Gerald Maclennon's Blog, page 5
March 10, 2019
Lebenswertes Leben / Life Unworthy of Life
9 Mar 2019
Yesterday afternoon, Sandra and I went to the university's cinema arts theatre to view the 3 hour 4 minute, NEVER LOOK AWAY [2018 German with English subtitles] the latest offering by award-winning Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Central theme of the movie is Adolf Hitler's eugenics initiative on his own people called Lebenswertes Leben (Life unworthy of Life) and how it effected three generations of one eastern German family, the Seebands, who lived under National Socialist (Nazi) rule, then German Communism and finally the freedom of the west.
As a Registered Nurse, Sandra was intrigued by the methodology used to convince physicians of established and respected medical institutions that patients born with special needs, irreversible brain trauma, autism, Downs syndrome, dementia and all similar conditions are a burden to society therefore better for everyone if euthanized; that institutionalized mental patients, the feeble minded and those incapable of proper parenting were unnecessary hindrances to Germany's quest to purify the Aryan race and thereby create models of human perfection which in turn, created perfect families for the prophesied thousand year Reich.
Ironically, that goal turned out to be the epitome of insanity. It was precursor to Hitler's "Final Solution". And... it employed the same two words, Lebenswertes Leben, when describing Jews... and then Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, political enemies, unionists, evangelical Christians, the list went on and on.
Lebensunwertes Leben were the words of Adolf Hitler. Life unworthy of Life
Sandra: Wow......what words! Thinking about this a lot. Ethically I believe all life has value even when we sometimes can’t see it. If God created it, it must be worthy and respected. I still think I would favor sterilization over abortion in regard to people incapable of proper parenting. Huge ethical dilemma. What part does satan play in this?
Gerald: There are certain homo sapiens sapiens who by their heinous acts relinquish their membership in the human race: men who rape, torture and murder children; men who slowly decapitate infidels with a pocket knife in front of a video camera; men who kidnap women and then traffic them like cattle as they're sexually tormented; men who declare a certain segment of the human race to be sub-human and Lebensunwertes Leben... such men in positions of power who misuse and abuse that power... they have given up their human being card.
Yet, too often they never pay for their transgressions, for example, Professor and Director of the Medical Institute, Dr. Karl Seeband, in the movie, NEVER LOOK AWAY. He hideously misused the power granted him. As was pointed out by his own daughter, Elisabeth, nicknamed Ellie. Papa was first and foremost a physician and as such was supposed to heal people not hurt them... but because he did not want to disobey his higher-ups nor the Fuhrer... because he did not want to die, and because he looked so damned good in that SS uniform, he condemned hundreds, maybe thousands of other people to die.
In truth, such evil men are themselves lives unworthy of life. As I wrote in Wrestling with Angels: an anthology, in my never-to-be humble opinion, I submit that human beings are the angels of good but also the demons and fallen angels of our existence. Judaism calls the negative side "the evil inclination."
And, in the interest of time, to quickly sum it up, I think that's why we need a benevolent spiritual power greater than ourselves to save us from ourselves.
By the way, Sandra, I agree with you when you say "I still think I would favor sterilization over abortion in regard to people incapable of proper parenting."
Sandra: The very essence of the Hippocratic Oath is “DO NO HARM”. Papa Karl’s dedication to Hitler and the “Fatherland” was greater than his dedication to the profession. And he also wanted to save his own skin. Looking at it from his perspective, can you blame him? He knew what happened to those who disobeyed orders. Maybe there can be some shred of sympathy for him. Maybe not.
He betrayed his own daughter in favor of creating the pure and perfect Aryan race. He may have healed but yes he also hurt and he violated the oath he swore to. Dr. Karl Seeband was also quite full of himself in that Nazi uniform. It made him feel powerful.
And you know what happens when the power of hate is so strong. Love can’t win. But in the end... love always wins. But sometimes the power of hate has wrecked so much havoc that despair and hopelessness sets in.
####
Yesterday afternoon, Sandra and I went to the university's cinema arts theatre to view the 3 hour 4 minute, NEVER LOOK AWAY [2018 German with English subtitles] the latest offering by award-winning Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Central theme of the movie is Adolf Hitler's eugenics initiative on his own people called Lebenswertes Leben (Life unworthy of Life) and how it effected three generations of one eastern German family, the Seebands, who lived under National Socialist (Nazi) rule, then German Communism and finally the freedom of the west.
