Showing posts with label Stop Harm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stop Harm. Show all posts

Stop the Spread Explained: Healthy people are the main spreaders, vulnerable people suffer the most.



Stop the Spread Explained - as best as I can manage as a lay person.

My attempt to explain in laymans terms what Stopping the Spread of an infectious disease is all about, when we have no vaccine and no preventative treatment - and yes, healthy fit people are the primary spreaders of the infection because they move about a lot more than chronically ill people do, and they do not present with as much symptoms, so they can spread and not be aware of it. Wearing masks takes this into account, It is a precautionary measure. . No blame here, this is just how this SARSCOV2 virus functions. And people with chronic disease and immune system compromised status are the ones who suffer the worst effects. That's a lot of people - in the UK it is 15 million people, in the USA it is 83 million people. A family, society or culture is very much defined by how it relates to and treats the most vulnerable within it.

Stop the spread, eliminate the virus from a population, be it a village, a town, a city, a region or a country is a whole raft of measures that are designed to stop the spread of infection when there is no vaccine - that means to get to a point where there is no more active virus in the population within the given zone or territory. It is not a pick n mix list, any country dedicated to eliminating the virus from the population must do all of it. The weakest link must be strengthened to ensure the whole program works most efficiently.

If the virus cannot find new human hosts, it cannot replicate.

Transmission of infection across the community ceases. It stops finding new human hosts.

Then the vulnerable are much better protected.

That is what we ought to be aiming for.

* Important repetitive note : this virus is primarily spread by healthy people who show no symptom and the people it harms the most are those who have chronic disease conditions that compromise their immune response. Other super spreaders are people with symptoms left to self treat at home, in shared living spaces, apartment complexes.

Tourists, Immigrants and Business people travelling on air travel, in cruise ships, on holidays and so on, were the primary vectors of this infectious viral disease.

In the UK the population with chronic conditions and immune compromised status numbers some 15 million people, and it is not just the elderly, over 70s or people in care homes (441,000). In the US that population is 83 million.

Across all developed states, the numbers of potentially vulnerable people are significant.

The vulnerable are much  larger part of our population than anyone has really acknowledged.

It is worth noting that a small percentage of healthy people with no known or unknown underlying conditions also suffer some of the worst effects. So there is a risk, a gamble so to speak, even if it is very tiny, for healthy people who are exposed to the virus.

But for the vulnerable that risk is much, much greater. It is not a gamble they need imposed upon them.

The task before us, therefore, is to protect the vulnerable population by stopping the virus in it's tracks.

It doesn't necessitate heavy lock down, even though some states have used that.

Usually the reason for heavy shut down is that the virus has been allowed to go further than it ought to have been allowed. Shut down is a response to uncontrolled transmission.

Learning from experience?

UK Government Economic and Political policy was to not panic, in order to 'protect the economy'. In essence to deliberately allow the viral infection to run through the population, which was touted as 'herd immunity' - an a-scientific 'theory'. That was the original position,

While that aspect of the policy was 'dropped' (they stopped mentioning it) , and then denied, (they claimed it was never part of their considerations - an outright lie)  the policy of allowing a slow spread has been  maintained, and as such it has amounted to a continuation of the same policy - let the people take it on the chin, the healthy will gain immunity, shut the vulnerable away for 12 weeks.

There is no scientific basis for this policy, and certainly no public health basis whatsoever.

Vietnam and New Zealand acted early, and assertively, they acted as soon as any cases emerged.

First known case in UK was confirmed on 31st January, a Chinese couple returning from China to Newcastle, it was announced January 31st.  They had been in country for at least a week before that confirmation. The Wuhan epidemic was in full flow, and the UK was still receiving travellers from China, with no health checks at an UK travel entry points.

At that stage Italy was also seeing confirmed cases, and the beginnings of an epidemic, with thousands of ski holiday travellers from UK returning from Italy over February, without adequate checking or quarantine at entry to the UK, there was more infection being imported into the UK.

The time to act assertively is always as soon as the first cases emerge that are confirmed. A point worth repeating. It is also true that assertive action to quell community transmission must be taken at all times. You cannot allow even a slow spread of an infectious disease when you have neither vaccine nor treatment.

That said even if the infection has hit 10, or 15 or 20 percent of a population, when there is no vaccine, the stop the spread or suppression of virus protocols still apply and can still be implemented, and if done well, the policy will work.

