These are dangerous times for the U.S. war party in power. Its messianic-militarist administration is mired in a disastrous occupation that has killed many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of Americans. The reasons that it has given for this terrible undertaking have been revealed as transparently false.
More than half the U.S. population now says the war on Iraq is NOT morally justified. According to a recent New York Times/CBS poll, a majority of the population now rejects administration’s efforts to link the war on Iraq with the so-called “war on terror.â€
Po avgustovski anketi CNN 60 odstotkov prebivalstva nasprotuje vojni. Enainšestdeset odstotkov jih meni, da bi bilo treba nekatere enote umakniti pred koncem leta, 57 odstotkov pa jih želi časovni načrt za popoln umik.
The president rejects these policy choices as naïve “appeasement†– so-called “cut and run†– even while he insists that the war is being fought on behalf of the idea that government should reflect the “will of the people.â€
Meanwhile, the Republicans’ regressive, hyper-plutocratic domestic policy is highly unpopular. It stands in sharply and ironic contrast to its claim to be leading the nation in a war to save civilization and to advance core “democratic†values.
Ta politika je velik del tega, zakaj plače, ugodnosti in dohodki navadnih Američanov še naprej stagnirajo. Povezana je tudi z endemično, vse bolj pregledno politično korupcijo, ki si je še posebej umazala roke republikancev.
Že tako bogati postajajo očitno še bogatejši kot kdaj koli prej, revni postajajo revnejši in sredina še vedno samo praska, medtem ko predsednik vlaga neizmerne milijarde v nezakonito, množično morilsko, lažno prodano in nepriljubljeno invazijo na Mezopotamijo.
Zdi se, da se vladajoča republikanska desnica ne more otresti podobe neuspeha, ki sta jo obesila Irak in orkan Katrina, tudi z blago gospodarsko rastjo in presenetljivim pomanjkanjem večjega terorističnega napada na ameriških tleh po 9. septembru.
No wonder a big majority of the population now says that the country would be better off if the current war party in power was removed from office. Even with the well-known nothingness of the corporate-neoliberal Democrats, the defeat of the Republicans in November seems at least possible. If that happens it could open the door to some very serious investigations and proceedings against the Cheney-Rove cabal.
Be More Like Mice, Little People
It’s time, perhaps, for the Republicans to call on the services of Dr. Samuel Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese? In that corporate-anthropomorphic masterwork that became a runaway bestseller at the end of the last millennium, Dr. Johnson helped millions of Americans move beyond the negative thoughts and feelings they harbored over the loss of their jobs, earnings, lives and communities to the inexorable workings of the corporate economy. His book received rave reviews and gushing critical praise from such noted literary authorities as IBM, Exxon, Proctor & Gamble, General Electric and their friend the U.S. Army,
In Johnson’s story, four characters lived in a giant “maze.†Two of these characters were mice. One of the mice was named “Sniff.†The other mouse was named “Scurry.â€
The “maze†was Johnson’s clumsy metaphor for the capitalist marketplace, which he conflated with material life and “the way things are†in the real world.
Two of the characters were “littlepeople,†no bigger than mice but endowed with reasoning and language capacities of humans.
The first littleperson was named “Hem.†The second was named “Haw.â€
Once upon a long time, the story went, “Sniff,†“Scurry,†“Hem,†and “Haw†used to get their “cheese†– Johnson’s over-obvious metaphor for jobs and incomes – at “Cheese Station C.†The “cheese station†was Johnson’s over-obvious metaphor for the workplace.
The mice and the “littlepeople†had come to rely on “Station C†to provide with material security and a place in society. One traumatic day, however, for reasons that were unclear, the “cheese†ran out. There was no more “cheese.â€
This was Johnson’s clumsy metaphor for corporate downsizing and deindustrialization, and the disappearance of jobs.
When the “cheese†left, the mice instinctively knew what to do. They went out into the maze and sniffed and scurried around for – what else? – “new cheeseâ€
They didn’t worry about other mice left behind or the mouse community in general. They went out to get “cheese†for themselves.
The “littlepeople†responded in a more problematic and – to use a favorite term from the New Age 1990s – dysfunctional way, reflecting the fact that they possessed critical faculties and moral sensibilities. Like many over-entitled humans, they wasted emotional, intellectual, and physical energy feeling angry at the disappearance of their “cheese.†They spent an inordinate amount of time and effort discussing an irrelevant and useless question: “Who Moved My Cheese?†They lost precious vigor fretting over pointless moral abstractions related to the irrelevant issue of who controlled and abused the “maze†(market).
They questioned authority and sought fairness, futile endeavors that prevented them from getting to the real and only thing that mattered: “finding new cheese.†They worried about the fact that they had purchased homes and built families and communities in the vicinity of “Cheese Station C.†They became concerned and anxious over the meaning of lost jobs/cheese for littlepeople in general.
