Omricon, fear and crowd psychology. Jay Bhattacharya and the catastrophic errors of public health. Grieving memories of Stuart Macintyre. Szymborska on what matters. Paul Kingsnorth on fear, tyranny and the vaccine wars. Elena Shvarts on both hopelessness and hope.
society
Flowers of the Mind 11
Evil triads and power. Will the West decouple from America? Mattias Desmet and mass formation psychosis. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. Troubadors and Pound's Cantos.
Flowers of the Mind 10
Robert Lowell on George Santayana. The silence of the doctors and the rule of public health. Virus gonna virus. Jordan B. Peterson on saying no to tyranny. The exposure of the RussiaGate and Steele dossier hoax. On prophecy. Bhagavad Gita and the sacrifice of the soul in the fire of the Gods.
Podcast #23 – The Eight Hour Working Day
How did the eight hour working day come into being, and is it still relevant to us today? In this episode the Burning Archive Jeff Rich will talk about how the eight hour day emerged in response to the industrial revolution, and what it means in the stressed out contemporary world after the “fourth industrial revolution”.
Letter from Melbourne: mirror to the post-democratic world
Things are very serious here in Australia. There is a mental health crisis. We have endured a state of emergency since March 2020. Normal rules of government decision making have not applied. We have pursued a medical utopia of COVID Zero at stunning cost. It is really something that should never happen again, and hopefully, at the right time in the right way by the right people, will be deeply investigated and reflected on.
Podcast #12 – Towards the Society of Islands
The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. In this episode of The Burning Archive, I continue my history of our times, and the theme of increasing social fragmentation. If there is more distance between the elites and ordinary people - the 1 % vs the 99 … Continue reading Podcast #12 – Towards the Society of Islands
Podcast #11 – Social progress and social fragmentation
The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. In this episode of The Burning Archive, Jeff Rich explores the fourth large theme of the history of our times, that is social fragmentation. Life is better in so many dramatic ways. We are richer, older, healthier, and better … Continue reading Podcast #11 – Social progress and social fragmentation
The Burning Archive Podcast #10 – The Parallel Polis and the Power of the Powerless
The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. When faced with cultural decay and ruined institutions, what is a podcaster to do? In this episode, Jeff Rich turns for hope to the traditions of the Eastern European dissidents of 1960-90 Eastern Europe. … Continue reading The Burning Archive Podcast #10 – The Parallel Polis and the Power of the Powerless
America’s fate: civil war, fragmentation or collapse?
Today after the distressing events and death in the Capitol building of Washington DC that interrupted the process of confirming electoral college votes, I am reposting this piece from five months ago. It may be more relevant today than then. I would place my bets on fragmentation or collapse at this stage *** Original Post … Continue reading America’s fate: civil war, fragmentation or collapse?
Cultural fragmentation and the collapse of authority in Western democracies
My repost today comes from 22 April 2018, and seems relevant to the difficulties we are experiencing in our distressed republics today. I also posted something of a follow-up post on the Collapsing New Buildings of Government. Cultural fragmentation and the collapse of authority in Western democracies During the week I was discussing with a … Continue reading Cultural fragmentation and the collapse of authority in Western democracies
Captain Ahab and Lockdown in Melbourne
Historians (and I am one) will search for cultural archetypes that explain the strange delusions of power that have inflicted a captivity on the citizens of Melbourne and Victoria. In a state of 6.5 million people, there have been, on this day, 20 September 2020, a mere 14 positive tests for the presence of fragments, … Continue reading Captain Ahab and Lockdown in Melbourne
Anomie Today and Cultural Decay
“The former gods are growing old or dying, and others have not been born.... A day will come when our societies once again will know hours of creative effervescence during which new ideals will again spring forth and new formulas emerge to guide humanity for a time"Émile Durkheim Émile Durkheim (1858-1917), the French founder of … Continue reading Anomie Today and Cultural Decay
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