If men could learn from history

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“If men could learn from history,
what lessons it might teach us!
But passion and party blind our eyes,
and the light which experience gives is a lantern on the stern,
which shines only on the waves behind.”
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1831
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History of dreaming, and connection with spirit #3

Kone, Krusos, Kronos

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

― C.G. Jung.

First let me say, there’s all sort of dreams, provoked by so many reasons, from you being worry about something, that its bothering you, to unfulfilled wish desires, or you just had too much to eat for diner, and have a nightmare, but one thing I will tell you, the dreams you have are a reflection of who you are, and of course your Spiritual side, or the lack of it, will show up, in your dreams.

You would not have Joseph’s kind of dreams, if you are not a Spiritual person, first, because if you are not interested in such thing, as a Spiritual life, it’s like asking a vicious, and evil person, to have good thoughts, and be merciful, it doesn’t…

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3 Things Black People Wish White People Understood

In Europe we regularly see some films and news clips that portray American culture, giving us the impression that there is still a big problem with the attitude of white Americans opposite black people.

The Writer Erin a writer on Tarot, Soul, Spirituality, Culture, and Mytho-tainment, believes that

Living in America is a very interesting conundrum. On one hand, it is a free country, the land of opportunity, and a melting pot of cultures and perspectives.

We may have the idea that it is a free country, but see that it is not so free for many coloured people, and that lots of Americans think their own individual freedom goes above the freedom of others.
The article writer admits also that the U.S.A. is often a painful place for people of colour. She writes

For black people in particular, it’s a place where our ancestors traumas have carried over into our present.

We agree that here in blue Smurf country (Belgium) by football- or soccer fans we also do find a lot of racists, though lots of soccer players over here are dark-skinned. More than once they get banana peels and awful language thrown at them. But in the U.S.A. it seems to go much further:

Systemic racism, like inequalities in housing, banking, education, and healthcare are serious aspects of our trauma.

says the American coloured writer. She continues

But another, that we don’t think is quite understood enough, is our experience with not being heard and with having our pain disregarded by people who are simply too uncomfortable to listen.

In many countries that is a big problem, that the majority does not want to know and does not listen to sounds which should alarm them, indicating that there is racism around them.

We disagree with Secrets of HIV-Aids Journal where Secretsofaidsebolafacts writes

Belgium and American journalists for decades have the delight to support the lies, deceptions, and crimes of their governments, politically and medically, but now they are finding it uncomfortable because an African journalist is in their mist exposing their crimes. {Belgium and America have something in common, the killing and disfiguring of black people}

Already many decades, several Flemish writers in Belgium talked about bad conditions for African people in Belgium as well as in the colonies. After World War II we regularly got to read stories of what had happened in the previous centuries by certain people who used the colonies for their own financial gain at the human cost. That writer of the article says he is already living in Belgium for twenty years and want his readers to believe that

no one hears of a killing of a black man, doesn’t mean that everything is normal in the country.

His idea of black people to

wake up each morning to see statues and streets named after the lunatic King Leopold II, whose relatives, the royal family, together with the Belgian government feel comfortable about it.

gives a distorted view of how black people manage to cope or have difficulties with the previous history of colonisation, which for sure is not such a good one, but it is ridiculous to do away with that history. Denying what happened in the past, taking away all the statues of the previous colonisers would fade away that important part of Belgium history. It would be the same bad thing if we would take away the statues of all historical figures who did something wrong, and as such would have all the street nameplates that remind us of Napoleon, Ferdinand Foch, Pinochet, Marshal Bugeaud, Bertrand Clauzel, Reagan, Nixon, Adolfo Calero, Arturo Cruz and Alfonso Robelo, and other human rights violators, Spanish and Austrian king, princes and rulers.

According to history, the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, killed over 6 million Jews. The shame Hitler brought to Germany, forced the country’s leaders to change the name of the streets after him, moreover, everything relating to Hilter was banned.

writes Secretsofaidsebolafacts who continues denying the fact that in the last 2 decades many street names in Belgium, have been changed because the officials no longer considered it appropriate to display the name of a controversial figure on street signs or in public squares.

Belgian National Leopold II monument in Brussels

That is not the case in Belgium, a country that planned to destroy Congo and the people for losing its colony. The Belgian government and the royal family are happy that the big statue of Leopold II riding on a horse is not easy for demonstrators to pull down but they will pull it down, unfortunately, that time will be too late.

Belgian Congo, former colony (coextensive with the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) in Africa, ruled by Belgium from 1908 until 1960.

