A propos..

Quelques observations pour finir le mois, réflexions des temps troubles et mensongers. D'abord les derniers sondages français qui nous confortent avec des résultats étalés par LCI hier matin que 61% des français sont satisfaits par le Président François Hollande, et 65% sont satisfaits par le Premier ministre Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Statistiquement c'est quand même un tour de force extraordinaire, d'abord parce que ni l'un ni l'autre n'a fait grand chose depuis la nomination récente du PM, à part de prononcer quelques 'formules gauches', et en ce qui concerne le Président, de s'être déplacé considérablement pour le faire.

L'une des perles, un paradoxe futile exprimé à Washington, de manière pensive, profonde et philosophe, était : "sans confiance il n'y aura pas de croissance, et sans croissance il n'y aura pas de confiance..." Une deuxième, légèrement plus rassurante, sinon aussi inutile, exprimée même en Afghanistan, concerne le retrait d'Afghanistan qui sera fait "de manière ordonnée et coordonnée..."
Il a ajouté qu'il y aura quand même une présence française (en Afghanistan) mais "différemment"...
(En réalité cette 'décision' qui faisait partie de la campagne présidentielle de François Hollande, n'aboutit qu'à la même chose déjà arrangée de façon bien plus discrète, donc moins dangereuse, par Nicolas Sarkozy).
 
Même pendant l'époque de la reine Elizabeth I d'Angleterre, on disait "The good is manifested only in action, not in mere intent' (Le bien est manifeste uniquement par l'action, et point par l'intention). Depuis l'Age d'Or de la Renaissance cependant, on pourrait ajouter à cette sagesse que l'on est également jugé par les conséquences de ses actes.

Deuxième interrogation statistique de ce sondage rayonnant; comment est-il possible d'arriver à de tels résultats quand Monsieur Hollande à été élu grâce à seulement 51,61% des votes?

Voici un autre sondage dont les résultats sont bien moins étalés par les media y compris la tv. Etant donné qu'une des premières préoccupations françaises est naturellement la relance économique, préoccupation affichée avec aplomb aussi par Monsieur Hollande bien entendu, ces résultats sont quand même bien plus à propos et importants.

Pour terminer ce petit coup d'œil des nouvelles révélatrices récentes, directement lié aux actions par rapport aux intentions, l'écrivain et philosophe Bernard Henri-Lévy a choisi le moment propice de faire des éloges généreux, bien mérités mais bien tardifs à Nicolas Sarkozy. Ceci à propos de son comportement et grandeur concernant la libération de la Libye. On connaît la tendence politique de BHL. On sait aussi qu'il aime se poser comme champion de la défense de la liberté, la justice et la vérité. A cause de ceci justement, on se demande pourquoi il a choisi d'attendre que Hollande soit élu Président avant de faire de tels éloges à Sarkozy, et pourquoi ce grand défenseur chevaleresque de la vérité a manifestement préféré se taire au lieu de condamner l'interminable orchestration systématique médiatique d'antisarkozyisme acharné, et le partisanisme honteux de ces media intéressés?
A moins que son appréciation de la liberté, la justice et la vérité françaises dépend en premier lieu de ses propres sympathies politiques..
 
C'est aussi à noter que dans l'entrevue (Figaro/BHL) ce dernier affirme (bien curieusement pour un 'philosophe') que 'l'histoire ne se répète jamais.' Au contraire. On pourrait dire, par exemple, qu'en France en ce moment l'histoire est en train de se répéter, aussi grâce au soutien de BHL, ainsi qu'à son silence..

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Text and caricature © Mirino. With grateful thanks for the use of the top poster for the film that might have won the palme d'ore à Cannes (prix spécial pour bonnes intentions, 2012). May, 2012

The nose

The Man with the Prominent Nose
Is a poet who writes paltry prose.
Although he's not adverse
To writing blank verse,
      His flair depends on how it all goes.     

He is wont to wear silken hose,
 Fine linen shirts with bright paisley bows
But because of his snout
He rarely goes out
As he abhors ostentatious shows.

Yet something not everyone knows
 Is how bright his proboscis glows,
Therefore even at night

                                           He's supplied with light,                                           

  As slatey skies are blest with rainbows.

The Man with the Prominent Nose
 Has nevertheless several woes:
With hay-fever or flu
There's not much he can do
 To staunch his nostrels' muculent flows.

He must also beware of crows,
 And blackbirds are his classical foes,
But for him the worst hell
Is a very bad smell,
  And how such a strong stench can impose.

Inversely it also follows
As his olfactory powers dispose
That from five miles away
On a clear summer's day
  He can savour the scent of a rose. 