The basic suppression of virus infection protocol is this :

A. From the very first cases, Government must give the citizens accurate clear direct information on the virus, how it is transmitted, and be transparent and honest in all communications - the first suggestion is that all mass events, public transport etc be curtailed - these are super spreader events. The UK government failed on that policy as Cheltenham Racing weekend was allowed to happen and a number of Football matches were allowed to go ahead.

People are asked to stay home for 8-12 weeks.

The State must support the citizens income for that period, and it must be fairly distributed, so that they can bear the burden.

All that money will be channelled into the local economies, which eases the stress on the economy at the local level. It is not wasted money. It is an investment in the health and welfare of the people.

B. Social distancing principles are put in place, to slow the spread, to give time for contact tracing etc, to work.

The Government must always be ensuring that people are very well informed as to why - you do not want to order people, you want to give them exact, detailed evidence based information. so that they are engaged in the process.

C. It is obvious that all social care and medical facilities must be fully equipped with PPE and other technical and logistical support for dealing with infectious disease, and have the ability to maintain standard services for the people who need their attention and care.

In China and Vietnam they created isolation treatment hospitals fever hospitals,  for treatment of people at the earliest possible stage of symptoms, to keep those ill people who were shedding viral away from the community. This stopped the spread and reduced cases escalating to severe or critical.

This must be enabled in both public and private care and health care settings. This means that they must be set up away from main hospitals. There can be no cutting corners in either environment.

D. The same applies to all institutional residential settings. If prisoners become infected,they must be removed from general population and treated in isolation.

E. We do not need health care 'heroes' - we need health care properly supported, well trained, not over stretched or over worked. UK has failed on all these areas.

(East Asian states had SARS and MERS in recent memory so their populations were alert to the methods having gone through them previously. )

Here is the basic process:

1. A case turns up at hospital or GP surgery, saying "I have fever, cough etc since yesterday." The earlier they report better. This is not a 'flu to be treated at home.

2. That person is tested (not just for SARSVOC2 Virus, but also for Flu and other Fever inducing diseases) and if found positive, with any infectious disease, is placed into treatment away from main hospital services in a Fever Hospital.

Government covers their income for the duration of their stay, average 2 weeks.

The Chinese and others have learned that Fever Hospitals are an effective way to treat cases of a specific virus or pathogen away from existing services so that escalation of cases are reduced, and so that cases can get the earliest and best possible treatment available. This reduces case fatality rates and protects main hospital ICU units. Those main hospital units can be expanded, and staff trained, more readily than entirely new ICU Hospitals can be built and staffed.

3. The person is questioned on his or her movements going back a week (standard incubation time, during which he or she might have been shedding viral particles that could infect other people) to draw a list of potential infectees - the list will be every person that the case spent more than 15 minutes with, in close contact, with attention paid to any public transport or crowded areas.

4. Contact tracing teams go out and visit each of those contacts, to check for symptoms, give advice and inform them of a 2 week quarantine - if they have symptoms, they go to Fever Hospital, with a contact trace carried out of their case. If no symptoms they are advised to stay on quarantine, and get in touch if any symptoms emerge - Government covers their weekly income for the 2 weeks of quarantine.

5. Repeat this for all cases and what you are doing is slowly but surely isolating all active infections, keeping an eye on potential new cases and finding out where people who have had the virus and had no symptoms are. And yes, teams of well trained people, who are good communicators must be assembled for this task to cover a large outbreak. I repeat that if Government is doing it's job, the communications of what is needed will be clear to all citizens, and they will have confidence in the teams of contact tracers, and will engage.

6. This is essential on closing down on the active virus. Chase every case, all contacts until no new cases emerge.

It is labour intensive, and smart phone tech can help make it a bit easier, but it cannot replace the human contact point - for example if an outbreak of cases occurs in your town, or neighbourhood, everyone is notified, by text or map, and people go into extra tight shut down, with hyper awareness of what to do if they get symptoms, vulnerable people get isolation treatment to protect them from being infected, people can provide help in shopping etc..

7. This helps being more precise in action, it can work without a major shut down if people wear masks, follow the protocols and are well disciplined - in the UK people are well disciplined, but the media have hyped the few who were not..

