Michael Tellinger is a South African author, archeologist and politician
Tellinger is a proponent of Contributionism, a social movement based on the African philosophy of Ubuntu.
In 2012 he founded the Ubuntu Party in South Africa, based on his principles of Contributionism.
Ubuntu USA headquarters are located at Bolton Valley, Vermont.
The word ubuntu comes from the Zulu and Xhola languages, and can be roughly translated as “humanity towards others,” and “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. It commonly refers to an African ethic philosophy focusing on people’s allegiances and relations with each other. The philosophy is mirrored in cultures around the world, particularly in Native American culture.
UbuntuUSA’s aim is to move from a money-driven society to a society driven by people, their talents and their passion for life where everyone contributes their natural talents or acquired skills to the greatest benefit of all in their community.
A move toward a world without money is a giant step toward higher consciousness and a highway to enlightenment. UBUNTU Contributionism is a blueprint for human prosperity in which money plays no part at all.
The immediate benefits of a world without money are simply astonishing, as all the negative aspects of life tend to disappear. The moment we remove our dependency on money in our lives, communities and society, everything changes for the better almost immediately. As we remove money from our reality we also eliminate the following:
Crime – Hunger – Homelessness –greed – Gluttony – Extortion – Hoarding – Debts – Accounts – Hierarchy control – Obstacles to progress
Interested? You can see more of Michael and Contributionism here:
UBUNTU: A World Without Money – Michael Tellinger. (15 minutes)
Michael will be appearing in Brattleboro Monday evening, September 26th at the Marlboro College Grad Center on Vernon Road from 7 to 9.
This sounds very much like a
This sounds very much like a bunch of economic woo.
Until someone feels they are contributing more than someone else and the question of fairness arises and said society eventually adopts something that very much looks like money in order to establish a system of agreed upon value and expectations.
Or, since there is no hierarchy control and thus presumably there is some form of direct democracy, a disagreement arises that results in faction and if no agreement is reached a schism forms. Then you have two societies that will eventually require a system that looks very much like money!
Anyone who goes to this please take note of the complete absence of any practical method of execution or solutions to actual problems but is instead mostly a bunch “Wouldn’t it be nice if” naval-gazing developing a system that does not take into account finite resources, finite time and human nature.
“The moment we remove our dependency on money in our lives, communities and society, everything changes for the better almost immediately”
Oh? I’d love to hear some examples of where this has been tried and some documentation of these positive results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywVHF6Lltac
Edit:
I just watched the video, this guy is a bullshit artist or an absolute idiot.
Besides actually advocating that parents shouldn’t be sending their children to school *IN AFRICA* he talks a bunch of utopian nonsense, then puts up a slide containing some valid criticisms and reasonable objections to his idea and then DOESN’T ADDRESS THEM!
His talk is basically “Trust me, it’ll be great!”
Is there a Q&A at this talk? I may have to find the time to go over and point out how utterly full of shit this guy is and how poorly thought out his plan is. Its about as well thought out as DWards sanitation proposals…
Oh man it gets better, he
Oh man it gets better, he wrote a book about how aliens visited prehistoric humans and intervened in our affairs.
Who keeps bringing these nutcases to Brattleboro?
If only you were as critical of
this stupid system that takes from the commons and engorges the already-obscenely wealthy. And how many people are fulfilled in this system and how many fight but not just fight, kill?
We don’t all have to live the same way. This system stinks so bad, you can keep it. But some people aspire to better ways. Sure there will be problems, what do you expect? But at least there will be care for the environment and each other and future generations.
Right now who does all the work? The underprivileged people while fat cats sit on their butts smoking cigars. You defend this vileness because it suits probably your disposition.
Of course, money isn't so great, either
I’d like to see some practical proof that money/capitalism is working well. Seems to be a gatekeeper preventing as much or more than it enables.
I could solve many problems if money wasn’t necessary.
Well, when we say money we
Well, when we say money we are really just talking about an exchange medium. At its core its not terribly different from barter.
I can go on all day about how unregulated or under-regulated capitalism always leads to oligarchy and that has a hand in much of our current troubles, but the solution is to change the rules, not to scapegoat the entire idea of value and a medium for exchange as *the* problem and claim eliminating it will result in utopia.
Thats just kindergarden level naivete.
There is always going to be something that X person or group has that Y group or person wants/needs given finite resources, a value system, a barter system of some variety is absolutely unavoidable.
For him to claim crime will cease to exist is idiotic, for him to claim that we wouldn’t continue to mine for resources is idiotic. Its just utopian naval-gazing.
