Bush's Apolocalypse visions dancing in his head
In todays headlines...
"President George W. Bush predicted an apocalyptic future..."
My dad was obsessed with predictions of the future. I grew up with it, along with encyclopedia's of ancient symbols, societies like the Templars, Freemasons, etc. My take on prediction since a young child was "I only believe in self-fulfilling prophecies." I have gone around that block many times, trying to see it from many different points of view of others and other times, but have always had a hard time disagreeing with that initial take. It is almost self-evident to me.
I have been thinking a lot about prophecy lately. Specifically, I can't find it now, when researching "aumakua" there was a reference to prophets of the future in Hawaii around the time of early first contact, who predicted accurate bad things. I thought, what a crappy use of fortune telling. Supposedly someone predicted they would be invaded and almost wiped out. Granted if you know political history going back far enough and looking far ahead enough, it is an easy call to make anywhere on the planet. But what good is it saying, "Hey guys, we're really about to get screwed." I mean if you are right and can see that, wouldn't it make sense in saying how to avoid it? If you can't see how to avoid it, you are not a very good prophet, just more or less a disseminator of useless and depressing information.
So say you can change it by telling it. You can go on and on about how your prediction changed things, but pretty much if you predicted bad things and they did not happen, you will not be thought of well. In fact, unless as an idiot, you will not be thought of at all. You can predict good things though but then one doesn't really need to be prepared for good things. "Watch out or something really good will happen to you tomorrow." Granted, such positive predictions can help you get through bad times, but so can't self-help books and pretty much the entire, we're-great-no-matter-what-we-do-or-what-others-think-about-us culture we live in. All you have to do is look at your horoscope for that kind of stuff.
If you are Bush and you predict an apocalypse, it is kind of cheating if you have something to do with starting it, never mind being the principle "lets bomb them first" proponent. But then so many others around the world too can trigger one. China, Russia, Israel, Iran, pretty much most nuclear and many non-nuclear countries could set the world off right now. It is really getting so easy to do by so many different people, predicting it is like predicting the sun might shine somewhere tomorrow and somewhere else it might rain.
The only thing that is hard for Bush to predict in this vein and still be right is that there will be no world war in the next 20 years, that peace will prevail, common sense will begin to rule, and the world will, if not begin to disarm, then at least begin backing away warily from the brink of destruction. That would be a great prediction, not only because it is positive but because it is much harder to do and involves people he cannot control. Making people dead is not controlling them, in fact it is not controlling anything, just making fewer people to control, usually ones you did or could not anyway. Actually, it is a great sign of defeat. Ups your percentage maybe, but lowers your score.
When I think of real power, it is not in those who can get people to kill each other off in great numbers. Too many in history have been able to do that and unfortunately many more will come because it wrongly gets the name "Great" in there at the beginning or the end of their names. To me, total power was Mahatma Gandhi. He kicked all of the "the Great"'s asses big time without firing a shot. He got an entire nation about to rip itself apart to stop, every single last person to stop fighting because he asked them to. Almost anyone can start a fire or make a political mess or disaster. People themselves are often waiting for an excuse to do something stupid and self-destructive, especially if it is profitable or fun, at least in the short term. Making everyone step back and chill until they can think straight again is something that is beyond Bush's "power". It unfortunately seems beyond his understanding as well, of it being not only a good thing, but a necessary thing. Especially because it contradicts what he has been saying, what he has been predicting, and because it is something beyond his power and requires the help of people he cannot control, only kill.
"President George W. Bush predicted an apocalyptic future..."
My dad was obsessed with predictions of the future. I grew up with it, along with encyclopedia's of ancient symbols, societies like the Templars, Freemasons, etc. My take on prediction since a young child was "I only believe in self-fulfilling prophecies." I have gone around that block many times, trying to see it from many different points of view of others and other times, but have always had a hard time disagreeing with that initial take. It is almost self-evident to me.
I have been thinking a lot about prophecy lately. Specifically, I can't find it now, when researching "aumakua" there was a reference to prophets of the future in Hawaii around the time of early first contact, who predicted accurate bad things. I thought, what a crappy use of fortune telling. Supposedly someone predicted they would be invaded and almost wiped out. Granted if you know political history going back far enough and looking far ahead enough, it is an easy call to make anywhere on the planet. But what good is it saying, "Hey guys, we're really about to get screwed." I mean if you are right and can see that, wouldn't it make sense in saying how to avoid it? If you can't see how to avoid it, you are not a very good prophet, just more or less a disseminator of useless and depressing information.
So say you can change it by telling it. You can go on and on about how your prediction changed things, but pretty much if you predicted bad things and they did not happen, you will not be thought of well. In fact, unless as an idiot, you will not be thought of at all. You can predict good things though but then one doesn't really need to be prepared for good things. "Watch out or something really good will happen to you tomorrow." Granted, such positive predictions can help you get through bad times, but so can't self-help books and pretty much the entire, we're-great-no-matter-what-we-do-or-what-others-think-about-us culture we live in. All you have to do is look at your horoscope for that kind of stuff.
If you are Bush and you predict an apocalypse, it is kind of cheating if you have something to do with starting it, never mind being the principle "lets bomb them first" proponent. But then so many others around the world too can trigger one. China, Russia, Israel, Iran, pretty much most nuclear and many non-nuclear countries could set the world off right now. It is really getting so easy to do by so many different people, predicting it is like predicting the sun might shine somewhere tomorrow and somewhere else it might rain.
The only thing that is hard for Bush to predict in this vein and still be right is that there will be no world war in the next 20 years, that peace will prevail, common sense will begin to rule, and the world will, if not begin to disarm, then at least begin backing away warily from the brink of destruction. That would be a great prediction, not only because it is positive but because it is much harder to do and involves people he cannot control. Making people dead is not controlling them, in fact it is not controlling anything, just making fewer people to control, usually ones you did or could not anyway. Actually, it is a great sign of defeat. Ups your percentage maybe, but lowers your score.
When I think of real power, it is not in those who can get people to kill each other off in great numbers. Too many in history have been able to do that and unfortunately many more will come because it wrongly gets the name "Great" in there at the beginning or the end of their names. To me, total power was Mahatma Gandhi. He kicked all of the "the Great"'s asses big time without firing a shot. He got an entire nation about to rip itself apart to stop, every single last person to stop fighting because he asked them to. Almost anyone can start a fire or make a political mess or disaster. People themselves are often waiting for an excuse to do something stupid and self-destructive, especially if it is profitable or fun, at least in the short term. Making everyone step back and chill until they can think straight again is something that is beyond Bush's "power". It unfortunately seems beyond his understanding as well, of it being not only a good thing, but a necessary thing. Especially because it contradicts what he has been saying, what he has been predicting, and because it is something beyond his power and requires the help of people he cannot control, only kill.
posted by Jared DuBois | 8:54 PM
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