And now comes the Autumn

There is a certain belligerence, an "eagerness to confront" as one talking head on CNN said today, that permeates small or large parts of most societies.

Those societies that try to suppress that urge, placing little to no value on the trait, are generally characterized as "civil". It is only one trait of a civil society, of course. Other such traits include respect for dissent, tolerance of diversity and appreciation for variety. And, Guambat hastens to add, defense of oneself is also a valued trait that can be found in civil society.

Those societies that tend to put a higher value on, or do not suppress, the "honor" of brawn over brain, tend to allow that trait to overshadow other "civil" traits, like art, science, literature and discourse, and become rather uninteresting, monolithic and highly authoritarian.

Of course, all such values are judgments presumed by a social construct, and consumed by an nihilistic, deeply rooted, culturally fed, or starved, human instinct, an instinct that can be found in other species as well, so must be deeply embedded.

These are some of the thoughts and fears that engage Guambat as he returns to the deep recesses of his burrow in the Arab Autumn that now follows the Arab Spring.


SPRING (source: http://pol297thearabspring.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/mapping-the-arab-spring/)

AUTUMN (source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57512841/widespread-protests-against-u.s-over-anti-muslim-film/)