Browsing by Subject "Civilizational Studies"
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Item Can a Culture of Violence Sustain Peaceful Democracy?(International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, 2013) Andregg, Michael M.Can a Culture of Violence Sustain Peaceful Democracy? Of course, if one is flexible enough with definitions. That gets harder the more idyllic one wants the “peaceful democracy” to be. Most democracies are not all that peaceful now, and some are among the most violent nations on earth. Like, why dodge the obvious, my dear home United States of America. We hold records. We have been involved in more wars and lethal operations in more other countries than any other nation on earth over the last few decades, especially if one includes smaller targets in places like Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and other countries who have lost one snatched or snuffed. We incarcerate more of our own people than anyone else in the world, by rate and absolutely. Our war on drugs extends to tens of thousands dying in countries like Mexico and Columbia, and to hundreds of thousands in America with near-life sentences for petty crimes. We have more guns per capita than any other nation on earth bar none, and are damn proud of it polls generally show, despite enduring one of the highest murder rates as well. And our mass murderers, about 20 each year, have often been entertained and “educated” by some of the most ruthless video games ever created anywhere. America holds many records! So if you include the USA in the set of “peaceful democracies” then you would have to conclude that it is certainly possible to sustain a “peaceful democracy” with a pretty violent culture by most observers’ assessments. Some of our most ardent weapons enthusiasts, like the NRA, say that we sustain our peaceful democracy because of extensive gun ownership, etc. Their critics say we are on a path to perdition, but so far the Pentagon still owns the path. There are surely more peaceful democracies on earth today, no doubt, and may God Bless every one of them. Most of them have far more restricted access to guns, smaller and less harsh prisons, less militaristic foreign policies, and dramatically lower rates of death by violence. Some examples: Japan, Finland, Costa Rica, South Korea, Singapore and most of Europe. And there are police-states that rigorously repress both free speech and private ownership of weapons. If one expects perfection in definitions, however, you can be pretty confident that no perfectly peaceful democracies exist. Most true pacifists got run out of their ancestral lands long ago, like the Dalai Lama, so almost every government on earth maintains an army to maintain borders. Rare exceptions like Costa Rica rely on the prudence of neighbors too poor to invade. More common are countries built with guns, like China, Russia, the USA and Canada, all successful if variably violent nations today. Remember, North Americans were all Indians 550 years ago. Native populations may have been more or less peaceful, a very mixed record, but that mattered less than their inability to stop invaders with better weapons when civilizations clashed. This is just an opinion not a recommendation, and I welcome any others most sincerely. Michael Andregg, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, Dec. 28, 2012, for the ISCSC 2013 newsletterItem Corruption of Institutions and the Decay of Civilizations(Nova, 2013-02-08) Andregg, Michael M.CORRUPTION OF INSTITUTIONS AND THE DECAY OF CIVILIZATIONS Michael Andregg University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA ABSTRACT This chapter discusses the dangers of corruption of institutions, especially governments, and how such corruption can be exposed and partially cleansed. Theories about the decay phase of civilizations are briefly cited, and examples of corrupted forms of six professions illustrated (military, law, medicine, journalism, business and the clergy). Parallels between large organizations and the human body are shown to illustrate system consequences of dysfunction. An enduring theme is the need for constant, built in mechanisms to reduce corruption in living systems, including the largest scale of civilizations. Some solutions to these problems are mentioned, but readers are also challenged to do better since the problems of corruption of governance have been eternal and have successfully resisted many reform efforts. INTRODUCTION Civilizations are living systems, so like any living system they need at least 19 subsystems to acquire and process food, water, energy and information, to safely dispose of toxic byproducts or wastes, to avoid being eaten themselves, and otherwise to stay alive and to reproduce themselves. In one sense all these life functions are equally “essential” (Miller, Living Systems, 1978). Still I will maintain here that cleansing a civilization regularly of corruption (or empire or nation state) is especially important. Why?Item The Decay Phase of Civilizations: Some Comparisons between Rome and the Current Situation(2011-06-02) Andregg, Michael M.This 61 slide PowerPoint discusses the "Decay Phase" of civilizations alleged by Carroll Quigley among others with data from the early Third Millennium and the Roman period. There are many, and we are not the only people who have wondered if our current civilization is "decaying" in various ways, moral, economic and practical.Item Ethics for Spies in an Age of Assassinations, Rationalized Torture, Black, High-tech Propaganda, and Civilizational Breakdown(International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, 