Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Hiroshima...plus 60 years
Thanks for this, Mickey. It is further proof of the brain washing that goes on in our schools and it is why I no longer support the government owned and operated school system. It is time that everyone in the U.S. learned the real facts. Also, this is a reminder of the fact that the Dems are no better than the Repubs. Wow, this is a sad day !
Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from we are all downwind 08/06 at 07:39 AMI’m with Rosemarie, Mickey. This is the way Americans should be recalling this astonishing act of barbarity.
And, you know, I often “forget” about Studs Terkel. Yet, this event couldn’t be summed up much better, you know? What an amazing guy. Talk about a life well lived…I can’t think of a story but I’ll let things percolate a bit. Hell, I can’t find my shoes! These old people drive you nuts, eh?
Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/06 at 01:07 PMHistorian Charles L. Mee, Jr can’t help find your shoes...but he wrote this about dropping the bomb: “The psychological effect on Stalin was twofold. The Americans had not only used a doomsday machine; they had used it when, as Stalin knew, it was not militarily necessary. It was this last chilling fact that doubtless made the greatest impression on the Russians.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/06 at 02:35 PMWell, fortunately, we’re safe, here at home:
“My daddy, Harry Truman, is a mass-murderer. He burns people alive. But he’s nice to me! He brings me toys!”I offered this tiny satire to some folks who passionately seek to “revitalize” the Democratic Party. Just a little peek at those Democrats, in action, in 1945. I was sure this would “do the trick.”
The reply: “We’re in a lot of trouble in this country, Joe. This is not the time to dredge up ancient history, and it doesn’t help to call people names.”
`Nuff Said.Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/06 at 02:59 PMWell, I’m still sad and depressed thinking about the Bomb. I just got home forom the “Peace Vigil”. I should be happy. No one threw eggs at us today and most cars passing by gave a big thumbs up. None of this matters. I know that standing “Peace “ vigils is just participating in the “feel good” politics that Churchill talks about. It probably does more harm than good because it feeds into the myth that the normal types of activism are effective. Someone told me today that it is a good thing that we dropped the bomb because the Japanese would have invaded this country if we hadn’t. That increased my feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. How is everyone else holding up? Joe and Mickey, I am waiting for one of you to come up with an effective plan of action to change things.
Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from we are all downwind 08/06 at 03:44 PMMy plan is complex, but logical.
Phase I:
We’ll shrink wrap everything. Absolutely everything, individually.
Phase II:
We’ll count it all.
Once we have an accurate count, we’ll know best how to proceed.ps. - I guess “that’s” how I am, today. Weird day. I’m sorry the vigil didn’t cheer you up, Rosemarie. Well, let’s get the shrink wrap and get busy!
Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/06 at 04:42 PMHow to reach the general population...that is the question. consider this:
A poll taken three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor that found 67 percent of Americans in favor of indiscriminate bombing of Japanese cities.
A U.S. Army poll in 1943 found that roughly half of all GIs believed it would be necessary to kill every Japanese on earth before peace could be achieved.
A December 1945 Fortune poll revealed that nearly twenty-three percent of those questioned wished the U.S. could have dropped “many more [atomic bombs] before the Japanese had a chance to surrender.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/06 at 05:02 PMIt has to be all that public relations/propaganda/brain-washing, which we learned so much about before and during WWI, don’t you think, Mickey? Even the war films of that period are filled with loathing for “those dirty Japs...”
And, imagine how much better they were at such things by the time Truman killed all those people. Then, of course, extrapolate this thesis all the way to 2005: We’re all the subject of an immense brain washing program which has been going on for at least 90 years. No wonder the population is so widely supportive of whatever government does.
I remember feeling frustrated as more and more of the US “illegalized” cigarette smoking. I spoke with an “old-guard,” communist friend in Seattle. I asked: “Is this a grass roots effort? Is this the voice of the non-smokers making itself heard in the governments?” He laughed: “Oh, it’s an experiment of some kind. Smoking is considered very, very addictive. And, it’s ingrained in the psycho-social consciousness of Americans. Imagine what they’ll have learned if they can, more or less, eliminate it from public life.”
Well, of course, it has worked - and though many feel it’s for “the good,” imagine what they’ll begin to work on next…
We’re trying to figure out how to wake people up while the government injects stronger and stronger sleeping potions into an already sleeping population.Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/06 at 06:35 PMHere’s more Truman: “We have used [the bomb] against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare.” This is how he justified his decision to nuke a people that he termed “savages, ruthless, merciless, and fanatic.”