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Doggerel and image © Mirino. May, 2012

Sir Isaac Newton

Posthumous son of a Lincolnshire farmer, Isaac Newton (1642-1727) invented machines even as a boy. He was already experimenting and making important discoveries in optics as an undergraduate, and in 1667, at the age of 25, he was elected a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Although he wasn't particularly stimulated by his colleagues, Newton's mind was constantly engrossed in mathematics, physics and astronomy at the highest possible level.

Newton was to become a most eminent physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist and theologian. He has often been acclaimed the greatest scientist ever. It was Newton who revealed that all earthly objects and celestial bodies are governed by the same laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravity. His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica  (published in 1687) describes the three laws of motion and universal gravitation. It is still considered to be one of the most important scientific books ever written.

He often wrote his theories and conclusions in Latin, then still the international language of sciences. But as the excerpts from the letter to the Royal Society reveal, when considered appropriate, he was also perfectly willing and able to write clearly in layman English.

Most of his findings and conclusions held right up until the 20th century, when they were to be refined and revised where necessary by Albert Einstein himself.

It's interesting to note that in his long and highly detailed letter to the Royal Society (6/2/1672) regarding his theory of light and colours, at note 5. he writes:

'There are therefore two sorts of colors: the one original and simple, the other compounded of these. The original or primary colors are red, yellow, green, blue and a violet-purple, together with orange, indigo and an indefinite variety of intermediate graduations.
6. The same colors in specie with these primary colours may be also produced by composition, For a mixture of yellow and blue makes green; of red and yellow makes orange; of orange and yellowish green makes yellow. And in general if any two colors be mixed which, in the series of those generated by the prism, are not too far distant one from another, they by their mutual alloy compound that color which in the said series appeareth in the mid-way between them. But those which are situated at too great a distance, do not so. Orange and indigo produce not the intermediate green, nor scarlet and green the intermediate yellow.'

Artists generally limit the primary colours to red, blue and yellow. These determine the secondary colours which also accord with the natural principle of polarity, as well as a simple rule of three. Yet in printing for example, majenta, cyan and yellow (and black, which theoretically would be the blended results of all the colour components) are the used primaries. In visual, digital electronics, red, blue and green (instead of yellow) are the primaries.

Newton's note 7. expresses his wonder and admiration of the composition of 'whiteness' compounded by the primary colours.
This reminds me of an endearing demonstration during a colour theory class when the college head, intent on proving that the spectrum of colours produces white, tried to spin a spectrum disk before us, only to see it fly off above our heads around the room, to our great delight. Yet, to his credit before the disk launched itself, it was just beginning to produce the desired effect of a sort of off-white.

From A Letter of Mr. Isaac Newton, Professor of the Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, Containing His New Theory about Light and Colors here's his notes 7 to 10, then finally 13.

'7. But the most surprising and wonderful composition was that of whiteness. There is no one sort of rays which alone can exhibit this. 'Tis ever compounded, and to its composition are requisite all the aforesaid primary colors, mixed in due proportion. I have often with admiration beheld that, all the colors of the prism being made to converge and thereby to be again mixed as they were in the light before it was incident upon the prism, reproduced light, entirely and perfectly white, and not at all sensibly differing from direct light of the sun, unless when the glasses I used were not sufficiently clear; for then they would a little incline it to their color.
8. Hence therefore it comes to pass that whiteness is the usual color of light, for light is a confused aggregate of rays endued with all sorts of colors, as they are promiscuously darted from various parts of luminous bodies. And of such a confused aggregate, as I said, is generated whiteness, if there be a due proportion of the ingredients; but if any one predominate, the light must incline to that colour, as it happens in the blue flame of brimstone, the yellow flame of a candle, and various colors of the fixed stars.
9. These things considered, the manner how colors are produced by the prism is evident. For of the rays constituting the incident light, since those which differ in colour proportionally differ in refrangibility, they by their unequal refractions must be severed and dispersed into an oblong form in an orderly succession from the least refracted scarlet to the most refracted violet. And for the same reason it is that objects, when looked upon through a prism, appear coloured. For the difform rays, by their unequal refractions, are made to diverge towards several parts of the retina, and there express the images of things colored, as in the former case they did the sun's image upon the wall. And by this inequality of refractions they become not only colored, but also very confused and indistinct.
10. Why the colors of the rainbow appear in falling drops of rain is also from hence evident. For those drops which refract the rays disposed to appear purple in greatest quantity to the spectator's eye, refract the rays of other sorts so much less as to make them pass beside it;º and such are the drops on the inside of the primary bow and on the outside of the secondary or exterior one. So those drops which refract in greatest plenty the rays apt to appear red toward the spectator's eye, refract those of other sorts so much more as to make them pass beside it; and such are the drops on the exterior part of the primary and interior part of the secondary bow.
(...)
13. I might add more instances of this nature, but shall conclude with this general one, that the colors of all natural bodies have no other origin than this, that they are variously qualified to reflect one sort of light in greater plenty than another. And this I have experimented in a dark room by illuminating those bodies with uncompounded light of divers colors. For by that means any body may be made to appear of any colour. They have there no appropriate color, but ever appear of the color of the light cast upon them, but yet with this difference, that they are most brisk and vivid in the light of their own daylight color. Minium¹ appeareth there of any color indifferently with which 'tis illustrated, but yet most luminous in red, and so Bise² appeareth indifferently of any color with which 'tis illustrated, but yet most luminous in blue. And therefore minium reflecteth rays of any color, but most copiously those endued with red; and consequently when illustrated with daylight, that is, with all sorts of rays promiscuously blended, those qualified with red shall abound most in the reflected light, and by their prevalence cause it to appear of that color. And for the same reason bise, reflecting blue most copiously, shall appear blue by the excess of those rays in its reflected light; and the like of other bodies. And that this is the entire and adequate cause of their colors is manifest, because they have no power to change or alter the colors of any sort of rays incident apart, but put on all colors indifferently with which they are enlightened.
These things being so, it can no longer be disputed whether there be colors in the dark, nor whether they be the qualities of the objects we see, no, nor perhaps whether light be a body. For since colors are the qualities of light, having its rays for their entire and immediate subject, how can we think those rays qualities also, unless one quality may be the subject of and sustain another- which in effect is to call it substance. We should not know bodies for substances were it not for their sensible qualities, and the principle of those being now found due to something else, we have as good reason to believe that to be a substance also.³

