Who?

Who, or what, is the Kwitzatch Haderatch?

                    First of all this is not a proper name. It is a title. Secondly , even those for whom the literary reference is familiar tend to focus on the obvious, secondary aspect, and not the more difficult to realize primary Implication.

                       In the book “Dune” by Frank Herbert the name is only mentioned a few times and always with dread since the creation is not part of the natural order of beings. It is a forced androgyny.

                   In the far future, according to “Dune” a society of witches has come into being. These are not new age, fresh air and gluten free witches. These are of the older tradition of blood drinkers and skin rippers. Their sole interest is power. They take novices young an condition them to obey only the commands of the head witches. The assign the most beautiful acolytes to seduce men of power and become thei wives or concubines.

                       They then assure the power and wealth will be assigned to the females by locating the sex of embryos and in critical cases inducing abortions. When a Bene Gesserett Reverand Mother is about to die she sunnons her chosen successor and downloads all he memories and thoughts into the younger woman.

                    There can be difficulties in this process as, for instance in the case where a younger woman is pregnant when the transfer of knowledge takes place. This means the child is born with all the knowledge of several Head witches.

                       The “Dune” story itself turns on another form of “mistake.” For generation after generation the witches have followed a breeding project to breed an all powerful witch, but as it nears conclusion something goes wrong. The witch Jessica , as planned , become pregnant with the child of the head of a water planet, Caladan, named Leto Attredies, an instead of aborting it se gives birth to a son, Paul.

                           Why The lady Jessica does this is not make entirely clear. The answer we are given is that she loved the Duke, but I believe there was something else at work.

                                     Herbert is a gifted writer. He writes science fiction but it goes a good deal beyond the wonder of miracle toys. He is intrigued with systems,, how they operate , their needs and their products. His ability to foretell the crisis over oil in Iraq borders on prophecy and his experience in the second world war gives his portrayals of the needs of actual combatants a dynamic reality.

                       The woman can be compared with any woman in a patriarchal society. Denied other avenues of expression and recognition they become manipulators par excellence, and as the ancient writers indicate often exceed their male counterparts terms of lust for power, and the willingness to gain power via any means. Classic examples can be found in the women of the Caesar family in Rome, willing to kill by poison, even their own children to gain power.

                         Often the story of women’s search for meaning, when told by males, is tragic. Both Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina have the distinction of being the most interesting people in a world of dullards – and they suffer for this – a suffering unto death.

I’ve come to believe that in many, or all, great stories the contest is between fate and pride. We know what the world seems to have decided we are to be and yet we wish to be something, if not better, then other.

                               It may be then that The Lady Jessica simply did not want to be controlled by the desires of other witches and so she rebelled – a rebellion which amounted to a rebellion again the tradition woman’s rebellion against female role limits.

               What one comes to see however is the Paul Muad dib ( a reference to the French tern Maudit - a person who is accursed -  often the curse, like an Irish guise, is accompanied by some exceptionla ability ) is not a conventional hero. He isn’t even an anti hero – he something far worse. We revel n the conquest by the hero of Dune and in Victory over the forces of evil only to discover the rebel transforming itself into the tyrant.

                   This paper is not about a science fiction book however – no matter how perceptive. It is about me.

Recently I googled “Tamlin” and discovered that, as to be expected, there are now many websites that tell the tale of the Legendary boy in the song. One even mentions Tom the Rhymer. The Temlinmediaco is not to be found until many pages back. It doesn’t bother me that much. We finished with the Tamlin “Story” about fifteen years ago.

Tamlin, in our tale, was young man who’s relatives wanted to drag him to hell. Every year, at Halloween the witches ride, collecting those souls who’s parents do not love them enough. There was more of what we authors call “backstory” but I also worked at putting Tamlin into juxtaposition with ALF, who in fact had once been known as ALF the rhymer.

                         In the way that these things happen the tale also could be compared to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

It was a new kind of fiction- something akin to a comic strip where the characters interacted and responded to current events and , needless to say, went nowhere. After having started in 1995 by 2002 the essential story was done. I then became more of anthropologist, availing myself of the rich lode of historical material one could find in Oxford.

