In his diary They Have No Mouths … Who Will Scream?, Madman in the Marketplace references a Denver Post article titled Justice detained at Guantanamo, which deals with the horrors of our torture/detainment system as it now stands.
Inadequately deals with it, in my opinion.
The authors end that Denver Post article with this statement.
Once again the essential blindness of the American people and the media which KEEPS them blind (After all, we’re all just one big happy family, right?) comes to the fore.
First of all, the “rights of the people” in America ARE gone. Unless you consider the right of a two year old to throw a tantrum once in a while to be sufficient rights of the people. I do not.
What we now have in place here in the United States is an authoritarian Permanent Government that has found rule by misdirection to be MUCH more efficient than rule by force. Misdirection backed up by force. By terror. And what this Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib/special rendition/prison camps in Albania or wherever/official support of terror routine is REALLY all about is terror.
Psychological shock and awe on a HUGE scale. Aimed at all potential resistance. People in the Middle East, in the rest of the Third World, in any developed country that might consider opposing us on any level, and in the United States as well.
It is the Vietnam message, the Guatemala message.
Read on.
It is the Vietnam message, the Guatemala message. Continued.
Mess with us and we will FUCK YOU UP. Win, lose or draw…we will FUCK YOU UP and walk out in good shape afterwards.
Better shape than you, anyway.
Do we really believe that the straight-faced denials of people like Cheney regarding this system are meant to be believed?
Please.
Like the equally straight faced paradox talk of Donald Rumsfeld, like the sight of a bumbling front man named “W” (More frightening than ANY name ever thought of in dystopian fiction, to me…) with his obviously easily distracted hand on the nuke button, the BARE faced lies of Herr Rove while looking right into the camera with his Gerber Baby face…”Gerber gerber gerber” goes the baby talk while from the back room you can hear the muffled screams of the tortured if you listen closely…
This is TERRORISM.
Psychological shock and awe brought to you in living color and high definition, up close and personal right in your living room every night that you are foolish enough to turn on the TV and make believe that you are really paying attention.
Once again…
The “terrorism” to which they are referring, of course, is the actions of the OPPOSITION to this system as it stands now. Which is not necessarily any better than the system against which it stands. But it is NOT the real enemy here. In fact, a case could be made that it is simply the stepchild of the real enemy. Its creation. The usual Dybbuk/Frankenstein Monster/Sorcerer’s Apprentice story.
The real enemy, the much more POWERFUL enemy, is this advertising driven, media controlled system of psychological terror.
“Take this pill.” And sotto voce real fast stage whisper goes the baby talk about the possibility (“Gerber gerber gerber gerber gerber gerber gerber…”) that this pill will ALSO “fuck you up”.
“Do this.”
“DON’T do this.”
“Do this.”
“DON’T do this.”
Over and over and over and over again until the subject ..be it a subject in Guantanamo or one in a suburban living room somewhere in Topeka…simply breaks down. Gives up.
Next to THIS terror, the actions of al Queda pale into relative insignificance.
But it is al Queda and its allies to whom these Denver Post writers refer when they use the dread word “terrorism”.
The trigger word.
“TERRORISTS??? Oh DEAR Henry!!! What about the CHILDREN!!!”
While the system for which they work…no, the system in which they are living, breathing, and most likely totally unconscious organisms…plays repeated games of Russian roulette on the minds, emotions and bodies of the American people.
And a third time, just in case you missed it.
You only have one right left, folks.
The right to TURN OFF THE MACHINE.
The noise machine.
Totally.
To right to critically examine, to question anything and everything that it allows to be broadcast in the media. Because if it is allowed to be disseminated, it is a GIVEN that it is somehow false.
What we have here is a HUGE shell game.
Watch.
Under this shell…BushCo.
Under this next shell…name it. Kerry, Fitzgerald, the Democrats…whatever flavor the opposition of the day is to be called this day.
And under THIS shell…that’s us. Our real best interests. The American people with all of our cherished “rights”.
And again and again and again and yet AGAIN…the huckster starts his spiel.
“Choose yer shell, folks. Which one is yours? Win big! Ya can’t win it if you ain’t in it!!! Y’pays yer money and y’takes yer chances!!! Win BIG!!!”
And your chances are…ZILCH.
Zero.
Nada.
No chance whatsoever, as long as you continue playing the game.
You can’t win it if you ARE in it.
Just like the “rights” about which these Post reporters so blithely write.
Zilch.
Zero.
Nada.
Until you realize this one simple fact…that you have NO rights.
Except the right to be fleeced.
Which is a “right” that is cherished by ALL sheep.
At least until the dinner bell rings.
“Lamb, tonite, folks. Blue plate special!!!”
Wake up.
