Rise of the Lone Wolf || Emergence of the Self-Appointed
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| ©2013TurtleHeart. Coyote....sends his greetings from across the sea. |
Pantelleria, Italy
From lunatic fringe politician Ted Cruz of Texas, at one end, to self-appointed revealer Edward Snowden, at the other end, and adorned by the Boston bombers and the Newtown shooter, America is facing an onslaught of self-appointed extremists at every level.
As billions of dollars and tens of thousands of security-clearance workers search for patterns and conspiracies, it is these lone wolves that are capturing the attention and disrupting the status quo. They, the spies, seem unable to see these isolated individuals.
There are no algorithms for the lone wolf......
(However, the one thing almost all of them are NOT is the image of terrorists and killers and traitors depicted by the media)
In the Tarot this idea is called “the Fool”, in Kung Fu, it is “the void”; to the old Indians “Coyote”. In physics, perhaps, it called “singularity”. Perhaps to Christians, so starved for nuance, it might be called Judas.
Self awakening is related to self activation, but this force can also be self-appointed and in feeling special and appointed, become toxic and unclean…and more dangerous. Self-appointed truth tellers. Many of us are more suspicious of this person than of the secrets they have spilled.
The pervading fear of so-called terrorism has created the most intrusive advances against personal liberty, privacy, as legal protections deteriorate almost daily…even though far more people die every day from homicide on the streets than have been killed by acts of terrorism. About the unrelenting frenzy of murder on the streets, nothing. On terrorism suspects; millions and millions of dollars, tens of thousands of employees and millions of secrets. Something is wrong with this picture.
The political right is presently obsessed with an unprecented war against women. Local and national politicians have come to restrict the rights of women and their doctors with a passion and relentless avalanche of regulations and new laws that are unprecedented in my long life. Unapologetically.
What is the difference between Ted Cruz and Mr. Snowden? Very little difference exists between these two self-serving, self-appointed zealots. They have an obvious difference in public office,but their motivations seem nearly identical to me. They are men who seem to believe in themselves more than they believe in anything else. They believe in breaking things, not in refining them. This is the singular defect of the lone wolf…the belief that explosions equal some kind of truth. Tradition means nothing to these people. Consensus means nothing. Due process means nothing. Family means nothing. Only the dull light of their singularity means anything to them. Self trumps the state. In art, arguably, it is sometimes the defect that makes a masterpiece---in real life, not so much.
As more and more of self actualized lone wolves achieve such stellar levels of media “success”, we can expect to see more of them. They are carried high on the shoulders of the main stream media. This will ensure a rise in this behavior.
Historically, the Fool, as he stumbles over his own noble intentions, has changed almost nothing. He is a seed, but not the fruit of the circumstances that measure what little progress there is.
The inverse of the rule of the lone wolf is also an awakening of the self, but in a more compassionate direction. Lone wolves are often struck by the sickness called “I am the chosen one”. Authentic compassionate awakening leads to personal accountability, personal responsibility, as the first rule of changing society. Society desperately needs people of clarity and compassion, yet we are fascinated, almost locked in on broken people that jam up everything and block reason and progress. Not because they have reasons, but because they can. Everyone else seems cowered into silence or trapped in reaction modes.
It feels to me that extremist groups must be paying attention to the effectiveness of this emerging trend. In the middle East, suicide bombers are horrific in their effectiveness. A suicide bomber is not a Lone wolf; such a person is conditioned and armed and pointed as a weapon by calculated rage. Lone Wolf personalities are not likely to be "recruitable" or "trainable". One of the things that make their actions so jarring is the sudden, unexpected emergence from an unlikely place and person. Like a rattlesnake suddenly appearing along a tranquil meadow path.
As to the war on terror, for all the billions in treasure, man hours, media hysteria, political posturing what have we gained?...as, we now see, at another end of the problem is the unexpected rise of the instant celebrity hero, aka dark Knights, an emerging generation of Lone Wolves. The terrorists, so-called, in a sense have won one part of their war, the power to force your enemy to use up his treasure and blood and attention. The Lone Wolf gains what? Most of them are in for decades of suffering, harassment, and the social ruin of their families and employers.
....and how the political right loves them. It is a confounding new trend.
