tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post7428810369231565471..comments2024-03-28T09:59:13.754-07:00Comments on bionic mosquito: The Graceless Body Politicbionic mosquitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-6825328319906336162017-12-07T12:40:43.251-08:002017-12-07T12:40:43.251-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Thomas Batemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06493366024392863302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-22816202975000485042017-12-07T11:19:23.856-08:002017-12-07T11:19:23.856-08:00They have not. But I will suggest the following: ...They have not. But I will suggest the following: it is the regions that remained connected to the Catholic Church that remained the most decentralized for the longer period – Italy and Germany until 1871.<br /><br />Poland offers an even more interesting example: <br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberum_veto <br /><br />The liberum veto (Latin for "free veto") was a parliamentary device in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was a form of unanimity voting rule that allowed any member of the Sejm (legislature) to force an immediate end to the current session and to nullify any legislation that had already been passed at the session by shouting, Sisto activitatem! (Latin: "I stop the activity!") or Nie pozwalam! (Polish: "I do not allow!"). The rule was in place from the mid-17th century to the late 18th century in the Sejm's parliamentary deliberations. It was based on the premise that since all Polish noblemen were equal, every measure that came before the Sejm had to be passed unanimously. The liberum veto was a key part of the political system of the Commonwealth, strengthening democratic elements and checking royal power and went against the European-wide trend of having a strong executive (absolute monarchy).<br />bionic mosquitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-27007528924404149562017-12-07T08:58:37.868-08:002017-12-07T08:58:37.868-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Thomas Batemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06493366024392863302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-55183778343820350372017-12-07T06:17:59.415-08:002017-12-07T06:17:59.415-08:00Lutheran theologian supporting Hitler. https://w...Lutheran theologian supporting Hitler. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQaC_Hxr5LgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-13774324389870421142017-12-07T02:40:41.619-08:002017-12-07T02:40:41.619-08:00"...the first large public works project was ..."...the first large public works project was the massive Eastern State Penitentiary..."<br /><br />Interesting. This compared to the countless monasteries, churches and universities that constituted "public works" for much of 1000 years.bionic mosquitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-45392256404327188782017-12-06T22:15:41.095-08:002017-12-06T22:15:41.095-08:00Is there not some difficulty in representing Ameri...Is there not some difficulty in representing American Protestantism as exerting a liberating influence ? Now during medieval Catholicisms thousand year reign the Church played the role of dispenser of justice. Crime was understood to be the failure to reconcile ones actions to Gods will. The criminal was exiled rather than incarcerated. He was sent out on penance to a distant monastery. The outward journey functioned to bring his inward spiritual journey back into accord with God. <br /><br />In contrast to this in the fledgling Protestant USA the first large public works project was the massive Eastern State Penitentiary begun in 1821 and modeled to the letter on Jeremy Bentham's infamous panoptican. From the very beginning the US was set up to be a surveillance and carceral society notwithstanding the fact that the Progressives promoted their penitentiaries as Utopian sites for social reform. In fact Transcendentialism developed out of the radical Protestantism of the founders and framers. Transcendentialism developed into Marxism / Progrssivsm. Progressivsm 's first great project was Prohbition culminating in the hideous second act of the War on Drugs which has largely effaced all pretense of a free society in the USA.Victorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12985538497409080098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-72756277168411851572017-12-06T20:39:59.309-08:002017-12-06T20:39:59.309-08:00It is an error to say that Luther rejected the Rom...It is an error to say that Luther rejected the Roman Church, the Roman Church rejected Luther. Probably due the the incredibly lucrative nature of the indulgence. Church corruption of this sort was at the heart of the issue, not politics. It took others who were against Christianity per se to make the move a political one. Sorry no, I don't track with your conclusion. It wasn't Roman Catholicism that gave us freedom of religion, but American Protestantism. It wasn't Roman Catholicism that gave us freedom of conscience but American Protestantism. Not to mention an end to the corruption of indulgences among other things.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-72420084556987195892017-12-06T15:02:05.919-08:002017-12-06T15:02:05.919-08:00We recall also that State supremacists in Communis...We recall also that State supremacists in Communist Eastern Europe met their greatest opposition from the Catholic ChurchAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-16814485044003040572017-12-06T11:57:12.762-08:002017-12-06T11:57:12.762-08:00I try to correct my Bishop on this. My priest is ...I try to correct my Bishop on this. My priest is very good, but it is hard to swim upstream against the tide of federal "welfare" dollars the bishops get, which help them toe the line on warfare.Veterans for Peace Indianapolishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15927156876347502654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-86528249053977735212017-12-06T08:31:47.337-08:002017-12-06T08:31:47.337-08:00Bionic you should also consider this: In medieval...Bionic you should also consider this: In medieval Catholic Europe the cardinal sin was greed. In the modern Protestant West the cardinal sin is sloth, idleness. <br /><br />The goal of medieval Catholicism was to experience life in sacred terms, along mystical lines. In fact this is the REAL reason the Church opposed Gallileos reworking of the solar system. They understood that the scientific perspective would make it impossible to experience life in strictly mystical terms. And so it was. In post Galilean Christianity one can have faith that divinity exists but it is no longer possible to experience ones life as a sacred journey through a divine realm. Victorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12985538497409080098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-62765239136639076822017-12-06T06:21:52.510-08:002017-12-06T06:21:52.510-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Thomas Batemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06493366024392863302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-48421396035758095892017-12-05T19:41:43.054-08:002017-12-05T19:41:43.054-08:00You