever seen one. Overcome with sentiment he kisses the horny brow of the cop; and the cop responds with fiery violence. Again, the strange dual theme of love vs violence and fear. (There are other homophobic nods in the movie too, most notably the referal to George and Clarence as ‘pixies’ by the thuggish goombah Nick.)

But in the other reality, we have Ernie, the cab driver, the angry working class prole, whose wife “took the kid and ran off”, willing to use the strong arm of the law to beat down a man whose only crime is recognizing him!

Bert, a police officer so enraged by a blow to the face that he shoots his fucking gun into a crowd of innocent bystanders, heedless of the consequences!

And, really, the working class poor George supports with his housing projects are good people. He makes them so with the conviction of his charitous, ultimately Christian belief. He wills their goodness into existence and uses his own financial capital to make it so…because he can’t really bear to be the big business mogul ‘with a harem of wives’ that he always dreamed of being.

But what about the other denizens of Bedford Falls? The man who knocks him out for berating his wife, who George blames for his daughter’s head cold — where does he fit in in the happy utopia of small-town America that Bedford Falls exemplifies?

With this man — the teacher’s husband —we see that not everything in Bedford Falls is a Christmas postcard of a bygone era. There is an anger underneath the surface. There is an inhuman machine of the War effort, where people are separated into soldiers sent off to die on a distant sea; there is the Great Depression, a bank that goes under, robbing most of its patrons of their savings? You don’t even have to step outside of Bedford Falls to see ugliness and brutality, viciousness and inhuman suffering. 90 percent of the town is Pottersville. The ten percent which isn’t isn’t only by the grace of George Bailey, who literally sacrifices his dreams and ambitions to make it so. Only to see it all go away in a horrifying movement of fate which enables Potter, the lord of the town ‘the King’, as Clarence puts it to rob him of his firm’s money and thus, his entire life. In one fell swoop, Potter is able to absolutely destroy a man with a large and loving family and wipe out the lifestyle of an entire class of human beings who are just trying to get by. And that is the world that George sees when he decides to commit suicide.

Certainly, George Bailey is special. He does do good for people. He believes in people and it is his belief that makes his life bearable. But he has, unconsciously, constructed a bubble. The ‘good’ bubble he lives in is by no means defining. There is a whole world out there, a world of suffering and pain and hunger and utter human-on-human savagery.

Maybe this is the positive message. WE humans create, through charity and goodwill our own reality, as George does. But most people are not like George. Most people are like, well, Ernie, Bert, Nick. Prisoners of fear, of shadows: in thrall to their context.

So when George accepts the money from his ‘people’ does he sign his soul over to the devil, even as he gives an angel his wings?

For what is he doing but accepting his proper fealty from his own peasantry, a populace to dumb to realize that they create their own reality? A peasantry he now knows is ‘good’ only because George Bailey has the power and financial resources that allow him to will it to be so.

A few economic tweaks and you get broken homes, violence, horrific deaths.

This is a man who has been driven to commit suicide. What is left for him but endless depression as his illusion of a good and gentle world is completely shattered? Only the comfort of Mr. Gower, the comfort of the bottle, of the syringe…or the comfort of material possession.

Or he can accept the world as it is and use it to his advantage.

The money George Bailey receives is more than just salvation. It is the seed money for his own cruel aristocratic business empire. And the new Bailey will weave his webs like a scurvy little spider just like the Old Potter did. 

Because the Wonderful life he has carefully, if unconsciously constructed may actually be...a Wonderful Lie.

But maybe there is a third path he takes. Maybe, in realizing that he is actually the creator of the goodness in his world, he decides to continue to do that. Perhaps he goes into politics to create greater, larger ‘good’ realities.

If so, how does he fend off the temptations of corruption, when he realizes that inherent good does not really exist and is in fact self created?

What do you think of the new smoking ban passed by Parliament, but not yet passed into law in the Czech Republic?

As a non-smoker, I actually don't care about smoke in pubs. I don't go out that often but when I do I don't mind a properly ventilated but slightly smokey pub. 

