It has been a tough 20's for some of us.
Mother died in 2022.
A sad reflection on my career is that the best year was during the pandemic. I got to live with my family and work on interesting projects for bosses who weren't screwing too much with me and our work. Since being beckoned back to the office, I choose to live with family over moving them or living 800 miles away.
There has also been a parting of ways with some old friends over dealing with how we use Dixie.
Last October, me and Busta were hit by a car before we could leave St Louis on an attempted bicycle trip to Columbia for the Mizzou homecoming.
Don’t get down on me though. Stuff happens to the best of us, and nobody gets out unscathed or alive.
More research and reporting would be nice for me, but we’re doing OK thanks to our real estate investments and work. We feel pretty good about what we have done with houses, and neighbors seem to like us being around so far. After taking out and replacing ten yards of old carpet, cabinets and other trash, along with recycling a bathtub, metal, cardboard and what we can, we are finishing an update to a nice home for the neighborhood.
After months of dealing with insurance, the bicycle and trailer are back!
We’re still here, even have a few good days, and are back on the bike and trailer starting this weekend.
Looking forward to trying more.
Solidarity, support and hugs to comrades. I hope that you have good days still. Let us know if we can help.
Recently posted documentaries on early 20th century Eurasian history have caught the attention of myself and my video feed algorithms. I linked to two last week to review and discuss this week.
One is the first in a series on the Soviet Gulag system led by Stalin, and the other presents Mao’s leadership of the Great Leap Forward.
I think that there is a lot interesting historical footage in the videos that is worthwhile itself.
What about historical accuracy of the documentaries? Please point out any angles, biases or errors as you wish.
Most of all, I am interested in how people act collectively. There seems to be a lot of craziness or hysteria. What drives people to turn on each other so much?
The documentaries present historical contexts for what happened in Russia and the Soviet Union from the late 1800’s on, and in China from the early 20th century. Hardships, wars, monarchy and imperialism had to be dealt with.
One interesting point to me were attempts to institute collective efforts from feudalism and monarchy in Russia and China, along with British and Japanese imperialism in China. There was no transition to democratic and bureaucratic governance. People went from reliance on monarchs to subservience to a few overlords led by a great leader tied to national sentiment. Once in motion, there is great pressure on institutions and individuals to satisfy collective needs.
Can we have revolution without being involved in incremental governance? At this time, I see having some impact with disruption from protests, boycotts, strikes. Still, as long as we remain uninvolved with local government, then decisions on infrastructure and development will remain in the same hands.
Perhaps I am mistaken about the need to be involved in government. Maybe real change only comes from large shifts of governing to outsiders. One thing I learned about the Soviet Union was that Menshevik attempts to work within the imperialist Russian Duma were considered unfavorably by many compared to Bolshevik stances for revolutionary change and against involvement in WW I. When are existing governments beyond redemption for change seekers?
All extant political systems of Earth’s major powers have done shameful things. The United States is responsible itself for vast suffering of indigenous populations of the Americas, slaves brought from Africa, and exploiting people and the planet for economic gain. To this day, many turn blind eyes to waste, neglect and suffering wrought by and for our economic exceptionalism.
A major problem in both the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union has been that collectivism has been corrupted as tools of power. People thought they were taking over when they were handing control over to murderous madmen. Entire national systems were made subservient to following leaders who might have done a few things well, but who, like everybody else, should not have been autocrats. Americans say we demand freedom and reject autocrats while we fall in line with favored branded images.
Finally, I am interested in knowing where collective threats lie today. A lot of hysteria remains. Social pressures are as strong as ever. People often go along to get along. Leaders and parties gain unquestioning power. I have long written about lying Republicans and their nazi don leader. For stable societies, we have burned a lot of energy that is being paid back in environmental degradation and destabilization. Immigration stands to increase dramatically, yet many are poised to blame immigrants over pooling our resources. Where should we be concerned about threats to freedom today? How do we work together within our means while fighting against power gained through exploitation of the Earth and other people?