Contact tracing and mass testing makes the virus visible. 

That's the point. If we know where it is, then we can close it down
.
Obviously quarantine is essential at the borders of any territory, for all incoming travel, to maintain a virus free zone.

At their own expense, if foreign travellers or business, and if nationals returning, then the state funds it - use hotels close to entry points. This must be mandatory as the risk in not doing it is to great.

It is a process that has been tried and tested, it was developed during 1917-18 Flu Pandemic (even though they had no testing, or phones they applied the other human labour aspects and it worked well in limiting spread where it wass applied) and then refined during SARS in 2002-3, and MERS in 2012, Ebola  in 2013 -16.

It is an essential process for when an infectious pathogen is active and there is no vaccine or preventative treatment, and it has lethal outcomes for a significant part of a population.

In the case of this virus, it is spread rapidly by health fit people who show no obvious signs and for this reason shut downs are designed to slow the spread - and then you need the protocol above to STOP the spread. If you shut down, and do not follow the other protocols, there will be a drop off of infection rate, and as soon as you open up again, it will take off.

If we do not stop the spread, and eradicate the virus within a population it will continue to be passed around and that will expose those who are vulnerable because it's movement is invisible.

I wrote this song as an upbeat political protest song comparing New Zealand and others with USA and UK. There is room for more than hope in this crisis because we see proof positive of the stop the spread protocols.




this track is available as a free download as a .wav file (High res) on Soundcloud (above)

 or on Reverbnation as an ,mp3 file.


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Useful links

Short paper: Did we Eradicate SARS? Lessons Learned and the Way Forward

https://biomedgrid.com/pdf/AJBSR.MS.ID.001017.pdf

Guardian Article: "I’m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan, I thought it was satire"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/15/epidemiologist-britain-herd-immunity-coronavirus-covid-19

Lancet paper on: Can we contain the COVID-19 outbreak with the same measures as for SARS?

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30129-8/fulltext

Wiki Page : Eradication of Infectious Diseases

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eradication_of_infectious_diseases

NHS England : Corona Virus - Expert Interview - What is contact tracing?

https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/02/13/expert-interview-what-is-contact-tracing

Time Article : What We Can Learn From Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong About Handling Coronavirus

https://www.time.com/5802293/coronavirus-covid19-singapore-hong-kong-taiwan/

PR news article : Korean Government Communications during Corona Virus Epidemic

https://www.prnewsonline.com/South+Korea-coronavirus-communication

Vietnam's story - How Vietnam is winning its 'war' on coronavirus

https://www.dw.com/en/how-vietnam-is-winning-its-war-on-coronavirus/a-52929967

New Zealand:  New Zealand has ‘effectively eliminated’ coronavirus. Here’s what they did right

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/04/what-new-zealand-did-right-in-battling-coronavirus/


Fever Hospitals in Wuhan

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30744-3/fulltext

Fever Hospitals

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3078397/china-style-makeshift-hospitals-could-help-coronavirus-hit


Kindest regards

Corneilius

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.

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The Expectations of Every Child, what Micheal Jackson lacked in his experience...

This is what Micheal Jackson missed out on as a child, him and so many others .... had he been loved, respected and cared for rather than used as a cash machine, a performing cash cow, he might have lived a happier, more centered life - and one happy childs life is worth far more than the millions of records, millions of docile happy fans, millions of dollars, the pomp and narcissism of Arena Pop Music .....

Yes, his music was good, and it is also true that he did not make it all himself - he had the best in the business to assist him - from studio session musos, to producers, marketers, record companies (all of whom made a fortune from this living cash cow) and so on.....

And none of that makes up for the abuse he suffered as a child....

A fitting memoriam would be to expose the full extent of child abuse in our culture so as to ensure such abuse is extremely rare rather than fairly common.

But the fans, they want the music and none of the responsibility.. and the record companies and promoters, they want more cash....

here's my song,

The Expectations of Every Child

The expectations of every child
To be held in love, all the time
To know safety with every touch
These are the ways we need, it's not so much...

These are the gifts,that life on earth is meant to bring

The expectations of every child,
Acceptance, gentle guidance with a smile,
Honest answers to their questions of life,
Space to grow, fully assured and bright.

The expectations of every child,
To find a safe place to learn in good time
So that the child knows and trusts the heart
Then grows the child in confidence, that is the art..