I remember when I first came here everything was shockingly different from how it was in the USA. Fashion, the food people ate, the fact that in a crowd of humans there was real body odor; mullets were still prevalent and proudly worn, due to the popularity of ice hockey player/superstar Jaromir Jagr, while the grunge era in the early nineties had ruthlessly put that hairstyle to  death as far back as the early nineties in the USA. My first boss, Lenka came to work wearing THICK wollen socks with sandals...Wow! My jaw dropped. 

There were still some holdover pubs from the old days that were completely devoid of mood lighting or decoration: just a white floor with basic tables and chairs, no pictures, no music no frills; just a bar and a pool table or a fussball table. Dudes listened to old-school heavy metal like Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath and the beautiful women listened to Abba and disco. 

You'd go to the swimming pools and all the men wore speedos...regardless of fitness or aesthetic considerations. 

You'd go to the disco and see these delightfully cheesy guys dancing with each other with joyous abandon;  in the USA they'd either be being gay or deliberately provocative. Here it was just FUN. 

Cars drove way too fast down the road and if a kid climbed a tree and happened to fall out of it, his parents didn't threaten to sue. Corporate visitors to local companies were cheerfully chaperoned to pubs and even brothels and it was all appropriate: the Germans came here for that kind of thing and looked forward to it.

People watched ancient shows from the seventies and eighties; Columbo and M*A*S*H were all the rage in 2003. 

And all this was a decade after the Revolution, when things were really nuts. I just caught the tail end of it all(which was, in fact, why I came when I came: when I heard that the Czech Republic had voted to join the EU in 2003 I instinctively knew that something was going to be lost.

It wasn't all roses, of course.Hookers lined the roads of the German/Czech borders; sexual harassment was legal and labor rights were often abused. 

But the thing is it's different. It's all respectable now. Or at least a little more so. There was something charmingly unironic and uncool about Central Europe that is fast disappearing. Czech people chortle about the socks-n-sandals thing like everybody else in the Western world; people are more perfumed and groomed; there is hardly a mullet to be seen. Nowadays everybody all over the world watches Game of Thrones on Sunday or MOnday evening and talks about it all over the place. 

The culture, which was once a perfect balance between the free chaos of the East and the ordered glossy over-regulated West has gone all but completely German. It's been ordered all to fuck and back. The one hold out, besides the politics and dodgy roads in some parts of the country, is the gloriously unkempt look of the public spaces. I expect that to change too. Of course if the EU/NATO fails, which is looking more and more possible and the Czech Republic decides to re-enter the Russian orbit rather than the German orbit, things will go back again, I guess. But there was something perfectly balanced about things then. It's all frightfully Western now.

So when I hear about the ban on smoking that the Czech Parliament voted in today, one of the last countries in Europe to do so I can't help but feel a little nostalgic. I don't really care one way or the other to be honest.  

Jana, who has never smoked doesn't like it either; she prefers that pubs be non-smoking out of choice; and in the light of the new EET regulation, which the common person has been totally fooled into thinking will be good for the country when really it will only be good for Agrofert and Ondrej Babis, that there are just too many regulations and blanket bans on things nowadays.

But you know, as for me, the issue is more personal and deeper: it's simply that I kind of like my foreign countries to be...y'know, foreign.

Do you think America falling apart?

I’m only asking because the last few years has been chaotic in America. The country seems like its divided with all the racism and hatred. TBH, I’m American myself and use to love it. But now I look at it and I may never go back due to all the racism and hatred in that country. (I’m in Canada now)

The questioner is an expat in Canada. As a long-term expat, myself, I think it is helpful to remember that viewing the USA solely through the eyes of the media(US media, Canadian media, or whatever) always leads to a rather warped impression of what is happening on the ground in America. Media is there to SELL a narrative. Often when an American visits the USA from abroad it’s shocking how…less insane the country seems. Because outside it seems completely insane, but it always has.

I don’t think that the USA is falling apart. I think the whole world is falling apart.

In the USA I see several problems that are alarming.

1. A rise in hate-related crimes and scapegoating of minorities.
2. An increasing divide in factions, with a real lack of communication and dialogue. This leads to the following of two separate ‘Truths’ and the blind belief in propaganda(while labeling the other side’s Truth propaganda.) It’s not only a war of competing narratives: it’s a war of outlooks, of philosophy. People confronting truths outside their echosphere are reacting with rage and hatred: which is how people react when their vision of reality is shown to be faulty.
   
