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The Forgotten Risks of Liberty: Honoring the Original Patriots

By on July 4, 2013 in Liberty & Freedom, Ruminations, Science & History, US & International Affairs

On this day 237 years ago a midst the heat of a Philadelphia summer, the Continental Congress officially adopted Thomas Jefferson’s beautifully crafted words and Declared Independence from King George and Britain. Americans have celebrated that day ever since as our Independence Day. While it has become a day of outdoor fun and family get-togethers, hot dogs, beer, burgers, parades, and fireworks, its meaning has not been completely lost, but its not at the forefront of our minds, either.  So, I wanted to take a moment to briefly consider what July 4th means to me.

As a Libertarian who is anything but happy with the current state of politics, government intrusion, lost liberty, and an ever more powerful central government, I want to cast aside that mask necessarily painted with cynicism for a moment. After all, cynicism is not actually my dominant disposition, despite assumptions people make of me.  Neither am I a Pollyanna.  I think I tend to see the world as both glass half full and half empty, but overall my I see myself as a realistic idealist, if that can be a thing.  At heart, on a macro level, I’m an optimist.

And, I’m glad I’m alive at this time in history, and live in the United States of America.

There are real problems in the country today, and in the world, some of them are seemingly unsolvable, but I understand that my life today would no doubt be far from the relatively easy and joyful life it is without the foresight, wisdom, guile, and courage of American Patriots living in the late 1700’s, many of whom died on a battlefield before their goal had been achieved, and was far from certain. In an age when it was undisputed that men should be ruled by oligarchies, those Patriots dared to try a radical experiment.

Source: Library of Congress

Signing of the Declaration of Independence

They renounced loyalty to their inept King after he refused their right to have a voice in their governance, and said, we can not only do this better, but we’ll do it without a supreme, single ruler. We’ll do this together. We’ll give power to all citizens, and we’ll restrict and monitor power from our heads of state. We’ll fight to the death to prove that individuals, not some fat and detached man who never earned anything he had been given living thousands of miles away, are best suited to determine what’s best for them. Not anyone else. They dared to decry that noblemen and monarchs are not imbued with divine powers, nor are they better than their subjects, but that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

This World is On Fire

The Americans who took up arms against their King under penalty and strong risk of death, risking wealth, reputation, honor, and livelihoods to carve out a piece of the world devoted to treating human beings as equals, deserve our respect and admiration. They were imperfect, flawed people. Although they eloquently clarified a vision of human lives lived with freedom, they were not always (or often) able to live up to their own rhetoric.  They allowed the shameful institution of slavery to exist in stark contradiction to their ideals, to be determined through much bloodshed nearly a century later.  Yet they did something that had never been done on such a scale in the history of mankind: They set the world on fire with dreams of liberty and self-determination. They showed that the pursuit of individual endeavors is worth fighting for, and achievable. Despite all of our flaws as a nation, Americans and all citizens of the world who enjoy the benefits of democracy, civil rights, and self-rule, owe a great debt to these brave souls – from soldiers, to statesmen, to farmers, to merchants, to writers, and ordinary citizens who supported the crazy dream — who risked it all 237 years ago.

And for all our bumps in the road, all our mis-steps — many of them appallingly huge — it is an astonishing thing, this American Experiment. This week in Egypt, a coup ousted its president just two short years after the Arab Spring and that country’s institution of a new democratic government.  It’s truly amazing that I sit here 237 years after my nation’s founding, free to openly criticize the rhetoric of its 44th President, who like all those before him were elected peacefully. More astonishingly, all those before him left office freely upon the end of their terms, of their own accord, and in peace. To an American, the word coup sounds exotic, and primitive. We’ve never faced such a scenario.  For all its hiccups and imperfections, this American Dream is an awe-inspiring thing to be a small part of. I feel so fortunate to be alive and on this piece of dirt at this time in the history of the Earth. As thanks, I promise to do my best to advance the causes of liberty and individual happiness in honor of all of those men and women through the ages who made this amazing existence possible for the rest of my life.  And I promise not to allow comfort to lull me into accepting anything less than that perfect dream of individual liberty and happiness.

