FAST FORWARD TO THE PAST

The New York Times has outed itself as a propagandist, fake news outlet(again)...talk about shooting yourself in the foot...

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/04/19/nyt-hey-sorry-for-not-mentioning-that-the-palestinian-activist-we-published-murdered-five-israelis-n2314737?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=:

Still, most on the increasingly strident 'left side' of the zeitgeist really couldn't care two hoots about 'truth'. They have been indoctrinated in the Wests equivalent of Pol Pot's 're-education camps' (University Humanities departments) to believe that truth is merely a social construct (except their truth of course) and that all 'compassionate' and intelligent people must believe what they do or else they are not just wrong, but immoral!

These 'social justice warriors' have embraced the old Marxist trope of dividing people into tribes, victims, races, creeds or anything that defines them as 'oppressed others', and that the Western civilisation is the one that brings imperialism, degradation, destruction etc. This flies in the face of most of the observed facts but this is not enough to sway an ideological convert who sees only what their manipulators want them to see. 

At homeschool I have been walking my youngest through the history of medicine as he wants to be a doctor. History is always revealing in the ways of human interactions and thought processes as history usually is. This revealing of humanity is one of the main reasons why most new millennium university courses no longer offer history as a subject or if they condescend to do so it is often heavily redacted in favour of atrocities real or concocted and/or manipulated to engender a negative emotional reaction to the; ruling, patriarchal, capitalistic, imperialistic, misogynistic, racist, regime!!!!...

but back on point...

.....in studying the history of medicine we noted many cases of intelligent and learned people believing only what their teachers or the 'textbooks' (Galen/Hippocrates) have taught them. In many cases these original teachers did not intend for their works to become the holy writ that they did become, but it appears humanity, particularly those in power at certain times prefer certainty to experimentation, hence the; '97% of experts agree', phenomena of manipulation towards a particular ideal.  Often this injunction to place your faith in the 'experts' flies in the face of observable evidence but to those who seek a certain outcome that is of little consequence, for example let us examine the case of Galen:

He was a Greek Doctor during the Roman period who became the Emperor's physician. He was gifted, opinionated and a prolific writer authoring more than 125 books on medicine; books that together with Hippocrates formed the canon of medicine for a thousand years:

Galen's affect upon medicine grew, rather than became less, with time. His views came to be regarded as the final authority in medicine. During the Middle Ages in Europe, scholars avoided experimentation and direct experience. Instead they simply looked for answers in Galen's books. His dead hand held medicine in its grip with a firmness never matched before of since. [Tiner, J H (2014) The History of Medicine, Master Books, p.10]

Although Galen warned doctors to study firsthand for themselves, his advice went unheeded. Galen, the successful doctor, stated his views with force and confidence. Doctors who followed him frowned upon independent study. Medical Schools used Galen's books as textbooks for more than a thousand years. He became the undisputed authority. No one dared to even differ with him. [ibid, p.14]

Jacobus Sylvius is the typical surgeon of the middle ages. He relied on Galen and Hippocrates' books more than what he observed with his own eyes. [ibid, p.16]

If the corpse and the book don't agree, then the error is in the corpse! No one would dream of doubting Galen. [ibid, p.16]

But thankfully for us, some did eventually challenge and question the perceived wisdom of the 'experts':

Vesalius kept a copy of Galen's books on hand and marked changes in them. He found over two hundred mistakes in the ancient books -mistakes still being taught by the doctors of his day. [ibid, p.20]

We have become bogged down in the same sort of fanatical adherence to 'expert wisdom' today. History teaches us (if we allow it to) that times change, technology advances, information increases BUT HUMAN NATURE REMAINS THE SAME.

DON' MESS WITH THE U.S.

An interesting and I believe quite logical opinion on the Trump military strikes in Syria and Afghanistan:

This week’s raids on Syria and on Isis in Afghanistan have been framed by the media as Trump swinging wildly from isolationism to hyper-interventionism. Not so.
The point about the Syria raid which has barely been mentioned (but was pointed out here by America’s former ambassador to the UN, John Bolton) is that Syria was in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention – to which Russia and Iran along with the US, UK and others are also signatories, as well as being members of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Any violation of an international agreement designed to eliminate chemical weapons directly threatens anyone targeted by state or other actors who may ever get their hands on such weapons. America, along with everyone else, is therefore threatened by Syria’s use of chemical weapons. Russia, however, vetoed America’s attempt to bring this violation to the UN Security Council. By striking the Syrian air base, Trump was not only defending American interests but also upholding international order.

and..........