   People like to claim this is regional but red areas have blue people and vice versa.
   
   In my opinion, people are not talking enough to each other, the people they know who disagree with them.
3. America is clearly very very ill-served by the traditional two-party system, which I defended for years. But now I really think that attitudes are such that many, many people are not satisfied. This is leading to problems beyond the realm of the political. It’s becoming a societal problem where people are being pushed into two different camps. (Not literal camps—yet.)
4. I have a very serious fear that Trump, who EVERYBODY underestimates, is going to have a historic lack of checks and balances to the kleptocracy he is instituting. Congress are useless. Almost all of them fallen to their knees and will be giving abject tribute to Trump, mark my word. HIs think skinnedness might lead him to actions which Congress could stop. But I am pessimistic that they will. And he’ll pack the court, of course, if he gets the opportunity.
5. In general there is something in American discourse that ignores things that it doesn’t want to see. One side of this is ‘political correctness’(a term ridiculously overused by the Right but not necessarily a useless one); The Right has it’s own version of turning a blind eye to things, too though. It has it’s own set of taboo beliefs that can not be uttered. There just isn’t a readily available term for it, like PC.
6. When Trump does not—cannot—deliver on his problems to revive the white working class, there will be scapegoating and nobody —NOBODY — in American political history plays the media as adeptly as Trump. He is a goddamn virtuoso, which is why I don’t get why people keep saying he is an idiot.

The internet is bringing a lot of social problems to the fore that have hitherto been unknown or ignored, which has created movements like Black Lives Matter. BLM though is not tearing the country apart, in my opinion, though they might have their extremist members too. It’s the reaction to their message that is threatening. White people are basically afraid of black people in America, in my opinion. Especially, and tellingly, in areas or sectors or classes where they know very few minorities.

Again, I think that dialogue is needed. It is the answer to all these problems. I don’’ mean serious talking about issues. I mean just hanging out with other people who disagree with you and finding things in common. For example, it’s much harder to hate a man you work with compared with hating a mythical creature peddled to you by racist propagandists.

I do fear that history is moving and that the world is falling under dark times. There are many pressures facing the entire world and the USA, big and insular and semi-isolated as the society is, is not immune to these changes.

• Warming temperatures is helping to create political friction in the Middle East and displacing people (refugees)
• Western countries which have been centers for wealth for a long time are feeling pressure from refugees.
• Western populations are aging and heading for uncharted territories because of this.
• The Internet is changing the way humans interact and look at the world and we really haven’t learned how to handle it yet.
• Robots (and eventually AI) are increasingly doing the work of human beings and leaving workers hanging. This is increasing instability and class divisions. And ultimately it might mean that no one buys the products that the robots make because no one can afford to.

The whole world is falling apart right now and America along with it. History is moving and there are going to be changes and they are going to happen quicker than anyone expects. The bubble has popped.

What are you banned from?

I am banned from singing at the Mercury Cafe in Denver.

Back in 2000 I formed a songwriting duo with a friend of mine, Micah. During that time we wrote about 30 or 40 songs in a short time, and a half dozen or so were actually pretty good. He was a great rhythm guitarist who know a lot of chords and who came up with pretty cool, logical progressions. (That perhaps were a bit over my more punk/country oriented head.)

We performed them at a few open mike nights around Denver, and we were generally well-received.

We were excited to play the Mercury Cafe open mike night, as Mercury Cafe was known as a centre of artistic activity: I had read poetry there many times; there were punk rock shows upstairs. It prided itself on being one of the only venues that would host the Dead Kennedy’s back in the eighties and it still had a reputation as an artistic institution in 2000 — probably still does.

To our disappointment, the snowy night we played there, no one came. We were the only performers in the house and there were no patrons there but us and the runner o the open mike night.

So we decided to just turn it into a rehearsal and we performed all of our songs including a few ribald ones that weren’t really finished. One of them did have some lyrics with sexually frank lyrics, but I thought I had heard and read much worse than that there.

The next time we came we were told that we were not allowed to play there, as our lyrics were ‘obscene.’ I was surprised —shocked, in fact, that this bastion of artistic expression….did not allow us to play our songs. We left the joint. And I never went back.

Soon after that me and my friend’s songwriting partnership ended.