It seems so easy to create an us vs. them dichotomy, why can’t we figure out a way to turn the power elite into “them”?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/06 at 06:54 PMMy day is not getting any better. I just read an article in today’s Atlantic City Press. It says that the navigator of the Enola Gay, is going to my old home town TO SIGN AUTOGRAPHS !!! “... Van Kirk, like other members of the Enola Gay crew, has expressed no regrets about his part in history....”.
OK Joe, I am almost finished shrink wrapping and counting, now what do I do? Is Phase 3, the part where we siphon the gas out of our cars and put it in mason jars and seal them with duct tape, or does that come after we alphabetize all of our spice jars. And when do we get to take a Corona break?
Mickey, the culture of the 40’s and 50’s was filled with so much propaganda, that I still can recognize its effects when I talk with people my age. The war movies were a very big influence on that generation. About the “us vs. them” dichotomy. I am guilty. I see a really big gap between those who get it and those who don’t. Within less than 1 or 2 minutes of conversation, it is easy to separate the us from the them.Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from we are all downwind 08/06 at 07:37 PMOftentimes you can tell, even before they speak, Rosemarie, as with those who still have a dawn & sundown flag ritual in front of their homes, or those with various “Support the troops” stickers on their cars…
I think, Mickey and Rosemarie, that the Elites will have to make themselves into “them.” And, perhaps they’re doing so, already: Make enough people miserable and they’ll wake up grumpy and looking for someone to blame for this affront to their slumbers. Some such thing seems to be happening, even as we type. More and more parents are getting angry as the schools crumble around their kids. More and more returning troops tell terrifying tales and some of their friends are listening and thinking and talking to others. More and more parents of those soldiers are telling similar tales to their friends and family, and they’ll tell others. Some of these people are starting anti-war groups and anti-draft groups and self-publishing little newsletters. More and more white folks are tossed out of the corporations due to downsizings and closures, and some of them are beginning to wake up a bit. Many cities and even some states are passing resolutions which refuse to accept the constraints of the Patriot Act. I’ve read that even some law enforcement people are a bit unnerved by some of the recent moves by the “Feds.” I’ve read a couple of short pieces by judges, too, who are deeply troubled about the direction in which the country is moving. Some of these people have clout, and can influence others. Perhaps all this will, one day soon, reach some sort of critical mass, and we’ll be once again steeped in some sort of 60’s - ish rebellion. If, then, the government gets even more repressive, and everything points to exactly that - well, there may be alarm clocks buzzing all over the country: eg: “Hey, I was pissed that my wife went to that anti-war thing, last week. But, hey, they shot her with rubber bullets. She’s all messed up! I don’t care what she did, they’re not going to be shooting my wife with rubber bullets! If I can’t stop her from going to these things, well, I’ll go to the next one with her!”
And so on.
At least, that’s one possible scenario. The other is that they blow up Peoria, blame it on terrorists, and declare nation-wide martial law, which they then refuse to “un-declare.”Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/06 at 08:41 PMI wish I could feel optimistic about your first scenario, Joe...but the blame is so spread around (unions, liberals, immigrants, welfare cheats, terrorists, and yes, sometimes the corporations and politicians) that each scapegoat os trageted by a small group and nothing cohesive arises.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/06 at 09:04 PMYes, that’s very true. Our “Iron Curtain” has most of this stuff well contained: For every problem, we’ve already identified the sinners. I’m sure the 3rd Reich did exactly the same thing - it’s the Reds, it’s the Jews, it’s the homosexuals, it’s the Gypsies, its…
Still, my father (Mr. Union) used to say: “Joe, people decide to go out on strike for lots of reasons. Lots of them are just stupid - but when they all vote “Yes,” we’ve made a start.” Maybe all the anger can somehow be translated into a more generalized discontent that can be useful, and we’ll have made a start.
I don’t know. I know that sometimes I read people here on the web - Mike Whitney, for example. Very bright, very articulate, very well informed, but he often seems so profoundly angry and frustrated, I’m afraid I’ll be reading a story written by his wife: Mike’s Legacy To The World! Even in death, after his terrible heart attack, Mike works his magic...”
I want to write him and say: Hey, you’re a fine writer, and you’re right but - relax a little. Get stoned, take a walk. Stay alive, damnit, look at some of the more positive possibilities!
