Many people have drawn parallels between white mobs of today and the historical violence of lynch mobs at home and imperialism abroad. But what I keep thinking about is colonization. What we saw on January 6th is the uncivilized, unchecked, entitled violence of colonizers.

This is how colonizers behave. They storm, they invade, they steal, they defecate, they destroy and they do so under the banner of freedom, liberty and self-proclaimed superiority.
The unapologetic embrace of brute force in the name of liberty is exactly what our founding fathers advocated. It's what we celebrate with every national holiday. It's what the Capitol actually represents. It's the ugly truth that even Democratic "leaders" are determined to deny.
The sad reality is that even if Democrats had the ovaries to hold violent insurrectionists accountable for the ongoing coup, their efforts would be in vain so long as they continue to ignore or -- worse, celebrate -- the colonial rot at the heart of our nation's project.
White supremacist colonialism explains why none of the words we are using to describe the "mob" are effective. Even the word "insurrectionists" fails. Within this system, white men are not just ALLOWED to be violent insurrectionists, they have historically been celebrated for it.
White male supremacy, colonialism and capitalism enable white men (particularly property owners) to exact gross violence without consequence, to impose/change/ignore laws and treaties as they wish and to coerce the capitulation or support of racial, gender and class subordinates
Democrats aren't doing anything about January 6th because they do not want to change the power system. Point, blank, period. They *want* to continue the colonial violence, the imperial wars, the looting of our collective resources by the corporations that keep them in office..
Democrat "leaders" do not want to hold anyone accountable. They want to return to the white supremacist colonial norm so that they get on with the business of enriching themselves and their donors while blaming either Republicans or progressives for all of our problems.
They actually need Republicans to remain empowered to continue the charade of their non-existent leadership. And, frankly, they also want the electoral support of white insurrectionists. Democrats probably think they can get at least a few of the vigilantes the next time around..

More from For later read

Nice to discover Judea Pearl ask a fundamental question. What's an 'inductive bias'?


I crucial step on the road towards AGI is a richer vocabulary for reasoning about inductive biases.

explores the apparent impedance mismatch between inductive biases and causal reasoning. But isn't the logical thinking required for good causal reasoning also not an inductive bias?

An inductive bias is what C.S. Peirce would call a habit. It is a habit of reasoning. Logical thinking is like a Platonic solid of the many kinds of heuristics that are discovered.

The kind of black and white logic that is found in digital computers is critical to the emergence of today's information economy. This of course is not the same logic that drives the general intelligence that lives in the same economy.

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दधीचि ऋषि को मनाही थी कि वह अश्विनी कुमारों को किसी भी अवस्था में ब्रह्मविद्या का उपदेश नहीं दें। ये आदेश देवराज इन्द्र का था।वह नहीं चाहते थे कि उनके सिंहासन को प्रत्यक्ष या परोक्ष रुप से कोई भी खतरा हो।मगर जब अश्विनी कुमारों ने सहृदय प्रार्थना की तो महर्षि सहर्ष मान गए।


और उन्होनें ब्रह्मविद्या का ज्ञान अश्विनि कुमारों को दे दिया। गुप्तचरों के माध्यम से जब खबर इन्द्रदेव तक पहुंची तो वे क्रोध में खड़ग ले कर गए और महर्षि दधीचि का सर धड़ से अलग कर दिया।मगर अश्विनी कुमार भी कहां चुप बैठने वाले थे।उन्होने तुरंत एक अश्व का सिर महर्षि के धड़ पे...


...प्रत्यारोपित कर उन्हें जीवित रख लिया।उस दिन के पश्चात महर्षि दधीचि अश्वशिरा भी कहलाए जाने लगे।अब आगे सुनिये की किस प्रकार महर्षि दधीचि का सर काटने वाले इन्द्र कैसे अपनी रक्षा हेतु उनके आगे गिड़गिड़ाए ।

एक बार देवराज इन्द्र अपनी सभा में बैठे थे, तो उन्हे खुद पर अभिमान हो आया।


वे सोचने लगे कि हम तीनों लोकों के स्वामी हैं। ब्राह्मण हमें यज्ञ में आहुति देते हैं और हमारी उपासना करते हैं। फिर हम सामान्य ब्राह्मण बृहस्पति से क्यों डरते हैं ?उनके आने पर क्यों खड़े हो जाते हैं?वे तो हमारी जीविका से पलते हैं। देवर्षि बृहस्पति देवताओं के गुरु थे।

अभिमान के कारण ऋषि बृहस्पति के पधारने पर न तो इन्द्र ही खड़े हुए और न ही अन्य देवों को खड़े होने दिया।देवगुरु बृहस्पति इन्द्र का ये कठोर दुर्व्यवहार देख कर चुप चाप वहां से लौट गए।कुछ देर पश्चात जब देवराज का मद उतरा तो उन्हे अपनी गलती का एहसास हुआ।