Written November 15

ASOIAF/GOT: Did Tywin love Jaime in anyway?

I think that he was proud of Jaime’s prowess as a swordsman, his good looks and basically anything he did that added glory to the Lannister name.

But I don’t know if that is love.

We are moved to please them, to make their lives happy. At the same time, we are also compelled by life to teach them lessons that benefit them in life. Therefore, every parent has to strike a balance between ‘love’ and ‘authoritarianism’.

Some parents stray way too much on the ‘love’ side. These children grow up spoiled and unable to deal with the blows that life throws at them.

Some parents stray too much on the ‘authority’side.

Such was Tywin. He definitely wants Jaime to rule the Westerlands as his heir when he dies. He definitely wants him to carry on the family name.

But if he had a side that loved Jaime…it’s tricky to say. I’d say the evidence for or against is not really there.

I like to think he did, though showing love is something he might not have been comfortable with.

All of his children seem to fear him more than love him. Cersei reflects to herself that the only person who ever saw Tywin smile was her.

If you can’t smile at your own son…can you love him? Serious question.

Written November 4

ASOIAF: Are there any valid theories as to how the 'unkiss' will affect events in future books of A Song of Ice and Fire?

Not only the unreliable narrator aspect, but especially the comments by George R.R. Martin that it will eventually mean something and that it is a much more important lapse in memory than an earlier one of Sansa's.

I have my own theory/prediction but you are not going to like it.

This is going to be unpopular — but remember, this is only MY theory: the question asks for predictions and theories.

And the answer is YES there are some.

Here is one. Whether it’s ‘valid’ or not…(shrug) I haven’t had it officially approved by the Offically Authorized Theory Validators or anything. Until GRRM writes it, it is pretty much my own story. I think it would make a good one.

Anyway, I developed this theory because a couple of years ago I asked myself the very question that the question here is posing…and this is just the narrative I came up with. I haven’t come up with another. Maybe someone else has.

Sansa and the Hound and the Unkiss that Binds Them Theory

1. WE know the Hound is on the Quiet Isle. I mean, we knew already, but Season 6 has confirmed it for the few stubborn hold outs there were.
2. I believe that the Elder Brother might have been one of the three knights that met with Littlefinger in A Feast for Crows. (One of them, if you remember, was Shadrich, who we know is searching for Sansa for Varys. Another one of them, though, physically kind of matches the Elder Brother— though he had a stubbled head, not a bald head. Fun fact: when you stop shaving your head, you develop stubble.
3. Whether the above be true or not, I firmly believe that Sandor Clegane will attempt to rescue Sansa. He loves her in a way; and he will be looking for his own redemption. And I think there is some Beauty and the Beast tale that GRRM is playing with with Sandor and Sansa…but, you know, subverted.
4. Here is the catch: Sandor Clegane’s rescue attempt will not succeed. Because of Sansa, perhaps: because she is mooning over Harry the Heir, or maybe because she will have just been Stockholm Syndrome-d by Littlefinger..
5. Sansa is going to remember something that didn’t happen. But it is not going to be a kiss. Her false memory will have blossomed.
6. It’s going to be a rape she remembers. Maybe it will be planted there by LIttlefinger…maybe it will come up on its own.

And there will be fall out…for the Hound, certainly. And I think ultimately this is going to somehow lead to Sansa’s doom.

(Then the Hound will be sent in chains to King’s Landing. For Cleganebowl, of course.)

The memory is false of course: Clegane says to Arya I should have fucked her bloody! Implying that he didn’t.

It may be that the idea will be suggested to Sansa by one of her captors…and her fertile imagination will take over from there.

But who are the nobles of the Vale going to believe? A vicious monstrous thug? Or a traumatized beautiful little girl with tears in her eyes, the descendant of kings, the distant relative of the Royces and Lysa Arryn’s own niece?

My theory is that the unkiss shows that Sansa is becoming a little unhinged due to the massive, long-term stress she is under; and her all-too-willing eagerness to disassociate with reality sometimes.

Now I love Sansa, as my many posts in support of her indicate. I hope that she ends up the badass Queen with a heart of gold that some of us root for. But her story may not be the triumphant one we wish it to be.

