Day-to-day life within an empire consists of the deceitful leading the disengaged. Although when the artifice shielding a nation's populace from the ruthlessness of their leaders begins to fall away, hysteria and displaced rage rises in the land. Ergo, in the American empire, we're witnessing these demented days of congressional boy love and despotic rockets.
Day after day, the pace at which insane tidings arrive quickens: it's as if we've become passengers on a high-speed train, commandeered by lunatics, that only stops at insane asylums in order to board more lunatics ... Naturally, it follows that the train has gone runaway, careening down the buckling tracks, blue spark spraying from its steel wheels, while any approaching curve becomes a threat to derail the whole hurdling madhouse.
For many years, these episodes of mass psychosis have been gaining velocity. Empires are inherently bughouse crazy, because, by their very nature, they grow conservative to the point of becoming totalitarian. After a time, the singular raison d'ętre of this form of pathological conservatism is to fiercely cling to the things it has gained through expansionist practices and policies. In addition, it must find ways to rationalize the brutal and deceitful means required to sustain itself.
Accordingly, when its imperial ambitions are thwarted, rage and hysteria will seize both its elites and hoi polloi alike. The ensuing scene is similar to an inmate riot in the cafeteria of an insane asylum when the traditional Saturday night dessert of chocolate pudding has been withheld.
At this point, in the brutish life of an empire, the term conservative becomes a misnomer. What exactly is being conserved by policies of expansive militarism and environmental and imperialistic plundering? That is -- other than conserving policies of expansive militarism and environmental and imperialistic plundering? To claim this is conservatism is analogous to claiming that an army of rampaging fire ants are, only, at times, prone to becoming a little excited about their property rights. Since when is a rampage regarded as a worldview?
We have endured an era reeking with the miasmal runoff of "conservative values" spewed by these toxic totalitarians, as, all the while, they have employed classic Orwellian Newspeak as a means of perfuming its stench, thereby terming their brazen acts of exploitation – freedom, and calling their smash-and-grab economic looting -- free enterprise.
Yet, the conservative mind is obsessed with the notion that life could ... should -- must! -- be returned to the values of a simpler, purer past. Perhaps, this is a compensatory fantasy, an attempt to escape the enervating machinations of their own rationalizing minds: a desperate coping device that allows these scheming cartels of aging frat boys to be in deep denial of the ruthless desires of their own rapacious ids. Among their pathological wishes is: the compulsion to slip the entire planet a date rape drug then, along with their frat house brothers, molest her.
Indeed, it's unnerving to realize: we are being ruled by a collection of totalitarian, frat rat, date-rapists endowed with the introspective capacities of rampaging fire ants.
For the conservative (oxymoron alert) imagination it's a psychological imperative to believe in the possibility of returning to a more moral past (even if this Helicon land never has nor ever will exist). This variety of cognitive dissidence, roiling the minds of those at the head of our one party, corporate state, in combination with the rapid dissemination of spurious information and contrived imagery ubiquitous in the mass media, has suffused contemporary life with an unreal quality. Within this bubble, we've become benumbed; consequences become diffuse; history and political acts carry no more weight for us than a television commercial for chewing gum or toilet paper.
Although in diametric opposition to our weightless misapprehensions: To live in these times is to be subject to the madness of an era wherein those possessing personality profiles matching those of Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada have been given access to high-tech surveillance devices, the plunder-prone European imperialists have global communication satellites at their disposal, and Genghis Khan has the means to solicit the duplicitous talents behind public relation and advertising firms to re-brand his image.
If the corporate media had existed in Khan's era, it doesn't strain credulity to imagine the 13th century's equivalent of CNN's Kyra Phillips – who, during the invasion of Iraq, asked the attending physician of an Iraqi child who had lost three limbs and suffered the loss of his entire family as a result of the so-called Shock and Awe bombing campaign: "Doctor, does he understand why this war took place? Has he talked about Operation Iraqi Freedom and the meaning? Does he understand it?" -- This is tantamount to asking the orphaned children of lands sacked by the Mongol hordes -- if they understood the glory of the Great Khan's Operation Enduring Plunder.
It's small wonder the conservative keepers of the present order insist that the world must be returned to what it was ... But, inevitably, when these fervent desires are thwarted, the desire grows into an endless feedback loop of aggression, accompanied by more self-justifying lies -- thereby creating the self-resonating circuitry of thwarted triumphalism and perpetual paranoia that passes for the belief system of the contemporary conservative ... As, all the while, the feedback loop continues to build in pitch and intensity, growing ever more insistent that the world be changed back to what it never was to begin with ... and then, again, being thwarted by reality ... then, exponentially, building in pitch and intensity ... rinse and repeat ... ad infinitum ... ad nauseam ...
Psychologically, it becomes all too much for the conservative mind to bear; therefore, the attempt is made to cope by means of displacing one's anger, as well as, projecting one's hidden desires upon the people of distant countries and scorned groups within the culture. In short order, the war drums thunder; the flesh of the era's designated witches hiss from the flames of public burnings; and pathetic sorts such as pedophile Mark Foley must carry all of our darkness.
