The Society of Honor by Joe America

A gatherer or a killer? Hard to tell, eh? [Photo source Kreol Magazine]

Post by Joe America

Hello Sir.

Your site is like a market, lots of vendors with different view points. The contributors/authors from different backgrounds are superb. Please reconsider your decision on “The Society of Honor”.  There are thousands of us visiting this site.

Sincerely yours, IK

*****

Thanks for the request, IK. Let me answer here in public space so that other readers are aware of where I’m coming from.

Readership has declined sharply as people have quit on the Philippines or taken to shorter media that don’t require such exhaustive reading and thinking. We average about 800 reads a day, and an article is lucky if it gets 500 reads. The articles used to draw in the tens of thousands. The top article got over 65,000 reads in one day.

There are fewer than 10 regular contributors to the discussions these days.

Those are some facts, but not reasons. I was happy with 50 reads a day when I was on a steep learning curve. These days, people seem to want me to go on a downward bound stupidity curve.

Here is the reason, in fable format.

We are social animals like bees or ants but rather than use eloquent scents, we use words. Our global situation has long been a running battle between honeybees, interested in gathering nectar for the queen and defending the hive if necessary, and killer bees, placing aggressive dominance above gathering honey. Today, the killer bees hold more power. Trump and Duterte are two of the queens to whom their swarms pledge allegiance.

The rules for gathering and the rules for dominance differ. They are the ethics by which the swarms find comfort and bonding. Ethics are an expression of morality, or the swarm’s sense of what is right or wrong. Well, honeybees like truth because it gets them to the nectar. Aggressors don’t care about truth because it is uncomfortable when they are busy killing. They have to face up to the idea that they are not being kind. Kindness is important to the gatherers, for hauling nectar is hard work. Getting along together and helping one another are important. For the killers, power rules.

LCX and Chemrock are killer bees. I’m a gatherer.

The killer bees are name callers but don’t like to be called names. They will sneer at the liberal press whilst bringing in evidence from dirty garbage pits, because, after all, the liberal press seeks out inconvenient truths whereas garbage is fun to throw at the honeybees. This is a hint that the drives in the hives differ. One set of bees is thrilled by building something, the other by tearing it down. Slandering decent people like the Obamas and Bidens is fun for the killers. After all, theirs is a power game, not a togetherness game. Not a kindness game. Not a truth game.

They’d never do a t-chart showing pros on one side and cons on the other because . . . well, it would inevitably come out wrong for their agenda. Teaching and learning are not what they are about, except as masks for their real purposes.

LCX and Chemrock are DDS in form and substance, only they were focused on America, not the Philippines, in the recent discussions that offended me mightily. In my mind, I see one trolling for the Russians, the other for China. Sophisticated work, but fallacious and manipulative, just the same.

That’s a honeybee’s conspiracy theory, I suppose.

Conspiracy theories, of course, are a great thrill for them, as well as for the Queen Trump. The theory that liberal media are bad or Biden is a crook or global warming is a hoax or the earth is flat. All fair dealing for the amoral killer bees seeking thrills and dominance.

All, of course, are far, far from the truth, which generally can be found in shades of gray trending mostly to white.

The Society of Honor blog is a honeybee place. The rules are simple. Talk about the Philippines. Seek knowledge not advantage. Be respectful.

When Edgar Lores was here, we had an impeccably well reasoned advocate for the gathering of nectar. He earned incredible respect. He was the real anchor of the blog as I was busy stirring the waves.

He stopped conversing with LCX when he discovered the killer morality behind his arguments.

Frankly, Edgar carried this blog in many respects. I was the emotive provocateur, he would bring the discussion back to center line. Back to sense.

Unfortunately, these days, I end up being the honeybee battling with the killer bees because, well, other honeybees are a lot like Leni Robredo, they are busy staying out of direct confrontation. Delicadeza I suppose. Or they have quit. Either way, I’m stuck.

And I’m emotionally worn out. I don’t have Edgar’s steady-minded rule of reason, his Buddhist calm in the center of a storm. When the blog brings me down rather than lifts me up, there is a problem in bee city.

I’m leaving the greater battle to the rested honeybees, wherever and however they may choose to defend their ways. My own gatherings will be done mainly on Twitter where I hope to help hold that battlefield for the honeybees. The killer bees have trouble there because they are easily kicked aside, their arguments are ridiculed, and they can’t gain the fake followings they’ve managed to gin up on Facebook.

Twitter reaches mainstream media. It is a place of powerful influence. It’s a place where honeybees can hold the line and dominate the killers.

Joe

ps, here is the kind of work done by the liberal press. It is quality stuff, no matter how inconvenient the truths might be.