Written November 9

ASOIAF: Did Tywin sleep with Shae out of pure spite?

Original question was: Did Tywin sleep with Shae out of pure spite?

Spite, yes, it it’s purest, vilest essense. That, and the natural desire to get your rocks off with a fine-looking woman.

Of course, it is popularly believed by pretty much everyone that Tywin was a hypocrite of the first order, basically banning his son from having sex while he himself rolls around in whores, albeit in a more clandestine manner.

But, imagine having a son.

Having his first girlfriend brutally gang-raped. Forcing him to join in.

Giving him the worst, (literally) shittiest jobs you can find for him.

Seeing him succeed at all of them. See him distinguish himself in not only one but two battles. See him broker two great deals with two rival houses turning enemies into allies while a fifteen year old boy kicks your bald ass all over the Riverlands.

So what do you do?

You give all the credit to Littlefinger, his brainless sister Cersei and your son’s hired thug; give him a further shitty job trying to unravel Littlefinger’s finances; you preside over two of his murder trials; you condemn him to death; and on the eve of his execution you fuck the living shit out of his girlfriend.

Your son’s girlfriend. The night before he’s sentenced to die.

I don’t care how horny you are; I don’t care if you have some suspicion about his paternity; I don’t care if your son is physically disabled and you think that makes it look like the gods have cursed you. I don’t care.

You just don’t do that.

Unless you fucking HATE your son.

Game of Thrones: Are the Starks all a bunch of idiots?

Yes, they are idiots.  For trusting other human beings.

Ned was an idiot for not wanting to kill three innocent children and for trusting Littlefinger. Oh, he had no reason to distrust Littlefinger; and he certainly had no other choice, really. But he should have known.

Catelyn was an idiot for trusting her childhood best friend who almost died for her. She should have known.

Sansa was an idiot for….uh…like…not taking up a weapon and bursting out of her confines in the Red Keep, slaying all the guards and knights standing in her way. Just like those idiots in concentration camps or the gulag.

Arya is an idiot for…wait. Arya is not an idiot because she trusts no one.

Robb was an idiot for not expecting his bannerman to betray him; and for not predicting his murder in an unprecedented atrocity that is almost unheard of in Westerosi history. I mean, anybody could have predicted that, amiright?

And JON: talk about an idiot. Takes a hard and unpopular decision for the sole purpose of saving the entire human race. How stupid!

Of course, he should have expected his subordinates to knife him in the back(and the gut, and the throat and the heart.) He should have KILLED THEM all. A pre-emptive strike on the Men of the Night’s Watch? How else to save the…er, Men of the Night’s Watch?

Meanwhile let’s look at the "smart" actors of the series:

The Lannisters:

• Papa Lannister has been shot on the shitter by his own son.
• Cersei Lannister has had all three of her children killed. One of them self-defenestrated just to piss her off.
• Jaime Lannister is, well, an ineffectual nincompoop for the most part*; he can’t fight; he can’t protect his kids; his sister-lover is a crazy-ass bitch.
• Walder Frey: the whole Realm laughs at him and hates him. He was fed his own children — including their disgusting and mossy toenails (every one knows that Freys don’t bathe)— before having his throat cut. Yum.
• Alisser Thorne, currently cross-eyed, blue in the face and hanging from an ice-cold gallows.
• Roose Bolton had his baby and wife eaten by dogs; he himself was stabbed in the heart by his own son.
• Ramsay Bolton, eaten alive by dogs sic’ed on him by one of the idiots, one of the suckers.

I don’t know. I think I’d rather be an idiot than one of the smart ones.

*I am obviously referring to the show in this post.

What do you think of the anti-Tolkien backlash in modern fantasy?

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a fantasy author who is truly anti-Tolkien. Other than Michael Moorcock, who is there? I’ve seen a few critiques of a few aspects, but most authors recognize him as one of the main pillars of modern fantasy.

Having said that I have read a more than a few fans who don’t admire the Lord of the Rings. I think there are a number of reasons for them.

This kind of thing leads to an irrational backlash.

1. Tolkien is rather weak on female characters. Oh, he has a few interesting ones if you dig beneath the surface; but they are not readily apparent to casual fans.
   