2018-06) Andregg, Michael M.Ethics for Spies in an Age of Assassinations, Rationalized Torture, Black, High-tech Propaganda, and Civilizational Breakdown Michael Andregg, University of St. Thomas, and Vice President of the ISCSC for Young Scholar Development Op-Ed for the 2018 ISCSC Newsletter In my academic life, I do war forecasting and study spies (you cannot be very accurate on causes of wars if you do not pay attention to what the spies are up to). This makes ISCSC conferences a welcome relief to me, because they gather mainly nice, safe, elderly professors and students who are concerned about the great, classical issues. Spy conferences have quite a different ambiance. Anyone who has read Sun Tzu or Thucydides knows that spies have been with us for as long as civilizations, perhaps longer. But spies usually keep a low profile, and you do not have to worry about the assassins unless you are involved in high politics or commerce. Once in a great while, big issues for civilizations and for secret intelligence entities overlap. This is one. So my task today is to convey why creating an ethos for spies is important to civilizational survival. You all have read something about the attempted assassination on March 4 of the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Great Britain by exotic nerve agent. This is part of a larger “Warm War” between current Russia and “the West,” which could become much hotter. Since nuclear weapons hover in the background, most of this is done “asymmetrically” through “hybrid warfare” and “active measures” which include extensive “information operations” and cyberattacks. Oops, the Brits chose Brexit (partly therefore) and we got Putin’s Poodle for a president. NATO, the EU, the United States and the world will never be the same. Propaganda always was more powerful than many know, but the techniques available in World War II were trivial compared with the techniques and technologies of information warfare and psychological operations today. Disinformation and black propaganda always were Russian specialties (well, the Brits and Israelis are pretty adept at these also). The problem is that spies learn from each other like any other professionals do, and sophisticated technique is spreading. Kim Jong-un also used an exotic nerve agent to kill his half-brother Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia, to prevent China from cultivating an alternative for the throne. North Korea got their VX from Russia. Meanwhile China has shown the world new heights of industrial espionage, and learned excellent brainwashing techniques from the North Koreans. These contribute to trade tensions with the US and the West, while China also develops the world’s best facial recognition software and social control technologies, like continuous video surveillance guided by novel AI software of people suspected of impure thoughts. Since China and North Korea have near total control of their media, this can have large consequences for concepts like freedom and human dignity. The West is far from pure in this domain. We invented Facebook, in the news a lot recently, the NSA and CIA, while the Brits built GCHQ and Cambridge Analytica. We also invented the term “psychological operations” during our war with North Korea (and China) in the early 1950’s. So when we of the ISCSC visit China for the 48th annual meeting of our gentle, professorial society, I will be pushing for a “Great Harmony” between the “Middle Kingdom” (China) and the “Beautiful Country” (USA). I will be remembering wise words from ancient Chinese masters, especially from Sun Tzu whose incomparable work will be cited extensively. This “clash” of civilizations must be managed as constructively as possible, lest everything under heaven be threatened with general thermonuclear war (among other bad options). Therefore, the dark arts and dark artists must be tended to, at least watched very carefully, so they do not throw monkey wrenches into everyone else’s peace plans. North and South Korea must be encouraged to pursue the sunshine policies of constructive reunification instead of war hawk dreams of containable wars with merely millions dead. And China must rise without feeling a need to wage war against western values, which will not surrender as easily as national armies may. Therefore, I have been agitating spies around the world to create a professional “ethos” for spies, complete with codes of conduct and such. You may laugh – its oxymoronic aspects are obvious. But consider, do you really want everyone’s spies to be as bad as the worst among us? That is a short path to global war, so I say step aside Sisyphus, we have work to do!Item From Monmouth to Brazil: Strategic Considerations for the ISCSC(International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, 2013-12-09) Andregg, Michael M.From Monmouth to Brazil: Strategic Considerations for the ISCSC Our 2014 Conference will be at Monmouth University in New Jersey, USA, within driving distance of 60% of the graduate students and faculty in America, and our 2015 Conference will be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That will be our first conference south of the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Both hosts are working hard to minimize costs at each location. The purpose of this note is to highlight why benefits and costs have become critical to the future of the Society. For decades support for interdisciplinary education in the USA has declined as Universities have become ever more focused on narrow specializations. Whole departments of classical studies