Cheers,
PersephoneK

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I’m a Martian American

By on June 25, 2013 in Atheism & Skepticism, Everything Else, Introvert vs Extrovert, Liberty & Freedom, Ruminations

 

Last week, I changed my Facebook timeline picture to this:

Mars_HighResolution_NASA

And added the following comment:

“This is Mars. Sometimes I feel like I was born there. Or that some people would like me to move there.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about that photograph since then… While I obviously don’t think I actually came from Mars, I have been aware for much of my life that I think a little differently than most people I know. I’m not suggesting this means I’m anything special. I don’t think I’m particularly smart. I have mediocre creativity. Am not an expert or close to it at anything.  But I do tend to think about things, at least it would seem, differently than most people I know.

Mostly, this has been somewhat of a curse.

One way in which this has become more apparent to me is during my relatively recent discovery that I’m a Classical Liberal (aka a Libertarian).  I’ve never identified fully with Democrats or Republicans, or if I think back to my days as a Christian, I never completely identified as a Lutheran, or whatever.  There were elements of those ideologies I agreed with and elements I disagreed with, but none of them completely represented my worldview in a way that felt “me.” I just tried to determine what ideas made the most sense to me, and rolled with it.  This spilled over into adulthood as I have tried to navigate the world of workplace norms and cultures (P.S. its a lot like high school), where I found myself not conforming as much as I probably should have to make life smoother sailing.  Combine a weird way of thinking with a strong sense of personal integrity and life can be a bit explosive and heart-wrenching.

A friend back home.

I remember a college class I took within my major field which was Sociology/Criminology. The professor talked about his views on drug legalization. He seemed to be saying he thought taking drugs was unwise, but that people should be free to do it, and that if they hurt others, they should pay the consequences heavily for it, but otherwise, should be left alone. I’ve come to understand this as a variation of a Libertarian viewpoint. Before he explained this theory, I would not have agreed with it, but after he gave a coherent and convincing argument, I began to see it his way, and have largely come to adopt his position as my own on that particular topic, especially as personal liberty has become one of my highest priorities in my world view. But at the time, I assumed his position must be a liberal position, since, you know… most academics are liberals, and of course he was advocating for drug use in some round about way.  No conservative would be on board with that!  But I would come to learn that this way of thinking (pro-drug legalization for complex reasons) was strongly ridiculed by both ends of the political spectrum, which surprised me. To me, after pondering the reasoning, rooted in a pro-choice-esque ownership of one’s body, and learning more about the horrific consequences of drug prohibition, it just made sense. It would be years before I heard the term “libertarian.”

[easyazon-image align=”right” asin=”B001B5VPXY” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EyXD%2B7%2BfL._SL160_.jpg” width=”113″]I’ve always managed (unwittingly) to adopt viewpoints from one of the least popular angles. I assure you, I don’t go out of my way to do so.  Ok, that’s partially true if I think about it more.  I do go out of my way to consider the unconventional position, but I don’t go out of my way to actually buy into it.  I think it is partially that obtuseness to labels that brings me to those ideas in the first place. Even now, as I’ve embraced the idea of being a “libertarian,” (though I think Classical Liberal sounds cooler, smarter, and less stocking up for the Zombie Apocalypse evoking) and freely call myself one, I am hesitant to adopt the label completely. I worry it will fence in my thinking, and subconsciously lead me to believe things because I think I should in order to fit in. Libertarianism is the easiest way to explain many of my general political positions, but it in no way fully encompasses who I am or what I believe in. And who knows, in the future, the word may not explain anything about me, much in the way that Christianity no longer does, except to explain my past, and the path to who I am now.

