[ExI] lists going quiet, was: RE: list test

[spike]

From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of spike
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 1:45 PM
To: 'ExI chat list'
Subject: Re: [ExI] lists going quiet, was: RE: list test

 

 

 

From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Will Steinberg
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 1:26 PM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [ExI] lists going quiet, was: RE: list test

 

>>.OK Spike, I think you can retire "prole" now.  I mean I'm sure we're all
rather elitist here but it's become a bit tired nonetheless.

 

 

>.On the contrary, Will.  The term has taken on a whole new significance in
recent months.  You have read Orwell, ja?  spike

 

To expand a bit on the notion, the term prole should not be retired, but
rather should be brought out of retirement, and used early and often by
those of us who are awake and watching.  I had an insight recently when my
former college roommate came to visit.  He and I graduated together.  He
went to work for the government, I avoided following him there, even though
it was one of my options.  Now, thirty years later, I marvel at how our
once-similar perspectives have diverged.

 

In Orwell's 1984, the inner circle were the government officials that had
actual authority and political power.  The outer circle included the rather
enormous group of workers who were employed by the government, everything
from janitors up to top level bureaucrats outside the inner circle.  The
proles were everyone else.  In Orwell's scenario, the proles could be low
level employees at anything, unemployed, but not necessarily: they could be
highly educated and highly skilled.  But not really wealthy, for in his dark
scenario, people outside of government control did not prosper.

 

My former roommate did well, climbing the civilian ranks supporting the
military.  He is an outer circle guy very close to the inner circle.  When
we discussed the fed's activities, especially in matters such as
sequestration, it became clear our views had diverged radically.  Regardless
of whether sequestration is good or bad, he opposed it.  He and everyone he
associates with are dependent on a government paycheck.  All else is
irrelevant when one is completely dependent on that paycheck.

 

Have we lost perspective so completely that we cannot see the transition our
country has made in 40 years?  A president was caught using the IRS as a
weapon against his political opponents, he resigned in disgrace under the
threat of impeachment.  The current president does the same thing only a lot
more of it, and he is calling it a phony scandal.  People are openly asking
if there is anything illegal about using the IRS as a weapon.  This
transition happened in only 4 decades.

 

For those outside the US, here is why this is so important.  In politics as
in anything else, the pendulum swings.  Our senators are elected every 6
years.  The 2014 elections will be 6 years since a whole bunch of senators
were swept into office on Obama's coattails, when he enjoyed a +20 percent
approval rating.  Now, those guys are up for re-election and Obama's
coattails are a negative value, about -4% and dropping steadily.  So what
happens when that pendulum swings all the way over, and the opposing side
comes sweeping into office in the next two elections, 2014 and 2016?  They
come in with a powerful precedent: they can use the IRS to slay anyone in
opposition.  Result: a functional dictatorship possibly far more repressive
than anything Orwell foresaw, one that can target anyone for any view, not
just on taxes, but on cryonics, on transhumanism, on privacy rights, on
atheism, on anything it doesn't like, anything.

 

Will, do you still object to my use of the term proles?  In the world in
which we are headed, even proles are not free.

 

spike

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