have been dropped, others merged into language, history or other departments, and support for junior faculty travel (much less graduate students) has been limited to core “disciplines.” So, most of our participants attend at their own expense, which is getting harder all the time. Despite our origins in Austria, followed by years headquartered in Europe and a small presence in Asia throughout, a majority of our members are now from North America. We try hard to have conferences on other continents, as we must to remain international. But this has not been easy since attendance drops off when we visit Dublin, Paris, St. Petersburg or Ritaku U in Japan. We gain some members abroad, but they then face multi-thousand dollar expenses to continue participating by flying to North America for a couple of years before we venture forth again. Members of the council have struggled with this for all of the 20+ years I have attended the ISCSC. Meanwhile, core support from universities continues to decline. Most of you reading this are well aware of that dynamic. So here is the practical purpose of this essay. Monmouth will be our least expensive option for some time. They will be providing dormitory accommodations for those who don’t need fancy hotels, and travel costs will be low for a majority of our members. But we MUST stay international, and we must reach out to those who have borne high costs attending our North American conferences for years. Like our Brazilian friends. So Rio de Janeiro Brazil is next – our first conference south of the equator. Because of travel costs, this will be more expensive for many, despite local efforts to find low cost but convenient housing near the main conference venue (which is quite lovely by the way). We risk the death of many aging, academic societies however distinguished, as senior faculty retire while junior faculty get no support outside their core disciplines. Graduate students must have angels if they hope to attend, or rich parents who are also rare, since schools seldom support such travel to interdisciplinary events anymore. So I urge you all to make maximum efforts to attend June 11-15, 2014, at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, USA. I also urge you to consider the bigger picture and to plan to attend Brazil also. Those who are growing in experience might consider hosting a future conference—I would be happy to talk about how that is done, and how to find some support from host institutions that can help a lot. But most of all I urge all members to consider how we can help the young, aspiring students of our time who have global vision to attend. The young are our future; they are the ones who must face the cascading global crises that Andrew Targowski talked about last year in his presidential speech, and they are broke as goats, if not up to their eyeballs in debt already. Best wishes to all, Michael Andregg, VP Young Scholar Development, St. Paul, Minnesota, USAItem Is the US "Occupation" Phenomenon a Civilizational Thing, and Will it Last?(International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, 2011-12) Andregg, Michael M.Is the US “Occupation” Phenomenon a Civilizational Thing, and Will it Last? A question put to me by our ISCSC President, Andrew Targowski answer by Michael Andregg, UST in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Last things first, Will the Occupations Last? Yes, for a year or more. As long as civilizations like, say China? Not the remotest chance. All populist winds are ephemeral. That important practical note made: Yes, the US occupation of Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan on September 17, 2011 had deep roots and was much inspired by the Arab Spring of the preceding 9 months. That began with an overeducated street vender in Tunisia, Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire December 17 of 2010 to protest unfair treatment by police who had confiscated his scales supporting a deeply corrupt and entrenched government. The ruler for life of that government, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, surrendered his power of 23 years on January 14 (less than a month later) following public outrage after Bouazizi’s death. Tunisia was followed by Egypt, and Hosni Mubarak followed Ben Ali into the dust bins of history briskly. There were shudders of protest in other places where traditional rulers hung on, like in Yemen, Bahrain and most recently Syria. In Libya, NATO supported change with heavy weapons and an Arab League mandate, and within months the old dictator Muammar Gaddafi was dead. Whether his son will be tried in Libya or an international court remains to be seen. So the times, they are a changing. This boiling sea of unprecedented and largely unpredicted change inspired hundreds of lesser protests by citizens in locations all around the world including Russia, China, Greece, Israel, Japan and India where Anna Hazare staged hunger strikes that lead to recognition by the Parliament. The Norwegian Nobel Committee gave its annual Peace Prize to three women, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, for their various non-violent struggles for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work. Occupy Wall Street can only envy the results in Tunisia and North Africa. They have not seen a single titan of the big banks and investment houses fall despite guilt obvious to all and months of protest spreading to sympathy groups in hundreds of other cities including St. Paul, Minneapolis and others in Minnesota. But the OWS occupiers were scraped off of Zuccotti Park on the night of November 15th