The Battle of Passchendaele

One hundred years ago today, the Third Battle of Ypres—better known as the Battle of Passchendaele—began in Belgium.  It was an attempt to gain high ground near the northern end of the Western Front, before German reinforcements arrived from the Eastern Front, in the wake of the Russian collapse there.  

The prior three years had been a horrific, bloody stalemate near Ypres, with troops in mud-filled trenches—shouting distance apart—under constant artillery bombardment.  

In a war remembered for wasteful, senseless carnage, Passchendaele is remembered as one of the worst.  A wildly optimistic British plan for quick victory, degraded by weather into a battle of attrition. By the time the fighting slowed (it never actually stopped on the Western Front) in mid-November, over a half million casualties had been suffered by the British, their imperial and commonwealth allies, and Germans.  

Nasty little crossroads in that area.  Twenty-three years later, there would be a massive evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk, about 40 miles northwest of Passchendaele.  And 103 years earlier, Napoleon’s career ended about 90 miles east, near a place called Waterloo.  

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-40727428
 

Gravity and Society

Gravity is one of the fundamental forces that define our universe.  It is the effect of matter that organizes moons, planets, and stars – keeping them from simply wandering off on their own.  Gravity holds us to the Earth, and holds the elements of the Earth together—even defining our planet’s spherical shape.  It is the physical manifestation of matter’s drive to aggrandize itself across the vastness of space.  

Concentrated in stars, gravity is so strong, it literally warps space-time, creating a well, drawing distant objects nearer.  It crushes hydrogen atoms, fusing nuclei together to form helium, generating and radiating massive energy to heat and light our world – making life possible.  

But where the aggregated mass is too great, space-time is not just warped, it is consumed.  Gravity becomes an end in itself, swallowing up everything nearby, even light – which is why such phenomena are known as black holes.  Within this region, the distortion is so complete that the normal laws of physics no longer apply.  The distortion reaches far beyond its black horizon; nothing within a vast area is unaffected; ultimately everything is drawn in and destroyed.  

In human experience, the desire for material goods and control are likewise fundamental drives.  In normal proportions, these drives encourage us to independently feed and shelter ourselves and our families, provide security, sustain communities, educate ourselves, learn productive trades, seek self-actualization, and build a legacy to assure a better life for our children.   It drives incredible innovation and creativity.  

But when wealth and power become comingled and overly concentrated, they too become ends in themselves; reshaping reality, and isolating those within from the outside.  This concentration distorts everything nearby.  The rules of normal civil society no longer apply.  Information filtering in from the world outside is warped to fit the reality within.  Evidence, established science, and any sense of community, are mangled in transit; replaced by an elite plutocratic alternate reality.  Concerns of the world—if they are perceived at all—are faint and unclear, filtered and distorted through the thick, blurred window of entitlement.  

Advanced societies have institutions to counter this concentration of wealth and power, serving to slow or prevent societal collapse.  Progressive taxation of income and wealth, a fundamental culture of community, self-sufficient educational institutions, and an alert, assertive mass media all serve as bulwarks to sustain balance, maintain awareness, and act as an enduring reference against the alternate reality within.  

But, in their relentless drive for greater wealth and power, those at the center of this concentration seek to draw in, and co-opt these protective institutions; absorbing and distorting them, nullifying their restraining effect, and accelerating the drive toward singularity and socioeconomic annihilation.  Without these moderating influences and references, the population is helpless to resist the trend, or at times, even be aware it is occurring.  Perhaps the most pernicious distortion is the assertion that democratic institutions, and market competition can continue to thrive within the black hole of its influence.    

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Aeschylus’s axiom that ‘In war, truth is the first casualty’ rings as true today, as it did when he wrote it 2,500 years ago.  Wars begin with the lies, exaggerations, and distortions that make up the carefully-crafted casus belli, which continue throughout the conflict, and are often its most enduring legacy.  

To those with narcissistic personality disorder, their entire existence is a war that pits them against all others.  They see themselves immersed in a world surrounded by others as venal and opportunistic as they.  This world is governed only by the rules of war – including those that apply to truth.  For these people, there are no true friendships, only alliances – shifting alliances, directed at feeding their insatiable hunger for wealth, recognition, and power.  

To them, there is no objective truth – only what is useful.  Because narcissists are accountable only to themselves, even a story they invent extemporaneously—become as real to them as objectively verifiable truths are to the rest of us.  These fabrications are at once a convenience, and a new battleground to defend against a hostile world.  

To the narcissist, a promise—even a written contract—is merely a means to an end; once the end is achieved, the contract is no longer useful, and is ignored.  

They are as likely to violate marriage vows, as they are a written contract; they tend to be unfaithful partners in all realms.  Fine print, Intimidation, and a willingness to ‘out-lawyer’ any who trust them, work in concert to further the narcissist’s goals, and minimize the consequences.  

Psychiatrists say that narcissistic personality disorder is particularly hard to treat; partly because one of the key manifestations is an inability to trust – including the therapist.  Also, because the compulsive drive for gain resembles healthier forms of motivation, these people are often highly successful in business and in politics.  But, rather than seeking success as a means to promote security or the well-being of their family, or society, the success for the narcissist is an end in itself.  

These people are to be pitied; they know no peace, and live without real love or connection to others.  But they are not to be trusted; though they compulsively seek power, no effort should be spared to prevent them from attaining it.  They are incapable of the empathy that moderates the ruthless exercise of power, and are capable of great destruction.