Morali so biti bolj podobni mišem.
They needed to abandon grievance, drop their crippling concern with justice. They needed to get off their fat littlepeople buts and realize that life and the maze aren’t fair. They needed to realize that the marketplace entitles you to nothing in the way of steady earnings, meaningful work, material security, and community. They needed to get back into the maze and find new jobs – any job, anywhere – as soon as possible for themselves.
They needed to stop worrying about any littlepeople other than themselves. They needed to stop wondering who runs and profits most from “the maze.â€
Morali so iti naprej.
In Johnson’s fable, one of the littlepeople – “Haw†– gets it. Unlike “Hem,†“Haw†learns to accept the great core “life†lessons of classic bourgeois doctrine. He understands that it is a great error to think that people have rights entitling to anything more than the privilege to try their luck in the market.
It is a fundamental mistake, “Haw†realizes, to believe that mere people have any kind of place in society and a right to live or work with and around other people they care about in any specific location.
“Haw†learns to drop the human rights fallacy and to get on with “life.†He learns to stop thinking and feeling in accord with obsolete “old beliefs†like social justice. He agrees to be more like a mouse when life – the marketplace – hands him a raw deal.
He learns that resistance is futile. He learns to stop questioning mysterious corporate power and to jump in accord with the dictates of hidden capital.
Veselo je asimiliran v brezumni, hipermobilni teror globalne, korporativno-neoliberalne Živalske farme.
He gets his sniffing and scurrying sneakers on, runs out into the “maze,†and is rewarded with “new cheese.â€
Along the way he leaves a number of messages posted the serve as what Dr. Johnson calls “The Handwriting on the Wall†for his recalcitrant throwback friend “Hem,†who just can’t let go of the old entitlement beliefs.
Sporočila vključujejo naslednje:
“Movement in a New Direction Helps You Find New Cheeseâ€
“The Quicker You Let Go of Old Cheese, the Sooner you find New Cheeseâ€
“It is Safer to Search for New Cheese Than to Remain in a Cheeseless Situationâ€
“Old Beliefs Do Not Lead You to New Cheeseâ€
“Change Happens: They Keep Moving the Cheeseâ€
“Move With the Cheese and Enjoy Itâ€
Republican Book Proposals for Fall 2006
Millions of grateful readers were enlightened by this marvelous corporate-anthropomorphic fable, which helped “littlepeople†stop questioning state-capitalist authority and get on with personal and animal survival in a neoliberal era when people realize that ideas of justice and community are no longer helpful or relevant.
Doc Johnson je pomagal podmazati kolesje globalizacije podjetij.
Mislim, da bi morali republikanci najeti Johnsona ali kakšnega podobno mislečega orwellovca, da pripravi vrsto hitrih bajk, ki bodo pomagale obdržati drhal med prihajajočimi vmesnimi volitvami in po njih.
Tukaj sta dva možna naslova in zgodbe, ki bi jih morda želeli nadaljevati od zdaj do prihajajočih volitev:
Who Sent My Son Off to Get Maimed in an Imperial Oil War?
Zaplet: dve družini veveričk in dve družini malih ljudi izkusita agonijo svojih sinov, ki jih razstrelijo jezne veverice, ki se predvidljivo upirajo nezakoniti, imperialni in morilski invaziji na njihov z nafto bogato državo, ki so jo ukazali veliki močni Podganadi po imenu Dick, Bush in remi.
The Ratpeople sent the sons and hundreds of thousands of other troops off to the squirrels’ nation after some angry ferrets hijacked some planes and flew them into buildings in the nation run by the Ratpeople.
The Ratpeople told the chipmunks and the littlepeople that the ferrets’ criminal action justified invading the squirrels’ nation. They did everything it could to blur the distinction between squirrels and ferrets. For a while, many of the chipmunks and littlepeople had a hard time distinguishing squirrels from ferrets.
The Ratpeople also lied about the dangers posed to chipmunks and littlepeople by the squirrels’ nation. It claimed that that the squirrels possessed significant “weapons of mass destruction†that it was going to share with the angry ferrets and use against the littlepeople and the chipmunks.
Later, after all the lies were exposed and it was shown that 650,000 squirrels had needlessly died, the Ratpeople said it was too late to call off the invasion. Anyone who wanted to end this mass-murderous action, they said, was an anti-littlepeople/anti-chipmunk coward who likes to “cut and run.â€
Namesto da bi se razburili zaradi strašnih poškodb, ki so jih utrpeli njihovi sinovi, in laži, ki so jih povzročile, se družine veveričk parijo, da ustvarijo nove vojake, ki jih Podganarji lahko uporabijo v prihodnjih nezakonitih vojnah.