by New York’s finest by command of the Mayor (coincidentally founder of Bloomberg News, which covers and profits from mainly financial interests). I spent the night of November 11 on a frozen Hennepin County Government center plaza with about 20 Veteran’s for Peace from chapters 27 and 127 in the Twin Cities and Red Wing MN trying to remember the original meaning of “Armistice Day” and express solidarity with the kids at risk of eviction any day. A few students also made the sleepover, along with about 60 of the regular occupiers who had been camping out here for almost two months. There were agreed rules, boundaries and porta-potties (paid for by the Occupiers, by the way). But the Sheriff and conservatives on the county board made it clear that the welcome was not open-ended, and incremental changes in the rules made it slightly harder each day to overnight safely and warmly. No tents, no fires, no cooking, no electrical hookups, no leaving anything unattended and new ‘no’s periodically. The police swooped in one early December morning and took all the bedding, blankets, sleeping bags and such and wiped the occupiers out winter survival-wise. So they have gone to supporting, by occupying ;-), recently foreclosed homes whose previous owners are willing to share digs with others while they wait out Sheriff’s evictions. We shall see what emerges next spring. There are events at the plaza each week, and some signage always survives the periodic purges and ‘cleanups.’ The only thing you can be quite certain of is that the occupy movement will emerge next spring in Minnesota. For now, it’s winter and time to pray for a Peaceful Christmas for everyone on an earth in the midst of unpredictable changes. --- Michael Andregg --- Dec. 23, 2011Item ISIS and the Apocalypse: Some Comparisons with End Times Thinking Elsewhere, and a Theory(International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, 2016-06-30) Andregg, Michael M.ISIS and Apocalypse: DRAFT - 6 Some Comparisons with End Times Thinking Elsewhere and a Theory by Michael Andregg, mmandregg@stthomas.edu for the ISCSC Annual Conference, June 30, 2016, at Monmouth University, NJ, USA abstract This paper will review “End Times Thinking” in Jewish, Christian and Islamic cultures to identify some common themes among myriad differing details. Simply put, some people have believed for hundreds or thousands of years that their prophets will return to earth someday to rescue humankind from sin (or in a common Shi’ite version, a son of the Prophet Mohammed will return, named or called the “Mahdi”). Some Christians think that Jesus will return to administer vast changes, ranging from “rapture” to annihilation; some Jews that a “Messiah” is destined for those tasks, but focused on saving the Hebrew people of Israel. Generally, the earth is supposed to be purified by these processes, so that some “true” religion can be manifest on the entire earth, which would then be free of war, famine and perhaps suffering of all kinds. Then, we present a theory based on behavior genetics and the “selfish gene” hypothesis. This suggests that such beliefs may reflect an ancient template that encourages some to believe that they alone are the center of both the universe and God’s love. Some think that God wants them alone to populate the earth, or rule everyone else as slaves. Such people are easy prey for demagogues who abound in desperate places and royal courts. Some notes on Mormon theology and on the Bundy family of Southern Nevada, USA, will show how this belief system can arise in churches of much more recent origin, and that it can change to better coexist with others. ISIS is killing far more people today than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS, a.k.a. Mormons). But it was not always so. The Mountain Meadows Massacre of ~ 120 Christians on the way to California is a case in point. How the LDS church came to grips with modernity and literally decided to coexist better with others provides some clues to how any church or religion might moderate so that a real “end” to civilization (and possibly humankind) can be avoided. The presence and spread of WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction) lends urgency to this fix.Item The Keystone XL Pipeline and the Fate of Human Civilization(International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, 2014-11-20) Andregg, Michael M.The Keystone XL Pipeline and the Fate of Human Civilization by Michael Andregg, University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, USA. mmandregg@stthomas.edu for the ISCSC Newsletter, November 20, 2014 This issue has become so partisan, ideological and symbolic that both extreme positions can be quickly dismissed. It will not be “game over for planet Earth” if Keystone is built, as some claim very sincerely. The Earth will abide just fine even if sea levels rise 22 feet or more (~ 7 meters). And Keystone will not be the infrastructure project that saves the American economy as other ideologues maintain with equal enthusiasm. Full time, long-term jobs created would be about 50 depending on how many are required to refine the very heavy oil that arrives in Louisiana. Rather, Keystone XL marks a struggle between the plutocrats of an old energy economy in decline, and partisans of the new global renewable energy system which will certainly replace the old. Unless global warfare over consequences changes the landscape for everyone, of course. Tar sands oil is certainly very “dirty,” devastating areas where it is produced, and releasing far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per usable BTU