As a Registered Nurse, Sandra was intrigued by the methodology used to convince physicians of established and respected medical institutions that patients born with special needs, irreversible brain trauma, autism, Downs syndrome, dementia and all similar conditions are a burden to society therefore better for everyone if euthanized; that institutionalized mental patients, the feeble minded and those incapable of proper parenting were unnecessary hindrances to Germany's quest to purify the Aryan race and thereby create models of human perfection which in turn, created perfect families for the prophesied thousand year Reich.
Ironically, that goal turned out to be the epitome of insanity. It was precursor to Hitler's "Final Solution". And... it employed the same two words, Lebenswertes Leben, when describing Jews... and then Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, political enemies, unionists, evangelical Christians, the list went on and on.
Lebensunwertes Leben were the words of Adolf Hitler. Life unworthy of Life
Sandra: Wow......what words! Thinking about this a lot. Ethically I believe all life has value even when we sometimes can’t see it. If God created it, it must be worthy and respected. I still think I would favor sterilization over abortion in regard to people incapable of proper parenting. Huge ethical dilemma. What part does satan play in this?
Gerald: There are certain homo sapiens sapiens who by their heinous acts relinquish their membership in the human race: men who rape, torture and murder children; men who slowly decapitate infidels with a pocket knife in front of a video camera; men who kidnap women and then traffic them like cattle as they're sexually tormented; men who declare a certain segment of the human race to be sub-human and Lebensunwertes Leben... such men in positions of power who misuse and abuse that power... they have given up their human being card.
Yet, too often they never pay for their transgressions, for example, Professor and Director of the Medical Institute, Dr. Karl Seeband, in the movie, NEVER LOOK AWAY. He hideously misused the power granted him. As was pointed out by his own daughter, Elisabeth, nicknamed Ellie. Papa was first and foremost a physician and as such was supposed to heal people not hurt them... but because he did not want to disobey his higher-ups nor the Fuhrer... because he did not want to die, and because he looked so damned good in that SS uniform, he condemned hundreds, maybe thousands of other people to die.
In truth, such evil men are themselves lives unworthy of life. As I wrote in Wrestling with Angels: an anthology, in my never-to-be humble opinion, I submit that human beings are the angels of good but also the demons and fallen angels of our existence. Judaism calls the negative side "the evil inclination."
And, in the interest of time, to quickly sum it up, I think that's why we need a benevolent spiritual power greater than ourselves to save us from ourselves.
By the way, Sandra, I agree with you when you say "I still think I would favor sterilization over abortion in regard to people incapable of proper parenting."
Sandra: The very essence of the Hippocratic Oath is “DO NO HARM”. Papa Karl’s dedication to Hitler and the “Fatherland” was greater than his dedication to the profession. And he also wanted to save his own skin. Looking at it from his perspective, can you blame him? He knew what happened to those who disobeyed orders. Maybe there can be some shred of sympathy for him. Maybe not.
He betrayed his own daughter in favor of creating the pure and perfect Aryan race. He may have healed but yes he also hurt and he violated the oath he swore to. Dr. Karl Seeband was also quite full of himself in that Nazi uniform. It made him feel powerful.
And you know what happens when the power of hate is so strong. Love can’t win. But in the end... love always wins. But sometimes the power of hate has wrecked so much havoc that despair and hopelessness sets in.
####
February 13, 2019
Light at the End of the Tunnel: A Survival Plan for the Human Species
PAUL HELLYER
Beams of Light from a Well-Respected Statesman
Unlike our Asian counterparts, the West often fails to accord our wise elders the honor they deserve - the status they have earned by devoting their lives to love of, and service to humankind. Paul Hellyer of Canada is one such man. Born in 1923, he is very much a hero of the 20th century; yet he continues his vigorous momentum into the new century, preparing youth for the hopes and challenges that lie ahead.
As former Minister of Defense for Canada and cabinet member during both the Pearson and Trudeau administrations, Hellyer is certain that technology currently exists to replace the ecologically-destructive world oil economy. He argues that, while difficult and financially threatening to "big oil," a gradual transition can, and must be implemented post haste, warning that ten years is just about all the time we have left before the ecological damage to our planet becomes irreversible.
"Failure to disclose a clean energy alternative to fossil fuels," he writes, "is worse than a crime against humanity. It's a crime against creation and the Creator."
His book speaks volumes about crimes against planet Earth. He investigates them from many perspectives, laying out charges against perpetrators, and in his wisdom, offers rehabilitation plans to assure today's youth that they will inherit a world redeemed from near destruction.