The expectation of every child,
To know the family, to feel the line
Of ancient stories, and harmonies
The child is born to know that she is free.

The expectation of every child,
To be respected all the time,
To be chosen with the highest love,
So honour the child you hold, that will be enough.....

These are the gifts that life on earth is meant to bring
Do you bring the gifts? Do we bring the gifts?



http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/song_1466786
Justify Full
click on the link to launch a pop-up player with this song

Share it please....

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's your gift to universe



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Open Letter to Stop The War Offcers

An open letter to all officers of the STOP THE WAR COALITION

Chair: Andrew Murray (Unite – T&G section)
Convenor: Lindsey German
Treasurer (acting): Robin Beste
Steve Bell (Communication Workers Union)
Andrew Burgin
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Noreen Fatima (StWC Muslim Network)
Kate Hudson (CND)
Sabah Jawad (Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation)
Chris Nineham
Trevor Phillips (University and Colleges Union)
John Rees (SWP)
Jane Shallice
Carol Turner



As a officer of the Stop The War Coalition you have borne and continue to bear a heavy responsibility. You are charged with the leadership and co-ordination of the efforts of all those who seek peace, who abhor war as an instrument of Government Policy. You have taken this role upon yourself.

That places an even heavier burden upon yourself.

I am writing to you to enquire as to why neither you, nor the Stop The War Coalition leadership, did not call for a general strike in the UK to block the UK Governments role in the Iraq War? To bring this Government to it’s knees, as they so utterly deserved, for such a heinous crime?

History tells of the power of a general strike, and of the feebleness of ‘permitted’ protest.

Is it not the case that an all out general strike, by well informed and committed people might well have dislodged all those who conspired against humanity to pursue this Illegal War of Aggression, that was obviously, from the start, going to harm many, many innocent civilians? WMD were used by coalition forces. These are the facts. Those in power KNEW that this would be the case.

Yes such a strike may well have been tumultuous, and would have been opposed by Government and Media alike, with all the forces they could have brought to bear, forces that are not inconsiderable, yet pale into significance when confronted by a united people..

Yes it would have divided the country, though not in equal measure. Those who sought war were and remain in the minority in terms of the whole population of the UK. It would have served peace for that divide to be forced to reveal itself. It still would serve peace for that divide to be forced.

Yes such a strike might have meant hardship and sacrifice for many people in the UK. Yet at the same time, it would have been so much less a sacrifice than that imposed upon innocent people in Iraq.

Would that you and your colleagues had had the courage of your convictions to suggest such a small sacrifice on our part, on behalf of those we sought to protect!

I write because I want to understand what happened, back in 2003, when so many people took to the streets, not just in London, but world-wide, in order to prepare for what is to come. These are dangerous times, with the media and politicians hyping the prospect of a summer of rage.

Someone must give voice to the powerful urge and intent of the various movements for peace, for the environment, for justice, to lead towards effective and peaceful action - one with out the other is futile and at best abdication of responsibility. At worst cowardice and deluded folly.

I write because I assume that you share my same love and compassion for all human life, for all life, and that you share my commitment and determination to radically alter the way Power is exercised in our democracy.

I have less access to and far fewer of the facts or resources that you have. I admit that my perception is limited. I write to enquire, to learn. I write because my children will reap the benefits of bear the consequences of my actions. I write because I care.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's your gift to universe



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Explaining my song : The Government Hates"

Three documentaries and an article have inspired me to write this explanation of my song “The Government Hates” …… in which I compare the freely available life enhancing realities of nature and the terrorising of civilians, indigenous and peasants freely wrought by various Governments...... The deaths of millions upon millions of children have all but been written out of 'history'......ever asked yourself why?

Here's why.

I'll tell you why!

The first two documentaries, Rick Steves' Iran Documentary, And Rageh Omar’s Inside Iran, took a peek inside Iran.

Rick Steve’s clearly goes for the feel-good factor as he visits various parts of Iran.. He states clearly that his interest is to meet Iranians as people and to see their culture first hand. And he does. And it is clear that the people he met have no interest in war, be it military or economic. He explores the history of Iran, and reveals the longstanding series of ‘interventions’ by British and US Military, and mercenaries to ‘protect valued resources’ …. to keep the oil flowing…. He acknowledges the strong anti-American sentiment visible in Iran. His subjects tell him it is government-government, not people-people. They are of course correct, and Rick stays schtum… interesting.