Besides, who ever thought any quality to be a heterogeneous aggregate, such as light is discovered to be? But to determine more absolutely what light is, after what manner refracted, and by what modes or actions it produceth in our minds the phantasms of colors, is not easy. And I shall not mingle conjecture with certainties.'                         (1672)

°disappear by it
¹ Red lead
² Azurite blue
³ Our senses perceive a body as a substance by its quality. The main quality of a body is its colour, but this is known to be a quality of light and not body.

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Intro texts and photo of rainbow © Mirino. (Part of a portrait of Newton. Artist unknown). Souces include The Norton Anthology English Literature. Volume 1. Extracts from Isaac Newton's letter to the Royal Society. With thanks. May, 2012

Ena Plaid (Véronique)

 

Deaf old Ena Plaid
Owned a horn, hearing aid
Of a singularly rare and special kind.

The sounds she could hear
Were really very queer,
 Soft whisperings often baffling the mind.

Voices from afar
Sent by satellite or star
In tongues only Ena could unravel

Coaxing her to come,
To leave housework all undone,
And join the chosen few for cosmic travel. 
 

*

Mademoiselle Véronique
Possédait un cornet acoustique,
Un modèle rare et tout à fait unique.

Les sons qu'elle entendait
Etaient mélodieux et gais,
Ou chuchotements étranges et fantastiques

Envoyés des étoiles
Ces divers rumeurs se dévoilent
Comme autant de sortilèges véridiques

L'invitant à venir
En laissant tout, ça voulait dire,
Pour se joindre aux grands voyageurs cosmiques.

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Doggerel and image © Mirino (PW) May, 2012

Aemilia Lanyer

Salve Deus Rex Judæorum was the title of a volume of poems written by Aemilia Bassano Lanyer (1569-1645). She affirmed that the title, a variant of what was inscribed on the cross of Christ, came to her in a dream. Aemilia Lanyer was one of the rare poetesses of the Renaissance whose work was published. She too wrote in defence of women and what was then called la querelle des femmes.

Aemilia Lanyer's husband and her Venetian born father, Baptista Bassano, were musicians employed by the courts of Elizabeth I and James I. Such social standing including the support of her patroness, Margaret, the countess of Cumberland, no doubt helped her to become a published writer.

The arguments in defence of women began in the Middle Ages and lasted several centuries. Many, sometimes satirical, but very often serious arguments, were published in various languages. Examples would include Chaucer's The Wife of Bath, Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merchant of Venice, as opposed to John Knox's denunciation of Mary Queen of Scots, The Monstrous Regiment of Women.

The final poem of the volume The Description of Cooke-ham, extolls the estate of the countess of Cumberland, Aemilia's patroness, as a garden of Eden for women. Since then however, it has become another lost paradise.

With Eve's Apology in Defence of Women, from this volume of poems, naturally Aemilia Lanyer starts where it all began, with Eve herself. In this case one wonders what measure of satire there was, if any, in relation to what seems to be an earnest plea. Her defence of Eve, of course, is essentially the defence of all women.

