Peace Lords

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1106222/13366779

LEARNER full text (2024)

PeaceWorld or death

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1106222/13381922 

APPRENTI texte integral (2024)

Le monde paisible ou la mort

Transcript

WORLD WAR COVID
From WeaponWorld to PeaceWorld
Learner, begin 

- PEACELORDS 

We have a long and flattering history of bloody warlords; a much briefer one for peacelords who may have been much more frequent at local levels in ancient times; and no word for them in our weapon-heavy culture and vocabulary. 

Generous in peace; lethal in war. Admired by their soldiers, feared by hostile enemies, admired by defeated and restored enemies. They forgive and restore the defeated; reward the deserving and punish those not. They reduce taxes and leave honest judges behind. They free the homeless (refugees, slaves, the poor) to return home where possible. They spare the defeated and their families as they rebuild local leadership. 

They recruit the best reconnaissance cavalry on Earth, in good number. They are too lightning fast in victory to go hungry, and unbelievably generous in victory. Their soldiers survive ten to one odds they magically defeat. Hungry prisoners are fed and recruited into the ranks or sent home grateful. They do not sack cities they defeat, but resupply them. Their potent secret service grows by recruiting the smartest local talent and their followers, by defeating tyrants and recruiting their liberated victims in turn. The local gang of typical psychopaths is easy to defeat and replace if local opposition is properly supported with arms and a few good troops.

Peacelords love learning, art and city graces; they work hard to restore and support them. They hate violence, destruction and vandalism. They promote trade, they recruit local bandits, turned into loyal subjects, to police the land fairly. They honor elders, they protect the weak and the humble, widows and orphans. They prize shrines, sanctuaries and archives; they spare their crews from taxes and corvées. They seek justice, equality and peace above all; but they apply unrelenting force (see recruit bandits) against dangerous transgressors. They build and cultivate cities; they bring water and foreign trade to cities and farm fields. They promote those who are good and protect their families. 

The good (and there are always many more of them than killers) respond with enthusiasm. Brothers  and sisters in arms no matter where  from, rich or poor, north or south, promoted by merit, equally loyal to those set above and below them, of whatever race or birthright, of whatever faith or creed or none. Learners cannot be defeated as long as they stand together.

Every race and nation that has been tyrannized has raised one or more of these leaders. They are born when and where most needed, or they die young. Their loyal subordinates are born in droves in every clime and age (you?). They just wait for the master’s call; gritting their teeth against ordinary tyranny, promoting the extraordinary kind all by themselves. 

In the end, a Peacelord must die in battle or step down young. As they age, they may become more and more paranoid and cruel (Nader Khan and many more), backed by early repute and the fanatical loyalty of their fans. Seduced by yes men and women, grieving for their best mentors and lieutenants they lost by age and battle, they may betray competent subordinates who disapprove of their failing methods. Otherwise, they pursue endless conquest beyond the scope of their weapon capabilities (Cyrus, Napoleon).  As they age, they may reduce the exploits of heroic youth, back into the corrupt mediocrity they had overcome earlier on.

Only the greatest among them may slow down the grind of friction, aging leadership, psychopathocracy and organized discord. Augustus undertook as much for the Roman Empire, even  though he was never a peacelord hero. 

Their ultimate accomplishment? Not victory in battle. Empower worthy replacements to fill the vacuum of corruption they had destroyed, coordinate them in peace, and relegate lesser talents to less responsibility. An inhuman challenge in the face of human affect and civilized decay over time. Alexander, Marcus Aurelius and many more failed at this task. 

The initiators of ancient Chinese empires are exemplars insofar they succeeded for a few centuries, a little longer than anyone else, before politics and open discussion decayed  back into open corruption and violence. The psychopaths take over once again, as happened everywhere and always in the past.

Few peacelords were successful prophets of peace (Ashoka, Babur). Nor did it work the other way around with name-your-political-prophet (Moses, Mohammed, Gandhi). They could serve Mammon or God, but not both at once.

Real peace is opposed by our mass culture and by your private belief. Let's get over ourselves.

If your culture hero is not listed below, email me the name of your candidate. No overly bloody hands, please (like David). Napoleon? Alexander? Napoleon hated and feared great talent approaching his own. Peacelords seek them, promote them, hear out their disagreements and accept their good advice. 

We don’t need high body count heroes. Armed peacemakers, rather. There is a fine line between an all-conquering benefactor and a very popular killer of people in large numbers for no good reason (like Napoleon, Stalin and Mao, despite their gifts). 

It would be fun to tabulate all of them in history: each the proud parent of some people or nation. No doubt a thousand snuffed out for every successful one.

Another chapter needs to be written, about peace martyrs: more often women than men, shorter-lived than peacelords, more empathic, more beloved and missed once gone; a less forceful hand on the human economy, but a deeper reach into the human spirit; generous and anonymous; very, very populous in realtime; Learners all. Peacelords and Learners are drawn to each other like magnets.

Zhabdrung, Bhutan 

Jayavarman II, Cambodia 

Ashoka, India 

George Washington, USA 

Lincoln, USA 

Joan of Arc, France 

DeGaule, France 

Casimir III, Poland 

David IV, Georgia

King Arthur, Britain

 Alexander? Checks some boxes but EPHEMERAL

 Moses, the Hebrews

Abraham, the Hebrews

Mosheshwe, Lesotho

 Edward the Great, England

 The Yellow Emperor, China

Cyrus the Great, Persia

 Peter the Great, Russia

 Bolivar, Venezuela

 Mohammed, the Umma

 
Name your culture hero in history: another peacelord.

There must be thousands of Learner peacelords across the world today, unemployed or hunted down by WeaponWorld psychopaths. Those peacelords should  unite and coordinate their hegemony to produce PeaceWorld. There will be billions more Learners of foremost talent once they have been properly cultivated as kids. Learner unity could Edenize the world, reach for the stars, and unite humanity in lasting peace.

PeaceWorld will have nested government agencies: the usual set of patriarchal, top-down government structures that become abusive in practice; plus tiered councils of grandmothers with absolute veto power over the most stupid decisions those others may come up with; and peacelords who lead the grandchildren warriors to enforce grandmother decrees.

IN FRENCH

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COMMENT?  markmulligan@comcast.net