The greatest scholar of world mythology, and one of the greatest scholars of world religion, Joseph Campbell, introduced me to the Gospel Of Thomas, and made clear its monumental importance. (Translations vary radically in quality of representing or mistepresenting the text, as is common. Stick with, or at least
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Covid-19 In Perspective: An Open Letter
The following letter I wrote and sent out in response to a virtual town hall meeting this evening with our local MP and a local environmental group. I am sharing it here because I think it summarizes a contextualization of covid-19 and other major issues which is critically and urgently
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Good TV?!
Favourite tv shows, anyone? Post your favourites below. I do hate tv, but I love documentaries and history shows, and I make an exception for certain things, like Star Trek, hockey playoffs, world cup soccer, the Olympics… In no particular order, I’d say my favourite tv shows (originals only; most
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: What Is Fascism?
Disturbingly, many people don’t know what fascism is. Many more think they know, but do not. Here is a brief definition. It is critical that we understand this, and right now. Mussolini said fascism should properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of business and the state. Roosevelt
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Marcus Aurelius & The End Of Empire
To continue the conversation on Marcus Aurelius & The Delusions Of Authoritarianism (yesterday’s essay, or meditations)…. Reading more on the life of Marcus Aurelius I am softened in my views of him; but again, my critique was aimed at authoritarianism, not any one person, or school of thought, other than
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Marcus Aurelius & The Delusions Of Authoritarianism
Marcus Aurelius is an interesting character, and in some respects I imagine he is deserving of the adulation that has been heaped upon him. (He showed the best and the worst of Stoicism, which is always a double edged sword, at best.) But in the end, he was an emperor,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Church & State, Business & State: Restoring Freedom & Democracy, Before They Are Completely Devoured By Medical Martial Law, Or By Any Other Means
In the near future, we could very easily see the kind of totalitarian society with a theocratic face that Margaret Atwood warned us about in, A Hand Maid’s Tale – but whether we do or we don’t, we already have what Chomsky has described (in January 2020) as a global
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Race, Class, Empire & Authoritarianism
The new empire we live under is a global neofeudal corporate imperialism, which is now morphing into fascism, to be precise. It is systemically racist, self-deluded, and culturally arrogant in the extreme, but its primary allegiance is always to class. Everyone who is not among the 0.01% ruling elite is
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Authoritarianism & Medical Martial Law
No to medical martial law. Fascism is never in the true interests of public health or safety, nor is it ever justifiable. Must we be reminded of this? Authoritarianism always erodes and destroys good judgement, because conformity, obedience and power are valued above honest and open discussion and debate, among
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Gender, Hierarchy, Civilization & Collapse: A Few Thoughts
What did Sumeria ever do for us? Invented writing, our concepts of time, irrigation, cities, created the first literature…little stuff like that. Sumeria predates ancient Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Biblical times, though it was a completely forgotten civilization until very recently. The civilization spanned roughly 3,500 years, between 5,500
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Kindred Spirits & “Civilization”
Thinking about questions of human society and what is “civilized” or “civilization” makes me realize again how much I agree with Chomsky, Gandhi and Thoreau. They have all been deeply critical of what is called Western “civilization”. It also makes me think it’s time to read Vine Deloria Jr. All
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The end of civilization? I’d like to see its beginning
Civilization? Technology does not define it. Morality does. That makes all empires uncivilized, because they are based in conquest, plunder, mass murder and theft. Amazing… Scholars still talking about the Roman Empire as civilized and civilizing… By what definition? Because they had sewers? I agree with Gandhi, Western civilization,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Musings On History: Goths, the Fall of Rome, and the Future of Humanity
I love a good mystery. Who were the Goths? Where did they come from? How did they manage to sack Rome and defeat the most powerful empire the world had ever seen? What is their true cultural, mythological, spiritual, philosophical and ideological history? (Genetic history means little, since we
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Gold, Savings & Security In The Real World
Here is what the crowd, the authorities, and the mainstream media, including the business press, will tell you: It’s called BS. Think for yourself. For example, when real inflation rates of 8% or more are counted, money in the bank is losing money, and most investment funds are losing money.
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: History Repeats: The Decline & Fall of the Western Corporate Empire
“The Goths remained on Roman land and would ally themselves with the Roman army. Later, however, one man, a Goth and former Roman commander, rose up against Rome – a man who only asked for what had been promised him – a man who would do what no other had
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Covid-1984: The Worst Of Both Worlds
With covid-1984, which is a virus that is statistically as dangerous as the common flu, we have taken extreme, draconian, authoritarian measures. In short, we have dangerously and vastly over-reacted, and in doing so, we have combined the worst of both worlds: medieval and modern. If we’re going to go
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Distance Yourself From Evil, Not People
The Boycott Big Tech Movement Begins Here First rule: Question everything, and think for yourself. Second rule: Don’t support your slavers. (Gandhi, MLK and Thoreau would understand. It’s time for mass civil disobedience.) Nothing is free. If you want to say no to Big Brother, you have to pay for
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Plague: Then & Now
Europe did not respond well to the biggest plague in its history, in 1347-1351, to put it mildly – with anti-semitism, pogroms, scapegoating, witch trials, burning heretics at the stake, torture, self-flagellation, misanthropy, self-loathing, death cults, cultural morbidity and dark obsessions, paranoia, highly dubious medical practices, xenophobia, soaring cultural and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Lessons In Liberty, Democracy, and Eternal Vigilance
Here are some important lessons in liberty, democracy and civil rights: From the eloquence of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Too bad our politicians, pundits and intellectuals typically lack such uncommon common sense) On the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the day we defeated fascism in Europe, 75 years ago, we should
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Moral bankruptcy in a time of “plague”
20,000 children die a day of hunger, and nobody notices, nobody makes a peep: outcry is basically zero. But a new strain of the flu (statistically less dangerous than the typical annual flu) scares people into thinking THEY themselves are in danger, and everyone loses their mind. Clearly, we
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