I never implied that Osama ben Ladn WASN'T a sociopath
... although some people obviously inferred that as my meaning.
I was merely tracing the logic of his adventure.
Who is to say that if there had never been a Desert Storm he would not have been set off by something else? An internet porn photo-shop'd pic of Sandra Bernhardt or Judy Jetson? A Barbie doll?
In this case, it's an invasive military presence in his home country, which makes his deficient viciousness seem almost logical.
On the other hand, how much remorse, how soon, does it take to NOT be a sociopath?
Does George Herbert Walker Bush's orders which caused thousands of Iraqi soldiers to be buried alive classify him as such?
Does the "hmmph, collateral damage" attitude toward the 125,000 or so children under the age of 12 dying horribly of dysentery the summer after Desert Storm tell us he's a monster?
Does the pissing away of American resources and thereby dooming millions of Americans to death without medical care qualify?
If they feel remorse in 10 years? 20? Or like Robert MacNamara, make up a story of contrition 30 years later, insisting no one told him, when those present at the meetings recall that those who tried to tell him were rudely removed from the meetings.
They're ALL completely without conscience or sense of proportion, all willing to crush any person, society, or ideal underfoot in order to further their own personal ambitions.ALL of them.
When I was a tyke, my father said of John Foster Dulles, "He'd sell you, me, and his own mother for one more day of power."
I didn't understand what he was talking about ... not THEN.
When you get down to the essentials, there isn't a sou's worth of difference between Tony Blair and Osama ben Ladn and Saddam Hussein and George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld and Charles Manson and Dick Cheney and Timothy McVeigh. (Well, McVeigh and Manson were at least willing to actually get their own hands dirty. I don't consider that enough of a virtue to justify their actions, just enough to further justify mass pissing on the others mentioned above. A psycho-sociopathic standup guy is still a malignant bedbug. The politicos mentioned above are the same, just as they say, nutless ones.)
When you see it that clearly, you get called a lot of nasty names -- traitor being the least of them.
I grew up in Philadelphia admiring Smedley Darlington Butler and Nathaniel Greene.
Smedley Butler was, of course, the Marine Corps General who, after retirement and multiple Medals of Honor, wrote the devastatingly honest War Is A Racket.
Nathaniel Greene was a Revolutionary War Hero -- and there was a statue of him (among others) on the esplanade when approaching the Phildaelphia Art Museum from the river (non Sylvester Stallone) side. He stood there in bronze with his hands clasped behind his back and below him the quote:
"We fight. We lose. We rise.We fight again."
That was so cool.
And then I found out that everyone felt that way, whatever side they were on.
Noam Chomsky once spoke words to the effect that there are no hypocrites in the upper reaches of corporate and political power. That the stress is so intense, that they can only survive if they've fully bought and swallowed whatever bullshit myth they espouse. And that is why you can't talk to them. They don't understand what you mean by your definition of environment or democracy or freedom. Most of them think you're just confused. The current ones get mean about it.
Why does the image of George Bush in a flight suit make some of us laugh in horror and some of us swell with pride?
Is it as simple as some people wishing they were him and others thanking whatever god we may have that we're not ...
And do we get painfully unhappy when we notice we each can see our own certain characteristics that resemble his personal deficiences -- laziness, refusal to admit mistakes, easily losing interest in something that seemed important, growing tired of the job and going partying (line of coke or line of campaign supporters -- alla same-- the roar of the drug or the cheers of the crowd loud enough to drown out any doubts), having police clubs or daddy's money as the answer to anyone who disagrees with you, and under it all, that Oliver Hardy justification so beautifully pointed out some years ago by Robert Anton Wilson, the accusatory defense:
"Look what YOU made me do!"
And we hate the fact that we can recognize some aspect of ourselves in that man --
William Blake said it (and it's a depressing thought):
"People don't get what they deserve -- they get what they resemble."
And if that's so, we know where to start.
I can only offer this caution to our leaders (as well as to you and myself), for all that none of us listen to it -- a bit of long-view reality:
I was merely tracing the logic of his adventure.