   And in a post-Jackson fantasy world, this fact seems even more heightened. Frankly speaking, some women understandably just don’t relate.
2. In a surging genre that in many ways is in its golden age and where Robert Howard-influenced fantasy seems to have made a strong comeback, Tolkien probably seems rather quaint. Again if one digs beneath the surface, one finds that not to be the case; but digging beneath the surface of Tolkien requires patience that not all fantasy readers have.
3. Tolkien tale of powerlessness triumphing over ultimate power is timeless; yet Tolkien is very much of his time. The Lord of the Rings is very much the work of a man who grew up in a mighty empire in a world that has vanished as definitively as Doriath or Gondolin. Younger readers, divorced of real-world context, simply might have a harder time relating. Modern fantasy with it’s tinges of post-Vietnam, post-Holocaust themes, fits more snugly in the milieu of today’s mores and attitudes.
   
   It’s always been somewhat of a young readers’ genre. The political stances of younger authors like Joe Abercrombie (whether expressed intentionally or not), couched as they are in modern irony and cynicism, seem more real and honest to those young readers.

As to what I think of it…well I don’t agree with it. But people are free to feel how they will. The Lord of the Rings(and attendant stories of the same world, like Silmarillion) will always be one of my top epic stories of my life.

Time has proven the Lord of the Rings to have real staying power. If it fades somewhat in history, well that is par for the course. Even Moby Dick or Faust seems stale to many modern readers. That doesn’t lesser their value; only their commerciality.

Has the Truth become 'a matter of opinion' rather than 'a matter of fact' for the modern American voter?

Yes, and not only in the USA.

In every Western country.

IN the old days, the rational man formed his opinion based on the facts that he processed. But that is all changed now. It is a new world.

Nowadays, the rational human being forms his or her opinion based on the prejudices, ideas and feelings they have; then they go looking for facts to support their opinions; using their general belief in the way things are ordered as a compass.

It is a mess, but that is the only way to go about it.

If Putin says one thing is happening in Syria; and Obama says another, who does the rational man believe?

He could choose to believe neither; or he can decide whom to believe depending on which one he deems the most trustworthy based on past interactions that he has had with this person’s image in the media.

That is one example; but it applies to almost any example in politics in almost any country in the world right now.

In fact, when you think about it, it has always been like this. One of the chief differences between our time and the past is that in the past, the common man was always the recipient of propaganda and information; now, though, he also joyfully relays it to other ordinary people not by word of mouth but through the awesome transmitter he has at his own desk, the computer—communicating to potentially millions of ordinary people who he is connected by via a web of acquaintances and acquaintances of acquaintances; all of whom, increasingly, shape themselves to think exactly the same way as he does; while those who have opposing opinions are increasingly marginalized and dehumanized in a kind of war about what actually is the real truth.

All of this points to one thing: the spool around which society is ravelled has vanished without a trace.

Written November

ASOIAF: Why did the Andals wipe out all the weirwood trees?

Wiping out the weirwood trees had a dual purpose.

1. Tactical:
   
   The trees have eyes.
   
   If you are fighting a war of defense against some foreign invaders, wouldn’t it be good to be able to see and hear where they were and what they were doing? Wouldn’t that be a great advantage?
   
   Ever noticed what happens when a character prays to a heart tree?
   
   His prayer gets answered. 
   The First Men weren’t just fighting the Andals with bronze swords and such. And they weren’t fighting alone. They were fighting with magic. They were fighting with the green-seers and even, at times, the Children of the Forest, who emerged from their hollow hills to fight the marauding invaders.
   
   It probably took awhile but at some point the ancient Andals must have figured out that the weirwood trees, one way or another, were aiding the enemy.
2. Cultural: The second reason was cultural.Of course, the Andals mixed with the First Men, intermarried; and I would expect the majority of the inhabitants of South Westeros are very much descended from the First Men. But, culturally, they are pretty much Andal to the core.
   
    The early Andal invaders seem to have been more fanatic than the modern Andals. They carved Seven Pointed stars on trees, rocks, caves…even their own bodies. Wiping out the weirwoods helped wipe out the religion of the First Men, which was an important step in imposing Andal culture on them.
   
   Not much different, perhaps, in this regard than the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, or European/American conquest of the Americas.

