Definition the hashtag #UDruzhok - Thank you Pavlov

Hashtags are often hijacked, their definition or uses are so unstructured they can be applied far too broadly.  I rarely use them because of so many change meanings and it is a way for folks to hijack my posts.  

So I want to define this one.  On a Bing and Google search on this date (03/26/2019), I find zero results.  So it is currently a "clean" hashtag. 

A bit of History - Ivan Pavlov won the 1904 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with dogs in conditioning behavior.  Through just training, he managed to teach dogs of various breeds to perform an involuntary response.  In this case, salivating.  

In social media, I constantly see people reacting to posts and events, often harshly.  It causes division in society.  Not that we should be dishonest to keep unity! That is a false unity that is currently plaguing the world.

True unity or "fellowship" (noun not verb), is achieved from a common foundation be it background or foundation of thought.  If the basic foundation is different.  there can not be true unity or fellowship.  

As an American, my core political foundation is based on the founding documents.  This means that all people ("men" in the royal Mankind term) are created equal.  And the purpose of government is to provide an environment to allow individuals "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", among other things.  As a Christian, I have to have a love (agapé) for all people. And I can't hold non-believers to the same standards I hold to myself (this is another blog post though). 

Because of the misuse of social and news media, we are striking pointless divisions.  People want "Unity through diversity" by force.  We join like-minded groups and expound on the evils of what "they" say and generally badger anybody who does not agree, specifically because their "diversity" is wrong.  

How does Ivan Pavlov fit in?  We have conditioned ourselves to react to the "bell" of our social media.  It rules us. Hence the term #UDruzhok - When you slam other people without evidence or logic because you heard this or believe that, you are being a bully-pawn.  

One of the findings of the "Mueller Report Summary" is that the Russian Government DID try to influence the campaign of 2016.  their purpose was to "to conduct disinformation and social media operations in the United States designed to sow social discord, eventually with the aim of interfering with the election." It also cleared Trump and all of his people of wrongdoing in this matter. So whenever you glorify or promote things that cause division, especially without evidence, you are playing into their hands.  This is true whether the Republican, Democrat, Socialist, Libertarian or any other party or group directs us to be unthinkingly aggressive.

When people react to the "bell" of politic or emotional responses I offer you a simple response to identifying such verbiage - #UDruzhok 

Druzhok (Root for #UDruzhok):
In Ukranian, it means "Bully". Russian "Boy Friend" (Interesting no?) - English Buddy. I'm going for the Ukrainian here. It was the name of one of Pavlov's dogs from his 1903 study.

Use: the reactors to the news and social media who are the Bully-Pawns fo their cherished political leanings.

We should have an open discussion and base our decisions on reality. I know that is a tall order, especially for those that believe things like socialism could actually work. Sure, if Jesus Christ was physically in charge, maybe. But the reality is a little different. Hence the reason for the Republic of the United States vs the Democracy of the United States.

The challenge is getting people to accept demonstrated reality. I've had to accept an imperfect president for my entire life. All humans are corruptible and make mistakes. But that is why our republic moves slowly. It is far harder to cause major damage that way. But if we stand on the foundation of reality, intellectual honesty, and actual fact, we can build a truly diverse culture that has a solid fellowship in the belief of individual freedom.

What does that mean? It means you ought not to be able to force people to do what you want, just because you want it.  If you don't like what they do, then don't patronize or associate with them.  But let them have their freedom no matter how much you "feel" they are wrong.  Being ruled by feelings is a dangerous path (Galatians 5:19-22).  

Conversely, just because you feel it does not make it true.  It is a fact that taking another person's life is a bad thing, in most circumstances. Taking somebodies money to pay for what you may think is "right" is also wrong.

As long as you allow me to exercise my natural freedoms, you can be any sexual orientation you want, you can do anything you want as long as it does not impact others.  There is probably another blog post on that idea alone.

But in the meantime...

Have an honest mind.  Trump may have done things illegally at some point.  But the whole Russian Conspiracy thing is a dead horse by any standards.  Find the evidence for the other, just make sure it is evidence, not hear-say. 

A final thought is in 2020, try voting for the candidate that will protect your freedom, not who will institute your will. Because if you can foist your will on me, eventually I may be able to do the same to you. Freedom is the ability to do as you will.  Even if I don't like it.  But remember that using the government to institute will, is using force. Robert A Heinlein said it well in "Starship Troopers" (It actually made it into the trashy movie):

“When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.” ~ Lieutenant Colonel Jean V. Dubois (Book character).

Gregor - Back from the brink! From there and back again. A spiritual Hobbits journey.