                         Slowly the wounds of the late nineties healed. I have not mentioned them and will not because they are deep, nasty and personal, and have nothing to do with you dear reader. I will say this. I shed myself of the delusions that everybody loved me and or that I could make everybody love me. I realized that to some extent it was hubris that had motivated me before.

                          Along the road, in early manhood , I had picked up a degree in psychology. In the 80’s and 90’s I had become friends with a mentor of great experience Dr Albert Jesson. At the time neither of these experiences seemed of mush use in what Dickens called the great game of getting on.

                                   And there was a key element. A clue is that in the social services line black people began to help white people navigate the complexities of food stamps. In other words the kind of long term endemic poverty that had previously market the black population how now migrated to the whites; and this meant that white women were of more value, as breeders at least, then the men.

I could see this evidenced in the number of suicides of otherwise healthy young men, I came across. There was no doubt about it. Essentially the world was out to get us. I mean specifically those blue collar guys that cheered Micheal Moores movies.

Males, deluded by foolish notions of honor, dignity, pride, self sufficiency, were mowed down like tall spring grass - and nobody cared.

For me though to point to external factors was nowhere near enough. I had come from a severely dysfunctional family where self interest was masked by altruism.

                         To become a psychic warrior one has to learn to think the hitherto unthinkable. That is where the truth can be found. That is where the devils can be found, Of five children in my mother’s family only one marriage lasted, my mother’s, Both her male sibling’s died young of alcoholism.

                  As I age I find the scope of attacks broadens. It is not enough to suggest that we learn to understand and sympathize. Seemingly unprovoked attacks tell you something is wrong with the aggressor not the defender.

                       Recent articles have detailed personal attacks and it’s worth noting that people who feel their small town way of life is threatened and band together to battle the non whites, the Catholics, the Moslems, the diseased, the poor have a cause.

They have a good thing which they feel was give ti them and they want to keep it. I can understand that

Suffice to say, of course there are two groups of people one is in competition with. This who have been handed a good deal and want to keep it and those who have been handed a bad deal and want to correct that.

                   The kwitzatch haderatch  thus  is an abomination. People deal with threatening situations in different ways, Children may sense unhappiness in their parent and try to change that. Some use escape some try to confront the issues,

                     And the common overt advice we are given is to become realistic. I don’t see the realistic assessment that we ato be hung on the morrow as of any great advantage, and again it is to think the unthinkable that one strives.

                       It is yet another form of kung fu.

And I can illustrate it yet another way. Mother feels women need empowerment and dresses her son in dresses and lace. The child grows to act like a female.

                                          This proves a form of immunization against female technique, but a price is paid. Not everyone is crazy; not yet at least and women by and large like men, or at the least they find them interesting. I think as well we can safely state that many men find women interesting.

                But the Kwitzatch Haderatch is not like that. It has had it’s sexuality burned out of it, It associates females with evil.

Growing Marijuana for consumption is something of an art form. The male and female plants have to be kept separate and more to the point one has to be careful not to trigger the mature blooms too soon. The parallel with human sexuality seemed intriguing – with both sexes childhood molestation has effects down the line.

                                       One thing to be aware in human behavior is that however “beautiful” or innocent the molestation may be to the adult the child is harmed it cannot be explained because it effects biological and hormonal factors in the body that we have little control over. Like the pollination of such primitive live forms nature likes things to happen in sequence. It gives another light upon Hamlets ascertain that “Readiness is all.”

                                Different cultures, of course, deal with childhood different ways. A useful axiom in child raising is consistency so the child knows what to expect and can adapt.

The fact is it would be nice if we could save childhood for children. It is not uncommon for the children of divorcing parents to seek to be the mediator or reconciler. Experience shows us to that age doth not always wisdom bring.

               If you are a nasty old fart or fartress, I suppose there’s nothing that can be done, but at least you could stop being so proud of it

           this is probab;y too short and explanation - but it will have to do.