Who is to say that if there had never been a Desert Storm he would not have been set off by something else? An internet porn photo-shop'd pic of Sandra Bernhardt or Judy Jetson? A Barbie doll?
In this case, it's an invasive military presence in his home country, which makes his deficient viciousness seem almost logical.
On the other hand, how much remorse, how soon, does it take to NOT be a sociopath?
Does George Herbert Walker Bush's orders which caused thousands of Iraqi soldiers to be buried alive classify him as such?
Does the "hmmph, collateral damage" attitude toward the 125,000 or so children under the age of 12 dying horribly of dysentery the summer after Desert Storm tell us he's a monster?
Does the pissing away of American resources and thereby dooming millions of Americans to death without medical care qualify?
If they feel remorse in 10 years? 20? Or like Robert MacNamara, make up a story of contrition 30 years later, insisting no one told him, when those present at the meetings recall that those who tried to tell him were rudely removed from the meetings.
They're ALL completely without conscience or sense of proportion, all willing to crush any person, society, or ideal underfoot in order to further their own personal ambitions.ALL of them.
When I was a tyke, my father said of John Foster Dulles, "He'd sell you, me, and his own mother for one more day of power."
I didn't understand what he was talking about ... not THEN.
When you get down to the essentials, there isn't a sou's worth of difference between Tony Blair and Osama ben Ladn and Saddam Hussein and George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld and Charles Manson and Dick Cheney and Timothy McVeigh. (Well, McVeigh and Manson were at least willing to actually get their own hands dirty. I don't consider that enough of a virtue to justify their actions, just enough to further justify mass pissing on the others mentioned above. A psycho-sociopathic standup guy is still a malignant bedbug. The politicos mentioned above are the same, just as they say, nutless ones.)
When you see it that clearly, you get called a lot of nasty names -- traitor being the least of them.
I grew up in Philadelphia admiring Smedley Darlington Butler and Nathaniel Greene.
Smedley Butler was, of course, the Marine Corps General who, after retirement and multiple Medals of Honor, wrote the devastatingly honest War Is A Racket.
Nathaniel Greene was a Revolutionary War Hero -- and there was a statue of him (among others) on the esplanade when approaching the Phildaelphia Art Museum from the river (non Sylvester Stallone) side. He stood there in bronze with his hands clasped behind his back and below him the quote:
"We fight. We lose. We rise.We fight again."
That was so cool.
And then I found out that everyone felt that way, whatever side they were on.
Noam Chomsky once spoke words to the effect that there are no hypocrites in the upper reaches of corporate and political power. That the stress is so intense, that they can only survive if they've fully bought and swallowed whatever bullshit myth they espouse. And that is why you can't talk to them. They don't understand what you mean by your definition of environment or democracy or freedom. Most of them think you're just confused. The current ones get mean about it.
Why does the image of George Bush in a flight suit make some of us laugh in horror and some of us swell with pride?
Is it as simple as some people wishing they were him and others thanking whatever god we may have that we're not ...
And do we get painfully unhappy when we notice we each can see our own certain characteristics that resemble his personal deficiences -- laziness, refusal to admit mistakes, easily losing interest in something that seemed important, growing tired of the job and going partying (line of coke or line of campaign supporters -- alla same-- the roar of the drug or the cheers of the crowd loud enough to drown out any doubts), having police clubs or daddy's money as the answer to anyone who disagrees with you, and under it all, that Oliver Hardy justification so beautifully pointed out some years ago by Robert Anton Wilson, the accusatory defense:
"Look what YOU made me do!"
And we hate the fact that we can recognize some aspect of ourselves in that man --
William Blake said it (and it's a depressing thought):
"People don't get what they deserve -- they get what they resemble."
And if that's so, we know where to start.
I can only offer this caution to our leaders (as well as to you and myself), for all that none of us listen to it -- a bit of long-view reality:
"Be careful the asses you kick on the way up --
they're the same ones you have to kiss on the way down."
posted by Saintperle at
4:23 PM