To pretend that no one will get miffed when someone, either through selfishness or mental illness decides they don’t feel like working but still consume resources and leech off the work of others is just absurd. His system has no solution for that except to say “Everyone wants to be respected by other people so they wouldn’t do that”.
Uh huh…
Also looks like he doesn’t have the voluntary contribution of a PR person as I can’t find any information about this “talk” in town other than this ibrattleboro posting, which contains minimal information and no hint of a fee, cus I’d love to point out the absurdity of this idiot’s pipe dream but I have no intention of handing him a dime to do so.
“… the solution is to change
“… the solution is to change the rules, not to scapegoat the entire idea of value and a medium for exchange as *the* problem and claim eliminating it will result in utopia.”
A possible major solution is to pick corporate law apart, remove personhood, and base corporate law entirely on a company being “boardroom” responsible and liable for its every action as the topline regulation for allowing it to exist.
Corporations cannot be people, nor enjoy personhood because corporations are a construct of a thing, which is “an inanimate material object as distinct from a living sentient being.”
The energy of money is greed
and self interest. Especially money based on debt. This suits a lot of people because they’re greedy and they think because they are, everyone has to be. Well it doesn’t suit some of us but you and those who support it, violently force it upon those who don’t want it. There are other ways to pave the roads. I don’t want anything from the government so why should I pay it? The government is a criminal syndicate. Would you give the mafia money to spend on services? Most of it goes to kill people while we sit at home comfortably with our big screen tv’s that exploited who knows how many people and resources. Some of us don’t want to live under a system of exploitation and mass murder.
Who are clinically insane?
Every time I see idealism at its worst I’m compelled to speak up.
If you set aside “Contributionism” for a moment, what you have is a man, Michael Tellinger, who spent 25 years studying a majorly discredited dreamer, Zacharia Sitchin, who claims humans are descended from aliens. Okay.
Tellinger’s “contributionism” is based on the term “ubuntu” a type of humanism, that derives as a form from a very complex array of Southern Africa languages, “Nguni Bantu.” In modern times, ubuntu unfortunately is defined in too many different, contradictory and incompatible ways and therefore subject to “interpretation.”
In other words, the source stream of ubuntu is a mess. For example, Nelson Mandela claims that ubuntu “does not mean that people should not enrich themselves.” He goes on to say, “This idealism (ubuntu) suggests to us that humanity is not embedded in my person solely as an individual; my humanity is co-substantively bestowed upon the other and me.” — So much for human individualism.
Because ubuntu, also acting as a political philosophy, it essentially espouses a redistribution of wealth. In other words, socialism.
The issue of a “world without money” however, is not easily traced to the influences of ubuntu. Essentially, Tellinger is co-opting the word “unbuntu,” a Southern African word, to create the phrase, or concept of “Ubuntu Contributionism.” Contributionism is Tellinger’s word.
Personally, I would not recommend that people get behind anyone who believes humans are a species created by aliens from another planet. Whether or not I subscribe to the notion of a world without money, I would not look to a man who believes mythologies. (Which, in good part, is why I frequently reference my coined word, “Jukrislims,” to describe a major ruling party of people who are as clinically insane as Tellinger.)
IT GETS BETTER!
This guy just keeps on one-upping himself!
I *REALLY* want to know who or what group brought this fellow here, do they support his criminal activities or did they just not vet this guy?
Here he is advocating a fraud scheme wherein you pay debts with fraudulent “notes” instead of actual money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbku5XULgIA
He seems to be a South African variant of a sovereign citizen…
The sponsor of the program should have been revealed
I don’t know what goes on behind the Marlboro College Grad Center space allowances.
I know who the group is, but you’re right, the sponsor of the Tellinger program should have been revealed by tomaidh when composing the article.
Who's the group?
Who’s the group?
And, the group is...
Chris Pratt, “The Reluctant Activist” mentioned the event several days ago.
Why am I not even remotely
Why am I not even remotely surprised…
So he’s gone from crackpot conspiracy theories to actually promoting and advocating criminal behavior now…
I’d like to hear Chris Pratt defend how his group promotes this man as an archeologist, when he has absolutely no credentials in that field.
I’d also like to hear Chris’s stance on Tellinger’s advocacy of fraud, as I linked earlier.
I'm not sure but,
…tomaidh is likely a cosponsor, it is possibly being film for his BCTV show.
Just to add a note to our readers: Events that are open to the public and publicly announced, and/or a nonprofit entity, have a responsibility disclose the sponsors without being asked.
Oh nonprofit(s) are involved?
Oh nonprofit(s) are involved? The plot thickens… More importantly it thickens in a manner that requires public record disclosures and adhering to federal guidelines…
tomaidh has a bctv show?
