3 Colors: Race, Violence & Pandemic

As we enter into September, the ninth month of the corona virus pandemic, the world economy has seen the worst recession since the 1930s Great Depression. 

While there are signs of economic recovery as businesses reopen and stock markets are rebounding in the quickest ever turnaround in history, the streets of America are seeing unprecedented bouts of chaos and sporadic violence as protests against racial injustice and police brutality rage through the nation before the 3rd November elections. 

What can we make of 2020? The first year of a new decade. Is the mind of man prepared for this perfect storm of virus, recession and, in some countries, violence? 

Are we prepared to accept the narrative of a new normal of a second wave of enforced lockdowns, dubious vaccinations and a renewed cold war between the left versus right wing politics (e.g. the China-U.S cold war)? 

How will 2020 end? Before we can attempt to answer this tough question, we need to take stock of the current situation in America (I shall explain why it is relevant to us here in Malaysia). 

The American flag consists of three colors: red, blue and white. But a new combination of these colors can be viewed as metaphors of race (red), violence (blue) and pandemic (yellow). Will they be subsumed into the white of national reconciliation, order and health (both mental, physical and spiritual)? Let us analyse each of these colors:

1. Race: While there is racial divide in America, it is not an issue that has worsened over the past three years: black unemployment had improved into a historic low while the wage differential of Black to White wage earners has narrowed. 

However, this year’s pandemic has inadvertently hit the poorer classes of society, which happens to be mostly from the Black community. 

The unfortunate death of George Floyd is a case of police brutality. But it was convenient for the left and the Democrat elite to capitalise on it as a case of racial injustice. 

So the politicians and their corporate sponsors unleashed months of violent protests along with the call to defund the police force. 

This race issue, if portrayed and blown up by the media as more than it actually is, would serve as an advantage for the Democrats to swing public opinion, especially the young Millennials, against Trump in the elections.

2. Violence: The American citizen’s right to protest and demonstrate is a constitutional right and should be fully supported in any democratic society. What is a criminal offense is to protest with violence. 

So why is the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and antifa (Anti Fascist) agitators engaging in violent protests such as burning of shops, restaurants, car dealerships and police stations and beating up of bystanders who do not agree with their anti-establishment views? 

And it is no coincidence that these riots are happening in Democrat-controlled states where the governors are doing nothing to speak out against the rioters nor calling the aid of the National Guards. 

3. Pandemic: Of all nations in the world, the one that is least prepared to comply with new laws that impinge on individual liberties and freedom of choice is America. 

Coincidentally, the country that can most effectively enforce pandemic-related shutdowns is China given the government’s draconian methods and the digital-connectivity of Chinese society. 

So the U.S. economy sustained a historic 9.1% contraction in the second quarter (Europe fell 15% while Japan fell 10%) but China’s economy recovered with a 3.2% growth in the same quarter after coming out of a 6.8% decline in the first quarter. 

It is not the virus that killed the world economies in the second quarter but the lock-down and shutdown measures. 

This is why the IMF aptly called it the Great Lockdown Crisis (GLC). Even though the global economic cycle was already in a late stage veering towards an overdue recession after 10 years of moderate debt-fuelled growth, nothing could have caused such a steep contraction other than a self-induced shutdown of supply and a home quarantined lockdown of demand. 

It is like pulling the plug out of your computer and the whole system has to be rebooted. Problem is the reboot will take several months before the system can be fully restored.

Why care for the Americans, nations of the world?

Shaken to the core by this triple storm, the American people have to decide how and which party to elect in November. This election has immense global implications notwithstanding the fact that the pandemic was very likely timed for this key election.

Many friends of mine wonder why am I so focused on the U.S. election and the domestic problems of the “yanks”. 

Clearly, I am not an American and hence can’t vote. They ask: “Why does it matter so much to you? Are you a Trump supporter or a right-wing evangelical Christian who feels empathy with the U.S. President and his voter base?” No, not quite.

The answer is quite simple and it comes from a deep intuitive insight that resonated with what the Christian prophets (Kim Clement, Kat Kerr, Hank Kuneman, Tracy Cook, Mark Taylor, etc) have said about Trump, that he is anointed by the Lord to bring America out of moral decay, in particular from the scourge of abortion. Abortion is antithetical to God and Christian life-affirming values. 

