Starting a blog about the "atmosphere" and "ecology" of the regulatory estate & plantation -- via an Epistemology Long Shot may seem odd -- yet the relevance will manifest in many indirect and significant ways. In a bottle of beer or soda -- the bubbles nucleate (form) around odd imperfections
Bubble Nucleation around a finger
(from the wikipedia)
in the glass walls. Ditto for ideas and thoughts regarding the history and reach of the regulatory estate and plantation.
America was Innoculated Against Bolshevik Statism via Transplanted Nazis?
This is the long shot idea -- not original to me -- and 1st picked up in my reading from this odd yet epistemologically amazing 2003 book: The Hunt for Zero Point by Nick Cook.
In his book, Nick Cook speculates about the political / military / cultural influences upon America -- and the importation of ex-Nazis in 1945-47 time frame via Operation Paperclip.
Mr Cook's speculation got me thinking about recent American history: All these old Nazis have almost certainly died off -- and their direct policy and political influence has faded. And America's hard nosed approach to Socialism-Communism has faded dramatically -- in a similar time window. So much so -- now in 2015 -- that a man who directly and
1917 vs 2012 from political
satire site The People Cube
repeated espouses Marxist-Leninist ideas has been elevated to the White House -- not once, but twice. Did American's immunity to top-down, Communist-Statism fade away?
To explore this notion -- and epistemological long shot -- please consider the following ideas -- extracted from mixed parts of history:
(a) In the 1770s to 1790s -- Jesty and Jenner developed what we now call the Cowpox vaccine to thwart the deadly Smallpox virus. Cowpox causes a much less dangerous infection -- and generates internal antibodies to Smallpox. Individuals inoculated by Cowpox suffer a small illness to be protected from the bigger illness of Smallpox.
Relative to the size of the whole human body -- transfer of Cowpox involves just a small injection of a few thousand cells. Yet this small injection has a HUGE effect for any later pandemic of Smallpox.
(b) After the 1st World War -- and before and during WW2 -- the German Nazis and the Communist Bolsheviks had a intense hate of each other. So much so they went to war and killed some 30 million of their citizens on both sides. Those of us from the outside of this conflict are mystified and confused -- especially since Nazism and Bolshevik-Stalinist Communism seem like two sides of the same coin -- namely top down, iron fisted BigGov Statism.
(c) According to the open literature for Operation Paperclip -- between 1500 and 2000 key Nazis with key technical / scientific / military skills were imported to America -- and many "floated" to the top of American technical policy and political decision cycles. A humorous example is illustrated
1983 Movie Poster
(from wikipedia)
in the 1983 movie The Right Stuff -- where -- circa 1957-1959 -- Wernher von Braun is advising President Eisenhower -- with a thick accent that produces some fun dialog -- regarding what sort of man should be shot into space -- and beat the Russians -- the old enemies of the Nazis. From open history and common historical fiction like The Right Stuff -- it is clear that the most visible Nazis -- like von Braun -- where "right at the top" -- and probably a dozen others we will never know about.
(d) People with a common language / ethos / cultural history -- and imported into another nation -- will create a distinct Subculture -- and will network together like an old
A group of 104 rocket scientists
at Fort Bliss, Texas
(from wikipedia)
school network of friends. In the movie The Right Stuff -- there is at least one scene -- which echos discussion in the 1979 book -- where the German rocket scientists are celebrating in the corner of a bar -- happily singing to themselves in German -- while the Americans unfold other celebratory mischief. Even with common, happy success, the sub-cultural difference remain.
UPSHOT? Just like the small Cowpox inoculation -- these remaining sub-cultural differences -- when expressed accidentally or coherently by 1500 to 2000 folks -- who floated to the top of the military-industrial complex -- *MAY* have *HAD* a powerful immunological effect on the whole complexion of post World-War-2 American society -- in this case, America's approach toward the Big Russian Bear.
Now -- with age and social Entropy -- the direct and indirect influence of old die-hard anti-communist Germans are now "out of the system" -- and like a faded vaccine -- America's ability to detect and thwart Communism -- both internally and externally -- has apparently softened. Wonder what new vaccine-of-values will be required to arrest a hot infection of top-down, iron fisted Statism? Time will tell.