One of the two littlepeople families had worked hard to secure a lot of cheese in the maze. It agrees to send another one of its sons in the quest to kill more squirrels and control their oil. It is rewarded with a big tax-cut from the Ratpeople and gets a mimeographed letter of thanks from the Rat named Rummy. The note says “thank you for sacrificing your son’s legs in our noble effort to free and control the squirrels.â€
Na dan, ko je ta družina poslala svojega drugega sina, da ubije in osvobodi veverice, je nalepila več velikih plakatov z napisom:
“It is Safer to Kill and Die than to Remain Alive and Not Killâ€
“Change Happens: They Keep Switching the False Reasons for Their Illegal Warâ€
“Unjust Wars Happen and There’s Nothing You Can Do About itâ€
“The Quicker You Let Go of Peace and Freedom, the Sooner You Will Find Peace and Freedomâ€
“Absurdity and Lies Happen: the Ratpeople Know What They Are Doingâ€
“Move With the Empire and Enjoy Itâ€
“Old Beliefs Will Not Give Us Global Dominanceâ€
“These Colors Don’t Runâ€
“Movement in a New Direction Means Fighting Islamic Squirrel and Ferret Fascism in the Streets of Our Own Countryâ€
“Freedom Isn’t Freeâ€
“United We Standâ€
“Support the Troopsâ€
“Love is Hate; War is Peaceâ€
“I am Chipmunk, Hear Me Chirpâ€
“Some People Think Too Muchâ€
The other littlepeople family does not turn out so well. It clings to the dysfunctional notion that its injured son was maimed for no good reason other than to enact the deceptive, vile, and vicious Ratpeople’s imperial agenda. It can’t let go of the idea that their son deserved better from “their†government.
It fails to move forward and enjoy life’s opportunities because of its obsession with the pointless question: “Who Sent My Son to Get His Legs Blown Off in an Illegal, Imperial and Racist Oil War?â€
As the story ends, it appears that the second family is going to lose its savings and sanity in pointless, self-destructive efforts to stop the illegal and murderous occupation and to unseat the nasty Ratpeople from power. It is crippled by its attachment to the preposterous notion that it is somehow entitled not to have its children maimed in criminal and unnecessary wars.
Who Flooded and Abandoned My City?
Zaplet: dve družini psov in dve družini malih ljudi izkusita agonijo, ko njuno mesto poplavi in izgubi domove zaradi tropske nevihte, katere najhujše posledice bi lahko preprečili, če bi zvezna vlada, ki jo vodijo superbogati Podganadi, posvetila ustrezno pozornost vzdrževanje nasipov in pripravljenost na izredne razmere. Mesto se imenuje stara metropola. Orkan se imenuje George.
Potem ko je mesto poplavljeno, vlada Ratljudi dneve in dneve ne more in/ali noče rešiti na stotine tisočev ujetih psov in malih ljudi.
Part of the problem is that the governing Ratpeople gave other wealthy Ratpeople huge tax cuts that reduced government’s capacity to meet human needs. Another part is that the governing Ratpeople believe that government has no legitimate role to play other than fighting wars, repressing dissent, and paying corporate welfare transfers to other rich and powerful Ratpeople.
Rather than become upset at the terrible policy actions and beliefs of the Ratpeople, the two dog families just shake their mains and lick their wounds. They stay in a cheap federal kennel for a couple of months and move on in search of a new doggy treats.
They realize that their homes in Old Metropolis are gone and that that is the way things go when big storms like Hurricane George happen. Life isn’t fair.
They find new food, treats, and toys in another metropolis far away. They are happy to live their new dog lives.
One of the littlepeople families takes its cue from the contented canines. It leaves the old metropolis behind and never looks back. A family therapist tells them it would be self-defeating to spend time and emerging thinking about what happened to them and other littlepeople and dogs and why.
Ugotovi, da so tovrstna vprašanja zunaj njihovega legitimnega področja vpliva, skrbi in razumevanja. Ugotavljajo, da je bilo razmišljanje o takih zadevah nefunkcionalno in izčrpavajoče.
