Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
No innocent bystanders in America
Thanks for the very, very good article, Mickey. I like your reference to coltran and blood diamonds...two issues that have been kept out of the media. The hazards of SUV’s are recognized by a lot of people. It is not only a problem of excessive gas consumption. They present a hazard on the roads. There are not any national standards for bumper height. How dumb is that ! I know what it feels like to get hit by a large government dump truck. The bumber was high enough to de-capitate any back seat passenger. Damn, that hurts. My views are a bit different from those of city dwellers. There is NO public transportation where I live - though there should be and I have advocated for a van type of service. The poor have no voice and the rich have their SUV’s. The problem is complicated by zoning regulations. In the old days there was a grocery store on every street corner and people could walk to get what ever was needed. Now, in many areas, a car is necessary for survival. That’s not the way it should be, but that’s the way that it is......I am happy that I have no cell phone and no diamonds and never wanted any even before the whole blood diamond disaster.
ROBERT FISK IS ON DEMOCRACY NOW TODAY.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 09/05 at 07:30 AMHey man--- off to work now, just wanted to say I was at St. Mark’s books last night, and they still have 50 AR displayed prominently by the information desk! Good to see they’re behind you…
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 09/05 at 07:41 AMGood morning and what a fine article, Mickey. I often overlook the comments at the publishing sites but did read them today.
For those of us who have awoken to behold this nightmare of a housefire that our societies have become, I say that the best sort of activism is to nudge your neighbour before they die of smoke inhalation. The more of us who are awake, the better.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/05 at 07:54 AMRegarding Coke, I think we should always think of Columbia - they still have their death squad goons wiping out about 200 union people a year over there. Coke’s main bottling plant is in Bogota, and guess what? They pay their workers next to nothing.
I was in Ireland when the mobile phone driving ban came in, and the next day there was an epidemic of use. I can’t see the problem with such basic logic - driving around and not giving the road your attention is little different from driving drunk. Anyone any good theories on why so many people love ignoring simple common sense in this way?
Great last sentence to that article, MZ. A really fine touch.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, where it is still raining 09/05 at 10:15 AMHello Expendables...from a soon-to-be-rainy Astoria.
I’m somewhat encouraged by the response to this article. It even got translated into Vietnamese.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/05 at 11:20 AMExcellent article. It’s beginning to appear we are all guilty of “collaborating with the enemy”, but wait the enemy is us. How did this happen?
I printed up a bumper sticker (yes, i drive...hangs head in shame) that reads: The Only Thing Uglier Than Your SUV Is Your Mind.
Makes me real popular in East Bay Suburbs.
Posted by The CultureGhost on from Concord, CA 09/05 at 11:39 AMHi and welcome, Culture Ghost (same one as was at PP once upon a time, I presume?)
I think the answer to “how did this happen?” is rooted in lies, deception, and atrophy of the brain.
Hey Mickey at least you had a “perfect” couple of days...the sun threatened for all of about 10 minutes the last two days...so far we’re cloudy with a chance of more cloudy. Autumn’s come and slapped us and I for one am not quite ready yet.
Vietnames, eh? Is that for the expat readership, or all the way over thar?
Now to have the books translated....Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/05 at 12:05 PMCulture Ghost, you hit on something with the “Ugly Mind” concept. We have surrendered our minds...our independent critical thought. Unless we change our minds, we’ll never change our culture.
Empress: Not sure what the audience is, re: Vietnam site. I’ll try to find out. Also I’ve had a few books translated into Italian. I wonder if they sell better over there.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/05 at 12:24 PMYou know, I’d bet they’d sell well in India.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/05 at 12:27 PMNew slogan: “RECLAIM your BRAIN”
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/05 at 12:28 PMDo you have any connections along those lines in India, Empress? Also, I just may have to write a book with that title: Reclaim your brain. Perfect.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/05 at 12:32 PMI was trying to think of that when I posted my comment and I’m still cooking on it. Nothing immediately relevant but I’ll let you know the pot boils.
Do you have a draft of that book ready yet? ;)
Make sure it’s good and “heavy”.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/05 at 12:58 PMCongratulations, Mickey, on the success of your articles. Good job!
How do we fight consumerism? How do we
convince someone they don’t need to have a T.V. in every room, three cars per household, several models of the latest electronic gaget and on & on? As a society, we are encouraged to support the economy, urged to purchase items that are not necessary to sustain life. How do we unlearn what we have be taught?Posted by Canadian Observer on from 09/05 at 01:17 PMI don’t think we can convince anyone of anything really. We can only do our best to disseminate TRUTH and hope that the pill’s not too bitter to swallow.
Deprogramming is a tricky thing, and it is just exactly that - what we’ve been taught is just as sinister as any manchurian candidate plan and the antidote is knowledge.
It must be a person’s choice to learn though; horse to water and all that.Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/05 at 01:21 PMWOW...there are a lot of profound ideas here today. Congratulations, Mickey. Amelopsis, I like “RECLAIM YOUR BRAIN”, ...also “A REFORMED NON-THINKER”.
Maybe we should set up a parallel government here at Mickey’s like they are doing in Mexico. It might bring some more visitors here. We could elect OUR national president and OUR members of a Central Committee. We could issue statements of support for those who are being oppressed by that “other” usa government. The government in Washington only has the power that the people give it. We need to openly show that that government does not represent us.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 09/05 at 02:06 PMPS...I just happen to have the pledge for the new government ready....
THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE
I pledge allegiance to planet Earth
And to all of the inhabitants thereof
One Universe, undivided with no nations and no borders
With Justice and Peace for allCaptcha word is “earth” (amazing coincidence)
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 09/05 at 02:11 PMRMJ
That’s one pledge of allegience I would be more than proud to make.