Naturally today it's difficult to imagine how one can continue to use the argument of Eve against women. How can one seriously envisage the alternative existence of immortal paradise, which logically would be a lifeless, sterile and totally incoherent sort of Utopia, had Eve not invited Adam to eat the apple, the forbidden fruit of knowledge?
If, on the other hand, one accepts the story recorded in Genesis as being the first ever symbolic fable, then one could imagine that the scenario was totally preconceived by God, also with the devil's approval. Subsequently the play, 'naturally' with Adam and Eve playing the only leading roles, and including special effects for the snake, was to portray the human weakness that determines the necessary consequences permitting humanity to exist, multiply, continue to eat apples, and acquire knowledge.

In such a case the stage-sets would also have been symbolic to get round the obvious problems. One problem then being that a real apple tree would have had to have been planted. It would have to have blossomed to be fertilised by bees for the apple to grow and ripen to have become temptingly edible. Nature would therefore already have been at work, long before the serpent came along to tempt Eve by inviting her to pick the apple. But such are the incoherences of immortal, immutable paradise.

Human beings who still doggedly believe that they will be rewarded with immortality in paradise for their goodness (or even their evil), could bear in mind that the paradise one tends to imagine cannot possibly exist without the circle of life determining the beauty of such an Edenic garden. If indeed it cannot be without tropical flowers, fruit trees, lovingly tended lawns, golf courses, birds of paradise (naturally), lyre birds, peacocks and private beaches, etc., then paradise can only be based on life itself (which obviously must include life's unflagging and delightful desire to perpetuate its circle) and how one lives (whether fortunate enough or not) to make it such.

But to return to Eve. Men still tend to treat her, 'even' today, as the eternal scapegoat (or scapedoe, scapenanny, etc.), to shamefully reduce if not totally cancel out their own brief but essential incursion of responsibility. Certain religions seem to continue to condone the masculine role thus making it more or less tolerable. But sadly it's probable that most men, whether they are fervent religious believers or not, are more likely to point the unjust, accusing finger of condemnation at a woman who by mishap out of marriage, expects a child, than blame the man responsible. After all he is not burdened with the painful consequences.
Today's religious fanatics would even condemn raped women who become pregnant as a result of men's depraved violations. One therefore concludes that since Eve, progress regarding womens' rights has been shamefully slower than it should have been. In some regions of the world it has even regressed.

Here is Aemilia Lanyer's Eve's Apology in Defense of Women from Salve Deus Rex Judæorum ('Hail, God, King of the Jews')

Now Pontius Pilate is to judge the causeº             ºcase
Of fautless Jesus, who before him stands,
Who neither hath offended prince, nor laws,
Although he now be brought in woeful bands.
O noble governor, make thou yet a pause,
Do not in innocent blood inbrueº thy hands          ºstain
But hear the words of thy most worthy wife,º          ºMatthew 27.19
Who send to thee, to beg her Saviour's life.

Let barb'rous cruelty far depart from thee,
And in true justice take affliction's part;
Open thine eyes, that thou the truth may'st see.
Do not the thing that goes against thy heart,
Condemn not him that must thy Saviour be;
But view his holy life, his good desert.
Let not us women glory in men's fall.º          ºthe fall of Adam, Jesus and Pilate
Who had power given to overrule us all.

Till now your indiscretion sets us free.
And makes our former fault much less appear;
Our mother Eve, who tasted of the tree,
Giving to Adam what she held most dear,
Was simply good, and had no power to see;º      ºGenesis blames Eve of
The after-coming harm did not appear:           intemperance, pride and ambition
The subtle serpent that our sex betrayed
Before our fall so sure a plot had laid.

That undiscerning ignorance perceived
No guile or craft that was by him intended;
For had she known of what we were bereaved,º        ºDeprived of immortality
To his request she had not condescended.
But she, poor soul, by cunning was deceived;
No hurt therein her harmless heart intended:
For she allegedº God's word, which heº denies,        ºrepeated. ºThe serpent
That they should die, but even as gods be wise.

But sure Adam cannot be excused;
Her fault though great, yet he was most to blame;
What weakness offered, strength might have refused,
Being lord of all, the greater was his shame.
Although the serpent's craft had her abused,
God's holy word ought all his actions frame,º               ºdetermine, guide
For he was lord and king of all the earth,
Before poor Eve had neither life or breath,

Who being framedº by God's eternal hand                         ºmade
The perfectest man that ever breathed on earth;
And from God's mouth received that straitº command,   ºstrict
The breach whereof he knew was present death;
Yea, having power to rule both sea and land,
Yet with one apple won to lose that breathº                     ºbreath of eternal life
Which God had breathed in his beauteous face,
Bringing us all in danger and disgrace.

