“Not a monster”? In our current society where genetics is vaguely understood by even the biggest dunderheads (OK, I’m being kind), why does that comment need to be made, even in the light-hearted sense? Do people honestly have the impression a four-eared kitten is some demonic perversion of nature which could counteract the power of the horseshoe above your door and bring plague to your crops? Who are these people?
Speaking of morons, the banal shit-slinging continues unabated regarding Latham’s projected plan to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq by Christmas. Neoconservative Coalition MPs have lined up in front of the media to espouse the sheer depth and breadth of their wisdom and complex knowledge regarding foreign policy and international affairs. Ross Cameron used the opportunity to proclaim, with breathless excitement at the originality of his own aphorism, that bin Laden was “stroking his beard and celebrating the advent of Mark Latham.” There were several other nuggets of wisdom regarding Latham’s decision to align with the “will of the terrorists” and their intention to “weaken the resolve” of the Western alliance. Disregarding how presumptuous it is to assume that there ever was a mandated allied resolve on the Iraqi detour, it’s funny how the “will of the terrorists” is suddenly an important factor in world politics. If only the “will of the terrorists” had been taken into account regarding America’s attitude towards Israel’s nuclear proliferation, or single-handed spanner in the works of UN counter-terrorism resolutions throughout the years, or installation of military bases in Saudi Arabia, or arbitrary and hypocritical Iraqi and Afghan foreign policies, or the billions of dollars in international arms deals. But of course, these factors pale into insignificance, because we are facing an enemy who Hate Freedom and want to Weaken Our Resolve. They are Evil Freedom Haters, and our Resolve must not be Weakened. Evil. Hate freedom. Weaken resolve. EVIL. RESOLVE WEAKEN. HATE FREEDOM. (Incidentally, does Bush ever say anything remotely sophisticated?) You see, when you have a nameless, faceless, universally-hated enemy, you can set their agenda in stone and set your own agenda in conveniently diametric opposition. Then, you can parrot any deviation from your agenda to the bewildered herd as a Weakening Of Resolve, or a Victory For Them, etc, and successfully employ the most heady of electoral policies: Fear. It’s quite brilliant. Example: We must invade Iraq and remove the WMDs. Our troops are deployed. You oppose this deployment. Do you oppose the troops? There were no WMDs. So what, do you oppose the freedom of the Iraqi people? Terrorists want occupying forces out of Iraq. Latham wants Australian forces out of Iraq an appreciable time after the official handover of power. Latham is complying with terrorists!! It’s this totally vacuous propagandistic bait-and-switch smokescreen which has worked SO effectively thus far. It’d a stroke of genius if it weren’t so dangerous to international affairs. Woodrow Wilson would be proud. So would Goebbels. And of course it tends to propogate most readily amongst those with an appreciably concordant simplistic, non-skeptical, narcissistic, selfish worldview; ie. breeders and conservatives. Theirs is a god-fearing universe of sharply delineated Good and Evil, of comfortable Black and White amidst the scary, fuzzy grey chaos. And it forces me to consider it, along with religious faith, as a mental illness which must be eradicated from the human condition forever so we can feed and clothe the world’s starving, explore the universe and colonise the stars in peace and prosperity.
Am I in a good mood?
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