He also goes a bridge too far in claiming that Belgium’s aim was to destroy Congo. That was not the case at all. Several police and business leaders may not have been shy about exploiting the local population, but on the other hand there were many more people who really wanted to make a positive contribution, albeit sometimes with a wrongly coloured vision, and who did a wonderful job without humiliating or abusing the coloured people.

In the article of The Writer Erin, is expressed the hope to summarize 3 things that black people wishes white people understood.

If well meaning white people wonder why

“we can’t just all come together and get along”,

the writer does hope that her article may be a great place to start. She writes

And truthfully, most black people are angered when faced with these issues because we think white people should understand this innately.

However, everyone hasn’t walked in our shoes and everyone doesn’t understand the world from our point of view.

Don’t get me wrong, I am aware that all black people don’t share these views. All black Americans aren’t ancestors of slaves. And all blacks haven’t been culturalized in our communities.

But I can say that there are general overarching beliefs and themes and for the most part, these feelings and beliefs are patterns in the black American psyche.

Please continue reading the articles:

1. 3 Things Black People Wish White People Understood
2. Belgium and America have something in common, the killing and disfiguring of black people

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Preceding

From Guestwriters 2016 in review

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Additional reading

1. Martin Luther King’s Dream Today (Our world) = Martin Luther King’s Dream Today (Some view on the world)
2. Arson attack carried out on Stevenage Central Mosque (Our world) = Arson attack carried out on Stevenage Central Mosque (Some view on the world)
3. Speciesism and racism (Our world) = Speciesism and racism (Some view on the world)
4. Rome mobilisation to say no to fascism and racism (Our world) = Rome mobilisation to say no to fascism and racism (Some view on the world)
5. Apartheid or Apartness #2 Up to 2nd part 20th Century
6. Trump going over the top bringing a blasphemous act (Our world) = Trump going over the top bringing a blasphemous act
7. Don’t Envy the World (Our world) = Don’t Envy the World (Some view on the world)
8. Actions to be a reflection of openness of heart (Our world) = Actions to be a reflection of openness of heart (Some view on the world)
9. “Black lives matter!” a statement of proclamation (Our world) = “Black lives matter!” a statement of proclamation (Some view on the world)

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Related

1. Belgium and America have something in common, the killing and disfiguring of black people
2. Police departments struggling to hire, especially minorities
3. Stop Saying We Need More Black Doctors, Lawyers, etc.!
4. The Apartheid killers of South Africa
5. Black people are dying more than any other people on this planet – Wangari Maathai
6. Those Orleans girls are still racist (or STUPID at best)
7. A History of Jake Bird in North Omaha
8. The Average White Guy Game
9. Trolls or Smurfs… a tale of microaggressions and boundaries
10. Building Little Harlems Around the Globe
11. Numb to Racism – The Life of a Tennis Player
12. truth about White colonization in Africa / White woman Dropping Facts about African History & Racism
13. It is a scientific tautology to say black people are prone to pandemics
14. Arguing With Black People Over Black Culture

Seeking Continuity in History

One of the most pernicious mistakes in thinking about history is to consider adjacent historical periods as diametrically opposed to each other and to paint an exaggerated contrast between them. In doing so, we fail to see the organic continuity of history, the way that periods and movements overlap and interact. The result is a dangerous oversimplification that distorts our view of the past.
Michael De Sapio

In a new article at the Imaginative conservative Michael De Sapio writes that historical periods are conveniences, subjective and sometimes arbitrary. He writes

Too often we reify the labels, deluding ourselves into thinking that they are as real as people and things in the world. “Middle Ages,” “Renaissance,” and many other historical labels are prejudicial in origin, carrying a bias with them. I often remember what a literature professor of mine said: “Ordinary people in Shakespeare’s day had no idea they were not still living in the Middle Ages.”

” historical eras are not monolithic, marked by a single prevailing mood”

“A good historical writer will seek out these sorts of precedents and continuing lines of development, instead of presenting history as a succession of massive blocks. One thing which I believe will help in this is to think about history in longer spans of time.”

Read more about it: Seeking continuity history, by Michael De Sapio

Death to the GOP! Or not.

Most Americans consider everything that smells social as socialist and/or communist and something to avoid or the Left being inherently self-destructive, wherever they might get this from. Probably they think so because of them blinded by several dictatorial states which preached they were so-called communist, though went totally against the spirit of the communist flag.

Some of them look at those left countries in the same way as they think the Grand Old Party (GOP) would be the same as the present Republican party, which during the 20th and 21st centuries became a more selfish directed party, to be associated with laissez-faire capitalism, low taxes, and conservative social policies.

What we still can see today is the selfish attitude of those Americans who only want to think of themselves first and who do not want to contribute or pay for others, nor for the general wellbeing of the whole state. It is still strongly committed to protectionism and is very supportive of free trade no matter at what cost, not interested in which damage pollution may cause for example.