Anyway, this blog post is not meant to be about any specific ideas I do or do not believe in.  Its about being a Martian living on the Earth.  The paradox for me is while I tend to think about things in an uncommon way (at least uncommon in my real life circles), I don’t necessarily like being such a misfit, yet I cannot force myself (nor would I want to either) to believe what I don’t believe.  Learning that I no longer believe in god has been painful. It would have been much simpler had I remained a believer the rest of my life. True, there are apostates and non-believers who have it much worse than I do. Much, much, much worse (like I rarely worry about being stoned to death for my apostasy, and usually never worry about going to jail for it since I don’t live in Kentucky or in Indonesia), but as someone who longs to fit in, but who never has, this has not been an easy row. It amuses me when occasionally someone will speak of my “chosen belief system” or say to me “you lost faith” or thinks I am willfully trying not to believe in god. What led me to unbelief was starting out as a Christian, and wanting to learn more about my faith so that I could be a good apologist and advocate for the faith. I dreamed of being the biblical archaeologist who finally proved everything in the bible was true. That fervent faith and dream is what led me to agnostic atheism, which in turn adds to the way in which I see the world differently from my peers, which adds to the way in which I am a Martian.

BTW, isn’t this little rover just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?  If you’re not already, you should follow its Twitter feed @MarsCuriosity.

File:PIA16239 High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera.jpg

As an introvert, who loves discussion and debate the way a pothead loves snack food, I can only say, thank goodness for the internet and the power of numbers! While not perfect, the internet – this blog, social media, other forums – has allowed me to connect with other freaks in the world and share battle cries.  I would love if more readers found and interacted on this blog, and maybe one day that will happen.  If you remember back to my blog on introversion, you’ll remember introverts aren’t antisocial, just differently social.  Contrary to popular belief, introverts aren’t all, or mostly, socially inept.  And many of us even like people.

The ridiculously sexy Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, after he read the phone book to me and I died of happiness.

Though, I’ll admit to being more on the socially shy side of introversion than many others, I hate chit-chat, small-talk, fluff, so those early stages of making new friends can be challenging for me.  Yet, I would LOVE to find more people in “real life” who share my love of deep discussion, and willingness to ponder and explore topics from unpopular vantage points.   As much as I love writing, and think I’m best when I can sort out my thoughts on a page, there is nothing like sitting at a place with amazing atmosphere, with great food, with a great friend, talking for hours about anything and everything, from who is the best Star Trek Captain (Picard, duh!)  to why we exist in the cosmos. I cherish those moments with friends, and would love to have even more of them, as I feel like they are few and far between these days as life becomes more complicated.

I only hope I don’t have to move to Mars to have more of them.

Cheers,

PersephoneK

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Introducing Path Pebbles Series

By on June 6, 2013 in Path Pebbles Series, Ruminations

What’s the Path Pebbles Series?PathPebblesCover

Sometimes I try to fit my life story into a single blog post, especially when I talk about things like why I’m an atheist or why I lean libertarian or whatever I am. I have a tendency to want to share every aspect of the story, which really would be more of a book than a post. My new Path Pebbles Series will be an attempt to not only break big topics like that down by discussing some of the “pebbles” I’ve encountered along my path to becoming the person I am now, but it will also be an exercise in writing succinctly (one of my great challenges). I won’t have specific length requirements or goals. Some posts will still be long, some may be very short. I just hope to focus on one aspect of a topic instead of all aspects at once. So keep in mind when you see a post with the header of “Path Pebbles Series: Why I’m…” you understand that I’m only tackling a small piece of the whole puzzle. You may have to take a look back at the other Path Pebbles posts, or wait for posts in the future to learn more.

I hope you enjoy!

Cheers,

PersephoneK

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Slow vs Fast Zombies: A Roman Holiday Tale

By on March 30, 2013 in Entertainment & Pop Culture, Ruminations, Science & History

BigPosterIn honor of this year’s Easter holiday and (hopefully not coincidental) AMC’s The Walking Dead’s third season finale falling on the same day, I wanted to take this opportunity to explain why slow zombies are better than fast zombies.

