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Ed, you have seen that the sleeping Tiger is now
awake. But what you do not see is that no matter how much that
Tiger prowls, its only option is as L. Frank Baum said after Wounded
Knee "annihilation". Genocide is the only answer to
cultural conquest. Cultures don't just go away in less that
seven generations.
The Tiger has a very short attention span so he
must kill indiscriminately or the seven generations will outlast his
power. In four generations the US Congress removed the ban on
Indian religion and culture. In 1996, the George I law
that made us a Trademark was finally ratified and the
official "tribes" (no longer dependant Nations), will slowly die out as
they either run out of genetics through inbreeding or lose their official "blood
quantum" and become extinct and lose their land. The fine for anyone
who is not registered with an official "tribe" and markets anything as American
Indian, Native America etc. is $250,000. Any museum that lists a non
trademarked artist as American Indian even if they are native speakers
forever and have never spoken any other language but Cherokee for example, is
$1,000,000. Now why such
big fines? You figure it. Extinction
means that the land reverts to the government and groups like the Navajo own
land larger than many American States.
We tried imitating the Tiger and got sent on
our own Bataan Death march that we call the Trail of Tears, for our arrogance at
being faux Europeans as taught by the missionaries to the Cherokee
nation. But we have survived. Today the organized
remnants of those groups face ultimate extinctions while the rest of us who
belong to the families that refused the numbers on the arms, will
continue to carry our religion culture and communitees and buy our own
land. It is not productive to fool with a wounded beast that
continually tears its scars open just to give it the anger to do its worst
impulses.
REH
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2003 12:55
PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Re: A child
with no legs (was Tigris Zone)
Karen, thank you for your very thoughtful piece
to the list, but I would question whether what is now going on in America is,
as you put it, a "transformation" or simply the emergence, more full blown
than usual, of something that has been there for a very long time.
There is no question but that Americans have
produced and steadfastly held some of the world's highest ideals built on the
thoughts of people like Thomas Paine, Jefferson, Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and
Martin Luther King. Yet how well America has followed its ideals
is hugely questionable. Since its beginnings as a nation, it has
not hesitated to trample the ideals of others if that suited its
purposes. Though founded on principles of "the rights of man", it
denied human rights to its Aboriginal people, then to millions of people
brought over from Africa as slaves. It is still denying such rights to
prisoners held in Cuba and to others whom it is holding on suspicion of links
to terrorism. And, one can't overlook the fact that, despite the
value it espouses to place on human life, it was the first major power ever to
use weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations by dropping nuclear
bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
What this suggests is a schizoid society, part
tolerant, peaceful and open; part repressive, dangerous and closed. The
former is embedded in its contributions to governance, to philosophy, to
literature, and in its academia; the latter in its militarism, in its
corporatism, and its prison system, which still in many states still includes
the death penalty. Except perhaps during the Civil War, the two sides of
this duality have never been in open combat and yet, from any reading of
American history, one senses that they have always been engaged, pushing and
shoving at each other for dominance.
The repressive and closed side is
currently in ascendancy, clothing itself in its own peculiar idealism
of saving the world from terror and transforming the dark parts of the
world into peaceful democracies, thereby saving them from themselves.
George W. Bush, the product of privilege, power and corporatism is not its
leader, but its figurehead. What he represents is deeply embedded in the
American psyche. But then so is what Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt,
Kennedy and perhaps even Clinton, represented, and what Jimmy Carter has come
to represent now.
Like you, I don't think Americans will rise up
against their President. That is not the American way. What is
more likely is that people will become sick of militarism, of seeing
bedraggled men, women and children trying to get out of the way of tanks and
bullets in Iraq (and perhaps Iran thereafter). Like "Survivor", it's all
now being played out on reality TV, and people must eventually sicken of the
stench of it. Though it is the American way, hand on heart, to express
solidarity with the President whatever he does, the schizoid pushing and
shoving will continue behind the scenes, aided and abetted by body bags.
Like '41, '43 may be a one term President. Though it may be attributable
to a genetic flaw, it does seem rather strange that '43, like his father,
shows a remarkable stupidity about the economy. The costs of war and the
tax cuts for the rich could prove to be a disastrous curb on American
power.
Ed Weick
----- Original
Message -----
Sent: Sunday,
March 23, 2003 9:59 AM
Subject:
[Futurework] Re: A child with no legs (was Tigris Zone)
Keith, I have seen no evidence or know of
any protocol that a condemned death row prisoner would ever be in the actual
presence of a governor asking for clemency, so that a woman prisoner falling
on her knees begging for her life must be allegorical not literal.
I believe the case to which you are
referring that Bush mocked afterwards was Karla Faye (Tucker?), a woman who
became a �jailhouse Christian� and reportedly tried to influence other women
prisoners in a positive way, whose cause was taken up by religious leaders
because she had asked for forgiveness of her sins, and this was naturally an
issue they found compelling.
