"Patriotism ... is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit."
---Emma Goldman
9/20/06: Populist Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez had the sheer audacity to stand before the United Nations and deliver an angry diatribe against the enemy of humanity. Dispensing with mealy-mouthed pleasantries, he verbally savaged Bush in his fiery oration. Chavez knows an abhorrent war criminal when he sees one and he isn't one to mince words or use polite euphemisms.
George Bush had addressed the assembly the previous day with an incredibly disingenuous monologue loaded with platitudes and Orwellian Doublespeak Admittedly, with his credibility around the world and uncanny capacity to articulate in an intelligent manner, Bush was a tough act to follow at the UN. But somehow, Chavez managed.
He made a few choice observations:
"The devil came here yesterday. And it smells of sulfur still today."
Bush may not actually be the devil, but he certainly qualifies as one of his Earthly agents. And Chavez may very well have smelled residual sulfur fumes which had emanated from Satan himself. It is a virtual certainty that Lucifer was present for Bush's virtuoso performance on 9/19. How could he have resisted watching his favorite sociopath's attempt to beguile listeners into believing he is pursuing noble causes?
Chavez went on to assert:
"As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world. An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: 'The Devil's Recipe.' "
Underscoring his blasphemy against the predatory capitalism inflicted on the world by the economic and military titan "affectionately" known as the American Empire, the champion of humane social democracy waved a copy of Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky, a vehement domestic critic of the United States political and economic systems.
Chavez also noted that Bush "stole the elections" and "is, therefore, a dictator."
Tough point to argue given that Bush came to power via two bloodless coups, one engineered by Katherine Harris and the other by Diebold.
In the aftermath of Chavez's blistering verbal attacks on US imperialists and the miscreant conducting their symphony of the macabre, "patriots" emerged to defend "our president". Given the overt fascism and aggressive militarism emerging in the United States, it is almost inconceivable that such a regime would continue to enjoy popular support. Yet economic tyranny, consumerism, and relentless pressure to conform to the American Way are so powerful that many US Americans have sold their very souls by offering their voluntary complicity in the subjugation, exploitation, and (in some instances) extermination of billions of human beings around the globe.
And some of these "patriots" originate from some surprising segments of the United States' population.
New York Democrat Charles Rangel, a member of the treasonous US Congress which has enabled the Bush administration in its steady march toward becoming a tyrannical regime, took serious umbrage to Chavez's remarks:
Jason Miller is a recovering US American middle class suburbanite who strives to remain intellectually free. He is Cyrano's Journal Online's associate editor (http://www.bestcyrano.org/) and publishes Thomas Paine's Corner within Cyrano's at http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/.
It's rare that I read something with which I agree 100%; this is one such occasion. Thank you for sharing your vision.
It is said that the sign of a true prophet is one who delivers the message that the people need to hear, not what the people want to hear. That's the message I hear in your post.
And there might also be a correlation here to intervening against an addiction. Initially, since people cling to their addictions as if they're the only things in life worth fighting for, they consequently see any attempt to take the addictions away as "evil". It's only after the addict achieves a significant degree of sobriety that s/he is able to then see how distorted the addiction had caused his/her vision to become.
Most of us in this country have become systematically addicted to things like the "News Media", "Hollywood Fairy Tales", subliminal advertising, false patriotism, drugs flooding into all our communities, false religious, educational, and political leaders, etc. It's a real shock to confront the "American Dream"-turned-Orwellian-Nightmare. But at some point, we need to face down this reality, or else stare straight into the face of World War III. For me, reading this post was like basking in the company of an old friend.
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Lilith's Spirit (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 115 comments)
on Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 10:24:21 PM
you noted yourself that Bush is a dictator. That is why congressmen on the other side of the aisle have to cover their backs. Charlie Rangel has spoken out plenty on BushCo, but one must survive to continue fighting the good fight. Ask Thomas More. Rangel is not only a Democrat, but he is black. How fast do you think the feds would have had him in the clink if he had come out in support of Chavez?
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terri Kionka (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 83 comments)
on Sunday, October 15, 2006 at 9:43:41 AM
The worst addiction in many ways is the compulsive, materialistic consumption that drives Americans to borrow, spend and work long hours while not understanding that they are feeding an economy that is designed to make the rich richer and screw everyone else. Forget political freedom - its freedom to spend that defines the United States of Delusion.
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Joel S. Hirschhorn (114 articles, 20 quicklinks, 46 diaries, 430 comments)
on Sunday, October 15, 2006 at 11:56:09 AM