Minister Hellyer reminds his American readers of the long-standing economic dirty tricks, the incessant meddling in the internal affairs of other nations and myriads of injustices carried out by the United States government under the banner of democracy, freedom and, ironically, peace - also that, because of U.S. news media collusion, such outrages rarely reach the eyes and ears of the average Yankee.
"If President George W. Bush wanted to find the real axis of evil," writes Hellyer, "he had only look at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the World Trade Organization."
Calling the IMF and World Bank the enforcers of globalization, he explains how they "beat the bejeebers out of any country that won't accept the Washington Consensus and open its borders to rape and pillage by international banks and multinational corporations. The Enforcers work hand in glove with the U.S. Department of the Treasury (DOT) and Wall Street, for which the DOT is an agent."
In the very first chapters, author Hellyer, plunges into a heretofore taboo subject. He speaks openly about how our world has been visited extensively for six decades by entities of advanced intelligence from other worlds. He stands bravely alone as the world's highest-ranking government official to shine a beam of light on this ET presence that has lurked in the shadows of the tabloid world for far too long.
Over 500 atmospheric nuclear weapon detonations occurred between 1945 and 1960. Airborne radioactive dust from the Nevada testing site fell on most of America's heartland, the Rocky Mountain States and southern portions of Alberta and Ontario. Full extent of the damage to human, animal and plant life may never be known.
The intense flash produced by the detonation of those bombs traveled millions of kilometers across outer space, crossing the trade routes of our galaxy. Inadvertently, said flashes became warning signals to technologically-advanced space travelers that we human beings are now so smart we know how to annihilate all life on our planet including us. Any federation of planets - and there must be at least one in our sector of the universe - upon receiving our unintended clarion call would be duty-bound to come investigate just what "the naked apes on the blue planet" are up to now.
Without saying so directly, Mister Hellyer hints that since their arrival en masse around 1947, our Visitors have been studying us for any number of possible reasons, hopefully one is to ascertain if a generous portion of humanity may be worthy of salvation because of our ability to manifest the virtue called `love' - which in all likelihood is universal, sans boundaries of time, space and dimensions.
The book is subtitled "A Survival Plan for the Human Species" because Hellyer indentifies the greatest barriers to love and compassion currently existing on earth. He seeks to bring us to the realization that such barriers can and must be broken but only if we collectively begin work now to right our wrongs.
The barriers are:
1. Absence of love because of our differences in race, religion, philosophy, world view and political ideology. By example, in Chapter 2, he focuses on the existing animosities in he Holy Land between the descendants of Abraham (the Jews and Arabs) and those who claim to be followers of the Prince of Peace and Prophet of Love, Jesus.
2. Fundamentalist adherence to sacred books that have been incorrectly copied and translated - one example being the Gospel of John in the Christian New Testament, the interpretation of which has justified anti-Jewish persecution over the past two millennia - culminating with the greatest of all persecutions, genocide from 1939 through 1945. During the Holocaust, over six million Jewish men, woman and children were heartlessly murdered.
3. The universal worship of Mammon (money) in lieu of practicing tzadik v'khesed (righteousness and loving-kindness); to wit, bowing down before the altar of wealth, avarice, and greed combined with a willingness to perform any heinous act, including murder, to acquire more riches and power.
Hellyer paraphrases the words of the Christ, "You cannot love God and Mammon. You cannot serve two masters. You will love one and hate the other."
The Worshipers of Mammon, says the author, are the godless of all nationalities, races and ethnicities who exalt personal wealth and power above all else - men and women sans conscience, blinded to seeing nothing beyond their own immediate financial gratification. As a world-class economist for over 50 years, Minister Hellyer, having participated in many policy-making conferences at national and international levels, now advocates a non-violent overthrow of the current world system of economics because it has failed the citizenry time and again.
Hellyer knows that adherents to the cult of Mammon intentionally repress the poor nations of the world, allowing them no opportunity to develop due to ruthless economic tactics that drain the natural resources of such countries with no payment or reward to the poor citizen, only the ruling elite.
He boldly points out that our current world economy is dominated primarily by the governing powers of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the multinational corporate elite... for these puppeteers there is no such word as `love.' Keeping the current, highly flawed economic system afloat necessitates periodic recessions and depressions and continual warfare - conditions that may not harm the rich and powerful but create massive devastation on we, the so-called little people, as one British Petroleum spokesman recently described us.
It's a diabolical system, Hellyer writes, that penalizes compassion and exalts greed. Who suffers the most? Answer: the meek, the peacemakers, the honest; and average families who request nothing more than fair treatment and a hopeful tomorrow for their children.