Rageh Omar opts for less of a tourist brochure, and does more interviews, delving deeper into Iranian perceptions and realities, at least for those in Tehran… he carefully avoids too much detail on the historical stuff that involves the west, and ignores the ancient roots … however he is sympathetic towards the Iranian people.. (well he’d never get anyone to say anything to camera except “FUCK “OFF in Farsi, would he?)

Both portray well the people of Iran as people. Different, with their own problems, their own joys … Do they need another war? Did the Iraqis? And is it Government-Government? Well the next documentary reveals something about this.

In Yer Face

The third documentary is Vietnam : American Holocaust, a shocking and deeply disturbing account of the Vietnam War, from well before it was official….. Back to before WWII, the French and Americans were involved in ‘exploiting the natural resources’ of Vietnam. Long story, Old Story. Same old Story.

In the documentary we hear various US presidents lie, publicly, whilst their ‘private’ conversations reveal their planning and execution of the entire project. Their obvious callousness is shocking. Cold, venomous and conceited. As ever those who ‘rule’ “and cry; let loose the dogs of war!” for to do so is the most callous act, the supreme crime, a war of aggression.

And for what?

For profits. A Corporation that makes weapons, must make more and more, and develop new weapons, in order the guarantee that the investment made by the shareholders of that corporation will increase in value and deliver an annual or quarterly dividend. A cut of the profits.

Who owns these Corporations? How many of their ex-employees are in Government? How many Former Government Officials are now working for those Corporations?

And of course there’s the protecting of‘ natural resources’ and that vague euphemism, a kind self-important fig leaf of a word, “strategic interest” as well, as a cover-up. A distraction.

Ad in a bit of dehumanisation, the media will comply ….

The documentary says none of this. It doesn’t need to. It’s fucking obvious. Amazing. At last.

Propaganda

And the article, by George Monbiot, The Propaganda of the Victor makes up this days exploration.

Truly Great article. Not a word wasted. Sometimes George writes something I really, really get and also am delighted that he’s writing about that particular subject.

His book ‘Captive State’ isone such piece ... it is essential reading for UK citizens, if not all citizens of Industrialised States - and it set me on fire. The combination of info and explanation, narrative and anger, poetry and prose George Monbiot crafts when he's on fire is liberating at it’s best. Captive State is all that. You will read how the UK Government became a business ‘merge and acquisition’ project by business, at the grass roots as much as at National Government level. Great book. I digress. Praise George!

Anyways, his subject for this essay I dig so much is the lands held in trust for the nation by the National Trust ….in particular the lands and Stately house "Stowe Landscape Gardens. I know them well, for I enjoyed the astonishing unearned privilege of attending the school that’s housed there. The gardens (really a landscaped deerpark) were a vast playground of crumbling follies and overgrown lakes, of coverts and laurel brakes in which ruined monuments could, like Mayan temples, be discovered by adventurous boys. Licensed by tolerant teachers, I played swallows and amazons here for five years."

hw writes, and he also reveals the history, which is not the official history (the official history is the National trusts sanitised version, redolent of school tetx books) of their ‘transfer’ from commons to estates. A protracted history. A very violent history. Relatively recent history.

And Monbiot reveals that the writers of that history portrayed themselves as civilised, as the winners. They were the 'winners'. If they consider having all the gold, all the land to themselves, then yes. These self-styled winners forced the peasant people off the land that was commons by ancient right, and by fact of occupation, land upon which they had long subsisted, mostly healthily enough.

Evicted Violently.

And when people resisted, the military was called in, and those not murdered were press ganged, or sent to colonies as slaves and prisoners. Those who did not resist were forced into factories, the Industrial Revolution was underway and needed man, woman, and child power. EP Thompson’s, ‘The Making Of The English Working Class’ documents what happened when the weavers and some factory workers resisted.

State espionage, murder, assassinations, smears, agent provocateurs, kangaroo courts ….. All to protect the evolution of the Factory System and the profits and immense wealth and power that accrued.