Written Oct 26

Trump book report: the Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings:

They want to put the ring in a volcano? Here you have a ring, a weapon, really, a fantastic, terrific weapon..best weapon ever. And what do they want to do? Well we know what they want to do, the same thing they want to do with your guns. Do they want to use them? I say use the weapons. No, they want to —get this, this is gonna knock your socks off. They want to put the ring in a volcano. Can you believe it? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! It is so stupid, you are not going to believe it! Really, really stupid. So stupid!

I mean, you can’t make it up! Fact is truly stranger than…stories. I’m gonna take that ring, if I have that ring it is going to be incredible! It’s gonna be something else!

I’m saying, you have the ring, you have a lot of leverage!

Let me tell you, I know something about leverage. I’ve built an incredible company. And I am SO PROUD of the company that I have built. I am so proud. What have the Elves built lately? What about Denethor? Don’t see them building anything. Three thousand years they’ve been fighting. Three thousand years. Vast swatches of time, we’re talking. And what do they have to show for it? Give me a break. Give me a break!

And I don’t know Sauron. I’m not paid by him. I think it would be great if we got along with Sauron; wouldn’t that be great? Why is that so bad?

You take that ring — and this is what I am going to do, without a doubt. WITHOUT A DOUBT. And you meet with Sauron, you got this leverage over him, you make a negotiation with him. A strong negotiation. It’s gonna be beautiful. A beautiful negotiation. And believe me, I am the man who is going to get it done.

Edit: Twitter version: Gandalf talking about sending Ring into volcano. Stupid or what? Take that ring and make a deal and I am going to do it. Believe me.

Written Oct 26

ASOIAF: Could Daenerys have freed the slaves without wreaking havoc on Slaver's Bay?

I think so. But she would have to get over her squeamishness with breaking eggs.

Danerys was way too moderate. She wavered between wanting a bloody revolution and wanting peace. Look. IN a place like Slavers’ Bay you have one or the other. You cant have both. As a result she may have ruined her options, barring some nearly supernatural help, (you know, like, from dragons or a ahundred thoursand Dothraki scramers…)

Astapor:

She wiped out the ruling class of Astapor completely. You know what? People criticizize her for that, but the Astapori were really the vilest of the vile; think of all the deaths that go into making the Unsullied, for example. It’s a city whose blood-red bricks are founded on the death of thousands of innocents—for thousands of years.

That was not her mistake, though. Her mistake was that she created a power vacuum and did nothing to fill it. So here is what she should have done:

• She should have appointed one of her advisors(maybe Jorah) as a council member as governor, i.e., a defacto ruler and representative of the Queen. Who would make sure that the farms in the area were under control.
• Appointing a wise counsel to rule alongside the governor was not a bad idea; l but without any force to back them up, they were essentially doomed. And of course, it left Astapor a sitting duck for Yunkai.
• Control and secure the the food supplies coming into Astapor from the surrounding area.
• After leaving, she should have left a hefty portion of the Unsullied at Astapor to back up the counsel and governor she appointed.
  
  2000 might have been sufficient to establish order and protect the council. After that a police force can be trained, culled from the freed slaves. WE learned in Game of Thrones from Ned’s example that pulling off a coup without an army is a risky and dangerous enterprise. You simply need force at your back if you are to rule.
• The freed slaves are free to go or stay, but they are NOT free to follow Dany around. With a competent government in Astapor, perhaps they wouldn’t feel the need to do so.

Yunkai:

Yunkai got off the easiest of all of them. It had its slaves freed and some of its wealth taken, but it was essentially untouched. She conquered the city; she should have conquered more of it.

The freed slaves were allowed to take ‘all the wealth’ that they could carry; but the bulk of the wealth was untouched. And with the ruling class intact, that left them able to just hire more sell-swords, and also make alliances with Qarth and Volantis.

• It’s harsh. But wipe out the ruling class. Take those Wise Masters, stick a stake up their collective ass and have done with it.
• Again, she should have appointed a governor(Barristan) and a council with a sizable army (not the sellswords, though) to represent her interest and wishes.
• Seize control of the wealth.
• Makes sure that food and water supplies are accounted for,
• Again, do NOT let the freed slaves become a huge unsanitary mass of starving mouths wracked by dysentary. They don’t get to follow her.