These are examples of the epic cognitive dissonance borne by self-destructing empires. Ergo, if the zeitgeist were personified and was granted a thought process mirroring the belief system of contemporary conservatism, the poor bastard would have to be provided with massive doses of anti-psychotic medication to be prevented from roaming the streets raving (or, at least, as in the case of Rush Limbaugh, Oxycontin to sustain his ravings on rightwing hate radio).
Or: Provided with employment as the engineer of this rattling death train of a runaway empire. And what of us -- the passengers aboard the train -- what instructions have the madmen manning the locomotive given us, during the harrowing course of this doomed ride: They have advised us to hold on tight to our values. Insanely, a frightening number of credulous sorts seem to have accepted their instructions; accordingly, they're desperately gripping the armrests and handrails of the train's passenger compartments, in the thrall of a mass delusion that such actions might keep them personally out of harm's way, as well as serve to hold the careening train itself on the tracks.
Then what are a few of these much-vaunted values that we so ardently believe will save and sustain us? First off, as recent events have revealed, we Americans are a people who are united in our firm and abiding conviction that pedophilia is wrong.
Phil Rockstroh, a self-described, auto-didactic, gasbag monologist, is a poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living in New York City. He may be contacted at: phil@philrockstroh.com Visit Phil's Website
Phil Rockstroh - Rock Star! Play that crazy brain organ LOUD!
"...we Americans are a people who are united in our firm and abiding conviction that pedophilia is wrong.
This might lead one to the conclusion: If only we had collectively engaged in online, sexually innuendo-larded chatter with Iraqi teenagers -- instead of killing them – we might be able to workup some moral outrage at ourselves."
We are not liberating Iraq. We are liberating Iraquis of their oil, their freedoms, and their lives so they can be free to let corporations provide them with 'services' that they now desperately need because we liberated them so forcefully well.
* * * * *
How do we disempower the insane, greedy assholes and begin to the heal the sickness afflicting the nation? How do we break the feedback loop? How do we break the cycle of violence?
Since some Americans are only outraged at the level of reptilian psychology can't we leverage this impulse?
The Bush regime is a personal threat to you, your family, and your way of life. Bush republicans have put you in even more danger because the occupation in Iraq has taught an army of insurgents how to fight American forces with improvised explosive devices. Bush has personally financed and supported training of al Qaeda forces, by providing them with an urban training ground and target practice.
Bush republicans have secretly raised your taxes to pay their no-bid cronies by borrowing obscene mountains of money with interest bearing bonds burdening you and your children with years of tax debt and future federal budgets too tight to correct years of misplaced priorities.
Bush republicans like and support pedophiles, plunderers, and creepy scum who appoint pedophiles to head committees charged with oversight on laws against pedophiles and scum.
Oh, the healing words just flow. Somebody please stop the train... I have a hungry alligator I must taunt.
by
Tim Riley (7 articles, 5 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 132 comments)
on Thursday, October 12, 2006 at 7:27:18 PM
[Author's Note: Number of National Magazine Awards won by Harper's Magazine since 1994: 11. With a performance record like that, who needs more incentive to digest a pivotal essay by the magazine's editor, Lewis H. Lapham, that appeared in the March 2006 issue? I say "pivotal" because, in part, the essay happens to be the key motivator for my joining the movement to have Bu$ch-Cheezey face the music of impeachment. Indeed, as if to memorialize that political but not necessarily partisan epiphany (after all, I did welcome B.-J. Clinton's impeachment), the snail-mail carrier recently delivered to me an equally welcomed piece of "junk mail." It was a Harper's promotional flyer containing a "free-issue invitation" for prospective new subscribers. The bulk of the flyer reprints Lapham's cover-story essay, titled "The Case for Impeachment: Why We Can No Longer Afford George W. Bush." In the flyer's transmittal letter, Harper's publisher, John R. MacArthur, reminisces: "When [Lapham] read the facts of the Conyers report, they filled him with such alarm and indignation that it resulted in this powerful essay." He adds that, upon the essay's initial publication, "it sent shock waves throughout American thought circles." Time will tell whether any of those shock waves will motivate a REPUBLICAN congressman to take a bold and brave enough step into history as to assume the lead from Rep. John Conyers, Jr.'s groundwork. Meantime, I refer you to another, brand-new essay that you may wish to print out (and save with Lapham's) from its recent posting upon the web site of http://www.opednews.com . Written by David Swanson, co-founder of the public-interest group After Downing Street, the piece bears the title "The Genius of John Nichols" (see it at: http://tinyURL.com/e5rop ). The title, of course, plays on Nichols's own, book-length work of historical overview and analysis: "The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism." Armed with these two insightful -- and, alas, frightful -- essays as an introduction to the politics of impeachment, you'll be better prepared to counter such hostile moments as occurred to me the other day when I was selling some IMPEACH HIM buttons near a local drugstore. When I approached a white-male-over-50 (who fit the description of a retired military officer), he smirkingly demanded, "Who's the 'HIM' you're referring to?" I replied, "You have only one guess." He fumbled for a snappy retort, whereby I added: "I'd personally prefer that you guess 'Cheezey,' but I'll accept 'Bu$ch.'" During the ensuing tit-for-tat, this obvious Republican announced, "I think we should get behind our president." To such a delusionary cliche, I had no quick, catchy answer -- until now: I should've replied, "I think we, the People, should stand in FRONT of 'our' president -- and challenge him to abide by the law or else face the consequences!"]