I just perused BCTV’s website, didn’t see any shows with any overtly crazy titles, what show does he do?
To save me some google-fu time, got any links to any more information about this event?
Ah, Tomaidh = Tom Finnel?
Ah, Tomaidh = Tom Finnel?
We'll never all agree
The reluctant activist is not involved with Tellinger in any way other than I think Chris and Tom organized and reserved the room. I imagine Tellinger has other speaking venues here in the states.
In person, both Tom and Chris are friendly and engaging. Their interests are varied, so that it’s likely we’ll never all agree on every issue.
Well, then the obvious
Well, then the obvious question is why did they choose to provide a platform and a microphone to a crook and fraudster.
He thinks humans were a slave race to ancient aliens
He a UFO conspiracy theorist
He’s a form of sovereign citizen
He claims titles for which he has no credentials
His bid as a politician failed utterly, he’s rather a laughing stock in SA.
He is perfectly happy to take people’s *actual* money for his talks and books and incur debts, but then chooses not to pay them back, citing some kind of ridiculous anti-bank nonsense.
He attempts to recruit others into attempting to commit financial fraud.
And even on the subject for which he’s supposedly speaking, every video I’ve seen so far contains no evidence, no arguments, just a bunch of wild-assed assertions about how utopia is just around the corner if only….
Oh, never mind, looks like he’s exactly Chris Pratt and Tom Finnel’s type…
Any further information on this “talk” would be appreciated, specifically whether there is a fee (this fellow should not be handed a dime by anyone) and whether there will be a Q&A or opportunity for attendees to rip his nonsense to shreds like the junk it is.
Perhaps he’ll accept the same sort of promisary notes he provided to Standard Bank of South Africa in lieu of actual payment. I encourage any attendees to test this possibility in order to expose his blatant hypocrisy.
In their own primitive vernacular
No one can read your enumeration of Tellinger’s background without knowing you really do your homework. Why others “employ” Tellinger and his like to speak to the public, and why they form an advocacy of them, falls outside of my own thinking. I can say that they must be (are) believers first, and thinkers second and therein lies the seed of destruction.
Has anyone noticed that the human species, in large part, is in a self-destruct pattern?
I wish there were more people like you, eschmitt, an a predominance of good scientific minds. But I think it is too late to deactivate the self-destruct buttons around us.
To them I say, in their own primitive vernacular – god help you all.
I'm not doing anything that
I’m not doing anything that anyone couldn’t do with google and a few minutes of time and a functioning bullshit meter.
I disagree about the self-destruction bit. I think we’re doing better as a whole than we ever have by just about every metric.
In any case, I’m posting to express regret that I did not become active on this site sooner, as I just discovered that one of the last nutters that Chris Pratt has sponsored and promoted was Chris Bollyn, who is a fugitive with an (afaik) still active arrest warrant in the U.S. for aggravated assault and resisting arrest. Once he lost his trial he fled the country prior to his sentencing hearing. Had I been engaged here a few months earlier and saw that this fellow was in Brattleboro courtesy of Chris Pratt perhaps I could have taken action to catalyze his being apprehended.
But, this seems to be representative of the quality of people that Chris Pratt associates with. Chris Bollyn is also a holocaust denier, has ties with KKK leader David Duke and is just an all around scumbag.
So, by that metric this Tellinger fellow is a step up. He doesn’t appear to have an active arrest warrant, yet. (I imagine we’ll see him in handcuffs fairly soon though, that will be gratifying).
I'll revisit my thinking
I’ll revisit my thinking on the self-destruction. Real-time sustainability issues are choking us. Let’s hope the better metrics don’t turn to mush.
Human induced climate change
Human induced climate change is really the only thing I’m truly worried about as a long-term and global problem (of our own making) that has a chance of radically disrupting what I’ll call the human civilization.
But, as far as morals, life expectancy, standard of living, etc… I can’t think of any time or place in history that a reasonable person would prefer to live in compared to modern developed countries. Its pretty much as good as its ever been.
There are too many people who believe
There are many people who do not “believe” in climate change.
And, it is the predominance of believers, people of faith, who are guided by belief systems that have taken over the human species. It has been and is their deadly insistence that others must believe the same way that has created a dangerous world to live in. And, that includes climate change. As best as I can tell, it was monasteries who invented corporations through which emerged the moneyed box canyon that we are trapped in now. Money, religion and corporate indemnification are some of the greatest dangers facing humankind.
http://ibrattleboro.com/sections/media/globalization#comment-6610
And "actual money" is fraudulent for sure
but because you look up to authority you think that’s valid. You don’t know how money is created by the sound of it. Don’t worry, few do. It’s not taught in schools either, even business schools. The principal is the only part that is created, the interest is never created and that means the money supply gets exponentially smaller while the debt gets exponentially larger.