And then to lay the fault on Patience' back,
That we (poor women) must endure it all.
If Eve did err, it was for knowledge sake;
The fruit being fair persuaded him to fall:
No subtle serpent's falsehood did betray him;
If he would eat it, who had the power to stayº him?          ºstop

Not Eve, whose fault was only too much love,
Which made her give this present to her dear,
That what she tasted he likewise might prove,º                   ºexperience
Whereby his knowledge might become more clear;
He never sought her weakness to reprove
With those sharp words which he of God did hear;
Yet men will boast of knowledge, which he took
From Eve's fair hand, as from a learned book.

If any evil did in her remain,
Being made of him,º he was the ground of all.            ºGenesis 2.21-22
If one of many worldsº could lay a stain                ºman being 'a little world'
Upon our sex, and work so great a fall
To wretched man by Satan's subtle train,º                    ºallusion to the serpent
What will so foul a fault amongst you all?º              ºallusion to Pilate's crime
Her weakness did the serpent's words obey,
But you in malice God's dear Son betray,

Whom, if unjustly you condemn to die,
Her sin was small to what you do commit;
All mortal sinsº that do for vengeance cry                ºpunishable by damnation
Are not to be compared unto it.
If many worlds would altogether try
By all their sins the wrath of God to get,
This sin of yours surmounts them all as far
As doth the sun another little star.º                    ºthe sun then was thought larger

Then let us have our liberty again,
And challengeº to yourselves no sovereignty.           ºclaim
You came not in the world without our pain,
Make that a bar against your cruelty;
Your fault being greater, why should you disdain
Our being your equals, free from tyranny?
If one weak woman simply did offend,
This sin of yours hath no excuse nor end,

To which, poor souls, we never gave consent.
Witness, they wife, O Pilate, speaks for all,
Who did but dream, and yet a message sent
That thou shouldest have nothing to do at all
With that just man;º which, if thy heart relent,            ºChrist
Why wilt thou be a reprobate with Saulº                        ºdo as he did
To seek the death of him that is so good,
For thy soul's health to shed his dearest blood?

1611

Mary Wollstonecraft

Aphra Behn

Intro text and images © Mirino. Sources include The Norton Anthology English Literature Volume 1. Extract from Salve Deus Rex Judæorum of Aemilia Lanyer. With grateful thanks. May, 2012

Scottish myths 15

The fairy trinkets

A young couple who lived in a cottage near the brae of Invernauld many years ago, were so happy when it was apparent that they were going to be parents.
They awaited the day excitedly. The future father was very attentive towards his young wife, always insisting that she rest each day during the final months.

Despite all the care taken, when the time came for their baby to be born, the young wife didn't seem to have enough strength. The midwife did all she could but it seemed hopeless. When she was convinced of this, she finally informed the young man who had been tensely waiting outside that she feared that his wife was dying.

On hearing the terrible news, he rushed into the cottage to find his young wife almost in a coma. He kissed her on the forehead, tears in his eyes, then without really knowing what he was doing or where he was going, he wandered off.
He looked down sadly as he followed a burn side path leading up into the hill.

Suddenly he saw something sparkle in the grass, and reached down to find some finely wrought silver trinkets.
Without knowing why, he was certain that they were fairy trinkets. He rushed home and confided them to the midwife who was still trying to do what she could to revive the young woman.

The midwife immediately placed the silver trinkets under the young woman's pillow, then she took the arm of the young man whispering that they must leave her alone for a while.

As soon as the midwife heard cries coming from the bedroom she rushed back.  Only a few minutes later a wee baby girl was born. Her wan mother was smiling, tears of joy and relief streaming from her eyes.

Her husband was overjoyed. He tenderly kissed his wife then triumphantly held up his baby daughter. As he gazed into her eyes he remembered the trinkets. He instinctively knew that he must return them without delay. He was as sure as the wise midwife that they were magic. They had worked a miracle.

As he climbed up the hill however, he couldn't remember where he had found them. Nothing seemed the same. There was even a strange cave from which the sound of curious music came. The music seemed to call him. As if in a trance he entered the mouth of the cave.

He was never seen again until twelve months had past.
Then one day in May of the following year, late in the afternoon, a shepherd entered the cave to shelter from a heavy shower of rain. He found the young man fast asleep, wearing an expression of utter bliss.
The young man suddenly woke up, stretched himself contentedly, then recounted to the shepherd how he had been joyfully celebrating the birth of his daughter, dancing to the music of fairy pipers, most of the afternoon.
The shepherd scratched his head and said nothing having decided that the poor hermit must be mad.

