Sunday, January 09, 2005

Gonzales in the (White) House

Watching the Alberto Gonzales hubbub reminded me of when Satya Magazine published a provocative interview with a hardnosed founding member of Greenpeace, Captain Paul Watson. When asked for tactical and motivational advice for new activists, Watson offered his version of a realty check for the next generation: “All people are the same. The poor are simply wannabe rich people. The oppressed are wannabe oppressors.”

As difficult as it might be to accept, there is some truth in Watson’s appraisal. Talk to any non-rich lottery player if you don’t believe me. In my neighborhood, playing the lottery is not just state-sponsored gambling...it’s a lifestyle choice. Coercive advertising is used to convince the poor and middle class to accept a cleverly disguised, voluntary tax by promising them a chance to be rich like all their media-created heroes. It’s an awesome victory of propaganda that so many downtrodden Americans strive to be exactly like the man whose boot is stomping on their necks.



This goes a long way in explaining how the Bush Cabinet can include women, African-Americans, Asians, and a Latino like Gonzales.

However, there is little reason to casually categorize such behavior as “human nature.” Rather, thanks to decades of conditioning, our personal dreams have been co-opted and replaced with the American Dream of wealth, material possessions, sexual conquests, being on TV, etc. Best of all, the American Dream myth tells us we can and will accomplish all this on our own. It’s the fable of individualized success: If you outwork and outthink and out-hustle the competition, this is truly the land of opportunity. Anything is possible...and if you succeed, it’s because you worked harder and better and deserved it more. This myth is conveniently helpful for praising success...but mighty damaging in explaining failure. If you don’t attain your goals (or at least the goals forced upon you), the blame is on you and you alone. It’s your fault that you’re not living up to the standards set by billboards, TV commercials, and magazine ads.

Like subjects in a massive social engineering experiment, we are programmed to mimic our oppressors.

As Springsteen sang: “Poor man wanna be rich/Rich man wanna be king/And the king ain’t satisfied/Till he rules everything.”

===

ON THE SOLIDARITY FRONT:

William “Bud” Gray is editor of Trumpet America (http://www.trumpetamerica.org), a site that often posts my work. Bud has recently faced serious threats to his First Amendment rights...and has asked me to publicly stand in solidarity with him. I unfortuantely cannot offer more specifics than this: http://www.trumpetamerica.org/ta050108.txt, but: Hey Bud, this one’s for you.
(more soon)

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Posted on 01/09 at 06:12 PM
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Saturday, January 08, 2005

Little Nicky Kristof Bugs Out

I Want My DDT

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
—Upton Sinclair

“There is an odor to any Press Headquarters that is unmistakable… the unavoidable smell of flesh burning quietly and slowly in the service of a machine.”
—Norman Mailer

In a January 8, 2005 New York Times op-ed column ("It’s Time to Spray DDT"), Nicholas D. Kristof begins: “If the U.S. wants to help people in tsunami-hit countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia - not to mention other poor countries in Africa - there’s one step that would cost us nothing and would save hundreds of thousands of lives. It would be to allow DDT in malaria-ravaged countries.”



Why would anyone make such a suggestion? Well, in Little Nicky’s case, let’s start with the fact that he’s just “thrilled” that we are “pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the relief effort.” Ah yes, moments like this tend to bring out that time-honored capitalist response to tragedy: Buy guilt relief, congratulate oneself profusely, and then swiftly return to one’s bubble of denial.

To read the complete article, please click here:
http://www.counterpunch.com/mickey01082005.html

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Posted on 01/08 at 04:12 PM
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Friday, January 07, 2005

Prophets from Vaudeville

(Disclaimer: I’m reading a fun book at the moment: “Mixed Nuts: America’s Love Affair with Comedy Teams” by Lawrence J. Epstein. It provoked me to dig out something silly I wrote about 10 years ago for Curio Magazine.)

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were light years ahead of their time and for that, they suffered the scorn of their jealous peers. Today, however, we are just now beginning to appreciate their masterful interpretation of this kooky thing we call “Art.” With the benefit of hindsight, we can marvel at such intellectual, surreal wordplay games as “Who’s on First?”



We can set up discussion groups and analyze the recurring use of “Stinky” as Christ figure. And what about the ever-present “Mr. Fields”? Surely now we can all recognize his status as a mere smoke screen for the rampant anti-communism that Abbott & Costello saw looming on the horizon.

So, the next time you see “Buck Privates” sitting their on the shelf of your local video store, you can smile to yourself about how these two amazing artistes were able to meld their humor and pathos to mask their stance against the Vietnam War. Sure, “Buck Privates” was filmed in the ‘40s…but that only proves precisely how far ahead of the curve Bud and Lou truly were.

“Prophets from Vaudeville,” I like to call ‘em.

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Posted on 01/07 at 07:49 PM
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