Posted by Canadian Observer on from 09/05 at 02:20 PMHi CO...thanks. That makes you a member of the New Nation...with apologies to my anarchist friends who don’t think that there should ever be any government. I believe in law and order, honest I do. Every time I say that, people who know me laugh, but it is true.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 09/05 at 02:27 PMDo you mean this, RMJ:
http://www.nbc.com/Law_&_OrderCaptcha sez: power
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/05 at 02:30 PMSorry, I could not get that link to work, Mickey. What am I missing?
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 09/05 at 02:39 PMAll you were missing was a very bad joke. I sent you a link for the TV show, Law and Order.
I love your pledge, btw.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/05 at 02:46 PMOhhhhhh thanks, Mickey. There are no bad jokes, every joke is humorous to some one, maybe.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 09/05 at 02:52 PMMaybe…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/05 at 03:01 PMHow do we fight Consumerism? By not participating as much as possible (which is difficult to do) and not legitimatizing it. Other than that, I’m not sure. Maybe just wait for the whole thing to fall apart? It isn’t sustainable so it has to collapse at some point.
Meanwhile the average American believes the Consumer Culture is his/her God-Given-Right; to express himself/herself in the natural order of consumer choices. Political action/options are truly immaterial when compared to the sheer cornucopia of 600 cable channels, sixty flavors of soft-drinks and thousands of running shoes and t-shirts. No “average American” is going to surrender this utopia...why, they’ll surrender their civil liberties before they’ll surrender their freedom to consume. Oh, wait...isn’t that what is happening now? Never mind.
Amelopsis: Good to see you. I knew I recognized the name, just couldn’t place the face.
Posted by The CultureGhost on from Concord, CA 09/05 at 03:10 PMOf course I agree with the anti-consumerism philosophy expressed in a lot of these comments but one of the biggest consumer/polluters is the Pentagon and the usa Dept of Offense. Much of the waste and pollution never makes the headlines except when there is a call to shut down a facility or military base. Then there is a great outcry of resistance based on the fact that these facilities provide jobs. In my tiny town there was great fan fare a while back because a microtechnology center was funded by the usa Dept of Navy. It is going to make arming devises for torpedoes ---seems like a big waste to me unless they are expecting an invasion coming up the Hudson River but 8 jobs supposedly were created. The whole town thought that this facility was a great idea, except for me. A friend just told me that her nephew is working on a large site now under construction being designed for Black Hawk helicopters in Burlington, Vermont. Maybe they are planning an invasion of Canada. The problem is that Congress continues to excessively fund the Pentagon and if that’s not bad enough there is the even bigger problem of the Black Budget. BTW, in one of my artilcles I point out that no election since the 1940’s has been valid because the Black Budget has prevented the voters from casting informed ballots.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 09/05 at 05:10 PMGreat article today! It’s no wonder we’re hated the world over when everything we do here that we consider ordinary is trampling someone else an ocean away.
Thanks. Now I can’t even drink a Coke without feeling guilty.
Posted by David on from Louisville KY 09/05 at 05:12 PMHello everyone. Nice article MZ. If you expand on the idea you basically take us a step past Ward Churchill’s “little Eichmann” statement. The managers of malignant global capital may claim to be merely dutifully taking orders, but the rest of us aren’t even taking orders. We volunteer. The sheep instinct is strong in people.
A small but not insignificant example of this is something I observe every time I pass through an airport (too often, too often) . . . people voluntarily remove their shoes at security even though there is no law requiring passengers to do so and no sign requesting it. They do this after a single human being (out of how many millions of air passengers?) tried to set his shoe on fire a few years ago caused security personnel to begin requesting it. Returning from my summer holiday this past weekend I saw security personnel request an elderly woman to remove her prosthetic limb at the Cardiff airport. Everyone else (except us) was already voluntarily shoeless. I wonder how many other inane gestures of deference to power we make every day.
Anyway. I have a response to David’s comments. I am not so concerned about people hating Americans all over the world. First of all it’s not 100 percent true. Secondly, I’m more concerned about the loss of my one’s own dignity if they are actively or passively “trampling someone else an ocean away”.
As for drinking Coke: it’s poison, plain and simple. Again, you don’t have to worry about others guilting you for drinking it. Just be more concerned about the poisons you willingly and unnecessarily take into your body.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague (Jackowski election hdqts) 09/05 at 05:44 PMHello David.
Keir: Welcome back. I’m wondering...did you go through security without taking off your shoes?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/05 at 06:39 PMI’ve managed to keep my shoes on a few times post 9/11, most notably last year travelling from New York to Florida. I asked “do I have to remove them?” and I was told no, so I didn’t.
UK airports are totally security crazed right now, and I guess Cardiff-Amsterdam is a major terror route. I was wearing sandals with foam soles and could have complained when I was eventually asked to remove them, but you gotta pick your battles and that one wasn’t worth fighting. In future I aim to avoid flying within Europe anyway whenever I can. Airports are the bottom of the barrel in so many ways.
captcha="british"
Posted by Keir on from The Hague (Jackowski election hdqts) 09/05 at 07:31 PMKeir have you ever witnessed a brown person ask if they had to remove their shoes?
I can’t help but assume that the response they’d have been received would be altogether different.
Therein lies the much more sinister and immediate result of the erosion of civil liberties.
(I hope beyond hope that you tell me you’ve seen this and the person got the same response to their question as you did...please?
ps: Any update on your potential gig in Israel?
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/05 at 08:35 PM”...when everything we do here that we consider ordinary is trampling someone else an ocean away."
Oceans cannot be considered obstacles to our conscience, we have ‘free trade’ now.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/05 at 08:39 PMAs Henry Miller sez: “It isn’t the oceans which cut us off from the world; it’s the American way of looking at things.”
Captcha sez: miles
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/05 at 08:52 PM
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