When the young man returned home to his wife and daughter, he couldn't believe that a whole year had passed. It just wasn't possible. He was convinced that his absence had only been for a few hours in the afternoon of the very day his daughter was born.
And yet his beautiful wee daughter was there, standing before him, clearly one year old.

The overwhelmed and bewildered young man was eventually forgiven, and even believed, for the Scots are always very careful never to dismiss too easily any stories relating to Tir-Nan-Og.

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  Scottish myths 16

 Scottish myths 14
 

Retelling and photo (A loch in Sutherland, Scotland) © Mirino. Sources include Beryl Beare's Scotland myths and Legends. With thanks. May, 2012

Victoire

Une autre page de l'histoire de la France a été tournée. Les français ont fait leur choix. 
Victoire se réfère bien entendu à celui qui a gagné les élections présidentielles françaises, mais elle se réfère aussi à elle-même et à ce qu'elle représente et engendre.

Aussi pour ceci elle n'a pas besoin d'une image, pas de photo, dessin, caricature, symbole, pas d'engagement visuel.

Bien que les convictions demeurent toujours, les arguments exprimés 'hier' contre ce choix sont obsolètes, caduques, comme tant de soldats inconnus, tombés dans le champ de bataille pour une cause digne mais perdue. Tombés mais jamais oubliés.

Avec eux celui que l'on aime et dans lequel on a tant cru et croit toujours. Celui qui a tout donné pendant son quinquennat. Il fait parti de cette histoire. Quoi qu'il arrive jamais il ne sera oublié ou terni par elle. Car finalement l'histoire révèle la vérité, et c'est elle qui juge tous ceux qui contribuent à l'ériger, pour le bien ou le mal qu'ils apportent.
Et si au contraire ces soldats et leur champion avaient été victorieux, ils seraient naturellement censés respecter pleinement les vaincus, selon les règles de la justice et la démocratie.

Car cette victoire n'a pas été glorieusement retentissante, et la France reste divisée. Quasi la moitié d'elle n'accepte pas l'idée d'être gouvernée par ceux qui raisonnent de manière trop sectaire.
On l'a déjà affirmé. Une couleur n'est pas la vérité. Il faut toutes les couleurs pour faire la belle lumière- la vérité essentielle.

Mais il faut aussi faire confiance à l'histoire. Elle nous enseigne inlassablement qu'il y a une raison pour tout. Rien n'arrive par hasard. Si donc la France doit passer par là encore, il doit y avoir une raison.

Il se pourrait que cette victoire soit d'abord celle de certains média. Mais avec la victoire vient la responsabilité. Il faut être à la hauteur pour l'assumer dignement. Les media qui ont tant investi pour défaire l'un et pour promouvoir l'autre, doivent montrer qu'ils ont le courage de leurs convictions. Eux aussi doivent assumer les conséquences de leur engagement partisan affiché de manière beaucoup trop évidente.

Cela ne va pas être facile pour le nouveau Président.
Il demande à être jugé pour ce qu'il compte faire pour 'la justice et la jeunesse', mais naturellement il va être jugé pour tout, en commençant par la relance de l'économie et la réduction du chômage. Il doit assumer les responsabilités qui n'ont jamais trop figuré parmi les spécialités de son parti qu'il a toujours exalté.

C'est justement cette vérité qui risque de miner les fondations de ces idéologies sectaires et figées. Evidemment le chef de l'Etat doit être plus grand par rapport à de telles considérations. Devoir oblige. Il doit d'abord représenter la France entière. Son parti et ses idéologies ont bien moins d'importance.
Sans trop tarder il doit montrer à la France, à l'Europe et donc au monde entier que cette majorité de 51,62% avait raison de voter pour lui.

Une autre page de l'histoire de la France a été tournée. Que le nouveau chapitre soit un changement justifié, régénérateur et positif dans tous les égards. Car bien entendu on préfère pouvoir dire- "Chapeau, on avait bien tort", au lieu de dire- "On vous avait bien prévenu..."

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Text by Mirino. May, 2012

At time

Each day awakened
By a kiss of dew
Is new-born.
 Yet we see the children grow
And smile at time

When the day is overcast
And the woods seem so dark,
 We see the flowers glow

And when the rainbows come
To herald the sun
And golden rays stream
Between the clouds,
 We feel the warmth of life

Each day caressed
By mists of twilight
Passes into night,
And we see the image of ourselves
And smile at time.

 1977

To M&D

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Image and text © Mirino, May 6, 2012

Sophismesocialistes

Si égalitarisme, communitarisme et partage sont parmi les mots clés du socialisme, il n'y aurait pas beaucoup de différence entre ce dernier et l'idéologie du communisme. Il se peut donc que socialisme soit une désignation 'politiquement correcte' pour communisme.