Every time you support people who themselves support the continuation of this system as it now stands, you are simply adding another log to the fire next time.
The one that will roast your shanks to a delicious state of doneness if it is ever ignited.
DEMAND more.
If Fitzgerald really does manage to convict some of these criminals…DEMAND MORE!!!
Refuse to stand for pardons.
Refuse to stand for yet another Democratic Party surrender to Big Oil in the Middle East, and vote out of office ANYONE who says anything other than “Out now, and then let’s see what we CAN do.”
And refuse to stand for the big lie, even if it is being sung to the tune of The Star Spangled Banner.
We need a NEW flag.
Too much red, too much white, not ENOUGH blue.
Black, Brown and Beige.
Yup.
Now THERE’s a flag we could ALL salute.
Yup.
Black, Brown and Beige.
Let’s see them run THAT up the flagpole and see who salutes.
Would you?
AG
a very nice, very polite young woman, who had to take a driving test there to get a license. She drew a typical, short tempered, hard drinking South Boston Irishman as her tester. She did OK, but towards the end of the driving test she thought that maybe it would be a good idea to engage him in some conversation…just to be friendly, don’tcha know.
So she asked him a question. She said “I’ve never been quite sure about the Massachusetts rules of the road concerning rotaries.” (Traffic circles, for the non-New England uninitiates among us. They are EVERYWHERE in Boston.) “Could you explain them to me?”
His short and right to the point answer?
“If y’got the right to get in…y’got the right to get out.”
Yup.
Well…THAT’S what is left of OUR rights, after all of the the rulebook gobbledygook is eliminated.
Y’got the right to get in…and y’got the right to get out.
Get out.
While the getting is good.
Out of this media-driven sleep.
Only THEN can we really DO anything.
Besides assume yet another position on that super comfortable., hi-tech mattress that they have so kindly provided for us all since the age of about 1 1/2 years.
No?
Then…assume the position.
And…
ZZZZZZzzzzzzz
Peace.
AG
so, those attorneys, who are advocating for those illegally detained people despite a cultural climate that vilifies them for doing so, are to somehow be dismissed because they don’t go far enough for you? Because they aren’t donning black berets and flooding into the streets w/ molotov cocktails they’re to be written off as “not going far enough”?
Is that it?
Is that the point of this screed?
For years we hear the questions about why more Germans didn’t speak up, yet here there are two people SPEAKING UP, and yet … apparently … not in a way that lives up to some revolutionary idea YOU HAVE?
And you call other people self righteous?
You rant and rave about how Americans blind themselves b/c they believe they are “exceptional”, yet you yourself seem to climb up on some pedestal to declare what resistance looks like.
So what, no one should do ANYTHING short of revolution in the streets? We should all drape ourselves in hemp handmade clothing, secondhand weapons and launch civil war? Destroy our televisions, communicate using handcranked pc’s and text message on disposable cell phones. Is there a Cell of your oganization I can join?
Is that it?
Is that enough?
My god, and I get called a purist by centrist assholes, but you make me sound utterly bourgeois, which is, of course, your goal.
Right?
Do I understand?
Should I be thankful you peeled the scales away from my blinded eyes?
Bless you AG, you could very well be Che’ incarnate.
Thanks man, I’ll get right on vilifying anybody not living up to your standards.
Asshole.
“Whenever a Voice of Moderation addresses liberals, its sole purpose is to stomp out any real sign of life.” – James Wolcott
Yup.
Further:
You write:
I spoke of no attorneys.
Nor of any black berets or molotov copcktails.
Even they would not be revolutionary enough for me. In point of fact, such things are REACTIONARY.
Of the past.
Because the same shell game would come back.
There is only one “revolution” that might change things…besides of course a return to a Luddite pre-technological society, which would not work either. Not without killing off literally billions of people, at any rate. (But it would take care of the shell game in its present media form. For SURE.)
And that revolution is one of consciousness. Becoming conscious of how the shell game message is presented even inside of so-called ANTI-shell game presentations.
Here’s another question along the same lines as those of which I wrote earlier.
Why would ANYONE refer to George W. Butch as “President” in the face of all the evidence to the contrary?
He was not elected President. Not even once.
He does not function as President.
Why CALL him “President”?
But of course…people do.
And every time that they do, some part of them (and some part of whomever is listening to them, no matter HOW “anti-BushCo” they may be) is submitting to the shell game.
You write:
Sorry…of which two people are you speaking?
The two writers of this Denver Post article? (I will assume so.)
Yes. They “speak up” about the wrong things.
Had masses of Germans “spoken up” about Hitler and NOT spoken up about the control mechanism that was used to enslave them …the MASSIVE Nazi propaganda machine that was the primitive precursor of this vile thing under which we live at present….then nothing would have happened. Because that machine would have eaten them alive under the pretext of “freedom”. Of Homeland (Motherland) Security. And had they taken it further, then they would have been gulaged right out of circulation. Just as WE are doing.
