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€
Ayon sa isang poll ng CNN noong Agosto, 60 porsiyento ng populasyon ay sumasalungat sa digmaan. Animnapu't isang porsyento ang naniniwala na ang ilang mga tropa ay dapat tanggalin bago matapos ang taon at 57 porsyento ay nais ng isang timetable para sa buong pag-alis.
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.
Ang patakarang iyon ay isang malaking bahagi kung bakit ang mga sahod, benepisyo, at kita ay patuloy na tumitigil para sa mga ordinaryong Amerikano. Ito ay nauugnay din sa isang endemic, lalong transparent na pampulitikang katiwalian na lalo na ang dumi sa mga kamay ng Republikano.
Ang mga mayayaman na ay malinaw na yumaman kaysa dati, ang mga mahihirap ay lalong naghihirap at ang gitna ay nangungulit pa rin habang ang pangulo ay nagbuhos ng bilyon-bilyon sa iligal, malawakang pagpaslang, maling ibinenta at hindi popular na pagsalakay sa Mesopotamia.
Ang in-power Republican right ay tila hindi kayang iling ang imahe ng kabiguan na nakabitin dito ng Iraq at Hurricane Katrina kahit na may banayad na pagpapalawak ng ekonomiya at ang nakakagulat na kawalan ng malaking terror attack sa US lupa mula noong 9/11.
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.
Kailangan nilang maging mas katulad ng mga daga.
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€
Kailangan nilang mag-move on.
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.
Masaya siyang na-asimilasyon sa walang isip, sobrang-mobile na takot ng pandaigdigan, corporate-neoliberal na Animal Farm.
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.
Kasama sa mga mensahe ang sumusunod:
“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.
Tumulong si Doc Johnson na pahiran ang mga gulong ng globalisasyon ng korporasyon.
Sa tingin ko, dapat kunin ng mga Republikano si Johnson o ang ilang katulad na Orwellian na gumawa ng isang serye ng mabilis na pabula upang makatulong na panatilihing nasa linya ang rabble sa panahon at pagkatapos ng paparating na mid-term na halalan.
Narito ang dalawang posibleng pamagat at linya ng kuwento na maaaring gusto nilang ituloy sa pagitan ngayon at sa paparating na halalan:
Who Sent My Son Off to Get Maimed in an Imperial Oil War?
Plot: dalawang pamilyang chipmunk at dalawang maliliit na pamilya ang dumanas ng paghihirap ng kanilang mga anak na pinasabog ng galit na mga squirrel na hinuhulaan na lumalaban sa isang ilegal, imperyal, at nakamamatay na pagsalakay sa kanilang bansang mayaman sa langis na inutusan ng malalaking makapangyarihang Ratpeople na nagngangalang Dick, Bush, at Rummy.
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€
Sa halip na magalit sa mga kakila-kilabot na pinsalang dinanas ng kanilang mga anak na lalaki at sa mga kasinungalingang dulot sa kanila, ang mga pamilyang chipmunk ay nag-asawa upang makabuo ng mga bagong sundalo na magagamit ng Ratpeople sa hinaharap na mga ilegal na digmaan.
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€
Sa araw na pinaalis ng pamilyang ito ang kanilang pangalawang anak upang patayin at palayain ang mga squirrel, naglagay ito ng maraming malalaking poster na nagsasabing:
“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?
Plot: dalawang pamilya ng aso at dalawang pamilyang maliliit na tao ang nakararanas ng matinding paghihirap ng pagbaha sa kanilang lungsod at pagkawala ng kanilang mga tahanan sa gitna ng isang tropikal na bagyo na ang pinakamasamang kahihinatnan ay maaaring napigilan kung ang pederal na pamahalaan na pinamamahalaan ng napakayamang Ratpeople ay nagbigay ng sapat na atensyon sa pagpapanatili ng mga leve at sa paghahanda sa emergency. Ang lungsod ay tinatawag na Old Metropolis. Ang bagyo ay tinatawag na George.