Pour certains socialistes convaincus, la cause du socialisme lui-même doit forcément prendre priorité sur toutes autres considérations pour que le socialisme puisse fonctionner correctement, car la moindre faille pourrait sérieusement gêner le mécanisme 'équilibré' qui le perpétue. La pendule de l'horloge doit quand même basculer, mais tout doucement, et préférablement aussi longtemps que le temps lui-même le permet, mais jamais pendant des heures supplémentaires, celles au dessus des heures journalières assignées..

Il y a certains mots qui ne pourraient pas confortablement figurer dans le vocabulaire socialiste. Les mots comme compétition, concourant, innovation, aspiration, inspiration, qualité, dévouement, effort, individualité, personnalité, etc., ne sont guère utilisés. Ces mots impliquent un engagement trop personnel. Pour le socialiste convaincu, l'effort et la réussite personnels sont plutôt considérés comme asocials.
En se référant à La Source vive (The Fountainhead) d'Ayn Rand, écrit en 1943, on se rend bien compte à quel point cette manière incohérente de raisonner est increvable. Elle refuse de mourir dignement.

En France l'idée aberrante d'une semaine de 35 heures de travail, est fondée sur la théorie socialiste française de partage. L'objectif de cette idée absurde, qui a fait, et fait toujours, bien plus de mal que de bien, était d'absorber une partie du chômage. Selon l'idée, on partage- pour l'illustrer avec un exemple très simple- la fabrication de quelques gâteaux médiocres entre autant de gens que possible, qui travaillent donc moins d'heures par jour sans nécessairement subir une réduction de salaire. Ceci au lieu d'essayer de faire davantage de gâteaux d'une meilleure qualité pour ainsi réussir, en vendant donc plus pour pouvoir alors embaucher davantage de chômeurs, donc faisant et économisant encore de l'argent pour l'Etat.

C'est l'idéologie illogique de 'freinage contrôlé'. Elle correspond avec l'idée démagogique de reculer l'âge officiel de la retraite à 60 ans. Malgré la longévité potentielle en croissance perpetuelle, la retraite à 60 ans est considéré par certains français comme un acquis social, donc un droit sacré; comme si travailler pour eux n'est pas moins que l'esclavage, et d'aimer son travail, y croire, vouloir continuer à avancer et accomplir quelque chose de bien, est assez suspect et même asocial encore. Et comme si à partir de 60 ans il ne reste à l'être humain que trop peu de temps pour vivre en ne faisant enfin rien.

Le même principe socialiste est souvent appliqué dans les écoles aussi pour la cause sacrée mais mythique de l'égalité. Nous en avons déjà fait allusion. Les élèves les plus doués ont aussi le devoir de se freiner, système oblige. Que les moins doués puissent les rattraper, car jamais un enseignant socialiste convaincu serait incliné à exhorter les moins doués à faire des efforts 'supplémentaires' (encore un mot asocial) pour les égaliser. L'égalité ne semble donc pas être envisageable sans ce freinage contrôlé. Mieux réduire le niveau d'éducation pour pouvoir arriver à un simulacre d'égalité, que de n'y arriver jamais.

Qu'importe si l'égalité est une impossibilité naturelle. Selon ces idéologues intransigeants, la nature elle-même doit se conformer aux exigences du socialisme.

Comment est il possible qu'aujourd'hui, étant donné l'enjeu international, la moitié d'une population se borne à vouloir reculer dans le passé pour essayer de retrouver conforte dans ce mensonge utopique? Comme si à travers tant d'histoire cette idéologie n'a jamais démontré qu'elle ne fonctionne point.

Comment est il possible que l'on n'ait pas encore compris, et que l'on semble vouloir se retrancher dans sa coquille d'antan, comme un espèce d'escargot, en se cachant de la réalité, risquant d'être écrasé par les avancements des autres? Il ne s'agit pas d'un remède miracle, certainement pas lorsqu'elle a déjà montré à quel point elle fait partie des idéologies irréalistes et périmées.

Diviser un peuple à cause de telles considérations à côté de la plaque est littéralement incohérent. C'est aussi très néfaste. Aujourd'hui il faut être bien illuminé pour croire qu'il y a une manière sectaire de gouverner un pays. C'est une limitation auto-infligée absurde. On l'a souligné déjà. La seule manière de gérer un pays est la meilleure manière possible selon les circonstances et les contraintes internes et externes. Cette manière n'a plus rien à voir avec des considérations sectaires, idéologiques et partisanes qui ne peuvent qu'imposer leurs propres contraintes limitantes pour compliquer la tâche davantage.