The benefits of this extend far beyond damaging the capacity of Isis to carry out more attacks. It also sends a crucial signal to Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and anyone else who may want to attack America that, after years of supine surrender by the Obama administration to the enemies of the free world, the US will now actively defend itself once again – and will furthermore hit such aggressors harder than they can ever hit America.

This is neither liberal interventionism nor pull-up-the-drawbridge isolationism. It is the necessary defence of the national interest by military means where that is required to preserve life and liberty. The willed erosion of that fundamental doctrine of national survival has empowered the enemies of the free world to run rampant during the past decade.

This was the week in which that lethal erosion was ended. [M Phillips]

http://melaniephillips.com/trump-never-isolationist-patriot/

WHEN MADNESS GOES MAINSTREAM

The Marxist drive to undermine the Western worldview has reached new depths of political madness in the transgender myths poisoning the minds and bodies of young, emotionally driven tragics:

"Adults should be free to make decisions about their sexuality and their bodies. But children should not be subjected to the whims of politically driven adults when it comes to massive bodily mutilation that impairs function for a lifetime -- all before the child has experienced puberty. And society should not be obligated to obey the gender theory nonsense of the radical left, which seeks to confuse as many children as possible in the name of an anti-biological program in service to a political agenda." [B Shapiro]

GAIA IS PROUD

Ho hum....more hypocrisy from the Gaian cultists....move along, move along, nothing to see here!

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3257796/green-campaigners-dumped-70-tonnes-of-co2-into-the-atmosphere-flying-back-from-global-congress-enough-to-run-seven-family-homes-and-15-cars-for-a-year/

UNCOMMON SENSE

I am becoming more and more convinced each day whilst traversing the net, that the absolute insanity of Trump  Derangement Syndrome and other equally shallow, wacky conspiracy theories is the result of many in the Wests political/media/academic population, having lost their collective (pun) minds.

I blame it on a shallow and baleful education received at the feet of 'academics' whose lives are in thrall to the twin Marxist theories of political correctness and textural deconstruction. Our centres of higher 'learning' have been captured by the left in their 'long march through the institutions' and the resultant watering down as well as downright denial, of the knowledge that has made our civilisation the most effective and successful one in the history of mankind, has proven to be catastrophic to logical thinking and its concomitant 'everyday' expression; common sense.

In essence 'common sense is common no longer.

LLOSA AND THE ZIETGEIST

An insightful comment on youth culture by Nobel laureate in literature; Mario Vargas LLosa:

"Fashionable bands and singers attract huge crowds to their concerts, which, like the Dionysian festivals that celebrated irrationality in ancient Greece, are collective ceremonies of excess and catharsis, worshipping instinct, passion and unreason. The same can be said of the packed electronic music parties, raves, where people dance in the darkness, listen to trance-inducing music and get high on ecstasy. It is not too far-fetched to compare these celebrations to the great religious popular festivals of old. We find in secular form, a religious spirit that, in keeping with the spirit of the age, has replaced the liturgy and catechisms of traditional religions with these displays of musical mysticism where, to the rhythm of raw voices and instruments, both amplified to an inaudible level, individuals are no longer individuals; they become a mass, and unwittingly return to the primitive times of magic and the tribe."

To which the millennial reply's in a bored voice: "whatever!"

BURKES BREXIT

The tactics being rolled out to delay and/or try to stop the Keystone pipelinde development in America are exactly the sort of actions we see being taken in delaying or trying to stop the UK's Brexit. The forces behind both are the same, forces that seek to overthrow the West and replace it with a new neo-Marxist feudalism (see: Agenda 21). We are watching it unfold with ideological fury in Australia as well. The hard-line Socialist state government in Victoria and the softer more insidious same in South Australia.

 
Burke once remarked that all it takes for evil to prosper is that good men do nothing....its time for the 'good' men of the West to stand up and be counted.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/26/keystone-pipeline-faces-bitter-fight-from-environm/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTkdJME1ETXdNR0UwWkRVMSIsInQiOiJJcHRSdExEU0pRK1lwYnhiZVNEZzhBRnB2WWRhaEY4UWtpMkRcL3pYOFE2dEpmcHU2N1lxZmtrVGJGeW1tQUxhYmE1bXgyTk9yeTZJRjF5SktHd3B2MzJWSXIyYnZ4T2Q1QkFwMnhFa3M5WFNzMkJKTVNvWWZwYUZGOFpRU0FqclcifQ%3D%3D