Just as does every authoritarian system.
Velvet glove (propaganda, media, perverted versions of religious teachings…whatever works) and iron fist for those on whom the velvet glove does not work.
You said “For years we hear the questions about why more Germans didn’t speak up…”. Do you want an ANSWER to those questions?
Well, here it is.
They were fast fucking asleep.
JUST LIKE THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS ARE NOW.
STILL!!!
Lulled to sleep by propaganda.
Until of course it was too damned late.
And then…it was too damned late.
You write:
There IS a cell, actually.
MANY cells.
Each a cell of one, each and every one.
But I fear that you cannot join them until you understand what it is about which I am speaking.
I am NOT speaking about revolution in the streets.
Not about hemp clothes.
Nor about any sort of futile Luddite reaction.
Just about deconstruction of the message that so many of us “Good Liberals” (latterday Good Germans, in my view) unquestioningly swallow along with our fake morning cornflakes and dead milk.
Until that happens…to a sufficient number of us so that we will function as a sort of critical mass in this process…then we are stuck on the same treadmill, and will have to deal with same back and forth bullshit that has driven us from JFK (no saint…but an enemy of this thing, along with his brother Robert and a number of OTHER people who met unfortunate and unexpected ends around that same time) to JBJ and Nixon/Ford, then back to the only truly decent man that we have had in office since Ike, Jimmy Carter, thence back AGAIN to Reagan/Bush (same as Nixon/Ford, only worse), then to Clinton…he did good, admit it…and back once MORE to Bush II.
And each time the treadmill runs faster.
Now here we stand, poised to nominate ANOTHER centrist asshole like Small K kerry if we are not careful. And if we do…win, lose or draw…we lose.
Each time it gets worse, because each time our enemies grow in both numbers and in technological power.
WEAPON power.
I don’t know where it will end.
But if we do not wise up soon, it WILL end badly.
Very badly.
So snark away, Bud.
Take it just as (unnecessarily) personally as you must.
But it is not Ché to whom I owe my inspiration.
More like John the Baptist, if the general reaction to what I am saying is any indication.
A voice, crying in the wilderness.
So it goes.
Arthur Gilroy-Deconstructionist prophet and all around nice guy.
So it goes.
No MORE Mr. Nice Guy for me, though.
It’s getting too late for THAT game, too.
AG
I’ve tried to express this a few times but didn’t do as well.
There’s no sense in trying to have a productive discussion of the threat the world faces from extremist terrorism unless it includes the false flag and private security operations that are part of it. Of all things to hijack, the terrorists had their operations exploited for profit, greed and control.
The same goes for torture and rendition. How can we honestly address these issues without the mention of private corporations that are working off of tax dollars and charging us extra for the service?
Fems v GOP is nothing that can be altered until it’s first decided who it is they all answer to before us.
Do we want better MSM? They blame consolidation and bad programming on us. They say it’s what we want. Some fire up the Liberal media myth to offer a distraction.
Elections? We have the best that money can buy. It happened in 2000, 2002 and 2004. It will continue to happen until enough people call it fraud and theft.
Laugh.
And all the world laughs with you.
AG
P.S. IT WILL ALL WORK OUT.
Keep the faith.
You sure we’re talking about the same rumi? The one I know hangs at the corner of 3rd and Prosperity, just up from that rehab place.
Nice.
AG
Come to think of it, that one seems to laugh a lot too..
..usually as folks are walking away.
You hit the wisdom…laughter, the world will come round again.
Come inside the fire
leave your trickery behind
go insane
go mad
burn like a candle-moth
first make yourself a stranger
to yourself and
tear down your house
then move with us
dwell in the abode of love
An excerpt from “RUMI, Fountain of Fire”, ghazal number 2131,
translated February 1991 by Nader Khalili
—————-
If you can disentangle yourself
yourself from your selfish self
all heavenly spirits
will stand ready to serve you
if you can finally hunt down
your own beastly self
you have the right
to claim Solomon’s kingdom
you are that blessed soul who
belongs to the garden of paradise
is it fair to let yourself
fall apart in a shattered house
you are the bird of happiness
in the magic of existence
what a pity when you let
yourself be chained and caged
but if you can break free
from this dark prison named body
soon you will see
you are the sage and the fountain of life
“RUMI, Fountain of Fire”, ghazal number 3291,
translated 4 December 1991 by Nader Khalili,
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994.
————————-
If you distance yourself
only for an hour
from your endless thoughts
what do you think will happen?
Except,ghazal number 844,
translated April 19, 1992,
by Nader Khalili.