Why do we have money? To trade. But we don’t need to trade anymore or soon we won’t because technology can make most of the things we need. And trade was based on work and less and less people work now with the advancement of technology and it will only become more so. We have 3D printers and lots of other fabulous technologies so we don’t need to barter either. Money simply doesn’t work. The number of people it doesn’t work for far outstrips the number it does work for and it doesn’t work for them either because it’s the reason we’re destroying our life support system. But today we’re all stymied, stagnant and in lockjam. You can’t do anything because the money isn’t around or you have to suck up to investors before you do the things you are good at.
Money is based on greed. Greed for crying out loud. The most degenerate human characteristic. We are more than greedy animals. But we don’t get the chance to practice better attributes because everything is connected to money. This is no accident.
Some of us think we can do better. Better has happened before but whenever something better succeeds such as during the early Colonial times (when they used Colonial Scrip) the overseers (in those days England) makes sure it gets shut down or severely hampered.
This money system is failing. We need other systems.
I don’t agree with Tellinger’s ideas of our origins but I do want to see a world without money. Money is the thing that has made humans despicable.
"But we don't need to trade
“But we don’t need to trade anymore or soon we won’t because technology can make most of the things we need. And trade was based on work and less and less people work now with the advancement of technology and it will only become more so. We have 3D printers and lots of other fabulous technologies so we don’t need to barter either”
BWAHAHA!
Do you even think about the utter nonsense you spew before you spew it?
Does it make sense in your head *before* it comes out?
Do you ever consider finding the integrity to admit when you are flat wrong?
The Gift that keeps Giving
Not commenting on the viability of this Ubuntu.
Merely suggesting that other modes of exchange- like potlatch, and gift economy have been positive parts of the human experience.
And the Social Contract, as described by Rousseau, even with its flaws and idealizations, helped usher in many advances in rights and human freedoms. That work posits the individual is enhanced by the whole of society, and sovereignty is only legitimate when it encompasses everyone, not just elites.
A fascinating exploration of these ideas is found in the work, “The Gift,” by Lewis Hyde.
Looks like a good read.
New ideas need to be given due consideration. Native Americans used to gift. Thanks for sharing.
Both Tellinger himself and
Both Tellinger himself and this post refer to him as an “archeologist” but I cannot find any hint of any credential in that field. It doesn’t appear that he has any relevant degree nor does it appear he ever actually did any archeology.
Interesting how these fraudsters and bullshit artists love claiming these respectable titles in order to grant themselves credibility they don’t deserve.
I would really like the group associated with this idiot to be identified because they should be held responsible for advertising this man as an archeologist, when he is not, and promoting an individual that has committed fraud and openly advocates for others to do so for their personal financial benefit.
Tellinger’s scams cause harm to those who Tellinger himself, as well as his followers, has defrauded and may lead to many ignorant people ending up in legal trouble for following his “advice”, much as Tellinger himself has (he’s got quite a history in South Africa’s court system, it seems).
So it seems Mr. Tellinger
So it seems Mr. Tellinger obtained a loan from a bank in South Africa to purchase real estate property, which he then rented out.
He later stopped making payments on the loan and as one would expect, the bank moved to foreclose on the property.
Tellinger then apparently went full on crazy and claimed all kinds of sovereign-citizen sounding nonsense. Culminating in him losing the case (duh) claiming the judge was bribed by the bank (no evidence of this of course) and then “paying” the bank with fraudulent promissory notes claiming essentially that since banks can create money, so can he. (Which means he didn’t pay any actual money, its similar to paying a clerk with counterfeit bills)
It appears this whole anti-money political nonsense either grew out of this or was the catalyst for it.
So, he’s just a deluded deadbeat who borrowed money and doesn’t want to pay it back. He’s a theif.
This is an early file in the case, but lunchtime is over so I’ll have to put off finding more until later.
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2011/70.pdf
So, Tom Finnel and Chris Pratt, given you are sponsoring this fraudster and deadbeat, you really should comment on this information. Do you support his actions?
Just mind your business and let people do as they please
Life on earth is about coexistence. It’s hard to tell because money has completely distorted our natures.
I don’t care about Michael Tellinger – he is just a guy who can rally people around an idea, you know like Obama. I can just imagine what you would have said during the Wright Brothers experimentations.
I've already addressed your
I’ve already addressed your ridiculous comparison to the wright brothers.
They had a plane that flew. Ya know, the evidence part. Kinda important, that.
Tellinger should be in handcuffs.