Also in Chapter 9, "Ending the World Financial Crisis," Mister Hellyer explains in layman's terms the economic errors leading up to the panic of 2008. If nothing else, this book is well worth the price for its information regarding global economics.
Such are the problems of the human race delineated in "Light at the End of the Tunnel." Where Hellyer differs from mere prophets of doom, is that he offers up a step by step "Political Agenda" in Chapter 10 of his book that, if activated, would set in motion a rapid reversal of the errors and evils of the status quo.
In the final analysis, Paul Hellyer's greatest differentiation from other authors on current affairs is that he asks us to imagine how we must be perceived by our extraterrestrial visitors. Observing our violent nature, do they regard us as a little backwater species not much smarter than our hairy cousins who swing from vine to vine in the lush green rain forests? Hellyer points out that the ET's have been studying us for at least 63 years, possibly hundreds or thousands. No doubt they find us entertaining - something akin to a galactic soap opera. We are pathetic, funny, maddening, silly, disgusting and, we can only hope that - in that name of all that is decent - they find some of us worthy of perpetuation.
Other reviewers may comment, "I didn't read all of that in Paul Hellyer's `Light at the End of the Tunnel.'"
As a concerned world citizen, lagging just one generation behind the former Defense Minister, I say, "Ah, but you failed to read between the lines."
-- Gerald E Logan d/b/a Gerald MacLennon
Paperback, 320 pages
Published April 13th 2010 by Authorhouse
Original Title
Light at the End of the Tunnel: A Survival Plan for the Human Species
ISBN
1449076122 (ISBN13: 9781449076122)
Edition Language
English
Other Editions (2)
Beams of Light from a Well-Respected Statesman
Unlike our Asian counterparts, the West often fails to accord our wise elders the honor they deserve - the status they have earned by devoting their lives to love of, and service to humankind. Paul Hellyer of Canada is one such man. Born in 1923, he is very much a hero of the 20th century; yet he continues his vigorous momentum into the new century, preparing youth for the hopes and challenges that lie ahead.
As former Minister of Defense for Canada and cabinet member during both the Pearson and Trudeau administrations, Hellyer is certain that technology currently exists to replace the ecologically-destructive world oil economy. He argues that, while difficult and financially threatening to "big oil," a gradual transition can, and must be implemented post haste, warning that ten years is just about all the time we have left before the ecological damage to our planet becomes irreversible.
"Failure to disclose a clean energy alternative to fossil fuels," he writes, "is worse than a crime against humanity. It's a crime against creation and the Creator."
His book speaks volumes about crimes against planet Earth. He investigates them from many perspectives, laying out charges against perpetrators, and in his wisdom, offers rehabilitation plans to assure today's youth that they will inherit a world redeemed from near destruction.
Minister Hellyer reminds his American readers of the long-standing economic dirty tricks, the incessant meddling in the internal affairs of other nations and myriads of injustices carried out by the United States government under the banner of democracy, freedom and, ironically, peace - also that, because of U.S. news media collusion, such outrages rarely reach the eyes and ears of the average Yankee.
"If President George W. Bush wanted to find the real axis of evil," writes Hellyer, "he had only look at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the World Trade Organization."
Calling the IMF and World Bank the enforcers of globalization, he explains how they "beat the bejeebers out of any country that won't accept the Washington Consensus and open its borders to rape and pillage by international banks and multinational corporations. The Enforcers work hand in glove with the U.S. Department of the Treasury (DOT) and Wall Street, for which the DOT is an agent."
In the very first chapters, author Hellyer, plunges into a heretofore taboo subject. He speaks openly about how our world has been visited extensively for six decades by entities of advanced intelligence from other worlds. He stands bravely alone as the world's highest-ranking government official to shine a beam of light on this ET presence that has lurked in the shadows of the tabloid world for far too long.
Over 500 atmospheric nuclear weapon detonations occurred between 1945 and 1960. Airborne radioactive dust from the Nevada testing site fell on most of America's heartland, the Rocky Mountain States and southern portions of Alberta and Ontario. Full extent of the damage to human, animal and plant life may never be known.
The intense flash produced by the detonation of those bombs traveled millions of kilometers across outer space, crossing the trade routes of our galaxy. Inadvertently, said flashes became warning signals to technologically-advanced space travelers that we human beings are now so smart we know how to annihilate all life on our planet including us. Any federation of planets - and there must be at least one in our sector of the universe - upon receiving our unintended clarion call would be duty-bound to come investigate just what "the naked apes on the blue planet" are up to now.