have to know by now that this is not a safe sp...You have to know by now that this is not a safe space; enter only if you are open to dialogue.bionic mosquitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-12208541901107588922017-12-05T18:52:33.961-08:002017-12-05T18:52:33.961-08:00One heroic exception to my prior comment is celebr...One heroic exception to my prior comment is celebrated in this great song by David Rovics:<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idKD47x0JaMIpseDixithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02411994161249414489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-68484439633442201552017-12-05T18:49:02.470-08:002017-12-05T18:49:02.470-08:00Ironically, there has been a disproportionate repr...Ironically, there has been a disproportionate representation of Catholics in the military academies and the elite fighting forces (e.g. Marines, Navy Seals, Green Berets, etc.) in the U.S. over the past century. Several writers at LRC over the years have made the point that warfare by the U.S. would become much more difficult if the Catholics would simply refuse to fight immoral wars for the nation state. Catholics went from being a restraint on the "kings" to being their legions, at least in the U.S. <br />IpseDixithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02411994161249414489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-59218465699467857722017-12-05T18:08:27.555-08:002017-12-05T18:08:27.555-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Thomas Batemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06493366024392863302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-67770239793548997662017-12-05T14:53:14.932-08:002017-12-05T14:53:14.932-08:00Heinrich Himmler believed in the supremacy of the ...Heinrich Himmler believed in the supremacy of the state. According to his biographer, Peter Longerich, Himmler believed Christianity, particularly the Catholic Church, was the strongest competitor for the hearts and minds of German people. Himmler regarded the struggle against Christianity as the most important mission of his life. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-62463116083478774202017-12-05T12:49:28.575-08:002017-12-05T12:49:28.575-08:00" I defend the theology from mischaracterizat..." I defend the theology from mischaracterization."<br /><br />That's fine, but it has nothing to do with my point, nor with the reality of what happened in Europe. Additionally, I do not say it was Luther alone - many influences both before and after contributed to the change. But the most significant single event was the fracturing of the church body.<br /><br /><br />"...a competing governing hegemon..."<br /><br />An oxymoron.<br /><br />Hegemony: 1. leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation.<br /><br />2. leadership; predominance.<br />bionic mosquitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-79022297919475747162017-12-05T09:09:19.951-08:002017-12-05T09:09:19.951-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Thomas Batemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06493366024392863302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-53381257538474611092017-12-05T08:24:13.049-08:002017-12-05T08:24:13.049-08:00Schematically, with the end of the Roman Empire a ...Schematically, with the end of the Roman Empire a thousand small time warlords arose to battle each other to become the monopoly tax authority across a thousand European territories. In time one warlord was victorious over another. Victors took on victors in a way similar to the seeding structure of the US open. Over the centuries warlords gained control of larger and larger swaths of territory whose outlines began to resemble the modern nation states of Europe. <br /><br />It is at this moment that the concept of nationalism first appears. Nationalism is an invention. As Bionic points out up until this point if you asked a European what is his identity he would reply 'Christian'. After the invention of nationalism it became possible to say one was French, German, English an so on. The modern nation state was created in order to bureaucratize the production of war. Foucault tells us that for the first time in history, the people and resources within a nation state were systematically organized to aid in the production of war. And of course it is at this point as well that the civilian population of a nation state became fair game for attack by competitive nation states. <br /><br /> Before this, say during the Hundred Years Wars, few French or English had any idea the war was ongoing. It was fought entirely by members of the 'nobility', the elite political class. Civilians and property were off limits - the whole point of warfare was to conquer a territory intact from which to extract tax revenue.<br /><br />It is with the invention of nationalism that civilians become disposable pawns to be impressed into the military and slaughtered as enemy combatants. One could say that WWII was a kind of summing up of the strategy of the modern nation state. Germany literally diverted all of its resources and subjects to participate in one vast war enterprise culminating in the wholesale destruction of Europe. <br /><br />Where European warlords at least had the goal of maximizing tribute and taxes, the goal of the modern nation state is not so clear. Its not difficult to make the case that sheer power over all others is its fundamental objective.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Victorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12985538497409080098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-21982712298254540732017-12-05T07:40:38.368-08:002017-12-05T07:40:38.368-08:00What followed was the elimination of Rome as a com...What followed was the elimination of Rome as a competing governance institution. This is undeniable.<br /><br />What did not follow was some version of Lutheranism creating a competing governance institution. This is also undeniable. <br /><br />Where was the "council of elders" that competed against the now liberated princes and kings? They never formed, and have yet to form. This is also undeniable.<br /><br />Please find a strawman in this. <br /><br />Take off your hat of defending theology and merely consider the politics and influenced by the eliminated traditions.bionic mosquitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-26903782015906980262017-12-05T07:24:42.701-08:002017-12-05T07:24:42.701-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Thomas Batemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06493366024392863302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-23947795760510956062017-12-05T03:36:50.624-08:002017-12-05T03:36:50.624-08:00Luther was a "white supremacist" I hear....Luther was a "white supremacist" I hear. Ditto with John Locke - he is now protested because he is a "white supremacist".<br /><br />All the vices are funded by the state, true, but they are also funded by corporations like Apple, and those corporations are happy to spend money doing so.Matt@Occidentalism.orghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02395220402283030311noreply@blogger.com