America's loss of moral authority? the malefit of the doubt

though for many it was McCarthyism or the involvement in Vietnam, for other (the Long) Civil Rights (War), for some the assassinations of the 60s, "Watergate", for others eg "The College of the Americas",...onto the financial malpractices of the 2000s, and kindred international and domestic, but it is perhaps an irreversible change in attitudes, when the USA's "moral authority and leadership" is undermined, undermined now by what will be a tendency to skepticism, to disbelief...not the benefit, but the malefit, of the doubt,  influenced by such as "secret rendition", "torture" in other words, permanent detainees in "Guantanamo", and most recent and influential(?)...the spying of the USA secret agencies on apparently everyone in the world possible.
the demise of the USA both domestically and internationally has been predicted from various views, historical contexts and times, since the War of Indepence...but the loss of American moral authority, seems now to be an irreversible global pandemic.
who will simply believe and trust again?

music abuse

few may be sure whether God and the hierarchies are, even invisibly, extant, but perhaps only a few would question whether music and its power exist, though indeed there would be arguments about whether and how it is abused and trivialized, used to eg manipulate and control (eg in "commercials").
but music is often, in this writer's view, abused.

question to "Cathy of the Netherlands"...

...who I met in Beijing's Bookworm July 13, 2012:
is it correct to write: sic transit trivium mundi?"

self-befoolment?

studying in the history of ideas, religious...
mankind's willful, perennial self-befooling?

sound and fury, signifying...

history -- the story of mankind's self-deceptions?

Anthony of the Desert meets Goethe in der Campagna

Michelangelo, The Torment of Saint Anthony, c. 1487-­88

Tischbein, Goethe in der Campagna, 1787

wax lyrical?

wane lyrical
wax poetic
wane poetic
wax prosaic
wane prosaic

plotless, Plotless, plot lost or Plot lost?

are we in a plotted or plotless story?
the search for its meaning.

sunlight in Moscow

the light from the sun the past two days here has had an extraordinary character. like it was 'whitening' all it touched. but what has made this so?

"the Arbat"

no intelligent and discerning individual could long be satisfied and pleased by the sights and visages on the obligatory walk along the Old Arbat.

Goethe turned to stone

Goethe, after some five years in the small Weimar society, turned to "stones and plants" as a kind of replacement for the social isolation he found himself increasingly inside of.
this before his escape to Rome.

"killer" of buildings = ?-cide

a word needs be created to label those who destroy buildings. ?-cide.
iconoclast is somewhat close, though that mainly applies to the contents of buildings, eg icons in cathedrals.

(where is the polyglot I met in July 2012 in Beijing's Bookworm, who might can help with this!?)

"Priv'et Russia!" -- Program Host Job Responsibilities

Applicants must be able to take a 15-30 second story, and chat about it insipidly for 5-10 minutes.
Higher education is not required.
http://rt.com/on-air/privet-russia/

gnothi seauton of nations?

gnothi seauton and its avoidance belongs principally to individuals, but it is perhaps unfortunate to and in history that those nations that might try (have tried) to, seem almost constitutionally unwilling to face themselves realistically

flattening the world

does your mentality make the world flat again?

the soul of tattoos?

tattoos -- superficial social patchwork displays of what are not real inner developments, emotions, stories?

do not go gentle into that good night?

rage, rage, against the dulling of the day!

the Terror(s)

ever at least since the French Revolution has it been possible to prove ignorance of (the lessons of) history -- even now on into the "21st century" -- of the what the majorities will eventually do.

Big Brother is watching?

No, Big Uncle is watching!
(Aren't you!!!)

pointless

so few views, no response, no subscribers...there is really no point to post more

the coming disasters

if the past is any guide, we are pursuing happiness... are just in a time before the next disasters, mostly man-made