A Study of "Intention"

On July 7th, 2016 a lone gunman in Dallas Texas executed a well thought out attack on primarily Peace Officers. during a peaceful protest proclaiming “Black Lives Matter” after some horrible incidents in other parts of the country earlier that week. Some people call this black on white violence, but I beg to differ. It was hate of Law Enforcement, not race that drove this.
The shooter’s parents spoke to The Blaze and described how this patriotic American who joined the US Army to protect his country, came home a changed man. He went off to websites and became obsessed with “Racial-Justice” to the point he planned this attack. Was it the fault of sites like “Black Live Matter” that this person turned to violence? No. It was the act of what had become an unbalanced person ruled by emotions.
The very concept of hyphenating the word “Justice” is actually insane. Justice: “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments” is by definition “Impartial.” This country was created because of the partiality of King George of Great Britton.
When America declared her independence from the Kingdom of Great Briton, the 13 Separate colonies declared as one country, The United States of America.
Why have we wondered from that model? Being only an American? - Class Politics
If you read the Declaration of Independence there are a few things to notice:

1. The purpose of the declaration: “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
   
   Separation from one authority, establishing their own united authority.
   
2. Why this authority is needed? – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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.”
   
   Rights not recognized by “Him” King George.
   
3. The result: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...”<

The idea of “unity” is not based on recognizing what is different among people, but what is the same. By promoting a “Separate but equal” mentality, we promote strife and cause division. Like Orwell’s “Animal Farm” some people end up more equal than others. If we were to focus on individual rights, real rights that are granted by the very status of being alive, not conjured rights supplied by force, we can agree on certain things.

Everybody is created by God or by happenstance to be equal. There is no qualifier based on race, ability or gender.

Each of us has the right to live, and we have the right to have liberty. Liberty is a sticky term because people confuse it with freedom that some think is “cost-free” but it is not. Liberty is simply unencumbered in this case by the government, while freedom is a state of being. Not a thing granted.
In 1835 Texas won its independence from Mexico, the people referred to themselves as Texans, there was unity in purpose. And in 1845 they choose to become Americans by joining the still fledgling United States of America. They unified behind the ideals enshrined in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Many Texans had been Americans that left because of perceived oppression by the newly formed nation. Yet for their own freedom from the tyranny of Mexico, they choose to join the American Republic.

Why the history lesson? To show how unity really occurs. Not by the celebration of differences but the recognition of commonality. Not that we ought not to allow, even embrace our differences’! On the contrary, America in the late 1800s was the most inventive period anywhere in the world. Where great inventors like George Washington-Carver (Born into slavery 1861 in Missouri), Thomas Edison (Father Canadian, Mother 1st Generation American), Nikola Tesla (Serbian Immigrant), literally changed the course of culture and laid the groundwork for everything we have today.
It is much easier to go in the same direction when you look at what is the same. But we never hear about that. We are preached to about "Racial Justice" or "Social Justice.' How about just simple justice under law. Under the rock-solid principles not left to individual interpretation? So many want justice for themselves and oppression to others. When is your desire an infringement of another's rights? Is it an infringement of your rights when somebody says no to you? If you think it is, you don't know what a right is.

I contend if we started to vote for the principals, instead of the empty and false promises from either side that is what could unify us again. We can all agree on so many things.
Though I am no advocate of violence, I’ve come to agree with Robert A Heinlein, a 20th century Science Fiction Author. In “Starship Troopers” (December 1959), Mister Heinlein described voting as a violent act: “When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.” Markedly similar to Mao Tse-Tung’s" Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” (Problems of War and Strategy, November 1938) But different in the idea that the violence of voting is not directly harmful. But it can be indirectly harmful.

If we as individuals considered voting to be violent, hence used the same consideration before voting as we would before defending ourselves, our world or at least our country would be a far better place.

Progressives make an effort to hide that they think voting is a violent act, they couch it in terms to sound better, “Social Justice,” “Economic In-Equality” and any number of cute phrases to hide the idea of theft from one person to give to another. These are all acts of violence. Solely because they are backed by the power of the government whose only recourse is violence!
What does this have to do with a lone gunman that shot 12 peace officers on July 7th? If equality under the law was our driving force, and not making somebody else more equal than others, this whole thing could be solved in short order.

I will not take sides with Black Lives Matter, the Law Enforcement Community or with a loan sniper who struck innocents on the July 7th event killing 5 and injuring so many others. I will applaud the police officers (regardless of genetics) that protected the protest participants (regardless of genetics) with their live because it was the officers chosen duty to do so.

I ask you to look to principles versus emotions. To unity of purpose versus diversity of condition. I am an American. I’m not a Nordic-American, a White-American, a Christian-American or an obese-American. Though these terms all describe me accurately, the truth is I am simply an American. Anybody who wishes to come here, and values the principals governing this land is welcome to be an American too.

The sooner we can stop the sub-division of culture, allow people to celebrate their lives as each sees fit, yet promote that all people have the right to “life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The sooner that we can stop this insanity of division.
In America, you are not the sum of your genetics, but the total of your potential that matters. And "potential' can be changed. Our Constitution was designed to allow you to fill that potential to the reaches of your imagination. Can we stop imagining making another pay for history? Can we picture a free country that made this country as vibrant as the roaring '20s, a product of deregulation and reduced taxes during a worse recession than 1929?
To steal a tag line from the SyFy Channel ® – Imagine Greater.
Gregor - Back from the brink! From there and back again. A spiritual Hobbits journey.