In Europe, we mainly see those white Americans, who would prefer not having coloured people around them, though they call themselves evangelical Christians, they do not worship the God of Christ nor witness the peace Jesus Christ wanted all his followers to spread all over the world.

In the U.S.A. we also see that in many other capitalist countries there is a time of overcorrection, trying to do away with history. To remove the bust of the Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War (1861–65), Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee State Capitol is making it possible that this most controversial figures from the Civil War era will after some years be forgotten, instead of being spoken about, what he did wrong. It allows also that this figure, who joined the Ku Klux Klan in 1867 (two years after its founding) and was elected its first Grand Wizard,  in certain groups shall be honoured sacredly or in private as their mistaken hero.

Look Away...

Governor Lee’s recent vote to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee State Capitol is yet more proof of the old adage that there is a not a dime’s worth of difference between the Democratic and Republican Parties. I for one contend that this is true in part because the two parties are representative of the split personality of Old New England.

Both parties and other mutually supporting institutions certainly did appear to circle the wagons against Trump from 2016 on, and this is noteworthy considering how the GOP has been considered over the course of my lifetime the Conservative party and also considering how passionately so many Conservatives support Trump.

In fact the parties, Establishment, or Deep State do not hate that New York City Yankee just because he is flamboyant, brash, arrogant or just plain rude. They hate him because they first and foremost hate…

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We should all be writing

In this present world lots of short notices or messages are posted on social media, but to find serious writing on the net has become limited.

There is a serious need for analysing what happens in the world. We could do with some more bloggers recording for history what is going on and how we feel about it. Analyses of people giving an idea how a culture experiences the events.

It is for any person impossible to know what future shall bring, but by the knowledge of what happened in the past people can have an idea how things can evolve.

For sure all people should try to work for a better future and if they do not fix the disinformation problem, the divide will only widen.

You have very good reasons to point to Nazi Germany, because many factors are pointing that direction, and people could be surprised it can be as bad as then sooner than people think.

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To remember

Journals. Blogs. Letters to the editor. Letters to others. Letters to representatives. Emails. Facebook posts.

> recording for history

history written by those who have most to gain by revising history.

‘recording’ history =/= ‘rewriting’ history.

current problem = large number of people been brainwashed by lies + who think they are informed.

=>

Be the scribe. Record your experiences. Tell history the facts.

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Preceding

Mountains of information, disinformation and breaking away

Fake News Goes Back to the Garden of Eden says Pope Francis I

Parallels between what is happening in our world today and the atmosphere in pre-Nazi Germany

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Additional reading

1. Happy is the person who knows what to remember of the past
2. Finish each day and be done with it
3. A Living Faith #5 Perseverance
4. No curtain placed over tomorrow
5. So it will be on the day when …
6. Not to speak is to speak
7. Faith, hope and love abide
8. A concrete picture of what is to come in the future
9. Trust the future to God
10. You God hold the future

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Related

1. Historical facts in myths and legends
2. Don’t Compromise Monuments and Parks
3. America’s Cult of Ignorance
4. I Know You Hold the Future
5. Would You Send Your Children to University?
6. Worst Military Leaders in History
7. They All Fall Down
8. Educated Goal Setting
9. The Expansion of Time and the Mind
10. The Future of Emails: I
11. Writing Prompt Response
12. Scribes
13. Focus on Scribes
14. Future thinking
15. You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
16. This Little Britain
17. It Is Not A Democracy
18. Now You See It, Now You Don’t
19. Let’s Go To The Papers
20. What is a historical fart?

Evolutionary Politics for Evolving Citizens

We should all be writing.

Journals. Blogs. Letters to the editor. Letters to others. Letters to representatives. Emails. Facebook posts.

We need to be recording for history what is going on and how we feel about it.

They say that history is written by the winners. I don’t agree. I believe history is written by those who have the most to gain by revising history.

There is a difference between ‘recording’ history and ‘rewriting’ history. We are seeing this happening in 2017. There are those in public life who don’t seem to understand that technology makes it easy to find the videos from the past that document a statement. You can try to deny that you said something but someone will find that video and publish it to prove you are lying.

The current problem is not just the lying about the past, even the recent past. What is most…

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Darkest just before dawn

Marcus Ampe when looking over the happenings of 2016 told his public that when we should have to choose a colour for 2016 it probably would be ‘black’. Even the darkest black colour you might find.

