Samantha Rinne
Resident Genderfluid Writer/Artist
It's apparently a Taoist curse that "may you live in interesting times".
Bear in mind this is religious. And political. And whatever else. Because it doesn't really have a category. That's Taoism though. The Tao te Ching gives a general outline of how to properly run things (essentially citing that (1) when a state is in harmony, though another nation is close enough that a rooster crowing can be heard, nobody has any desire to leave their towns, (2) if the state is in harmony when asked what the king is doing, they reply "there's a king?" and (3) if the state is NOT in harmony everyone knows the king, largely because taxes affect their lives constantly, and they also tend to revolt). It was the Chinese who developed Taoism as a philosophy, and then it kinda became a religion. Then it kinda shifted back toward philosophy. And finally, it's trendy for old ladies in US to do Tai Chi and surfers to have it on their boards. But within this sort of splice between cosmic balance, historical cycles, study of stars/elements and their energy, and observations of ideal/nonideal rule, the Chinese used to believe in Taoism and Confucianism. That is, before Mao and communism basically rolling through their history and culture like a bulldozer. Unlike Russia, China seemed to be a communist success story. But lately, they've been actively trying to oppress people. An example: social credit system. China has implemented this across the board, and it tells people where they can and can't go. I want you to hold that thought.
Now, you may wonder, why am I talking about China and communism? Because of the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven asserts that unless a nation consciously chooses to rule its people with justice, stability is possible. Otherwise, it enters a dynastic cycle: The new dynasty gives people land to farm, housing, rights, etc. The old dynasty (i.e. when the new one becomes old) taxes the house, takes the crops, and removes rights. Then upheaval happens, usually in the form of either natural disasters (the Heavens don't approve), robbers or foreigners taking over, or the commoners revolt. And whatever comes next becomes the new dynasty. Now, the Jews believed that you can halt this cycle (though the never mentioned it, the Bible repeats stories of just such upheaval) by obtaining God's favor, by consciously choosing to rule correctly. But I'm convinced that what we are seeing is the cusp of upheaval.
Globalism caused the problem. If not for open borders, sick Chinese would have stayed in China, nobody from Italy or Iran or whatever would have contracted this disease. But you see, this isn't really the whole problem. The problem is ignoring the Mandate of Heaven.
Rather than provide actual treatment NOW to those suffering, nations are asking their people to stay indoors with nothing to do, while we wait for a vaccine (while will probably never come because everyone is indoors away from each other, not together working on a cure).
Let's look at this social credit system again. Chinese social credit system awards people with perks such as the ability to travel when they seem law-abiding, and puts people with bad credit under house arrest. By this logic, the entire US has bad credit to China, as does Iran and Italy. But this isn't just China, this is government leaders saying "hey let's oppress our citizens too!"
And then there's clashes between those who want a sort of Christian utopia, globalists who think having the UN run everything is a good idea (they've done a great job so far), and Muslims who want their idea of a utopia. Might I suggest to everyone that like the country who hears the neighbouring rooster crowing, you are perfectly capable of setting up your own nation rather than trying to make over other countries? That trying to expand out was what caused this mess, from too many people traveling?
The thing is, this can't last forever. It never has. Leaders always fall to their own excesses. They run out of credit, they get deposed, or they dwindle away because their system falls apart. But all of this was made worse by nobody actually bothering to just stay calm, and look at this through the lens of history. Contagious disease? Hey getting US ppl home is our first priority. And we can't stop immigration from Mexico, China, Canada, Iran, Italy, etc. That would be rude! And hey, let's stock up so there are food shortages!
Bear in mind this is religious. And political. And whatever else. Because it doesn't really have a category. That's Taoism though. The Tao te Ching gives a general outline of how to properly run things (essentially citing that (1) when a state is in harmony, though another nation is close enough that a rooster crowing can be heard, nobody has any desire to leave their towns, (2) if the state is in harmony when asked what the king is doing, they reply "there's a king?" and (3) if the state is NOT in harmony everyone knows the king, largely because taxes affect their lives constantly, and they also tend to revolt). It was the Chinese who developed Taoism as a philosophy, and then it kinda became a religion. Then it kinda shifted back toward philosophy. And finally, it's trendy for old ladies in US to do Tai Chi and surfers to have it on their boards. But within this sort of splice between cosmic balance, historical cycles, study of stars/elements and their energy, and observations of ideal/nonideal rule, the Chinese used to believe in Taoism and Confucianism. That is, before Mao and communism basically rolling through their history and culture like a bulldozer. Unlike Russia, China seemed to be a communist success story. But lately, they've been actively trying to oppress people. An example: social credit system. China has implemented this across the board, and it tells people where they can and can't go. I want you to hold that thought.
Now, you may wonder, why am I talking about China and communism? Because of the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven asserts that unless a nation consciously chooses to rule its people with justice, stability is possible. Otherwise, it enters a dynastic cycle: The new dynasty gives people land to farm, housing, rights, etc. The old dynasty (i.e. when the new one becomes old) taxes the house, takes the crops, and removes rights. Then upheaval happens, usually in the form of either natural disasters (the Heavens don't approve), robbers or foreigners taking over, or the commoners revolt. And whatever comes next becomes the new dynasty. Now, the Jews believed that you can halt this cycle (though the never mentioned it, the Bible repeats stories of just such upheaval) by obtaining God's favor, by consciously choosing to rule correctly. But I'm convinced that what we are seeing is the cusp of upheaval.
Globalism caused the problem. If not for open borders, sick Chinese would have stayed in China, nobody from Italy or Iran or whatever would have contracted this disease. But you see, this isn't really the whole problem. The problem is ignoring the Mandate of Heaven.
Rather than provide actual treatment NOW to those suffering, nations are asking their people to stay indoors with nothing to do, while we wait for a vaccine (while will probably never come because everyone is indoors away from each other, not together working on a cure).
Let's look at this social credit system again. Chinese social credit system awards people with perks such as the ability to travel when they seem law-abiding, and puts people with bad credit under house arrest. By this logic, the entire US has bad credit to China, as does Iran and Italy. But this isn't just China, this is government leaders saying "hey let's oppress our citizens too!"
And then there's clashes between those who want a sort of Christian utopia, globalists who think having the UN run everything is a good idea (they've done a great job so far), and Muslims who want their idea of a utopia. Might I suggest to everyone that like the country who hears the neighbouring rooster crowing, you are perfectly capable of setting up your own nation rather than trying to make over other countries? That trying to expand out was what caused this mess, from too many people traveling?
The thing is, this can't last forever. It never has. Leaders always fall to their own excesses. They run out of credit, they get deposed, or they dwindle away because their system falls apart. But all of this was made worse by nobody actually bothering to just stay calm, and look at this through the lens of history. Contagious disease? Hey getting US ppl home is our first priority. And we can't stop immigration from Mexico, China, Canada, Iran, Italy, etc. That would be rude! And hey, let's stock up so there are food shortages!