obtained than alternatives. Spills are inevitable, so there will be some adverse consequences if we move that oil over some of the best farmland and most economically important aquifers on Earth. And it would have very small effect on global oil prices or gasoline prices in America. On the other hand (there are always at least two hands in this debate) Keystone XL would provide more energy security in North America if worst case scenarios of global conflict come, and global trade in energy is interrupted. Economic consequences of that would dwarf many of our current concerns. But the really big struggle in this domain is between science-based recognition that global warming is real, caused by our profligate use of fossil fuels, and has huge consequences vs. fervent denial among some that anything real is happening or that any change is necessary. In “Collapse” Jared Diamond (2005) describes past civilizations that failed because elites simply could not or would not adjust when the signs of danger were clear and urgent. They are today. Denial is a powerful psychological phenomenon, and can devastate nations at moments like this. Sea level rise is already occurring as polar ice and glaciers worldwide melt, which greatly frightens the island nations of Micronesia and countries like Bangladesh that depend on delta for half of their food and housing. But they are very poor, so some plutocrats feel they can safely ignore such complaints. They might reflect on another certain fact, that lower Manhattan is as close to the sea as so much of Bangladesh. Stock exchanges do not work well underwater. Plutocrats may think they are masters of the Universe who can order the sea to stop rising. They cannot, and if 7 meters of sea rise inundate half of Florida, most of LA, and all of the financial districts in New York and London, they will find that Switzerland is not big enough to hold all the climate refugees from plutocrat to poor. That is a much bigger issue than any one pipeline.Item Liberty versus Tyranny: An Ancient and Ongoing Struggle between Good and Evil(2019-07) Andregg, Michael M.This PowerPoint presentation reviews struggles between liberty and tyrannies across several ancient and modern civilizations. As with PowerPoints generally, it is stronger on visuals and weaker on scholarly text or citations.Item Solutions for Key Aspects of the Developing Global Crisis(2017-06-20) Andregg, Michael M.This is an eleven slide PowerPoint presentation for an ISCSC conference in 2017 which systematically works through the largest aspects of "The Developing Global Crisis" with a focus on solutions.Item Terrorism, Fear, Evil and the Challenge to Civilization, 62-slide PowerPoint(2015-02-27) Andregg, Michael M.This is a very long PowerPoint presentation on critical aspects of US history that bear on our understandings of "Terrorism, Fear and Evil" in the world today. It covers a number of topics that are semi-taboo, like whether "Evil" has dimensions other than the ordinary human failings and mistakes.Item Terrorism, Fear, Evil, and the Challenge to Civilization in the 21st Century: What does Religion Say about That?(not published, presented, 2015-02-27) Andregg, Michael M.Outline for: Terrorism, Fear, Evil, and the Challenge to Civilization in the 21st Century: What does Religion Say about That? Created for Rev. Alan James and his Institute of Theological and Interdisciplinary Studies February 27, 2015, by Michael Andregg, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. mmandregg@stthomas.edu 1. Opening comments for veterans, peace activists & other patriots. My deepest sympathies. Rethinking National Security in Light of the True* History of America since 1963 2. The murder of President John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963. NSAM 263, on Oct. 11. 3. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution, and other ‘Deep State’ events, exaggerations & fabrications. 4. The murders of Rev. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, 1968. 5. The “October Surprise” that knocked out President Jimmy Carter, 1980. 6. The “Iran-Contra” scandal of 1985-86. 7. The “False-Flag” Operation of September 11, 2001. 8. The Invasion of Iraq Based on Fraudulent “Intelligence” March 19, 2003. 9. How the “Mainstream Media” was neutered to create “Stenographers for Power, Inc.” 10. How to Restore the Country Before it Decays and Breaks, like many Civilizations Before* * If you lose your way in high mountains, you should go ALL the way back to where you went astray. Shortcuts are seldom really shorter. That was my outline based on preliminary ideas suggested by Rev. James (transformed by me, of course, who is the only one responsible for every error in this analysis and presentation!). Today we address “Terrorism, Fear, Evil, etc.” Oy! And the developing global crisis that confronts our entire Civilization. Oy Vey!! Let’s start with “terrorism, fear and evil.” 1. How many people are actually killed by real terrorists in the US and Canada each year? a. Less than the number of veterans who commit suicide each DAY (~22). b. Less than the number of citizens killed by bee stings or lightning strikes. c. Less than are killed by falling furniture in their homes, especially TVs. d. Less than are killed by avalanches, average = 28/yr. e. About a thousand times less than are video ‘killed’ on television each year, which our children watch. Those who play video ‘war’ games see many more. Why are we so terrified by these terrorist morons? Sure, many are nutcases, and yes they are dangerous, but??? One answer is that someone wants us to be terrified, there … and here.