I was re-watching the must-see video of Yuri Bezmenov, former KGB spy, talk about the means by which a nation is "subverted".
One of his very first points was that subversion is a two-way street.
A nation must be *receptive* to subversion in order to be subverted.
Likewise, a non-receptive (aka "xenophobic") nation cannot be subverted.
He gave the example of pre-20th century Japan.
Back then when visitors arrived on Japan's shores they were curtly told to turn back around and get lost, or else...
What one might term xenophobia - from "xeno" (foreign, strange) + "phobia" (fear of) - was actually the mechanism by which Japan preserved its culture, its values, its language, its traditions and of course its borders.
Michael Savage has said that what defines a nation is its borders, language, and culture.
If this is true then dismantling a nation is a matter of introducing foreign cultural elements, a foreign language, and blurring the borders of a country (think USA/Mexico border).
I've often wondered how it is that despite the huge Western cultural influence present in Thailand in the form of both bodies on the ground and incessant Western media, Thais have still managed to retain much of their culture, traditions, language, food, etc.
I believe a large part of their immunity to the Western cultural virus lay in their 'xenophobia'.
Thais are unabashed about their dislike of certain nationalities (Indians, Arabs, Russians, Chinese, Africans, etc., to varying degrees).
They are unabashed about their dislike of other Thais for that matter; those of lower status or darker skin, or from poor backgrounds.
They call all non-Thais 'farang' which means foreigner and makes no distinction between a foreigner from the USA or a foreigner from Kazakhstan.
You're a foreigner, a foreign element and therefore you are not one of us.
We will tolerate you because of the money and opportunity you bring, but that's about the extent to which we welcome you.
At least that's the general vibe I get.
One of the channels through which a nation is destabilized and set on the path towards subversion is the augmentation of the natural bargaining process.
Party A has 5 sacks of rice.
Party B has 2 chickens.
Party A and Party B get together and decide to trade.
When party C comes along (the gumint) and says to A and B "give me your rice and chickens and *I* will redistribute them accordingly" this marks the death of natural exchange.
In Thailand, every little street corner has some kind of market or conglomeration of hawkers selling pineapples or sausages or kids clothing, or squid or whatever.
People meet, interact, haggle, dine together, and walk away with mutually beneficial exchanges.
Even though Western style fixed price markets are slowly encroaching on Thailand, it is still all about the bazaar here.
I've said in another thread that I believe we are all naturally racist.
We have an inherent distrust of people not of our ilk.
There have been studies done on babies indicating that this is inherent not learned behavior.
It's through necessity to cooperate in business, trade, diplomatic affairs, etc., that we put aside this dislike and come to understandings and even friendships with people whom we may viscerally initially dislike.
Otherwise, most of us would prefer to stick to our own kind.
And I can certainly see the Thai perspective.
They have an old, beautiful, highly ritualistic culture that includes music, dance, food, traditions, religion.
People are polite, smiling, respectful.
Can you blame them for wanting to keep out Western influences that would turn their lilting songs, sung by beautiful women in glimmering robes and gold into Miley Cyrus with a strap on?
Can you blame them for wanting to prevent rude, demanding foreigners from corrupting their sense of etiquette and politeness and willingness to help a fellow Thai?
Can you blame them for not wanting to trade their delicious, spicy, nutrient dense soups, curries, salads and fresh fruit for disgusting, processed shit churned out by factories and bought in a freezing store that looks like an airplane hangar?
I sure as fuck can't.
There's a reason the Thai government censors a lot of media.
Preserving one's culture has been vilified as xenophobia.
And we are constantly beaten over the head with multicultural values.
Can cultures really co-exist peacefully without sacrificing their unique identities?
I would argue no.
Malaysia comes to mind as an incredibly diverse country with Chinese, Tamil, Malay, Arabic cultures living side by side.
Yet they all live in their own neighborhoods, stick to their own kind, speak their own languages, worship their own gods, and vie for power and status in the overall power structure.
They bear each other and do business, but they're not prancing hand in hand down the Jalan, that's for fucking sure.
Perhaps America was doomed from day one precisely because of its melting pot nature.
Put a bunch of cultures side by side, and what then does an "american" identity look like?
Is it Italian, Irish, Polish, Indian, what?