Certainly here in Belgium and neighbouring countries we have seen many black moments caused by people living very close to us. Hundreds of people who lived in cities like Brussels (Molenbeek district), Verviers, Charleroi, Mons, just to name some of the most mentioned living quarters of those who killed many in Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt and further away many cities in Syria. A so called liberation of human race was on their lips by causing so much agony in name for their sort of Islam which has nothing to do with real Islam, a religion which has ‘salam‘ or ‘peace‘ in its name.

2016 may have been the year where Bad came over Good and brought with it Hate over Love. Though many still may believe in

Good over Bad. Love over Hate. {When it looks like hate is winning}

May we really believe that

“Good always wins”?

When we look around us it seems just the opposite. Those who do not mind to swindle and do whatever they can to make themself rich without taking care of others, seem to win. Marcus Ampe warns us for the political scene which is changing drastically almost everywhere in the world, not for the good. He warns for the populism which is going over Europe and the United States as a virus. As a Christadelphian he likes to look at what is prophesied in the Bible and by looking at that sacred book is not at all surprised of what is going on. In his eyes we can follow the notated signs of those old writings and see that we are heading to a third World War, though it may still many years before us. He likes to compare the last few years with the 1920ies and showed us also how the present days are very much related to the 1930ies, which should sincerely worry us.

He does not speak of an apocalyptic change like certain Christians may do, but likes to warn us to prepare ourselves and our kids for the coming period where very right wing politicians may gain lots of votes and even come into power.

Perhaps Jyoti Chauhan Singh, an Indian lady who reads Tarot cards and came to live in the United States, perhaps thinks on similar lines, saying the same as Mr. Ampe that

it is happening in every corner of this world. People around the world are bringing this change by their votes, by their say, and by their actions. Be it Brexit or current US election, or stimulated political environment in my home country India. This change is too much. Too much for us to handle and accept, and to adapt to. {When it looks like hate is winning}

Is that not the danger we shall have to face in the coming months?

Are not many politicians going to make use of and are going to instigate people against others and nourish the fear many already have?

For Mrs. Chauhan Singh the present President elect in the States was

not elected against a virtuous leader. It was not the fight between good vs evil. It was just bad and worse fighting with each other. You guess which is worse and which is bad. But, it was never a winning situation for USA, no matter who would have won. {When it looks like hate is winning}

speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 10, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I do not know why Clinton would have been so bad, because honestly her stupidity about the e-mails was not really a criminal act, like so many Americans would like us to believe. If they consider such stupidity already a crime or sin than the many frauds and bankruptcies of Donald Trump which many Americans never seemed to have remembered or noticed, would be “cardinal sins and death penalty crimes”

We also may notice that many people seem to have some nostalgia to some times they had it better, though at those times they ware hoping for better times and for having more material richness. But as we could know beforehand all those modern gadgets they can have today are not making them more happy. The opposite today lots of people are more lonely and feeling poverty more harsh than years ago, though we may see less poverty stricken people. Less tramps on the streets.

With a smiling or is it a sarcastic face Mr. Ampe may tell us that many people would love to go back to a time they are imaging there was, but which has never been so. Mrs. Chauhan Singh alsy pointing to the same fact

With this election, Americans have spoken very clearly that they want to bring back ‘good old days’. Doesn’t matter if those good old days are going to be good for rest of us or not. They want to go back. They want someone with traditional values, traditional promises. Although seeing the lifestyle of elect president I hardly think he is an epitome of traditionalism. {When it looks like hate is winning}

Mr Ampe analysed some body language of Mr. Trump and showed us how clever that man must be playing with his public. This cleverness should make us even be more alert. He also compare certain tactics with the way how Erdogan managed to come in his dictatorial position today. How he was patient enough to go from mayor of Istanbul, even having spent some years in prison after his mayorship to come stronger and more radicalised out of it, imposing the traditional Muslim values and going in against the civil state of the old creator of a dream state Turkey.

We shall have to wait and see  to know how Donald Trump is going to use his power and how Marine Le Pen is going to drive her wedge through France which seem to be the under the spell of Muslim extremism and Islam fear.

Mr Ampe, like Mrs. Chauhan Singh seems to do also says we may not loose hope and contrary to how lots of people are concentrating on their own self, we should look more to others and try to come up for the weaker ones.
Mrs. Chauhan Singh writes

Losing hope is never an option. If we are given this result, we must be hopeful that there must be something good coming out of it. Give him a chance. He has already shocked all of us; he may surprise us too. Do not lose hope. Instead hope for him to change his ways, his words, and his actions, for the betterment of this country. {When it looks like hate is winning}

One of Mr. Ampe his main teachings, also as a retired teacher of ballet history, is that we should learn from history and that we should make others aware of possible traps lots of people in the past did not notice but became victim of. According to him by knowing the past we can avoid the same mistakes, which have been repeated so many times, because people did not know their history.