If America is put in the right standing with God, then justice and the liberty of the individual to practise his/her spiritual faith will not only be restored but made even more precious throughout the nations of the world. 

America, as the largest and most powerful nation of the world, will set the leading example for smaller and lesser nations to follow. Amidst a night lit by small candles, no one can ignore the light of a flaming torch. That torch is America’s spiritual standing.

Trump, whatever his idiosyncratic personality traits and impulsive tweets, has delivered what he promised to do in his first term: strengthen the US economy, bring back jobs, reduce the trade deficit with China (ongoing with first phase deal) and combat terrorist enemies of the U.S. 

In his second term, I believe he will deliver a strong economic recovery from the pandemic recession and fulfil God’s plans with regard to the spiritual standing of America. 

 

Debunking The Dualism of Good vs Evil

There is an ancient philosophy that is common among Eastern and Middle-Eastern religions  (e.g. the Persian beliefs of Manichaeism and to a lesser extent Zoroastrianism) which have gained a following of sorts in modern philosophy, New Age spiritual beliefs and the politics of the Left.

And that is the belief that the world, the cosmos is an interaction between two polar forces, a duality that drives the events of the world at the geopolitical and the individual human level.

You can call it good versus evil, or the Yin and the Yang in the Taoist philosophy. From a philosophical and spiritual perspective, I am convinced this is a false narrative of the truth of our existence. Why? There are three simple reasons and I shall use the analogy of chess:

1. The dualism concept does not answer the question of cause and effect: It evades this question by saying that the universe is simply an eternal duality of two forces. Perhaps the combustion of these two forces caused the Big Bang of creation. 

For example, one of the earliest forms of dualistic beliefs, Manichaeism (founded by the Iranian prophet Mani), subscribed to a cosmos of light vs darkness:

"Originally, good and evil existed in two completely separate realms, one the World of Light, ruled by the Father of Greatness together with his five Shekhinas (divine attributes of light), and the other the World of Darkness, ruled by the King of Darkness." 

Chess analogy: So if the world comprises a grand chess game and we are the pawns, the Knights, Bishops or Kings, depending on our station in life, then life is just a battle to win the game against one’s opponent, who may be time, death or simply an eternal adversary designed to checkmate us.   

The problem with this theory is that chess is a game set up by a creator and before the game even can start, there must be a creator who designed the game, its rules and its pieces. 

Dualism has no answer to the question of creation and the purpose of the game. If one loses, what is the meaning of the loss? Same thing if one wins. The idea of winning and losing in a dualistic universe is pedantry and can be seen as a form of self amusement like sports.

2. Dualism does not explain the destructiveness and nature of evil: If the harmony of life is only achieved by a balance between the forces of good and evil, then how do we explain the meaningless of the massacres, the genocide, the murder and hate of man against man? The murder, torture, abuse and trafficking of children?  

Does justice and righteousness exist in a dualistic world? Isn't it more meaningful to eradicate and destroy evil once and for all rather than believe that evil can be controlled and allowed to exist?

Or perhaps as the Buddhists believe, that man can only overcome evil by self-control and renunciation of worldly desires?

Chess analogy: The game of chess ends when one party wins and the other loses. Both part company and go back to their own lives. In the dualistic world, the loser pays a heavy price. The loser in a war or grievous crime suffers physical and mental trauma and can be wounded for life. It is no longer just a game. 

3. Dualism is anti-God & a vehicle for tyranny: The philosophy of dualism is not only a poor and flawed narrative of the world, it is intrinsically opposed to the concept of a sovereign God who has power over all creation. If there is no such thing as an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator, then good and evil are both equally matched. 

Or perhaps, one can interchange roles, reincarnating and evolving from a good mutation to an evil mutation and vice versa depending on the flux of chance, or an invisible karmic force. 

But the naysayers, atheists and half-hearted agnostics may rebut by saying: if there is an all-powerful God in this world, why doesn’t He stop the massacres, the genocides, the destructiveness of mankind at the national, tribal and individual level? 

