Hello from Benoa in Bali.
Yes I’m on holidays with my family. I had previously intended to take a week off writing Fat Tail Daily.
But what happened on Saturday afternoon in the US was too momentous an occasion to let it slide.
The attempted assassination of President Donald J. Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania was the shot heard around the world.
Some of you may remember I wrote an article last August titled ‘The Show of the Century’. You may want to read that again to jog your memory.
This reality show we’re living in has just escalated to another dimension. The effects will reverberate worldwide, possibly for many generations to come.
My colleague Ryan Dinse penned an article yesterday sharing his thoughts and the potential implications of a Trump presidency for the future of money, particularly Bitcoin [BTC].
In the article’s introduction, he shared an iconic photo Evan Vucci took, showing a wounded but defiant President Trump pumping his fist while surrounded by his Secret Services agents.
Just as this event will have a lasting impact on mankind, Vucci’s photo will immortalise the moment.
Today I want examine this event from a different angle. I know many of you feel that there’s already far too much coverage in the news and social media.
But if you indulge me, I’ll make it worth your time.
Mankind at the crossroads
No matter your thoughts on President Donald J. Trump, it’s impossible to deny that he’s our generation’s most influential and impactful character.
This attempt to end his life has cemented his status.
Many regard him as a divisive character. And there’s no denying it. Everyone has an opinion on him. Put more than a handful of people in a social setting and there’s a risk that things could get heated if one brings up his name.
But the irony is that this event could bring people together, even healing the wounds of the world.
You might think it strange, even distasteful, to suggest this. Especially if you dislike this man for his demeanour, actions and potential legacy.
Let me set this straight.
President Trump may not be the one to heal the wounds of the world. Look beyond that.
Every major event in history has the potential for it to work for both good and bad.
It all comes down to the people and the impact arising from their collective actions.
If you look at the potential good that could emerge, consider those who have set aside their personal values to display decency over this evil and cowardly act. Not only that, some expressed their resolve to actively participate in identifying and mending the rifts in society, restoring the harmony and civility that we sorely need.
In contrast, a countering force exists comprising those who have revealed their dishonour and malicious intent. These include those who lament the failure to eliminate a man they had despised and wished for an early death. And some have hinted that this event, including those who are supporters of President Trump, justifies them responding in kind, further destabilising our fragile society.
What these people are capable of, we can only hope they won’t succeed.
Put succinctly, mankind has now found itself at a crossroads.
Will we see a world restore sanity and decency, or descend further into division and our own destruction?
It hinges on whether our world has more decent-minded individuals with the courage and capacity to outmanoeuvre and overpower those who revel in depravity and malice.
Set aside ideology, only
one thing matters above all
Over the last two decades, technology has grown exponentially to allow individuals to access more knowledge than any time in history.
Knowledge has increased. So have the dangers of misleading or incorrect information and deception.
For this reason, some have taken it upon themselves to police knowledge fearing it could impact people’s minds and actions.
That’s why we have an ongoing debate about the freedom of thought and expression (speech and writing).
Some have advocated restricting and even suppressing it for ‘the greater good’. Meanwhile, others believe that individuals should be responsible for protecting their freedom, and refraining from exercising it to the point it infringes on other’s rights and well-being.
The extent to which an individual man or woman living in a nation has this freedom has historically defined its power and prosperity. Looking at G8 nations, we’ve seen how their societies flourished in the last three centuries.
Their people fought for and gained their will to govern. This liberty has empowered the people have a joint role in steering their destiny. In turn, it can increase productivity and innovation.
Only in recent years have these nations experienced a decline as their governments work with private corporations to suppress the rights and freedoms of their citizens.
In contrast, countries that haven’t departed from absolute or authoritarian rule have languished. That’s because a centralised system is likelier to disenfranchise, exploit and oppress its people. Such a system damages the trust between the government and its people, making it a less productive and creative society.
One recent event that aptly reflects my point is how governments responded to the Wuhan virus outbreak and the resulting impact on society.
While it still runs raw in some of us, let’s not forget the lasting destruction a centralised bureaucracy has wreaked on society and the world.
The one-size-fits-all solution failed.
In summary, the world is divided not by spiritual faith, political ideology, race, social status or biological sex.
The world has divided itself over whether and who should govern the freedom of thought and expression.
The irony of ‘our democracy’ and
‘the greater good’
One of the greatest ironies is in the lead-up to the assassination attempt lies in the rhetoric coming from President Trump’s enemies and critics.
There’s no one who puts so eloquently this irony as the founder of the Dilbert comic series, Scott Adams. He points out President Trump’s enemies in government, media, academia and the business world incessantly labelled him as Adolf Hitler and his supporters as ‘far-right extremists’, ‘Nazis’, ‘fascists’, ‘white supremacists’ and ‘conspiracy theorists’.
The abhorrence of Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy and various white supremacy movements is so deeply entrenched in our society that some feel it’s morally justified to use any means to eliminate such people.
This extends to killing them.
We’ve seen public figures over these years expressing their desire to eliminate President Trump if it would preserve ‘our democracy’ and for ‘the greater good’.
Only recently, Biden himself posted this:
| |
| Source: X |
And don’t forget his infamous ‘Soul of the Nation’ address last August with the red-tinted backdrop where he particularly singled out Trump supporters as threats to the country.
Anyone who read his speech and believed the details to be true would feel that eliminating this threat was a moral duty.
And in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling that President Trump has immunity in public affairs only weeks ago, some publicly encouraged President Joe Biden to exploit this to eliminate his opponent.
Don’t believe me? How about this by Harry J. Sisson, a Democrat influencer and son of a Democrat state representative?
| |
| Source: X |
So where’s the irony?
Within a couple of hours of the shooting, several avowed Trump enemies did an about-face and posted messages that sounded decent, even classy.
Let’s look at Harry Sisson:
| |
| Source: X |
And Biden:
| |
| Source: X |
For those who have spent years affirming to the people that President Trump is Hitler and now trying to restore some humanity to him, which of their stance should we trust to be genuine?
How to ride above the chaos
Even a year ago, many who thought the world could get crazy wouldn’t imagine we could get to what we have today.
But here we are.
It’s clear the stakes have escalated. All those involved know it’s all-or-nothing.
Expect more unpredictable things to happen going forward. Some could be shocking and scary.
Let me tell you that despite my own personal leanings, the warring sides will bend their facts and exploit situations to sway the masses.
There’s no certain good or evil.
The responsibility falls on you to train your mind to filter the information as it comes and determine for yourself what’s right. When information comes thick and fast, there’s a high likelihood it’s disputable. Time could reveal more, only if the authorities allow it.
As with the case of politics, knowing what’s true or not mightn’t improve your actual well-being. Being too immersed in it could detract you from what’s more important and productive.
You can take that from my experience. My fascination with these developments comes at a cost.
As mankind comes to this crossroads and determines its destiny, we must work out how to stay above it all, no matter where we go.
If you recall the lessons learnt from the pandemic, the ‘I’ll trust the experts, thanks’ was a failure. These experts many trusted moved ‘at the speed of science’, didn’t do their due diligence, and often profited at our cost and from our pain.
This time, don’t look to red or blue, or any colours and ‘leaders’ to fix things.
The system is diseased. We are the cure.
In other words, it’s your role to care for you and those you cherish rather than handing our lives to those who benefit from our needs.
So that’s it from me, stay tuned next Tuesday for my second part on the series ‘Strategies for successful gold stock investing’!
Keep warm and enjoy the week!
God bless,
 |
Brian Chu,
Editor, Gold Stock Pro and The Australian Gold Report
Comments