National pride and a certain sense of xenophobia is a powerful inoculation against corrupting foreign influences.
One of his very first points was that subversion is a two-way street.
A nation must be *receptive* to subversion in order to be subverted.
Likewise, a non-receptive (aka "xenophobic") nation cannot be subverted.
He gave the example of pre-20th century Japan.
Back then when visitors arrived on Japan's shores they were curtly told to turn back around and get lost, or else...
What one might term xenophobia - from "xeno" (foreign, strange) + "phobia" (fear of) - was actually the mechanism by which Japan preserved its culture, its values, its language, its traditions and of course its borders.
Michael Savage has said that what defines a nation is its borders, language, and culture.
If this is true then dismantling a nation is a matter of introducing foreign cultural elements, a foreign language, and blurring the borders of a country (think USA/Mexico border).
I've often wondered how it is that despite the huge Western cultural influence present in Thailand in the form of both bodies on the ground and incessant Western media, Thais have still managed to retain much of their culture, traditions, language, food, etc.
I believe a large part of their immunity to the Western cultural virus lay in their 'xenophobia'.
Thais are unabashed about their dislike of certain nationalities (Indians, Arabs, Russians, Chinese, Africans, etc., to varying degrees).
They are unabashed about their dislike of other Thais for that matter; those of lower status or darker skin, or from poor backgrounds.
They call all non-Thais 'farang' which means foreigner and makes no distinction between a foreigner from the USA or a foreigner from Kazakhstan.
You're a foreigner, a foreign element and therefore you are not one of us.
We will tolerate you because of the money and opportunity you bring, but that's about the extent to which we welcome you.
At least that's the general vibe I get.
One of the channels through which a nation is destabilized and set on the path towards subversion is the augmentation of the natural bargaining process.
Party A has 5 sacks of rice.
Party B has 2 chickens.
Party A and Party B get together and decide to trade.
When party C comes along (the gumint) and says to A and B "give me your rice and chickens and *I* will redistribute them accordingly" this marks the death of natural exchange.
In Thailand, every little street corner has some kind of market or conglomeration of hawkers selling pineapples or sausages or kids clothing, or squid or whatever.
People meet, interact, haggle, dine together, and walk away with mutually beneficial exchanges.
Even though Western style fixed price markets are slowly encroaching on Thailand, it is still all about the bazaar here.
I've said in another thread that I believe we are all naturally racist.
We have an inherent distrust of people not of our ilk.
There have been studies done on babies indicating that this is inherent not learned behavior.
It's through necessity to cooperate in business, trade, diplomatic affairs, etc., that we put aside this dislike and come to understandings and even friendships with people whom we may viscerally initially dislike.
Otherwise, most of us would prefer to stick to our own kind.
And I can certainly see the Thai perspective.
They have an old, beautiful, highly ritualistic culture that includes music, dance, food, traditions, religion.
People are polite, smiling, respectful.
Can you blame them for wanting to keep out Western influences that would turn their lilting songs, sung by beautiful women in glimmering robes and gold into Miley Cyrus with a strap on?
Can you blame them for wanting to prevent rude, demanding foreigners from corrupting their sense of etiquette and politeness and willingness to help a fellow Thai?
Can you blame them for not wanting to trade their delicious, spicy, nutrient dense soups, curries, salads and fresh fruit for disgusting, processed shit churned out by factories and bought in a freezing store that looks like an airplane hangar?
I sure as fuck can't.
There's a reason the Thai government censors a lot of media.
Preserving one's culture has been vilified as xenophobia.
And we are constantly beaten over the head with multicultural values.
Can cultures really co-exist peacefully without sacrificing their unique identities?
I would argue no.
Malaysia comes to mind as an incredibly diverse country with Chinese, Tamil, Malay, Arabic cultures living side by side.
Yet they all live in their own neighborhoods, stick to their own kind, speak their own languages, worship their own gods, and vie for power and status in the overall power structure.
They bear each other and do business, but they're not prancing hand in hand down the Jalan, that's for fucking sure.
Perhaps America was doomed from day one precisely because of its melting pot nature.
Put a bunch of cultures side by side, and what then does an "american" identity look like?
Is it Italian, Irish, Polish, Indian, what?
National pride and a certain sense of xenophobia is a powerful inoculation against corrupting foreign influences.