The problem with this questioning is that it seeks to disprove a hypothesis by the outcomes of world history. "If God is good and He has mankind's best interests at heart, then why are there wars?" 

This question should be turned into: "If God is good, then where is the evidence of His goodness and the final outcome of His creation?" Humanity is a work-in-progress like gold that is refined in the furnace. The fierce heat of the furnace will mould man to be what the Creator wishes him to become over the course of a life. 

In the 20th and 21st century, the dualistic nature of identity politics and post-modernism has made dualism a political tool for tyranny and autocracy. This is because there is a shadow group (the deep state) or group of people who are seeking to gain political power by exploiting people's fears and desires. 

Chess analogy: Like Herman Hesse’s last novel The Glass Bead Game (or Magister Ludi), the game of chess is elevated to the highest level in an Utopian society such that the world champions belong to an elite group of highly intelligent men and women who get to govern and set the rules of society. 

The final aim of dualism is the complete takeover by a third force (the Hegelian dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis) who has set up the game in order to trap the players. Power and domination is the ultimate goal of dualism.

Just like communism was promoted as a dualistic class struggle of the proletariat against the capitalist, the communists and post-modernists use this ideological conflict (of master vs slave, oppressor vs oppressed, white supremacist vs enslaved non-white) to take over every social and economic aspect of our lives through the seizure of economic resources (taxation) and the undermining of the individual freedom of thought & values (any disagreement is a thought crime).

A scene from the Hamzanama where Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib Burns Zarthust's Chest and Shatters the Urn with his Ashes

 

   

What A Masked Biden Presidency Will Mean for The World

The Great Pandemic of 2020 can be viewed as a black swan stress test of the world. The challenge is to reset to new realities not according to official narratives (eg covid 19 and the "new normal" lingo).

The deep state and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) pushed the nuclear option (virus) to wreck their enemy no 1 and his 2nd term.

It wont work.  But the battle of SunTzu tactics is going to heat up in Aug/Sept. 

If Joe Biden gets elected on 3 November, I personally think a truly mad and demented puppet is going to create world stock market mayhem and China will rise up to be even more powerful & belligerent.

It is ironic that the tag of "madness" aside from the milder "erratic" description of Trump is still echoed by the liberal-leaning world media.

But if you compare Trump with Joe Biden's bold-faced lies, his plagiarism of others's speeches and more recently, his frequent confused state of speech, then the epitaph of madness may be more fitting.

President Donald J. Trump is an enigma to those who dont know him. 

Like the deal maker that he is, he takes on an extreme character trait or viewpoint only to backtrack a little when the opposite party responds positively. So his modus operandi is rational and often times, very effective although it can be viewed as personality-driven by his detractors.

Let me share my insight into today's dictators & autocrats: they are no longer the charismatic populist leaders of the 20th century who could sway an entire generation into accepting their blood thirsty concentration camps and gulags. 

No. The real dictators of the 21st century are no longer sovereign state career politicians. In fact, they are part of a global cartel of leaders aiming for global governance and control of nation states. 

Thus, their language is no longer nation-state populist but globalist just like the European Union which is morphing into a fiscal union after it spends it's way out of the record breaking pandemic-related recession. 

So this brings us back to 3 existential questions of 2020 (the first year of a new decade): 

1. Why is there a 1-in-102 year odds event in 2020- the coronavirus pandemic?

2. In what way does China's global ambitions stand to gain from a Biden presidency & lose from a Trump 2nd term?

3. Who is Joe Biden? Is he really sincere in becoming the leader of the free world (leave aside whether he is presidential material)? Or is he a puppet (a masked gentleman) of the globalist deep state so that their global agenda can be quietly carried out without the frustrating resistance of an anti-globalist, pro-American President?

As we approach the second half of an unprecedented year in our lives, we need to keep these questions in mind because the outcome of America's election is going to change the world for good or for bad. We are at the crossroads right now.

It's the end game of a strange chess game that is rigged for one player to win. 

The alarming fact is one of the players may quite likely sabotage the rules by blaming it on the pandemic (postal voting?). Anything goes in the next 3 months. 

So buckle your seats and pray for wisdom & protection for both Donald Trump & Joe Biden and that the election can be carried out transparently and peacefully.