La compétition n'est pas la guerre non plus lorsqu'on respecte les règles. Mais si on triche, si on cherche la facilité, essayer de vendre la médiocrité bien présentée, alors les règles ne sont guère respectées.
Le soutien des média, qui en principe devraient toujours pratiquer l'impartialité, n'est aucunement respecter les règles de la concurrence, qui doivent être fondées sur l'honnêteté, la vérité, et le libre choix, dépourvu d'influence médiatique.

L'excellence des produits européens sera déterminée justement par la compétitivité. En principe cette excellence devrait placer l'Europe au zénith commercial mondial. Mais le protectionnisme et l'isolationnisme seront un mensonge contra-productif et éphémère, car la compétition est inévitable. Elle l'a toujours été. La seule différence c'est qu'aujourd'hui, elle est plus directe que jamais.

Un exemple d'excellence né aux Etats Unis est bien évidemment démontré par les produits Apple, une société internationale lancée par un génie. Mais il y a eu bien des moments durs même pour cette société. Ceux qui produisent avec conviction et amour, qui croient sans faille en ce qu'ils créent, passent souvent par de telles périodes difficiles. Mais ils finissent toujours par gagner d'une façon ou d'une autre, car finalement l'intégrité et la volonté de se surpasser l'emportent toujours.

Il va sans dire que s'engager personnellement ainsi à fond, même lorsqu'on a l'impression parfois de perdre, et sans avoir aucune assurance que de tels efforts tant investis vont valoir éventuellement la peine, n'ont rien à voir avec une idéologie quelconque. Lorsqu'on essaie de créer quelque chose de bien, on s'engage à fond. Prendre quoi que ce soit d'autre en considération qui n'a rien à voir avec l'objectif essentiel, et qui risque d'imposer négativement, serait donc hors de question.

Imaginons que tous ceux qui ont créé quelque chose de bien, d'immortel, ou ont découvert quelque chose de révolutionnaire à travers les siècles; imaginons que Dante, ou Leonardo da Vinci, ou Shakespeare, Molière, Hesse, Einstein et les éminents savants de physiques, de technologie et de médecine, les grands chercheurs de la Nasa, ou même Walt Disney ou Steven Spielberg, etc., etc., étaient conditionnés à vivre selon une idéologie sectaire et limitante. Le monde en serait tellement appauvri. Ils n'auraient rien accompli. Leurs noms seraient tombés dans les oubliettes de leur siècle, comme tant d'autres qui donnent priorité à une cause idéologique au lieu de se consacrer à réaliser l'œuvre de leur vie selon leurs propres capacités, et prendre la voie qui leur a été destinée, parfois de manière fabuleuse.

Selon ce raisonnement, s'il s'agit de la vérité, on serait finalement porté à la conclusion que le socialisme ne peut que préconiser et déterminer la médiocrité. Il en devient ainsi partie.

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Le choix pour les français demain le 6 mai, ne peut pas être aussi clair. 'Il ne s'agit pas d'un choix entre deux candidats (...)' Il s'agit d'un choix entre un homme de conviction, déterminé et bien rodé, et une idéologie sectaire et mensongère. Une idéologie qui en guise de créer une utopie, ne crée enfin que la dystopie.

Text and image (transformation) © Mirino. May, 2012

Tobias

Late on a day in May
When no one else is there,
Tobias comes to smoke his pipe
And take the evening air.

Resting on the soft green moss
He smiles and winks his eye,
Remembering the boggy days
Of springtimes long gone by.

*

Parfois un soir de printemps
De sa crapaudière,
Tobias vient avec sa pipe
Pour prendre un peu l'air.

Assis sur la douce mousse verte
Il songe tout en fumant,
Aux journées marécageuses
Des beaux saisons d'antan.

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After dinner
The Toad would sit
To smoke his pipe
And think a bit.

He would recall
The good old days,
Springtime showers
And morning haze.

'Not long ago
Fine lilies grew,
But now there seem
To be so few.'

He might then gaze
Upon his spouse,
Squeezing into
Their little house.

'Broader perhaps,
But still the same,
The golden voice
 No bird could claim.

But waters pass,
 Old friends have gone.
Tadpoles grow legs,
 Then they move on..'

How thoughtfully
He winks his eye
Remembering
 Those days gone by.

Laying his pipe
Then by his feet,
He'd close his eyes
And fall asleep.
 
 

The toad shed a tear
As he sat on his stool,
Thinking of old times
 When he once went to school.

The tiny tadpole
Would much rather play
Than tediously try
To learn lessons each day.

'There's always tomorrow,'
The small tadpole thought.
'Always tons of time
 For me to be taught.'

The toad blinked and sighed,
Twitching his old toes.
One lesson he'd learnt
Was how quickly time goes.

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The last version was published in WRH - The Rainbow alphabet doggerel (T)
 

Images and doggerel © Mirino (PW). May, 2012