Gold, Love etc.: Tweets from H. Makow
January 10, 2012
I'm not on twitter and I doubt if many readers are.
So I thought I'd share some thoughts I'm having today.
by Henry Makow Ph.D.
1. Gold to Move Higher
I am not a gold bug or market pundit but I'm betting gold will move higher in the coming weeks despite the continuing debt crisis in Europe.
Gold got clobbered in December because of Europe's problems. People sold euros and bought dollars. Because the dollar gained against the Euro, precious metals went down. But there was no logic to it. Why should gold track the Euro?
But gold has started to decouple from the Euro and may register a big gain when people see how vulnerable the dollar is. The US borrows one dollar for every three it spends. It is gridlocked over how to reduce its debt. The debt ceiling will need to raised soon. When these problems hit the headlines again, gold and silver should regain their luster.
Proceed at your own risk. The market seems to be fixed. Logic does not always prevail. It's possible the decoupling won't happen and people will rush lemming-like into dollars again. But I'm guessing they'll realize that gold is the best currency of the three.
2. Take the "Love" Out of Marriage?
By insisting on love, I think some couples are setting the bar too high. Who are we kidding? Are we really worthy of love? I'll settle for loyalty, consideration, respect and mutual support. Affection is icing on the cake.
All love is really love of perfection,(God) and for a while we fool ourselves. But eventually the reality becomes apparent. No one is perfect. We are far from it.
There is a more realistic love, where you see the good and bad. You work on the bad, and are rewarded by the good.
With the constant drumbeat of "romantic love," people inevitably ask themselves, am I really feeling it? With the stress we already have, should we put a relationship to this test?
Romantic love is idolatry, fueled by lust. That wears thin. Traditional cultures have always known this. Also, it's easy to become dependent on affection. That makes us weak.
(posters are similar to this one)3. Constant Reminders of the Feminist Soviet
I am not exaggerating. Within a half-mile of my home in Winnipeg, there are five grocery stores. On each of these stores, the Manitoba government has erected a large (3 yards by 7 yards) red and black poster about stalking. "You promised to stop after you stalked me!" "When love becomes a obsession, it's abuse." Then phone numbers to call if you're being stalked.
I cannot walk my dog without encountering these posters not once but 3-4 times. Would one poster per neighborhood be sufficient? What will tourists think? Is this the battering capital of the world? How tawdry and tasteless!
Who are the $120,000-a-year bureaucrats paid to dream up this stuff? Paid to strike fear into the hearts of females thinking of marriage.
It feels like Cuba with pictures of Che everywhere. What's next in behavior modification?
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4. Tweet from Richard: Weaponized Women A new trend in Houston and I suppose nationwide this winter. Women are wearing knee length jackboots here. Keep in mind this is the frost free sun belt. It's been 26% C all week.
Mothers are wearing jackboots, their little girls are wearing jackboots, little old ladies, and high school girls are wearing them too. They're all goose stepping around. Evidently boots were pushed in the stores since autumn, 2011. http://www.squidoo.com/womens-
Marshal McLuhan said, 'Clothing is Weaponry'
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Related (also linked in text) - US Debt Ceiling Theatre Coming Soon
Unrelated --
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/shot-in-the-eye-woman-insists-on-finishing-beer-136722228.html
Anna said (January 5, 2012):
I was very interested in your latest "tweet," and just wanted to comment on the love / marriage aspect. Broadly, I think you're absolutely right - that people set the bar way too high, and expect a romanticized, Hollywoodised ideal from their relationships, which is not only unattainable, but also a completely disastrous basis for a successful long-term union.
However, I think it would be wrong and a great disservice to couples to say we need to take the 'love' out of it. The love it vital, it is the fundamental foundation - as it is in any meaningful human relationship. I love (as I'm sure most of us do) my family and closest friends - but certainly not because I've ever thought they were perfect!
Being able to feel love for other people, despite their imperfections (and despite our own) is the best of us as human beings. I think what you might be referring to is 'romantic' love, the overwhelming intoxication that can often exist at the beginning of a relationship. But I wouldn't really call that 'love' - obsession or infatuation is more like it. Indeed, studies of the brain when it's 'in love' have shown that it appears extremely similar to brains labouring under clinical insanity. This kind of 'love' is clearly chemically identifiable, as a powerful neuro-cocktail of dopamine, norepinephrine and phenylethylamine. It's designed to last18-30 months, max - enough time for a couple to meet, mate, and produce a child.
So sure, there's a huge evolutionary point to it, given initially human life was dangerous, life expectancy was short, and people needed to be strongly magnetised together to ensure the species continued - but basing a marriage on it now, knowing what we do about deeper human needs, is of course madness.
Being 'in love' isn't in and of itself is a bad thing - it brings people together in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways, and has spawned some of the world's greatest literature, music and art. But, like most things, it's a transient stage of development, which we shouldn't obsess over or overvalue. It never lasts - it's designed not to - and so, when it comes to long-term relationships, other things are infinitely more important, like shared values, goals, and, as you say, loyalty and respect. But I think all that equates to a different, more complex and mature kind of love (which I doubt scientists could so readily identify), and that's the kind of love people should work at basing relationships on.
Unfortunately, with 'love', as with most other things, we have been forced into a state of arrested, unreal development, with the MSM repeatedly insisting being 'in love' is the epitome of human existence, and, if we find we "love our partners but aren't in love with them anymore", we should leave. As it is inevitable all long-term partners will 'fall out of love' in this way, the social engineers have a fail-safe plan to ensure a dysfunctional society full of unstable relationships.
But that doesn't mean we all shouldn't expect to love, and be loved by, the people closest to us. Making us believe we are unlovable because we are imperfect is basically the advertising industry's most powerful tool, and we need to constantly fight it. After all, isn't this the basis of Christianity - that we are all flawed, imperfect, and born into original sin - but God still loves us?