{"id":8692,"date":"2009-05-30T23:26:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-31T06:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=8692"},"modified":"2010-06-26T10:27:25","modified_gmt":"2010-06-26T17:27:25","slug":"reds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8692\/reds\/","title":{"rendered":"Reds"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Brian Brady asks for advice<\/a>. This ain’t it. I wrote a book in 1988 about human civilization, a condition I believe human beings can but so far have not attained. I’m thinking of revisiting the topic, if only because I fear those kinds of ideas might have to transcend a dark age. I wrote the following essay seven years ago, and, of course, by now everything it addresses is just that much worse. Tyranny is an avoidable fate — but not if you don’t know how to recognize it. –GSS]<\/em><\/p>\n

 
My son is a Cub Scout. A few weekends ago he had his yearly ScoutORama, a sort of Scout convention and trade fair. The theme of this year’s event was ‘American Heroes,’ and it turns out that American Heroes, for the most part, build small catapults and cook in Dutch ovens. One Cub pack took the theme rather more to heart, with a huge display called ‘Freedom In Unity’.<\/p>\n

To an attending Cub Scout I said, “Is it conceivable to you that unity and freedom might conflict?”<\/p>\n

After a moment’s thought, he said: “Huh?”<\/p>\n

As a father of an eleven-year-old, I fully expected this retort. Undismayed, I pressed on: “Isn’t it reasonable to suppose that the quality best represented by the word ‘freedom’ is freedom from<\/i> other people?”<\/p>\n

“HUH?!<\/i><\/p>\n

And my wife pulled me away, arguing, quite correctly, that it is unfair to expect children to regurgitate, much less competently defend, the horseshit they are force-fed by adults.<\/p>\n

They do so eventually, of course, and thus become the adults who do the force-feeding of the next generation of helpless victims — unminded before they can be fully mindful, starved and stuffed at the same time, gorged forevermore on horseshit.<\/p>\n

But: It’s not the what, it’s the where, the who, the how. And most especially: The why.<\/i><\/p>\n

When the French, to pick an odorous example, rail against Individualism, we know what we’re hearing. When radical feminists — or radical environmentalists, or radical vegans — heap scorn upon Liberty, it doesn’t take much acuity to see right through them.<\/p>\n

But to listen carefully — and I am cursed with the skill of listening Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Brian Brady asks for advice. This ain’t it. I wrote a book in 1988 about human civilization, a condition I believe human beings can but so far have not attained. I’m thinking of revisiting the topic, if only because I fear those kinds of ideas might have to transcend a dark age. I wrote the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[251,24,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-mother","category-egoism-in-action","category-group-therapy","no-featured-image"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6542,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6542\/shopping-for-greenwood-in-real-estate-ishopgreenwoodcom-is-a-real-estate-mall\/","url_meta":{"origin":8692,"position":0},"title":"Shopping For Greenwood, IN Real Estate? iShopGreenwood.com Is a Real Estate Mall","author":"Brian Brady","date":"January 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're looking for Greenwood, IN homes for sale, what better place than a real estate \"mall\"?\u00a0 It's the PERFECT idea but there's one problem; I hate malls.\u00a0 I'm not an agoraphobiac but\u00a0 I AM a gun-totin' American male.\u00a0 On Saturdays, I park the pick-up at the Mall and sneak\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6667,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6667\/6667\/","url_meta":{"origin":8692,"position":1},"title":"The Agents are the Heroes","author":"Sean Purcell","date":"January 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"How many remember the movie Back to the Future?\u00a0 I always liked the play on words in that title and I am liking it even more lately.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because as agents that is exactly what we are doing:\u00a0 going back to the future.\u00a0 I believe the marketing theme for 2009\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2293,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2293\/unchained-melodies-born-to-run\/","url_meta":{"origin":8692,"position":2},"title":"Unchained melodies: Born to run","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a selection from Brian Brady for the theme for BloodhoundBlog Unchained, Bruce Springsteen doing Born to run.Opening line in the video: \"Remember, in the end, nobody wins, 'less everybody wins\" and the last stanza of the song: The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3286,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3286\/understanding-the-difference-between-wordpresscom-and-wordpressorg-plus-a-little-bit-about-custom-domain-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":8692,"position":3},"title":"Understanding the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org plus a little bit about custom domain names","author":"Cheryl Johnson","date":"June 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a point of confusion I often notice when people begin their search for a blogging platform: There are two different flavors of WordPress. WordPress.com is a hosted platform. You go there and sign up for account, pick a pre-designed theme, and start blogging.\u00a0\u00a0 It's free, it's very easy.\u00a0 Software\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2269,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2269\/unchained-melodies-southern-accents\/","url_meta":{"origin":8692,"position":4},"title":"Unchained melodies: Southern accents","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This is not a BloodhoundBlog Unchained theme, either, but it's another move in that direction. When I met Jeff Turner and Dustin Luther at the NAR Convention, I talked to them about the idea of people who seem to oscillate at the same frequency, like similar isotopes. I wrote about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15707,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15707\/experts-smexperts-its-about-results-go-tear-em-a-new-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":8692,"position":5},"title":"Experts Smexperts – It’s About Results – Go Tear ‘Em a New One!","author":"Jeff Brown","date":"February 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I love it when life presents an example in real time, don't you? In pro sports, basketball included, the surprise superstar, even if it's only potential, is fairly rare. What with video tape, computers, and sophisticated scouting systems, it's very difficult for a player with serious game to fall through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8692"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12451,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8692\/revisions\/12451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}