Badminton and the Origin of Civilization

November 12th, 2006 · No Comments · Uncategorized

L. Neil Smith, in an essay titled There's No Such Thing as "Goodminton," comes up with a pun of sorts, served up as a metaphor in characterizing the latest in political goings on.

Election 2006 has come and gone, uprooting Bible-thumpers, born again warmongers, xenophobes, torturers, and homo-haters, replacing them with what will soon prove to be endless hordes of food fascists, tree huggers, Luddites, energy Nazis, anti-smokers, animal rights (but never human rights) crazies, acid rain, ozone depletion, and global warming hoaxers, Sandalistas, and gun-grabbing victim disarmament zombies.

I realize that it needed to be done, but it's a lot like having a festering wound cleaned out by maggots. Somehow I don't really feel much better. It seems that Skull & Bones still wins, no matter what we do.

Indeed. One group of thieves with "ideals" replaced with another group of thieves with "ideals." The ideals I speak of are mere window dressing, serving only to differentiate the one group of marauders from the other. This is why those with real ideals -- individualist ideals -- sometimes develop a sort of natural bias for one group of mafioso over the other (I count myself guilty in that respect as well). Smith makes the point:

The thing to remember in all of this is that there's really only one "major" political organization, the Boot On Your Neck party, and that when everything else is said and done, you can forget about Right and Left, socialism and fascism, conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans. All that government is about, all that government's ever been about, and all that government will ever be about is simply stealing.

True, different groups make up different ideologies to justify stealing. That's all they're for. None of them mean a thing beyond that.

It serves to consider how governments came to be, long ago. Somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand years ago, populations were small, hunter-gatherer groups who survived through migration, just as wild animals do. They went wherever food was to be hunted and found. They followed the migrating animals and wild vegetation that comprised their food chain, just as those in that chain below them did, and those below them, and so on.

While the African continent is the origin of homo sapiens, the middle east is probably the origin of civilization. Agriculture, of course, is the fundamental human technology that gave rise to civilization and everything else, and I mean everything. As a hunter-gatherer, you must be on the move; you must remain light and mobile. As all other animals, you exist as a being only a mere stomach's-full away from starvation at all times. Yours and everyone's only possessions are what you need to kill and gather your food. There's little to no need for trade; no one has anything to steal or worth stealing.

Since there's nothing to steal, there's nothing to govern. Hence, no government. But with the agricultural revolution came wealth. Land that was valuable, at times, only because there happened to be herds of flesh grazing its way across it, or vegetation suitable to both grazing flesh and humans -- while it lasted -- suddenly became valuable because it was molded to man's long-term use. The whole thing exploded, giving rise to all sorts of technologies. Populations expanded, there was suddenly wealth sufficient, such that not everyone needed to be primarily occupied with where their next meal was coming from. Human civilization (value exchange) was thus born out of a primitive division of labor.

And now there was something to steal. Wealth meant that not only could some people be craftsman and artisans instead of farmers, producing values beyond subsistence, but it meant that some people could be thieves. And that is the very foundation of the parasite political class. Our own ability to produce more than we require to survive is the fundamental thing that allows us to be enslaved, while perpetuating a political class of slave master parasites. That goes for the native Africans imported into America, and is goes for us today. It is nothing more. It has never -- not for a single moment -- been anything more. It's just more complex, as the parasitism exists at all levels of society, both public and private.

It has only needed to keep pace with technology, and the aspirations of other thieves. I can well imagine that the very first government on the face of the Earth was established when a band of marauders, reaching a village shortly after the last band of marauders had already come and gone -- taking with them everything worth stealing -- was faced with a problem. The solution must have seemed clear: just stay in place and "protect" the village from other thieves.

It must also have seemed natural to cloak themselves in the authority of supernatural revelation. So we have the rise of the first political bedfellows: Church and State; God and the King; Emperors and Angels. The first information revolution (printing press) did away with that stranglehold, as the church was the monopoly controller of information -- disseminating all --and only -- that necessary to haunt the world with demons who could be called into service at any moment to punish dissent, rebellion, or heresy.

This first information revolution, combined with the industrial revolution, finally did away with Kings, giving way to communism, socialism, fascism, and democracy. Communism, clearly, "went to far." That is, it is combined with an idealism intent on cutting off the very hands that feed it. Rather than bleed, it kills. America went to the other "extreme," with an idealism rooted in the individual. Capitalism and individualism, contrary to popular fantasy, doesn't exploit anyone. It never has. But it does leave behind those reluctant to accept accountability for their own failings and responsibility for their own fortunes. These left-behinds, whether real, imagined, created, or nurtured, are now the ideological champions of virtually all politics worldwide. They are the state's long-sought bedfellows: having been stripped of the authority of God a few hundred years ago.

And so we come to the middle of the road: social democracy. That's where the original band of thieves get to "menace" us "with an endless series of hobgoblins," as H.L. Mencken put it, adding: "all of them imaginary."

It's only about theft. It has always been about theft. What is done politically, daily and for "practical" reasons, is to advance parasitism by a class of people too lazy, too incompetent, or both, to actually go forth and compete in the world of value creation, production, and trade. But they are clever enough to be idealists. They are either idealists for God, or idealists for the "unfortunate," whom they do everything in their power to perpetuate.

Perhaps that is why, amongst the rational individualists, that republicans often get a pass for essentially the same actions as the democrats: it's harder to make a case for sacrificing to god. First, contrary to god's admonishments, nobody really believes he needs our sacrifices. And plus: he's known to be forgiving if you have the right intercessor or know the magic words.

But the left; now there's a different story. It's easy to make a case for sacrificing to "exploited peoples" worldwide. Hell, they'll make you feel guilty for having the luxury of flushing a toilet. It's true, and on this point, I have to concede that the left is worse, far worse. They are truly and wholly evil, incarnate. Again, Smith makes the point:

Second, left wing socialists are fundamentally cruel and inhumane. Their vaunted platform, which traditionally offers peace, love, and understanding, is a charter for promoting conflict, hatred, and bigotry.

A great deal was made in this election, for example, of increasing the minimum wage, a typical "humane" liberal cause. The fact, of course, is that above and beyond the freedom to run your business that it destroys, the minimum wage destroys job opportunities for certain "marginal" workers—especially minority youth—that liberals claim are their constituency. Minimum wage increases unemployment among these workers, and promotes participation in gangs and other unsavory activity.

However since this gives social workers and other minions of the welfare state more to justify their existences, all's well that ends well.

Never fail to remember that these are the "humanitarians" who would far rather see a woman raped in an alley and strangled with her own pantyhose than see her with a gun in her hand. This despite the drastic and undeniable two-digit reduction in violent crime that an well-armed populace has been responsible for over the past three decades.

Never fail to remember that to the Clintons, Schumers, and Pelosis of the world, violent crime is a good thing because it justifies the existence of ever-increasing numbers of policemen, social workers, lawyers, judges, and bureaucrats. Low crime rates, brought about by armed citizens, make all those worthies—especially the cops—look bad.

Government is about stealing; that's all it's about; that's all it's ever been about; that's all it will ever be about. The kind of society government needs most is a society at war with itself, torn by violent crime, crippled by poverty, intellectually and technologically stagnant. A peaceful, prosperous, progressive society is a threat, because it eliminates all the excuses traditionally used to steal from us.

No election is ever going to change that.

This election will not materially change anything, nor will any of them in your lifetime. Salvation for individualism will come from outside the accepted democratic process, if it ever comes. And if destruction comes instead, it too will come from beyond. As Smith's piece makes clear, democratic elections serve as merely a racket for political badminton.

(Bill St. Clair)