Družinski člani pišejo sporočila drug drugemu in drugim družinam, ki pravijo:
“Change Happens: They Flood the Old Food Bowl and You Have To Move On.â€
“So What if They Didn’t Pay for Adequate Flood Protection?â€
“People Are Not Entitled to Being Saved From Floods by Big Governmentâ€
“Abandonment Happens: Go with the Flowâ€
“The Quicker You Let Go of Old Metropolis, the Sooner you find New Metropolisâ€
“It is Safer to Sniff Out High Ground Than to Remain in a Wet Situationâ€
“Old Beliefs Do Not Distance You From Floodsâ€
“Too Bad For People Who Get Stuck in Floods and Don’t Move On: It’s Their Problemâ€
“Move With the Dog-Bowl and Enjoy Itâ€
“The Color of You Skin Has Nothing to Do With How Quickly You Can Find Dry Groundâ€
“When They Make Floods Happen, You Have to Cut and Runâ€
“Take Care of Yourself: You Could Get Flooded Anytimeâ€
“Bow Wow!â€
“Many People are Too Moral and Intellectualâ€
“Dogs Know the Scoreâ€
“You Can Teach and Old Wet Dog New Tricksâ€
The other littlepeople family is less fortunate. It can’t stop asking and demanding answers to difficult questions relating to structures of Ratpeople power and authority. It focuses on related abuses that led to the devastation of their homes and city. It becomes suicidal in its determination to fight “those dirty Republican Rats.†It wastes resources and energy in a futile effort to rebuild its city and society so that nothing like what happened after Hurricane George could ever occur again.
Valja se pod urokom velike zmote, da je upravičena do državne zaščite pred socialno in ekološko katastrofo.
Odločen je, da se bo uničil in druge potegnil navzdol v poplavo jeze in obupa. V skladu s svojim nevarnim in izrabljenim konceptom socialne upravičenosti vodi kampanjo proti trenutni vojni stranki na oblasti.
Its vote doesn’t mean anything, however, since the hurricane had has cleared out so many Democratic dogs from its home state that the winner-take-all electoral count goes to the Ratpeople party.
“Who Killed My Democracy?†and Other Future Titles
I don’t think the Republicans have time to produce more than these two fables between now and the mid-term elections.
I also don’t want to leave the impression that the Democrats wouldn’t do well to hire someone like Dr. Johnson to produce some good Orwellian moral fables to cover their own moral and policy records. Many Democratic political leaders have been less than unwilling participants in the creation of the core corporate-imperial policies that brought us Operation Iraqi Freedom, Katrina, and other terrible developments that reflect poorly on the health of the democratic ideal in the United States.
Po volitvah bi lahko ameriške politične in gospodarske elite obeh strank razmislile o produkciji razširjene serije nadaljnjih in sorodnih spin-offov filma Who Moved My Cheese?, ki obtožuje žrtve?
Naslovi lahko vključujejo:
Kdo je bankrotiral mojo vlado?
Kdo je zastrupil mojo ekosfero?
Kdo je stopil moje polarne ledene kape?
Who Turned My Country into the World’s Most Unequal and Wealth-Top-Heavy State?
Kdo mi je podaljšal delovni čas do te mere, da nisem mogel več sodelovati v državljanski kulturi in ohranjati negovalnih medčloveških odnosov?
Kdo je zmanjšal moje zdravstvene ugodnosti?
Kdo je ubil nacionalno zdravstvo?
Kdo je ubil mojo demokracijo?
Kdo je mojo državo spremenil v korporativno plutokracijo?
Kdo mi je znižal in/ali omejil plačo?
Kdo je uničil moj sindikat?
Kdo mi je ukradel pokojnino?
Kdo je obrekoval moj sistem socialne varnosti?
Kdo je zaprl mojo sosesko?
Kdo je zapore naredil za edino rastočo industrijo v mojem podeželskem okrožju?
Kdo je ločil moje metropolitansko območje?
Kdo je ponovno ločil moje šole?
Kdo je gentrificiral mojo skupnost?
Kdo je premalo financiral moje šole?
Who Reduced My Disproportionately Nonwhite Public School’s Curriculum to Mindless and Regimented Preparation for Authoritarian Standardized Tests?
Kdo me je izrinil iz visokošolskega izobraževanja?
Kdo je spremenil mojo kulturo v blago?
Kdo je komercialno bombardiral moje otroke?
Kdo mi je ukradel državljanske svoboščine?
Kdo mi je ukradel državljanske pravice?
Kdo je zanikal moja prizadevanja za spodbujanje rasne enakosti?
Who Manufactured and Sold Guns to My Spouse’s Murderer?
Who Crushed the Spiritual Health of My Nation By Investing More Public Resources in “Defense†Than in Programs of Social Uplift?
Pavlova ulica ([e-pošta zaščitena]) is the author of Empire and Inequality: America and the World Since 9/11 (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2004), Segregated Schools: Educational Apartheid in the Post-Civil Rights Era (New York, NY: Routledge, 2005), and Still Separate, Unequal: Race, Place, and Policy in Chicago (Chicago, 2005) Street’s next book is Racial Oppression in the Global Metropolis: A Living Black Chicago History (New York, 2007).
ZNetwork se financira izključno z velikodušnostjo svojih bralcev.
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