She was executed nevertheless. The law trumps forgiveness and
redemption in Texas any day of the week, even Sundays. Is the law accountable in Texas is
the question.
I am in no way defending Gov. Bush�s
immaturity and lack of gray matter, meaning that the man sees things very
much in black and white: if the Texas judicial system said this convict was
guilty and deserved to die under the laws of the state, Gov. Bush had no
compulsion to investigate further or question, nor even appear to take a
position of careful deliberation. To do so would acknowledge complaints
about the system itself and admit institutional and personal weakness. His personality is to show strength,
decisiveness and dedication and let the chips fall as they may. As history and both secular and
religious literature teach us, these qualities are easily diverted from good
purposes to bad when there is little or no independent tendency to question
or be curious.
My gut instinct is that this is a man who
worships not the redeeming power of his faith but the conquering power of
the transformation. As
illustration, if any of you read the Newsweek cover story I posted (Bush and
God), Fineman described Bush�s bible study group as a substitution for AA
group therapy, and the class focus on the conversion of Saul of Tarses to
Paul the Apostle is very instructive, because Paul became one of the most
proactive, judgmental and influential apostles, using his previous sinners
life and his newfound transformation in ways that the original 13 could
not.
In response to your speculation that the
American public will rise up and reject this transformation of their
leadership, I have no idea, but it is certainly why many of us are having
more difficulty sleeping at night. I agree with comments I have heard
from historians and retired officials who say out loud that it seems that
this administration and its agenda, specifically the war agenda but also the
economic/social agenda, are creating a rift in this country similar to the
great divide before, during and after the Civil War. This should make any red blooded
American citizen tremble.
The risks and consequences in this
national transformation are great, which we have discussed here before and I
won�t go into now. But I heard a few moments of a speech (Friday?) on CSpan
book show by Katherine McNamara, publisher/editor of Archipelago, who repeated a comment by a Canadian
politician on CBC. He answered
the interviewer�s question, should Canada take a more public stand opposing
the US war against Iraq by saying that America is changing itself right now
and perhaps Canada should wait and see. Her remarks on the whole were closer
to my darkest fears, that we are sitting through a silent coup d�etat of the
greatest American creation and export, democratic ideals, and seeing a
triumphant installation of military supremacy as a political philosophy,
instead. The term American
Empire is being said more without being challenged or mocked. No, I am not referring to my
neighbors, whom may be watching CNN war coverage now but flipping back to
ESPN when the talk is too cerebral.
I�m talking about the expert class, the professionals, the historians
and the punditry.
Word coming from France via Friedman
today, that perhaps their leadership overreacted to the political crises in
the UN, that Europeans who oppose US hegemony in principle have not fully
realized how America has changed since 9/11. For once I am doubtful of
Friedman. My personal feeling
on this is that superficially there has been a great deal of change;
however, if a mighty military victory succeeds in restoring what I�ll call a
collective state of post traumatic stress syndrome and the public seems to
regain its sense of purpose and security, then a lasting transformation has
not taken place (as many grieve has happened in Israel-Palestine under much
worse and longer lasting terror; they have lost their vision of themselves).
After all, for the vast
majority, life is still safe and there has been precious little sacrifice in
daily life. It is the
suggestion of vulnerability and the apprehension about of a lifetime and
generations of national uniqueness and invincibility that have been
exposed. Our worldview is under
reconstruction, and that may have been inevitable given we are coming of age
as a nation. Which leads to the
old question (yes, I am going to say it) in other hands, what would the
response to 9/11 be? Does Man
make history or history make men?
As long as the drums of war are beating,
and the crescendo is making it difficult to hear anything else at the
moment, there is little chance that moderation and restraint will have much
influence. Talking about the
surging polls supporting the president in the war, I heard it said that at
any one time under normal (peace) times, 25% of the American population
opposes war of any kind anywhere. This was used as a justification to
ignore, I think, the protestors in the streets. I�ve noted before that Republicans
in particular have a tendency to abuse percentages in economic and political
debate, because 25% of the population is vague and has a softer impact than
a real head count.
As far as the transformation goes, it is
a serious and legitimate concern.
This is much different that the greed of the 80s, the Me Decade, or
the division after the fact in Vietnam, as many of us personally
recall. I am sickened that as
of this moment the �contract with America�, an image and reputation built,
marketed and sold globally for more than a century, is broken. My hope is that this will be a
temporary condition (and I refrain from describing it in mental health
terms). To those who decry my
pessimism, please be assured that I struggle daily to look at the glass half
full not half empty, but experience and prudence tell me it is better to be
prepared for the worst and hope for the best. On the face of it, it seems that we
have returned to a Cold War, dividing the world into competing camps and
philosophies, where mistrust and mutually assured destruction permeate the
air once again.
Who or what gets the blame for it,
regardless of the success or failure of a lopsided military crusade, is
still to be determined.
Karen
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