We always shall look at things and would love to see things changed. Man is not easy satisfied.

One also can wonder when  our world evolves if/ when and how many people would be ready for such changes, and if they are for the better or for the worse. In most cases lots of people are just not ready for the changes taking place.

Problem is not in these major changes but our inability to accept them. {When it looks like hate is winning}

One might also ask whether we shall be able to find enough people who shall be really wanting to pursue peace. To find enough people who really want to “raise awareness that peace in itself,” and willing to take steps with which to motivate others to go that track of peace making is something we should go for. Too many may be very confused and may not be sure which dreams might be the best for them. Though according to Mr. Ampe we should come to work together towards mutual peace and to the broadcasting of hope and positive thoughts, trying to take away the confusion there is today and putting right the wrong ideas about some people, religions and ways of life. He believes the change must come from each of us and that we are responsible for the evolution of the day. According to him, we ourselves are to convey the message and have even to adopt a certain attitude and should form a shining example. According to him, there also should be peace as a base in our own daily lives.

This peace will also make the connection with the other and this will be like a snowball effect to be implemented on this world.

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Preceding articles about overviews for 2016

Donkere periodes en het uitkijken naar vrede

From Guestwriters 2015 in review

Pokémon craziness

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Additional reading

1. Knife-trust in democratic sore back
2. Daesh hits heart of Europe
3. What Associated Press released on Wednesday 23 March 2016
4. Iranian media implicitly accuse Erdogan to have known of the Bruxelles’s attacks in advance
5. Hard questions
6. Terrorist attacks in brussels
7. Social media, sympathy & shocks
8. Europe unites to defeat terror
9. Silence, devotion, Salafists, quietists, weaponry, bombings, books, writers and terrorists
10. Declaration of war against Islam and Christianity
11. Is Europe going to become a dictatorial bastion
12. French authorities have shut down around 20 mosques and prayer halls
13. State of emergency and respect for human rights
14. Paris attacks darkning the world
15. Trump brand of migrant demonization
16. Trump brand of migrant demonization #2
17. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
18. Muslim Grooming (Rape) Gangs and Sharia
19. Amount of Muslims living in your country

