Portuguese Studies Review

ISSN 1057-1515
Semi-annual
Appearing since 1991
Formerly published by the ICGP (International Conference Group on Portugal)

The PSR is a 100 % non-partisan academic forum, an Open Intellectual Convivium -- for the study of countries, regions, communities, and institutions sharing, exploring, transforming, or developing a Portuguese, Brazilian, or other Luso-related heritage

 

Multi-lingual, peer reviewed, open-minded and agenda-free. Articles, review essays, and reviews in English, Portuguese, French, Spanish and other languages.

   
     

"Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth" (Albert Einstein)


 

A revista PSR deseja, a todos, um ano de saúde, veracidade, e paz

   

 
 
The PSR and Baywolf Press are fully operational (on-line) (under 'COVID rules')*:


"Note: Subsequent to sustained and very detailed analysis of extremely large volumes of data (quantitative and qualitative), we deem that any temporary 'lifting', 'suspension', or 'easing' of various emergency rules is a strictly tactical political manoeuvre. Basically, psychological warfare -- by the manual, PSYOPS 101. As soon as expedient, various 'measures' will be re-applied even more strictly, or in selective rotation -- as is already happening. As the world has now seen, this will take place in a typical and by now almost computable 'political' cycles (e.g. Austria, Canada). So, we are not falling for what is by now repetitive and 100% baked in. We called exactly this specific type of scenario -- never-ending flip-flop, on analytical grounds, back in March 2022. We were actually way ahead of 'The Analytical Curve'. Our predictive score is nearly perfect. Some rules relaxed, for instance, on 11 June 2022, were reinstated 19 July 2022. No need to say which country. We ALL know and monitor the relevant data plus the 'justifications' 24/7/365 and also massively store ALL relevant records, any and all raw data files, reports, research articles, Press releases, pronouncements, spokesperson sayings, purported reports, comments, analyses, etc., in secure storage spread at least across ten or twenty countries and twenty or thirty distinct jurisdictions. The frequency of flip-flops will be increasing in amplitude but will be pseudo-randomly staggered, worldwide. It will be "pivot" to this, and "pivot" to that, and "pivot" to the other old thing, plus "circle back to you" and then "pivot" again. A lot of "pivoting" and "circling", all the way to the Nomenklatura eilte bank. We could actually by now almost write an algorithm for this, with 100% accuracy. It is a little too transparent ...

So, in order to protect ourselves pre-emptively -- this is purely an 'administrative foresight' move -- we shall continue to 'performatively' follow strict 'COVID' protocols. So that we could not be subsequently 'denounced', 'reported', 'fined' (just a crude 'Dutch money-pump'), 'investigated', 'deplatformed', suddenly 'inspected', or 'locked down' when the 'regulatory environment' flip-flops yet again. The whole texture is by now clearly an integral part of the ' "New Normal" poltical cycle'. It is also part and parcel of characteristic 'Jupiterian' / 'Roi Soleil' /' 'Elagabalus' styles of governence -- governance by individuals and 'public officials' who are completely disconnected from the 'mere public', who have told countless spontaneously inter-connected lies, who profoundly despise and even viscerally hate the 'mere public', and who moreover are so preternaturally and fundamentally incompetent that a 'mere public' person achieving the same level of 'performance' would have had their so-called employment terminated instantly. They basically are 'Marie Antoinette'-style marionettes -- "Oh, the People has no bread? Why can't The People eat cake?"

Why is Rule through Emergency Powers (Rule by Decree or Executive Order) so convenient, for a Dystopian Pseudo-Future (Social Credit Future)? It is much too convenient for too many 'activated' players, too many fabulously remunerated vested interests (a hierarchical oligarchic and Administrative State Nomenklatura). It also whets the appetite of countless petty "Excelsior" Opportunity' auxiliaries. Every dramatic contortion in history creates at the bottom and in the cracks of an economy or 'System in General' an inevitable squirming of rank-and-file operators who become 100% attached to a 'New Order' of things, like barnacles and shipworm to a rotted ship's hull -- even as the derelict vessel slowly sinks, its timbers eaten by a financial Teredo navalis / Turu parasite. They eagerly seize any chance to supply what is newly required by top-down Order, whether it be gadgets or badges or banners or brassards or signs or placards or identical talking points or computer code or teaching modules or brochures. Or database-entry services to trace and tag-and-flag 'for life' (aka "enemies list") anyone deemed guilty of "unsafe and wrong thoughts" (or even merely contemplating a vague 'intent' of such thoughts 'in vile secret') -- (actual 'proof' is not required, of course -- that would be inconvenient). Thus the reason for our precautions. We are simply protecting our hull from a squirming Teredo navalis.

Under current circumstances, it is of course essential for Neo-Centralist powers-that-be to ban opposition parties, ban 'disobedient' broadcasters and media that still do 'their own research', impose Digital Surveillance Passports (sorrry, Excelsior Opportunity Passports
) and institute legalized censorship. Which part of the 'Eau de Loser' Original Perfume do you fail to smell? Any, but absolutely any, serious and qualified actuarial specialist would do exactly the same. And yes, some Insurance gurus still are among the most prudent people on this Planet -- because aftershocks of the trends sparked off by 'policy' hit the Insurance companies where it counts: in the pocket-book. Note that equivalent trends emerged after 1620, 1789, 1815, 1848, 1917, 1938, 1945, 1956, 1968, 1989 ... do you really want us to keep going, at random? Or perhaps back into the past, into the Renaissance? We can do that too, sure. The AI-like 'talking heads' on some official screen somewhere are utterly irrelevant by now. They are not part of any solution, but part of the inherent Problem. What shall we call them? Ummmm ... Think here. Ahhh ... We got it! "Discourse-Mongers First Grade, with Five Diamond Buttons." The only ones who may utter speech in the august presence of the Great Khan. Frosty night. We laugh and drink high-grade arak. The sand dunes, under stark Full Moon light, are spectral. Dogs bark somewhere in a village, far to the left side. The caravan moves on, regardless.

   

 





 

 

 


   
 
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BIBLID
National Library of Canada Cataloguing Record
Portuguese Studies Review
ISSN 1057-1515 print
Semiannual
v. : ill. : 23 cm
1. Portugal–Civilization–Periodicals. 2. Africa, Portuguese-speaking–Civilization–Periodicals. 3. Brazil–Civilization–Periodicals. 4. Portugal–Civlisation–Périodiques. 5. Afrique lusophone– Civilisation–Périodiques. 6. Brésil–Civilisation–Périodiques.
DP532             909/.0917/5691005 21

Library of Congress Cataloguing Record
Portuguese Studies Review
ISSN 1057-1515 print
Semiannual
v. : ill. : 23 cm
1. Portugal–Civilization–Periodicals. 2. Africa, Portuguese-speaking–Civilization–Periodicals. 3. Brazil–Civilization–Periodicals.
DP532 .P67       909/.091/5691 20 92-659516


In
dexing: American History and Life, Historical Abstracts, International Political Science Abstracts, Political Science Complete, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts; EBSCOHost. Archive: Google Books (preview program now terminated, replaced by a preview program on our own sites); GALE/Cengage Learning (Academic OneFile).



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