This may be my most important blog to date.

Zombies represent many things to many people.  Our rampant consumerism.  Mindlessness of pop culture.  Anxiety about national security and terrorism.  I’ve even heard them compared to Nazi’s and the Holocaust.  All of these may be perfectly reasonable interpretations of the popularity, especially recently, of such a savage monster that devours our brains and bodies without remorse.  Zombies are everywhere from film to TV to comic books to novels.  Even [easyazon-link asin=”B004HW7E6U” locale=”us”]Jane Austin’s classic Pride and Prejudice got a zombie makeover[/easyazon-link].

But for me, zombie stories are not really about zombies at all.  They appeal to me because they are entirely about how humans respond to what I consider the worst case scenario event:  The end of the world as we know it… with zombies.

The answer to the question how do humans living comfortable, modern lives cope with being thrown into a world where most people they’ve ever known are dead, and the structure of civilization has collapsed, is a compelling mystery to ponder.  For this reason, I love most apocalyptic and dystopian stories.  But zombie stories are the ultimate cause of the apocalypse, and the most fearful antagonist because the added element of the dead rising to eat us, and subsequently turning us into the very monsters we fear, makes it nearly impossible for humanity to fully recover.  Or at recovery will be delayed for a very long time, possibly until the world has changed dramatically in the process, and we have lost specialized talent, knowledge and expertise along the way plunging us back into a simpler time, and into a more brutal existence.

Zombies add an extreme element that goes unmatched by other causes of the apocalypse, such as “normal” plagues, asteroids, global warming, nuclear war, or even the Rapture.  As a student of history with a particular interest in ancient Rome and how its fall lead to the Dark Ages, the zombie tale is a modern allegory for what it may have been like to live in those centuries following the immediate aftermath of the sacking of Rome in 410 through the centuries as civilization became fractured, knowledge was lost, literacy declined, and Rome itself crumbled to ruins.  Roman aqueduct in Segovia, SpainI’ve often wondered what it was like for a peasant living in the 9th century–  to pick an arbitrary moment in time — to see ancient Roman monuments, wondrous feats of engineering, and ask what magic must these men have had within their power?  What stories with supernatural explanations that peasant must have told his friends and family to make those mysteries make sense in the context of their vastly different world, where technologies like steam power, and running water would not be rediscovered for another several hundred, even a thousand, more years.  Would he have called the ancient people mystical, or imbued them with godlike powers?  What might a Roman of Julius Caesar’s time, have thought of society’s interpretation if he’d been transported through time a thousand years?  “It’s not magic!  Its math!”

Zombie stories also help us imagine what it might have been like to live through the Black Death, when one third of Europe was felled by plague.  That’s as if more than 2 billion people in the world, or 115 million Americans, were to die.  Now imagine those 115 million rising from the dead to eat you, adding even more victims to the rolls!

Worst. Case. Scenario. Ever.

So, back to my original thesis that slow zombies are better than fast zombies… In movies like the remake of Dawn of the Dead, the upcoming World War Z, and 28 Days Later (though not really about zombies), the zombies become the focus point.  The movies become just another monster tale, action flick, showing how the humans eventually prevail (or are completely destroyed).  That’s fine and all, but you can tell that story with any monster.  You don’t need zombies.