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Further reading

1. Paris Attackers Had Already Appeared in the Islamic State’s Propaganda
   It has already been established that the on-the-ground leader of the Islamic State’s atrocities on Paris
2. Belgium knew in 2012 already that Paris suspects were plotting attacks
   Belgian authorities knew as early as 2012 that terrorists linked to the bloodshed in Paris were plotting attacks in the West. But little was done to disrupt the build-up of a network that subsequently became a cornerstone …
3. Fugitive Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam captured in anti-terror raid
   He was shot in the leg and arrested in a major police operation in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek
4. Paris Attacks Suspect Wounded, Arrested In Brussels Raid
   Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the deadly Paris attacks, has been wounded and arrested, following a raid in the Belgian capital, Brussels, after four months on the run.
5. Hollande Chairs Emergency Security Meeting — France Determining Next Move After Arrest of Suspected Terrorist Salah Abdeslam, a French…
6. Muslims in Molenbeek are on the side of Salah against the belgian police. Take in more muslim immigrants so we enlarge the Salah’s Fan…
   The so called refugees are all muslims, I don’t see why we should let them in. Now that we know the destructive attitude of freemasonry we also know we mustn’t let them do what they ask.
7. One Paris attacker buried just a day before his brother was captured in Brussels police raid
   Brahim Abdeslam, who blew himself up in November’s attacks, was laid to rest the day before his brother Salah was captured.
8. Top Lawyers of Belgium, France in Suspected Terrorists Abdeslam Case — Focus on European jihadists
9. How Recent European Terror Wins Led to Abdeslam’s Capture
10. ISIS Launches Coordinated Attacks in Brussels Airport and Subway
    Early reports from Brussels are that two coordinated attacks have taken place with the first being at the Brussels Airport Departure Terminal and the second within the Brussels Subway system.
11. J’accuse ! L’attentat que les services craignaient
    Avec colère suite aux événements de ce matin, j’accuse la Belgique d’avoir été attentiste depuis des années et de n’avoir jamais donné les moyens aux services de Renseignement de faire leur travail professionnellement pour tenter de prévenir ce genre d’attaques.
    … Outraged about the events of this morning in Brussels, I accuse Belgium of having endorsed a “wait-and-see” policy for years and having never giving to the intelligence services the means to do their job professionally to try and avoid this kind of attack. …
12. Leighton: Terror cells are a lot bigger than Belgium authorities anticipated
13. Terror attacks in Brussels kill at least 34, story developing
    Terrorist bombings at a subway station in Maalbeek and at Zaventem Airport have killed at least 34 people and injured another 170. Two bombs, at least one of which is believed to have been a suicide bombing, struck the …
14. Bombing in Brussels!
    Today, once again, Islamic terrorists have attacked the west. This morning, Brussels became the latest city to come under attack with a bomb detonating on a metro train …
15. Islamofoobikot pitävät terrorismin voimissaan
    Ennen kuin Brysselin terrori-iskuista oli kiirinyt tieto Suomeen, Helsingin Sanomat kirjoitti viime syksyn Pariisin iskujen tekijöiden jahdista. Belgiassa 18.3. kiinniotettu Salah Abdesalam piileskeli kuukausien ajan
16. Islamofoobikot pitävät terrorismin voimissaan
    Ennen kuin Brysselin terrori-iskuista oli kiirinyt tieto Suomeen, Helsingin Sanomat kirjoitti viime syksyn Pariisin iskujen tekijöiden jahdista. Belgiassa 18.3. kiinniotettu Salah Abdesalam piileskeli kuukausien ajan …
17. Het raadsel, Salah Abdeslam
    Op 13 november vorig jaar reed hij zijn vrienden naar de Parijse plekken om toe te slaan. Dood en verderf te zaaien, angst aan te jagen, het leven te vernietigen dat hij met hart en ziel haatte.
18. Del estupor al sopor: atentados jihadistas, habituación europea, y jamais vu liberal-progresista
    Creo que estoy progresando. Esta noche, alrededor de las 3am, fui despertado por el zumbido de mi teléfono celular que se encontraba recargándose, apoyado sobre la mesita de luz.
19. The Religion of Peace Strikes Again
    This morning we awoke to the news of a deadly terrorist attack in Brussels. Isis claimed responsibility for the bombings at the airport and the Metro station.
20. Why Belgium?
    ISIS has claimed responsibility for separate explosions in Brussel’s Zaventem airport and a central metro station that killed 34 and wounded over 200.
21. Don’t Blame Whitey!
22. Belgium’s approach to immigration and security again under fire
23. CAIR Cannot Be Trusted To Police Radical Muslims
24. Brussels
25. Molenbeek-Saint-Jean
26. After Brussels, Europe must abandon its safe space and face reality
27. Hidden in Plain Sight: Salah Abdesalam’s 120 Days on the Lam
28. Waking Up to the Brussels Bombs
29. Aboard the Eurostar to Brussels
30. Two belgian politicians elected in Molenbeek committed themselves to legalize Sharia in Belgium. That’s how Islam destroys Democracy when…
31. Molenbeek’s gangster jihadis – BBC News
32. Europe’s Muslims hate the West
33. CAIR Cannot Be Trusted!
34. Belgian Terrorism Suspect Salah Abdeslam Has Agreed To Provide Police With Full Information on Other Terrorists — “Turns Supergrass”
35. Brussels Suicide Attacks ‘Shocking But Not Surprising,’ Stanford Experts Say
36. The Muslim Problem and How Not To Solve It
37. Look at what I almost stepped in
38. We Are AfraidMerci, Thanks !Revolution: Jesus loves Every Jihadist
39. Perps of ‘Far-Right’ Hit-and-Run on Muslim Woman Were Muslims
40. Why Belgium is Ground Zero for European Jihadis
41. Een falend land, dát is het echte probleem, meneer JambonTerrorism From Brussels: A Report
42. Molenbeek and its cultural and creative dynamism – a (small) press review
43. A Close Look at Brussels Offers a More Nuanced View of Radicalization – The New York Times
44. «Il reste encore des éléments à neutraliser»
45. Europe: Suicide by Jihad
46. How Many Molenbeeks in France?
47. The truth about “no-go” Molenbeek
48. Open brief aan Jan Jambon door Selma Benkhelifa (advocate)
49. Getting Up Earlier.
50. Two Police Officers Attacked With Knife In Belgium, Unhurt
51. Knifeman attacks Brussels police
52. Tent Cities for questionable dwellers
53. L’Arc-en-Ciel presque au complet
54. Dec 16,
55. It has been an eventful year for me 2016
56. The Politically Correct Right
57. Bet you missed this #1
58. 2016- A Reflection
59. 2016 Recapped
60. Summarising 2016-Энэ оныг дүгнэх нь
61. 2016 in review
62. Christmas Countdown Blitz 2016 ~ Day 12
63. Not Goals. Plans.
64. Book Review: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
65. What India Searched in 2016
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67. My 2016: August.
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69. Things That Need To End In 2017
70. History tells us what may happen next with Brexit & Trump
71. Look East and Watch for the Light
72. Readjusting Expectations
73. revolutionary reflections | The Crisis in German Politics and the Rise of the Radical Right
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Accents in schools and tools of survival against aliens

