Sunday, April 17, 2005

Terror on the Holloway Road pt2


Nuisance Wins
Originally uploaded by StefZ.


Complete this sequence

1, ?, ?, ?, ?

Too tricky? How about ...

1, 2, ?, ?, ?

I am practically giving this away now ...

1, 2, 3, ?, ?

Hold your horses there before you get too confident ...

1, 2, 3, 5, ?

Now, I could finish the sequence with an 8 (3+5), or a 13 (5x3-2) ...

Or the letter X. Or a picture of a fish.

After all, who is the say that this series isnt bound by a rule that states 'Make every fifth item in the sequence a fish icon'?

It is my sequence and I make the rules. In fact, I could continue the sequence with whatever the f*ck I like.

Admittedly, this is all very obvious but, apparently, not that obvious. How else can I account for the credulous widespread acceptance of so many of the fears rammed down our throats every day; from science (no, I'€™m not going there today) through to politics (yes, I am going there today)?

The true test of any explanation is not how well it accounts for events that have already happened. That's easy. No, an explanation or theory only has real power and utility if it can predict events that will happen or direct us to ways of discovering what is, as yet, unknown. This is one of the many reasons why I believe current evolutionary theory to be junk but, as stated earlier, I'€™m not going there today. Today, my mind is preoccupied with much more immediate matters

Yes, The War on Terror. I'm mad for it I am.

Let's put aside the fact that there is a potentially infinite number of explanations for global events since the War on Terror started. Let's just go with the much abused concept of Occam's razor - that all other things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually the best explanation. Let's just work with the idea that there are essentially two broad, simple explanations for the War on Terror

Explanation 1. We are all at threat from sophisticated global networks of death-worshipping fundamentalist terrorists who want to kill us all because they hate our freedoms

Or

Explanation 2. The War on Terror is bollocks

Actually, very few things in the Affairs of Men are entirely black and white, that'€™s part of the problem. So, because I try to be a reasonable man, I will adjust the second statement slightly

Explanation 2 v2. The War on Terror is (mostly) bollocks. (Some people DO hate our GOVERNMENTS and CORPORATIONS, often with good reason. They're generally not very well organised or resourced. Those few that are well organised and resourced owe much of that to past or present support from our governments and corporations. The threat they pose to us has been greatly exaggerated and their motivations deliberately obscured. The reason for all of this is to further the ends of our ruling class.)

Being a committed advocate of this second explanation of the War on Terror, I appreciate that I have conceded some ground here without a fight, by acknowledging that there are some crazies out there, but reason dictates this.

Anyway, we have two explanations, two models of what is going on in the World. And, like a true objective thinker and Renaissance Man, I'€™ve been comparing the likely outcomes of both models with domestic and global events over the last few years as they happen, to see which one stacks up best.

No surprises as to which explanation is doing best are there?

Take the Holloway Road for example ...


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