Without saying so directly, Mister Hellyer hints that since their arrival en masse around 1947, our Visitors have been studying us for any number of possible reasons, hopefully one is to ascertain if a generous portion of humanity may be worthy of salvation because of our ability to manifest the virtue called `love' - which in all likelihood is universal, sans boundaries of time, space and dimensions.
The book is subtitled "A Survival Plan for the Human Species" because Hellyer indentifies the greatest barriers to love and compassion currently existing on earth. He seeks to bring us to the realization that such barriers can and must be broken but only if we collectively begin work now to right our wrongs.
The barriers are:
1. Absence of love because of our differences in race, religion, philosophy, world view and political ideology. By example, in Chapter 2, he focuses on the existing animosities in he Holy Land between the descendants of Abraham (the Jews and Arabs) and those who claim to be followers of the Prince of Peace and Prophet of Love, Jesus.
2. Fundamentalist adherence to sacred books that have been incorrectly copied and translated - one example being the Gospel of John in the Christian New Testament, the interpretation of which has justified anti-Jewish persecution over the past two millennia - culminating with the greatest of all persecutions, genocide from 1939 through 1945. During the Holocaust, over six million Jewish men, woman and children were heartlessly murdered.
3. The universal worship of Mammon (money) in lieu of practicing tzadik v'khesed (righteousness and loving-kindness); to wit, bowing down before the altar of wealth, avarice, and greed combined with a willingness to perform any heinous act, including murder, to acquire more riches and power.
Hellyer paraphrases the words of the Christ, "You cannot love God and Mammon. You cannot serve two masters. You will love one and hate the other."
The Worshipers of Mammon, says the author, are the godless of all nationalities, races and ethnicities who exalt personal wealth and power above all else - men and women sans conscience, blinded to seeing nothing beyond their own immediate financial gratification. As a world-class economist for over 50 years, Minister Hellyer, having participated in many policy-making conferences at national and international levels, now advocates a non-violent overthrow of the current world system of economics because it has failed the citizenry time and again.
Hellyer knows that adherents to the cult of Mammon intentionally repress the poor nations of the world, allowing them no opportunity to develop due to ruthless economic tactics that drain the natural resources of such countries with no payment or reward to the poor citizen, only the ruling elite.
He boldly points out that our current world economy is dominated primarily by the governing powers of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the multinational corporate elite... for these puppeteers there is no such word as `love.' Keeping the current, highly flawed economic system afloat necessitates periodic recessions and depressions and continual warfare - conditions that may not harm the rich and powerful but create massive devastation on we, the so-called little people, as one British Petroleum spokesman recently described us.
It's a diabolical system, Hellyer writes, that penalizes compassion and exalts greed. Who suffers the most? Answer: the meek, the peacemakers, the honest; and average families who request nothing more than fair treatment and a hopeful tomorrow for their children.
Also in Chapter 9, "Ending the World Financial Crisis," Mister Hellyer explains in layman's terms the economic errors leading up to the panic of 2008. If nothing else, this book is well worth the price for its information regarding global economics.
Such are the problems of the human race delineated in "Light at the End of the Tunnel." Where Hellyer differs from mere prophets of doom, is that he offers up a step by step "Political Agenda" in Chapter 10 of his book that, if activated, would set in motion a rapid reversal of the errors and evils of the status quo.
In the final analysis, Paul Hellyer's greatest differentiation from other authors on current affairs is that he asks us to imagine how we must be perceived by our extraterrestrial visitors. Observing our violent nature, do they regard us as a little backwater species not much smarter than our hairy cousins who swing from vine to vine in the lush green rain forests? Hellyer points out that the ET's have been studying us for at least 63 years, possibly hundreds or thousands. No doubt they find us entertaining - something akin to a galactic soap opera. We are pathetic, funny, maddening, silly, disgusting and, we can only hope that - in that name of all that is decent - they find some of us worthy of perpetuation.
Other reviewers may comment, "I didn't read all of that in Paul Hellyer's `Light at the End of the Tunnel.'"
As a concerned world citizen, lagging just one generation behind the former Defense Minister, I say, "Ah, but you failed to read between the lines."
-- Gerald E Logan d/b/a Gerald MacLennon
Paperback, 320 pages
Published April 13th 2010 by Authorhouse
Original Title
Light at the End of the Tunnel: A Survival Plan for the Human Species
ISBN
1449076122 (ISBN13: 9781449076122)
Edition Language
English
Other Editions (2)