What I have loved about The Walking Dead is that it gets that.  The show’s title itself refers to the living more than the dead who are trying to eat them.  The creator of the comic book the television show is based on, Robert Kirkman, has said he turned down many offers to bring his stories to the small and big screen because nobody understood that the show was about the survivors more than the zombies.  They wanted fast, “exciting” action, for what they perceived was a mindless audience.  I’m so glad he held out, and that finally Frank Darabont came along and understood Kirkman’s vision.  The show’s third season has been especially fun because more than any previous season we see the humans coping with the zombies almost as if they’re the background.  maggie-walker-760_595_slogoThey’re still enough of a threat that the survivors can’t truly rest, and rebuild, forced to always be on the  run, but the real stories have been told about how the new world will be organized.  How do humans interact with each other?  How do our innate inclinations of tribalism and distrust of strangers contradict our more enlightened sensibilities of justice and peace?  That struggle has been highlighted by the different strategies between the two faction’s human leaders, former Sheriff Rick Grimes and his band holed up at a weakened prison, and heavily fortified, Dystopian Woodbury’s sociopathic, meglomaniac The Governor.  You can’t tell those tales with fast zombies, because they always demand to be front and center.  The Walking Dead hasn’t been perfect in its three year run, but my favorite moments have hinged around these ideas of dealing with a changed world.

Thank goodness they kept those zombies nice and slow.  Happy Zombie Day to all!

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My Sphere of Power Theory

By on March 14, 2013 in Ruminations

Sphere of Power_persephonespath.comSeveral years ago, I began thinking about an idea I eventually dubbed the “Sphere of Power.” I had recently moved to Washington, DC to begin working for the federal government. Power is in the air in that city. I worked within a few square miles of many of the world’s most powerful people and their henchmen. I worked in a bureaucracy that exerted its power in various ways over its employees and citizens. Every day I came into contact with other people working for other agencies, or contracted by other agencies, or working with the military who were all touched by power in a multitude of ways. And I observed tourists mesmerized by that power as it took the solid shapes of monuments, buildings, and historic points of interest.

At the time, I felt like a powerless, invisible speck of sand on a sprawling beach. I was just starting out in my career, trying to figure out my role, and wanting to make a difference. I began to feel my eagerness butt heads with established ways of doing business, impressing some, and grating on others who didn’t like my meritocratic approach to government work. So it was within that framework that I began thinking about the Sphere of Power.

First things first. What is a Sphere of Power? Simply, it encompasses any living creature over which a person has control, and by extension the items or organizations manipulated or needed by those creatures. For example, if you are a parent, your Sphere of Power includes your children, presumably your house, your lawn, and your pets, if you have them. Depending on your neighborhood, it could include your neighbors. You control some aspect of the fate and welfare of everything within your Sphere’s figurative borders. Your Sphere can be static, or dynamic.

It’s my hypothesis that every human has at least one Sphere of Power, and most people work to expand those they have, and gain new ones. We take pride in cultivating our Spheres. They provide us with intrinsic happiness. Some of us are benevolent in our leadership; some of us are not. Some of us are benevolent some of the time, but not always. Most of us wish to be benevolent, but a few people will use that desire against us to further their own Spheres. As the number of Spheres increases, the greater the likelihood there will be conflict, which may or may be externalized. It is from these conflicts of interest between Spheres that clashes are spawned. Clashes can be with other people or within ourselves, and are more likely to occur when we are not aware of all Spheres surrounding us. Spheres come in different magnitudes, depending on how many entities are under our control, and the impact of that power. Some people are content to be the head of the household (which could just be their own body); others want to rule the world. Most of us fall somewhere in between. We all have at least one Sphere.

When I worked in DC, I used to ride the commuter bus. To ride the bus, you needed to buy tokens. To make things easier, riders could buy tokens on the bus instead of schlepping to the bus depot. So, the buses would ordain some frequent regular riders with the power to sell the tokens. One such person was a woman I remember with whimsical fondness. She was talkative, and based on conversations I’d heard her have with others in our bus line, she worked at another government agency. She also liked horses, which is not relevant to the story except that I learned a lot about her because, well, she talked a lot. She probably had low to medium power in her job at a not very sexy agency. She was a tad overweight, and a bit past mid-life, but you could tell how much pride she took in her power to bequeath tokens upon the masses. I renamed her “Token Goddess.”