I feel that same simmering rage at times and I think, well - what’s a good scenario? Will it hurt to keep this one in your pocket for a while?Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear bad news from Peoria, either…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/06 at 10:12 PMHi again, Mickey -
I just wrote a letter to Mike Whitney. I told him I’d mentioned him in a post. (Though, not where I posted.) I told him what I said in the post. I told him I hoped he’d take a break and relax.He may write and tell me to die, or whatever, we’ll see. However, it occurred to me, as I was writing, that all we really can do is care about one another, and work hard. Almost all other avenues are blocked. We’ve got a nice community, really, here at your place, Mickey, and there are very many such communities. All we can do is support each other whenever possible, declare that support clearly and honestly, and keep each other in mind as we go.
The “Left” has been savaging itself for decades. I’ve read as many serious attacks on Chomsky from the Left as the right, and it’s hard to peruse a series of essays anywhere without reading some little attack from one part of the Left toward another. I’m not advocating that we refrain from disagreements - we certainly need to be honest and straightforward. But we’ve got to find a way to respect each other despite our differences, and to communicate that respect whenever possible. ( I guess this all hearkens back to your Wednesday & Friday posts… )
All we can do is be a community. We have to look around and realize that, here, “behind the barricades,” so to speak, we’re in this together. And, as those Elite Founders of the US sometimes said to each other: We’ll need to hang together, otherwise we’ll surely be hung separately. As a community, we’ll have the opportunity, perhaps sooner than later, to stand up for one another if “they” actually come after us. I guess I’m referring to the “fraternity” part of the slogan of the French Revolution: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” Without the latter element, the first two are certainly forever out of reach.
The Elites are forever supporting each other:
Did you bungle the robbery at Enron, Ken? Oh, don’t worry, all is forgiven.
Stealing billions for your buddies at Halliburton, Dick? Great! Come visit us at the next Bilderberg conference and tell us the juicy details.Surely, we can do even better…
Just some late night thoughts, Mickey, et.al.
Thanks for listening.
-JoePosted by Joe on from Oregon 08/07 at 12:54 AMI think the key, Joe and Mickey, is to find the simplest thing people can do. One that has no pitfall of being perceived as giving an enemy or despised group a significant advantage, and one that does look likely to give take a fairly loathsome group down a few pegs. For a while, I thought it might be worthwhile to try talking the leftier Democrats into joining the Greens—as a means of pressuring their hardened neoliberal leadership into being less villainous. I also though it worthwhile to ask them to support only the Dems who routinely vote according to their stated principles. There are about 3 dozen of them in the House. I’m not so sure either proposal has any chance of success anymore.
Posted by Harry on from 08/07 at 12:57 AMHarry: Maybe we can have a weekly brainstorming session here for serious, but simple ideas.
Joe: I have to read more of Whitney to see what you mean...but what do you know about Peoria that the rest of us don’t?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/07 at 07:19 AMThoughtful post, Harry. And, like all of us, you’re left to wonder: any chance of sucess?
Almost every “little thing” I try seems to fall flat. I say something to a group of folks, and an ominous silence follows. However, you never know what might be percolating in one or two minds…
I was reading about the Starbucks Corp., recently. For quite a while, they simply sold strong, excellent coffees, in a “classy,” upscale environment, and did virtually no advertising. People who went in and had a cup, or got some “to go,” told someone about the experience, later: “Hey, damn good coffee. Real nice place, too.” ( This is not to support what they do, just to describe how they initially did it ) -
Soon they grew into the biggest coffee chain on the planet. You can get a cup of Starbucks, now, in mainland China…
“Word of mouth” has, or so I’ve heard and read for too many years, built lots of big organizations. Again: A “community” of people who treat each other, and most other folks with respect, and who speak the truth, may well have positive effects far beyond what seems possible.
(He said, crossing his fingers, knocking on wood, and kneeling in prayer to the Sun God, Ra!)Mickey, every Leftist should be informed about Peoria: That you don’t know, may be of some concern to management. Well, don’t worry, this will stay just between us…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/07 at 01:10 PMI know all about Peoria, Joe. I was just testing to see if you knew.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/07 at 07:19 PMThat brainstorming sounds good Mickey. On the lighter side, I bet between us all we already have a good idea of what doesn’t work.
I’ve collected a whole bunch of examples of good things that have worked. One of them is the community currency program.
Posted by Harry on from 08/08 at 12:02 AMI very much agree, Mickey & Harry, it’s a wonderful idea.
And that community currency - amazing.
Hit `em in the pocketbook - it’s where they live!Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/08 at 03:35 AM
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