Meereen:

Part of Dany’s big problems in the book, and, more opaquely, in the show is Yunkai’s enmity. If that threat is neutralized, at least it takes much longer before Meereen is put to siege by the Qartheen and the forces of Volantis, and these besiegers would, potentially, face opposition from Yunkai and Astapori both.

The crucifixion of 163 in retaliation for the 163 slave children was a mistake. What gets me is how senselessly unfair it is. Inevitably, some innocent Wise Masters are killed, while several guilty get off.

• She needs to crucify ALL OF THEM. Hizdarh. The Green Grace. The…perfumed seneschal guy. Kill them all and make a big fire and scatter the ashes. No ruling class=no insurgency.
  
  Otherwise, her revolution is not going to work. She needs to have her people in charge, surrounded by the best brains of the freedmen and the already-freed shavepates, who apparently, had some beef with the ruling class.
• Secure the farmlands! Take control of the farmlands up the Skahazadhan. Keep the line of supply going.
• Use the wealth to necessary buy food from her dominions of Astapor and Yunkai.

Doing all of these things eliminates the threat of Yunkai at her back; keeps Yunkai from allying with Volantis and Qarth; gives her time, perhaps several years, to consolidate Slaver’s Bay into a viable state, secure a strong alliance with the anti-slavery Braavos; time to deal with the inevitable threats from Qarth and Volantis and New Ghis; the Dothraki, and the other cities of Slavers’ Bay….

Written Oct 22

What are some places worth visiting in the Czech Republic, besides Prague?

While Prague’s undisputed position as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe makes it indubitably a must-see, there are tons of other rewarding places to visit off the beaten path in the Czech Republic.

One of the few benefits to Western Europe selling Czechoslovakia down the river in 1938 is that the archetecture and infrastructure of the country was relatively untouched by the War, despite the enormous human toll it took.

1. First and foremost, check out the beautiful town of Český_Krumlov. Originally settled in the twelfth century and subject to a fifteenth century gold rush, entering the Old Town is like stepping back in time. There is such a concentration of medieval architecture as I have never seen anywhere else. Step along the cobble-stoned wynds and winding alleys, visit the churches and many restaurant. It is romantic as hell and utterly beautiful — and while it is popular it is nowhere near as crowded as Prague. Here’s a couple of pictures….When I went there, there were bears in the moat around the castle! I stayed in a hotel from the 17th century and dined in a restaurant that has been serving food —mostly roast meat dripping with fat— for almost half a millenium.

2. Another popular destination is Karlštejn Castle, the seat of the medieval king Karel IV(Charles IV), the Holy Roman Emperor. They have (fascinating) tours in English and a small souvenir market on the long road up the hill to the castle.

3. A little south, closer to Cesky Krumlov, is the gorgeous 18th century chateau of Hluboká_nad_Vltavou. I mean, this is the kind of place you think of when you dream of living in a castle. It is just jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Especially if you are a fan of antlers. 

1. It’s within spitting distance of the aforementioned Cesky Krumlov.

4. Most people get a kick out of Kutná_Hora a charming old town with a medieval silver mine, open to tours, a cathedral and the famous Sedlec Ossuary - Wikipedia…made completely of human bones.

5. In Moravia, I recommend a day or two at Olomouc. A thriving university town with a ton of great bars and restaurants, and the usual unspoilt architecture, it boasts a ton of great cathedrals and towers. Furthermore southern Moravia, around Brno is studded with vinyards and wine cellars for travellers to visit.

above, olomouc

6. There are simply too many places for the outdoor-minded holidayer to list here. The whole country is criss crossed with beautiful countryside, especially wooded highland areas ideal for hikers and mountain cyclists. One of my personal favorite places is the Bohemian Switzerland area. I could have spent a week in this area. Instead I spent only a couple of days. Ach jo.

All of these places are pretty much a day trip from Prague.

In fact, the whole country is pretty much a day trip from Prague. There are many other examples of beautiful nature and gorgeous vintage architecture EVERYWHERE here. Too many to really list…and I am sure there are things I don’t even know about.

And of course each town and village is going to have it’s own folk festivals, featuring local folklore music and folk dancing and food. Here are some local lads and lasses getting down at the annual international folk-dance festival in my town in Eastern Moravia…