Through my observations of Token Goddess, the concept of a Sphere of Power began to germinate. As human beings, even the least ambitious among us, we generally want our lives to mean something, and we want to matter to someone, or something. How we learn to relate to each other socially is wrapped up in our understanding of our Sphere’s of Power, even though it’s largely subconscious. By learning what motivates us, drives us, and what we take pride in, and in turn learning those things about other people we interact with, our speech craft skills improve. As much as I believe rational discourse must drive us forward as a species, the fact is we are both rational and emotional creatures. In understanding the Sphere of Power, we can better frame both aspects of our nature.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on what I call my Code of Life. I plan on constantly updating it as I grow and learn. I do not want it to become stagnant or unchangeable. Some ideas on the list may never change, or change slightly, but in my endeavor to improve myself, the items on this list will serve as guideposts of my world view, and help to succinctly inform readers of my highest values. Today I added a guidepost about the Sphere of Power, which is why I decided to write this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts either here or there! What do you think are some of your Spheres of Power? Are you happy with them? Why or why not?

Cheers,
PersephoneK

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The Gemini in my Eye: My Mostly Not Crazy Split Personality

By on February 19, 2013 in Ruminations

GEMINI_persephonespath_SmallI was born a Gemini.

I find that detail very fitting, which in turn I find ironic, considering I don’t believe one ounce in the zodiac and the supposed personality traits associated with being born under a certain sign. I don’t even really know what the traits of a Gemini are, but what I do know is that Gemini is the constellation depicting twins. I have always felt a little like there are at least two people inside me.

Not in a Sibyl sort of way, but in a perfectly sane, lovely, quirky, and infuriating way.

I think one of the reasons I’ve never really felt like a conservative, or a liberal politically is that I’ve always had both a logical side and a creative side. Not that one side of the political camp has exclusive rights on one way of thinking, but generalities undeniably exist that separate one side from the other. I don’t believe that logic and creativity are necessarily at odds with each other. The greatest scientists and engineers the world has known have had both of these qualities. I am not a great scientific thinker, but I have always found it easy to understand both a cold, reason-based argument, and an emotional, passion-based one, even when they conflict with each other. Note I said understand, not necessarily agree with.

My first name is Mary and I’ve often heard the rhyme “Mary, Mary, quite contrary” directed at me. As you would expect, hearing it makes me chafe and then prove them right when I yell out “No I’m not!” Despite my protestations, I can see the truth in it, and I think I finally understand why. I find it very easy to understand multiple perspectives and points of view. Left, right, conservative, liberal, crazy, boring… To an extent, I think I can easily see from another’s eyes. I don’t necessarily support or internalize all perspectives, and sometimes I’ll defend positions I don’t support, which probably confuses people, and then makes them think I do support a position I don’t support, thus making people think I’m something that I’m not. Or just appear wishy-washy. Or alternatively, close-minded (another time for that discussion, which I find “amusing”).

Sigh… I’m confusing myself a little, so I feel your pain. This blog is best read very quickly.

Ultimately, I think my internal Gemini is the source of madness for me and people who know me, but I also know I wouldn’t have it any other way (that’s the strong-minded, extroverted twin speaking now instead of the wall-flower twin). This seemingly useless ability is what might make me a good fiction writer some day. The twins have allowed us (yeah, I caught that “us” too) to seek knowledge from a wide swath of topics we find fascinating, and given us the desire to debate those topics with others (sometimes they debate these topics with themselves!), and to truly understand other perspectives I alone might not hold. That is essential to developing good characters, and conflict. A good writer allows the characters to tell their stories, rather than inject herself falsely into their minds.

There’s a frustrating down side. Sometimes having this “split personality,” with a healthy love of discussion and debate has made me feel isolated. I’ve never really felt like I think in the same way as most other people I know. Unconventional is the nice way to put it. I’ve always been able to think about things from a different angle. I’m not unique in that way among humans. I doubt I’m even unique among people I do know. But I have never connected with anyone who sees the world quite like I do.

Except for maybe my “twin.”

 

 

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