Pagkatapos bahain ang lungsod, ang gobyerno ng Ratpeople ay hindi magagawa at/o ayaw na iligtas ang daan-daang libong mga nakulong na aso at maliliit na tao sa loob ng ilang araw at araw.
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.
Ang mga uri ng tanong na iyon, natutunan nito, ay lampas sa kanilang mga lehitimong saklaw ng impluwensya, pagmamalasakit, at pag-unawa. Ito ay dysfunctional at draining, tinutukoy nila, upang pag-isipan ang mga naturang bagay.
Ang mga miyembro ng pamilya ay sumusulat ng mga tala sa isa't isa at sa ibang mga pamilya na nagsasabing:
“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.
Ito ay gumulong sa ilalim ng spell ng malaking kamalian na ito ay may karapatan sa proteksyon ng gobyerno mula sa panlipunan at ekolohikal na sakuna.
Determinado itong sirain ang sarili at hilahin ang iba sa baha ng galit at kawalan ng pag-asa. Alinsunod sa mapanganib at luma na nitong konsepto ng panlipunang karapatan, nangangampanya ito laban sa kasalukuyang partidong pandigma na nasa kapangyarihan.
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.
Pagkatapos ng halalan, maaaring isaalang-alang ng mga Amerikanong pampulitika at pang-ekonomiyang elite ng magkabilang partido na gumawa ng pinahabang serye ng higit pa at nauugnay na mga spin-off na sinisisi ng biktima ng Who Moved My Cheese?
Maaaring kabilang sa mga pamagat ang:
Sino ang Nabangkarote sa Aking Gobyerno?
Sino ang Lason sa Aking Ecosphere?
Sino ang Nagtunaw ng Aking Mga Polar Ice Caps?
Who Turned My Country into the World’s Most Unequal and Wealth-Top-Heavy State?
Sino ang Nag-extend ng Aking Mga Oras ng Trabaho hanggang sa puntong Hindi Na Ako Makalahok sa Kulturang Sibiko at Mapanatili ang Pagpapalaki ng Mga Relasyon ng Tao?
Sino ang Nagbawas sa Aking Mga Benepisyo sa Pangangalaga sa Kalusugan?
Sino ang Pumatay sa National Health Care?
Sino ang Pumatay sa Aking Demokrasya?
Sino ang Nagsagawa ng Aking Bansa sa Isang Corporate Plutocracy?
Sino ang Nagbawas at/o Naglimitahan sa Aking Sahod?
Sino ang Bumagsak sa Aking Unyon?
Sino ang Nagnakaw ng Aking Pagreretiro?
Sino ang Sinisiraan ang Aking Social Security System?
Sino ang Nakakulong sa Aking Kapitbahayan?
Sino ang Ginawa ang Mga Bilangguan na Tanging Industriya ng Paglago sa Aking Rural County?
Sino ang Naghiwalay sa Aking Metropolitan Area?
Sino ang Muling Naghiwalay sa Aking Mga Paaralan?
Sino ang Nag-Gentrified sa Aking Komunidad?
Sino ang Under-funded sa Aking Mga Paaralan?
Who Reduced My Disproportionately Nonwhite Public School’s Curriculum to Mindless and Regimented Preparation for Authoritarian Standardized Tests?
Sino ang Nagpresyo sa Akin ng Mas Mataas na Edukasyon?
Sino ang Nagbago sa Aking Kultura?
Sino ang Komersyal na Nagbomba sa Aking Mga Anak?
Sino ang Nagnakaw ng Aking Mga Kalayaan Sibil?
Sino ang Nagnakaw ng Aking Mga Karapatang Sibil?
Sino ang Tinanggihan ang Aking Mga Pagsisikap na Isulong ang Pagkakapantay-pantay ng Lahi?
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?
Paul Street ([protektado ng email]) 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).
Ang ZNetwork ay pinondohan lamang sa pamamagitan ng kabutihang-loob ng mga mambabasa nito.
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