Only an institutionalised and bred or nurtured hatred can sustain this kind of behaviour, this kind of constant brutality, sheer depravity over such long periods of time. A psychotic hatred, a cold hatred, and controlled hatred. Only that could possibly engage generation after generation after generation of mass-murder most foul. And it is merely bullying. No more banal than that. Not Empire building ... that's a PR job. Merely bullying, with extreme violence...

And that is what the song “The Government Hates” is all about. It’s about those people who take the side of the Institutions that carry out such ‘policies’ as much as the Institutions themselves. Far too many of us succumb to that conditioning..

And only a cold, cold reading of History, or a severely edited one, or one presented as a ‘boys own’ annual special, a ‘costume drama’ … could ever manage to justify these horrors as part and parcel of ‘what makes us(?) Great Britain’ …. as part of human progress!

Since WWII the death rate for civilians/soldiers in ’wars’ is over 90% ‘in favour’ of civilians, ie: more and more civilians and fewer soldiers die. More in favour of soldiers, actually. And this is progress?

I cannot ‘adjust’ to this! I will not adjust to this!

I hold those who made the rules for the teachers who taught me such lies responsible for my own lack of knowledge, and for the lack of understanding that pervades this society, that is the product of 'state education' and well, it’s time it was said.

Such lies amount to a crime against all children they are told to. To demand a child treat the victors history as the truth, and to coerce it via schooling and testing, is a psychological crime. It makes all those children accesories after the fact. Legally this is the case, though it has yet to be tested in a court. This must be faced. This must be said. Share these thoughts, my friends, add to them. Be a transmitter.
I will not be not afraid of these cold, callous monsters and their bullying. They are just men. Insecure men. Damaged goods.

I will not be afraid of to unveil those sacred cows such as History, Commemorations, Heroism in service of country. I am freeing my mind and my and heart and I will object, I will disobey in a civil way, whatever way I can.

I free myself and I carve my own values, the ones that meet the needs of a person; values that meet the needs of a natural healthy community, out of the raw ingredients of this rotten culture, and my nature and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be fortunate enough to be one of those who will start the process of building a humane and balanced way of society. Whatever it may look like, it will feel centered, it will be a place for all children for all time. That is the destination. Nothing esle.

This may well be discussed here and there, with a little bit of action here and there and for sure millions upon millions do sincerely, billions I would say, want this is happen…. But it isn’t really started yet, not in the UK, not in Europe….. We’re behind the curve on this one, It’s almost as if we just don’t quite get it yet?

How long will those at the harsh end of the history that George W Bush and Anthony Blair wrote have to wait for justice and honesty, truth and reparation?

Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, the People of Tibet, the San People of the Kalahari, The villagers of the Congo, How long?

Who is next on the hit list?

The Government hates …people thinking these kinds of thoughts, and fears people with these thoughts might act upon them. The orchestrate, with business, the means to demonise the very possibility of these thoughts. That’s the function of the war on terror at home. Shut up!

The ‘Government’ shouldn’t be frightened. They should be proud we hold these thoughts and they should look to us for resolution. We mean them no harm. We want the wars and the greed driven stupidity to cease.

It’s not rocket science.

And it should not be taboo.




Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's your gift to universe



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Theories and Fact! A primer!

Theories are theories, and only a fool would take them as fact.The only things we KNOW about nature, at this point in time are the following :

1. There is nothing that nature does that does not work! Nature works, impeccably.

2. Nature provides every living thing in it exactly what it needs to reach its potential.

3. The process of reaching that potential, namely natural growth, provides food or resources for other living things.

4. Nature produces no waste. Everything is returned to be made avilable to life processes again and again.

5. We, human beings, are of nature. We are not above nature. We are within nature.

Deductions

A. Therefore, if we are to thrive, we ought to mimic natures ways. That means that profit must be redefined as that which allows all to thrive in balance. No hoarding or denial of resources to other living beings.

B. It also means that we ought to meet childrens innate expectations and NOT impose adult projections onto children.

C. Knowing that nature works impeccably, (see above) knowing that literally millions of different organisms work seamlessly to co-create the bio-diversity of nature, it makes sense to assume or theorise about an innate knowledge building quality in all living entities. That process could be defined as a genuine, useful and location relevant wisdom, an innate wisdom of how life works.

D. Being told WHAT TO THINK would tend to get in the way of building that innate wisdom.

E. Religion and Ideology both require TELLING CHILDREN WHAT TO THINK, rather than asking children what they think. Oooooooooops. Bad move, methinks!