In Belgium and most parts of Europe the schools give a lot of attention to mathematics. Everything in the world seems to turn around ciphers. Not much space is given to emotions. Even at the age of two and a half, when kids enter school and you would think much of the basic social skills still have to be learned not so much time is invested to teach the children to live and work with each other.
Not only the “West” does not spend time into the spiritual welfare of its younger population. Software engineer, in an MNC in Gurgaon, India, Samir Mishra notices in his own country, which we associate with spiritual gurus:

It’s quite ironic that no education system teaches us how to use the tools of life when it’s life that turns out as the best teacher, mentor and guide for the rest of your life. {Subjects in Distress}

It looks like the world is gone far away from the basic skills a human being has to learn. All focus is placed on measurable things, matters of competitive skills and not of sharing issues. Our society does not give much attention any more on what we should consider the most essential valuable matters in the world of mammals. Perhaps man thought it should make itself totally different of animals, so would have to cut the behaviour education. In nature animals spend time at first to teach their young how they have to behave and what the order is in the way of life of their sort. They learn the basic skills to live in this world and to manage a good life.

Most people industrialised countries can say the same as Samir Mishra:

Even more ironic and rather sad is, none of the skills I learned in my school or college are helping me make my living. {Subjects in Distress}

Today we all may learn how to get the skills for a certain job to make money. In the fifties and sixties boys and girls in Belgium learned how to nit and sew. The children learned to work and to play together. Now not many play any more. Before and after school they are kept quiet in front of the television screen. Nobody learns needle work at school when he is a youngster. Most works for mother-day and father-day are mainly prepared by the teacher. The kids only bring the final touches, but they and the parents do believe they made it.

Nobody learns to give honour on the right person or to give respect to others.
Though:

Nothing helps except humanity and respect. Rest all are mere tools of survival against aliens, angry animals and foolish humans. {Subjects in Distress}

Lots of schools have become big institutions which manage to bring children in distress with ‘boredom’, filling up their brains with lots of words and ciphers which do not seem to contribute much to life-skills. Children feel this and therefore do not feel it is giving them the right thing, so they loose interest and get bored. They need to feel the direct link to their way of living, their own environment.

US Navy 041127-N-8801B-079 Culinary Specialist Seaman Barbara E. Rodriguez, assigned to the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2), spends time on a community relations visit to the Dubai Center for Special Needs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lots of children like Tonkadella may have a great memory and can easily remember stories and names, but from their educational period, the many years they sat on the school benches, they cannot remember numbers, dates and years. Is it perhaps not because lots of things are not any more presented in a nice frame, a good story? Children would remember nice stories, those stories that touch them, stories with deeper emotional meaning, not political. Not wars, conflicts, revolutions and battles. Though a great deal of the children might like the ‘wargames’, because they look incredible fancy moments. But for others it is all just a violence and crime to them. People suffering and fighting all the time, lesson by lesson.

Strange to find people to become bored in history class,such an interesting subject?

I was getting tired and bored in history classes. I found my teacher uninspiring and that affected my learning. All I did in history classes was daydreaming, which helped me to escape the stress reality of humankind history. Sometimes I would just simply stare at those pictures shown by my teacher, thinking of those pretty clothes, hairstyles and jewellery people used to wear. Sometimes, I would just try very hard to stay awake. {The History I don’t Know}

In Belgium it looks like the government does not find it necessary to the inhabitants to know what happened. Not much time is sped to history and geography, just now when so many can travel around. all focus is on mathematics.

“They” always said, “Write it down,” but when it came to math, that was poor advice for me. It got so excruciating that in eleventh grade, when my very nice algebra teacher said, “We’re starting imaginary numbers next week,” I actually cried. He asked what was wrong and I said, “I can’t get the right answer with real ones. What will I be able to do with imaginary ones?” By then I’d developed such a complex over the whole “right answer” thing that I was blind. I thought the little ‘i’ in front of a number denoting it being imaginary was an upside-down-exclamation mark, you know, like for Spanish? (I didn’t realize it was an ‘i’ (eye) until about ten years ago when a bunch of my students explained it! I’d have felt chagrined, but some of them couldn’t do long division on paper. 😉 ) {Imagined Irrationality of Numbers}
What a nightmare! {The History I don’t Know}

The children from early age onwards got their heads stuffed full with ciphers. They are not allowed to dream, they even do not learn it any more. They also do not learn to read stories any more. No time is spend to go through the literary works of the past. By leaving the on the bookshelves not many get to master their own language or to play with words.