SCHMOE: Well, Bryant's at it again. I'm beginning to agree with you, Karl, that it's time for us to take some drastic measures to silence his freakin' butt.
TROVE: Hmmm.... That so? What's up?
SCHMOE: According to the NSA's latest intercept of his e-mail traffic, he's just fired off a request to the publisher of his condo association's monthly newsletter, the Parkfairfax "Forum," that they print the following classified ad: "For Sale: IMPEACH HIM buttons. From a surplus supply of this catchy lapel button distributed at a recent People's demonstration in D. C.'s LaFayette Park, I'm making them available for $1 apiece. If you want to buy one (or more) of this instant collector's item, contact me at: . . .. Proceeds are being donated to the non-profit Washington Area Impeachment Fund ( http://www.waiffllc.org ). -- Larry W. Bryant"
BU$CH: Isn't this Parkfairfax the huge condominium complex where, as a garden-apartment center, they used to rent to such 1950s-era congressmen as Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford?
CHEEZEY: Yep. It lies about three miles south of the Pentagon, just off I-395. How about it, Ronnie, can't we just buy up that aging complex and, in the name of the "War on Terrorism," convert it to a massive detention center for terrorists and their sympathizers?
DUMSFELD: Well, that won't be so easy, ya know. Parkfairfax happens to occupy the list of Historic Dwellings, and . . ..
BU$CH [interrupting]: Who cares? That list's just a damned piece of paper -- like the constitution. Let's go right on ahead and explore the prospects for declaring our federal, eminent domain over the whole property over there. Then, after we're all outa office, we can prevail upon our K-Street buddies to bulldoze those moldy buildings and replace 'em with upscale development. Let Bryant, with his nosey little iMAC, live out of his stinkin' Hyundai!
DUMSFELD: Yeah, I guess our planting that bunch of smelly dead mice into his car's air-duct system wasn't enough to convince him to back off.
TROVE [trying to hand-press a wrinkle out of his trousers]: And another thing, Tony: Gen. Walbomb's crew has received another tip about who's financing that grand-jury-petition project down in Muskogee, Okla. In recent weeks, Bryant himself has been detected sending a couple of personal checks to the Muskogee Committee for Impanelment.
BU$CH: Tell us, Karlio, how'd they make that detection?
TROVE: They simply issued a surveillance order against all of Bryant's checking-account activity. (Scanned by the NSA folks, of course.) And I'm now recommending that they do the same against Jerry Pippin's checking account. Even with the revised PATRIOT Act, we still can do that kind of follow-the-money snoopin', you know.
CHEEZEY [frowning]: Well, just be sure y'all refrain from using the Act to snoop around MY financial dealings -- heh-heh.
SCHMOE: Worry not, Dick. We realize that if you get zapped for any RICO-styled corruption, we all get zapped. At this point -- if it's dark humor you want -- we could code-name ourselves the Five Muskogee-teers: fending off attack after attack -- until our opposition dies off from accidents, "suicides," and stress-induced anxiety. We certainly can do this for another two years, can't we?
If the author wonders if anyone reads this, and cares, I do, but not for the reasons he will want to hear. Get over yourself - and your anger - and quit writing such long-winded, whiny crap. No one cares if you can string together clever put-downs of the Republicans. There is an absolute glut of this kind of writing, and an absolute shortage of REAL thought on advancing the ideals of liberalism. The reason we've got people like Bush and Cheney running this country is because the people on the continuum in the 45 to 55 % range - the ones who decide elections - keep waiting for some liberal ideas worth getting on board with. Sad to say, but too many libs invest their energy in this kind of thought, namely, pointless diatribes that only bitch about what is, and disregard what how to bring about what should be.
by
Tom Cobb (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 1:37:55 AM
It would seem, by some sort of cryptic plebiscite, you were elected to enlighten me to the bitter reality that "No one cares if you can string together clever put-downs" by flailing at me with witless ones. (Which, of course, conversely, everyone yearns to hear.)
In addition, I appreciate you showing me, by your shining example, how to avoid the folly of writing a "pointless diatribe."
One thing though: If I were you, as you illustrate for us the one true way to write a proper liberal essay, and edify us as to -- "[t]he reason we've got people like Bush and Cheney running this country is because the people on the continuum in the 45 to 55 % range - the ones who decide elections - keep waiting for some liberal ideas worth getting on board with." -- you might consider putting some effort into working on your verb tenses. Alas, I can't even approach the toxic waste dump of your grammar and syntax without first donning a biohazard suit.
Although, perhaps, there is a canniness to your approach: You've decided you can defeat Bush by expressing yourself with his degree of clarity and eloquence. If that was your plan, you've succeeded, sir.
by
Phil Rockstroh (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 42 comments)
on Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 6:20:40 AM
5 comments
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