What do you really think?

Is what you think what partly or largely what you’ve been told, in many different ways, to think?

If so, ditch it.

Now, what do you really think?

What do you think with?

Who are you?


The three questions an adult ought to ask a child, if that adult is truely willing to be of service to the child, are as follows :

a) Who are you? - This means the adult is willing to listen to, and to hear the child, and learn the childs definition of who that child is, at that point in time.

b) What are you interested in? - This means the adult is willing to listen to, and to hear the child, and learn what that child is interested in, at that point in time.

c) How can I help you? - This means the adult is willing to listen to, and to hear the child, and learn what that child thinks or feels would be helpful to her or to him, at that point in time.

Children know who they are, they know what the think and feel, and they know what they want.

Our warlike culture is fundamentally based upon abusing these qualities and upon exploiting the children for adults purposes, be they ideological, religious, psychological or commercial. On making sure those children grow up and become happy workers!

This last paragraph is not theory - this is fact.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

do what you love, it's your gift to universe




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My Muse, She Is Cross!

Last week I had a vision, a visual articulation of the core concepts I have been working through, in some detail, over the past year or so. These ideas have been part of my life since 1986, when  an elder sister gave me a book entitled "The Roots of Violence : For Your Own Good" written by Alice Miller.

Up to that point in my life I was quite unaware of what my traumatised 'upbringing' really meant.

Upon reading the book, I was reassured and encouraged by it's core thesis and even though I had barely the faintest glimmering of the work I was to undertake, the various paths I would follow, some frustratingly nebulous, some utterly pointless, some toxic, some fruitfully, through all parts of the process of reclaiming myself, of reuniting little Corneilius with his essence in such a manner as to allow the process of natural healthy maturation to occur, so that big Corneilius could really be.

A process that is still underway.

In this excellent book, Alice Miller demonstrates and articulates the painful yet undeniable truth, that children are exploited by adults for ideological, religious, commercial, psychological and emotional purposes and that there remains a societal taboo against facing this truth. The parents are constantly let off the hook, as are the governments, the corporations, the leaders. The victims must bear the trauma.

In this lies the basis for war, greed, insecurity and cruelty that is so prevalent in our adult 'civilised' world.

The wounded child becomes the wounding adult. It is that simple. And though it ranges from subtle to gross, from Hitlers monstrous acts facilitated by millions of complicit adults to nagging, clinging parents, and nagging, demanding children at the supermarket check-out, the effect of the totality of this spectrum is the pretty much the same at both ends.

Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Poverty.

Celebrity, Consumerism, Corrupt Politicians, Profit.

They are one and the same.

And so it goes that we create the future in how we live with and treat our children.

My Muse in the vision is the Statue of Liberty, She is the Statue of Blind Justice, and She does not stand proud and haughty with a flaming torch and a book, nor does She hold a sword and scales, She is standing over the actions and behaviours of men and women alike, and with her hands on her hips, She is angry, She is assertive and aggressive, She is shouting :

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING TO THE CHILDREN?!!"

Because SHE CARES for the children above all, she is the Children's Advocate, their Enlightened Witness and her fury is just, it is natural and it is healing.

She seeks to STOP THE HARM, to STOP THE HARM NOW! She seeks to forever break the cycle of abuse, of exploitation more than she seeks to punish.

That does not mean she will let the exploiter, the abuser off the hook. She is the enlightened witness.

Her unconditional love, her advocacy requires a full accounting and she demands remorse, and if remorse is not reached for, then she commands that the exploiter steps away from the child. Immediately.

"Stop!" She cries.

And what Humanity needs right now, what so many of our children, billions of children, need right now is a few hundred million women and a few hundred million men to be that muse, to be that advocate and enlightened witness, to be that fierce mother tiger and her stout, sturdy companion.

Women like Alice Miller, Helen Caldicott are my role models, my inspiration. Men like Carl Rogers, Paolo Friere are my role models, my inspiration. There are many more.

Some are my friends, who are this very day, working through their own childhood, whilst learning to listen to, and to nurture their own children. Many are of course unknown to me. Perhaps they are known to you. Perhaps you are one of them.

They exist, in their millions, across all societies. These are the heroes who will do more to assure a healthy, humane, sane and nurturing future for all children, for all of the time.