Sovereignty

Sovereignty

1. (of a nation) The state of making laws and controlling resources without the coercion of other nations.
2. (of God) Supreme authority over all things. (Ref. ‘King of kings, and Lord of lords’)
3. (of self) The liberty to decide one’s thoughts and actions.
-Wiktionary

Who is in control? That’s a big question with a very long and complex answer. What is almost certain is that it isn’t you.

I have begun a new blog, the successor to this one, at Dread Sovereignty. Here I plan to ask and answer questions about sovereignty, personal and national, and try to find some ways to reclaim it.

As you already know from what little I have done here, I will be providing perspective, information, and a good deal of history on the subject. You will see some or all of the posts here revived in a new form appropriate to the task at hand.

I hope you enjoy my new blog. Please stop by and see me.

Thanks,

-Chris

Dread Sovereignty

Depression

Depression is undervalued and over-diagnosed.  Humans are capable of a wide range of emotions, and each one is intended to provide a benefit, whether it be reinforcing habits, ore shocking them out of bad situations.

In modern society there seems to be a troubling tendency to believe that sadness is something best avoided altogether. Clinical depression, is now something diagnosed in people of all ages, startlingly often.

There are no studies suggesting that depression is any more common now than ever before, but depression diagnoses have been on a sharp rise. Along with the recent boom in attention deficit disorder and seasonal affective disorder diagnoses, depression is having a spotlight turned on it as a new enemy of mankind. The treatments can be worse than the problem, and usually more long-term.

Recession

A recession is not about gas prices or the cost of corn. Recessions do not pop up overnight, and their greatest effect is not a dip in the gross national product or the per capita income.

Consumer spending droops, causing corporate spending to drop as the think tanks go into survival mode. Governments cut interest rates to encourage spending but ultimately this puts more money into circulation and causes inflation, simultaneously devaluing the currency and slowing the rate at which savings accrue interest. Days get shorter, working parents get more tired, and politicians lose approval ratings.

HIV

HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, is possibly the most politically charged microscopic object known to man.

Political camouflage, denial, lust, religious conflict, economic hardship, and even a few things that have to do with biology, make up HIV’s formidable bag of tricks. It joins the ranks of the rare few diseases, such as leprosy, that are capable of making their hosts not only ill, but socially outcast as well.

Unlike leprosy, this social quarantine does nothing to contain the spread of HIV, because HIV has few outward symptoms, and no symptoms that would tip off the uninformed observer. These peculiarities have allowed HIV to spread to the pandemic problem that it is now. Its unique biology will keep it going strong in the face of open war by the international community.

Cooking

Cooking is not reading directions on boxes and preparing the contents. Recipes are not cooking in the same sense that sheet music is not actually music. The art of cooking does not involve secret recipes or grandma’s wisdom (although grandma probably has a lot to teach you). The difference between food you enjoy and food you survive on is the difference between cooking and simple preparation.

By no means can the complicated art of cooking be explain in short terms, but there are a few basic principles that will help every one enjoy more fulfilling food, even the kind that comes out of a box.

Karma

Karma is a very misunderstood concept in Buddhism. The common conception is that Karma represents some invisible law that punishes the wicked and rewards the good. The ultimate “what goes around comes around” is a pretty flawed way of looking at it. Since this is such a deeply held misconception, let’s have a few examples.

Wrong: Stanley walks into a bar, bumping into Xavier on his way out. He sneers and yells “Watch where you’re going” and slides up to the bar. Soon after his advances are rejected by an exceedingly beautiful woman, Maribel. Charles, who witnessed the whole scene, sneers back at him and says “that’s karma for you.”

Kosovo

Kosovo is a small landlocked country in the Balkans. Yes, it’s a country. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17 2008, and was immediately recognized by a number of countries who had not had to deal with serious separatist movements in many years.

Kosovo was part of the Roman empire, later overtaken by the Byzantine empire, lost, and retaken again. It was then conquered by the Serbian Empire, and finally by the Ottoman Empire.

This is where our modern drama really begins, way back in the 15th century. We take an ethnic group that, after all that conquering, has developed a pretty cohesive racial identity, and proceed to force them to convert to a new religion through political sanctions against the Orthodox Christian faith. The stage is set for a long and troubling tragedy, and it will be played out.

Fuedalism

Feudalism is the system of social order that produced the knight. It is the subject of fantasy, but also a symbol of oppressive government and corruption. Also, it isn’t as much a thing of the past as you might think.

Feudalism is in many ways the most basic type of government conceivable. It is reflected in the classical organization of the Italian Mafia, and its vestiges remain in the majority of the world’s governments. The simple premise is that one person enters a binding contract with another. The first person offers land, money, or other goods or rights capable of supporting them permanently, and in return the second person is bound to come to the assistance of the first in times of trouble. Seems simple enough, but let’s not forget what we’re talking about. The first person is called a “lord” and the second is called a “vassal.”

Wine

Wine is not elitist, no matter what anyone tells you. If you have trouble believing that, go to Spain. Spaniards sometimes refer to their country as “la tierra de vino,” or, “the land of wine.” In a Spanish restaurant, a glass of wine costs the same as a glass of water. If anyone knows wine, it’s the Spanish.

For those of you who don’t know, Spain is a country in Western Europe. It’s the country where Spanish people are from. It happens to be next to Portugal and France. All those Spanish people in your country that your government is trying to kick out? They’re actually not Spanish at all, unless your country happens to be England.

The trouble with most wine connoisseurs is that they are the sorts of people who use words like “connoisseur” without cracking a smile. Wine is not, and was not, about the social elite. If you wear a monocle and carry a pocket watch, you are not grounded enough to properly enjoy wine.