Today we only can find a few people who still can say:

I also read, in their entirety, every single book that was required reading for my A.P. English class. And it was in that small classroom, in the north wing of my high school, where I flourished, plodding my way through the likes of Steinbeck, Dickens and Bronte. It’s where I fell in love with Conrad and Flaubert; where I became enthralled with Homer and Tolstoy; where I learned I didn’t care for Hemingway or Bradbury; learned that I could adore Fitzgerald’s Gatsby and a few weeks later be bored stiff by his other works. And, it’s where I learned that I could write words to make people understand – to take them down the road I wished them to go. {If you learn one thing, learn to dream –}

But more than remember what I learned, or even wished I’d learned back then, sometimes I think about those past teachers – not all of them, but some. And I wonder about their lives now and then. What did they do when they weren’t at school? Did they have families? What were their hobbies? Did they like teaching? Were they happy? I wouldn’t have known any of those things back then … but I wonder, if I would have known, would I have thought differently about any of them? {If you learn one thing, learn to dream –}

Children learn about health, fitness, safety (Photo credit: CherryPoint)

It seems the world did not want to let the person behind the subject been seen. Probably if pupils could see the person behind the subject more, they would get more respect for them. They also would probably remember more those teachers who personally managed to contribute something to their own life. The best teachers are those who give that extra, the little stories, the issues not registered in the syllabus.

One things for sure, to this day there are a few that I will always pay homage to for installing in me the craving for knowledge – because it’s only with knowledge that one can dream of all that’s possible in this life … and for that, I am thankful. {If you learn one thing, learn to dream –}

Those teachers who brought that extra to their subjects should be the ones to be remembered.  Hopefully next generations can find ways to bring back sunshine in the hearts of many.

°°°

This post inspired by today’s Daily Prompt: Land of Confusion.
“Which subject in school did you find impossible to master? Did math give you hives? Did English make you scream? Do tell!”

Please do find to read:

1. Subjects in Distress
2. If you learn one thing learn to dream
3. Giggles and some learning
4. Chemistry

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Positivism

For centuries people looked for ways to enhance their life and to make it possible to live in a nice enjoyable environment.
Many wrote about the negativism and positivism and for sure the last word is not yet said.

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Find in this historical overview on writings about Positivism:

1. Positivism, or positive philosophy = a philosophical doctrine that denies any validity to metaphysics or speculation.
2. works of English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley (1685-1753), and Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) contain basic tenets of positivism in an implicit form.
3. French philosopher and social scientist Auguste Comte (1798-1857) developed coherent doctrine and is acknowledged founder of positivism.
4. methods of science can give people knowledge of the laws of coexistence and succession of phenomena > they can never penetrate to  inner essences of things.
5. law of the development of human society because the predominant intellectual forms determine the character of society.
6. cultural climate of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century > gave rise to a wave of optimism.
7. positivism became a popular movement in the second part of the 19th century > accepted concept of infinity of nature and of history as well as of necessary and universal progress.
8. affinities with other important philosophical movement of the 19th century, absolute idealism.
9. belong in general range of romanticism
10. Consciousness, cultural norms, intentionality and symbolic meaning are variously considered distinctive human attributes that dictate a methodological gulf between the study of human social life and natural science.
11. American philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn (1922-1996) … marked break with positivism doctrines, along with the writings of Austrian-born philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994).
12. kinds of positivism
    = 1. social positivism
    focuses on progress from a consideration of society and history
    2.evolutionary positivism
    roots in fields of biology and physics.
    3. empiriocriticism
    science and knowledge in general only an instrument used by human organism to confront infinite mass of facts, or sensations, in such a way as to conserve itself. => function of science is economic and not contemplative or theoretical.
    4. logical positivism
    5. neopositivism
    6. critical positivism

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Please do find also:

1. Helping words
2. Spark of Positivism
3. We all have to have dreams
4. On Positivism
5. Awards, prizes, Peace and Working together

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Arooj Bhatti's Blog

Positivism, or positive philosophy, is a philosophical doctrine that denies any validity to metaphysics or speculation. It is sometimes associated with empiricism because it maintains that there is no answer to metaphysical questions and that scientific knowledge is the only knowledge. The works of English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley (1685-1753), and Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) contain the basic tenets of positivism in an implicit form. However, the term is specifically applied to the system of French philosopher and social scientist Auguste Comte (1798-1857), who developed the coherent doctrine and is the acknowledged founder of positivism.

According to positivists, while the methods of science can give people knowledge of the laws of coexistence and succession of phenomena, they can never penetrate to the inner essences of things. When the positive method is applied to the human world the result is a law of successive states through…

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