Elizabeth scribes, in part.... >>>>> the simple point is ...<<<<<
Indeed. Our violence catches up with us sooner or later. "Blowback," Big Tobacco style. Nicotine speaks louder than words. It hurts. It hurts really bad. As Big Tobacco fights to addict ever more people -- mostly the young and the poor and people of color, we indulge in obscene arguments which turn our favorite addictions into "inalienable rights" and which turn us into poor, pitiful victims of "Big Gummint." As Big Tobacco enslaves more poor workers around the world to expand the profit margin, do we in Minneapolis defend the agressive corporate sociopath and become more violent, more sociopathic ourselves? Whether it is oil, food, or tobacco, we Americans are the new Fascist Empire, easily manipulated by "Brand America" to see ourselves as terribly oppressed when we are the oppressors, to magnify our own minor suffering to the point that the much greater suffering we inflict to support our addict's binge is completely displaced. If you do not believe that we are facist -- from the MAC to the roadbuilding indudtry to the way political leaders drag their feet to work for public health and against the tobacco industry, listen to the words of Vice President Henry Wallace in the NYT, 1944. American Fascists will "poison the channels of public information" in order to gain control of this country. Just as the Metropolitan Airport Commission is a collusion between big corporate power and big government power, and just as our loacal roads reflect a continuing collusion between huge corporations who wanted to destroy public transit to make room for a much more wasteful, estructive -- but more profitable -- form of transportation, so the public stream of information is poisoned as Big Tobacco hides behind a "libertarian" and "populist" facade. More of VP Wallace's remarks are included in this article online: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0719-15.htm Wallace notes that fascism will play upon the fears and prejudices of common people in order to manipulate them. Note how Pawlenty -- and most political leadership side with big corporation against the citizens of Minneapolis, and how they increasingly embrace an Imperial Religion which plays upon prejudices against homosexual people and people of color? We are taught by our political leaders to view the corporation and the government as our authoritarian and authoritative parents and providers. Big Tobacco is suffering defeats around the world, as entire nations impose smoking bans in public places. Big Tobacco is the easy target for reform. Our greater addictions are not at all visible to us, or if they are, we are led to believe that there is nothing we can do about them. This is not by accident. Big Tobacco will try to "poison the channels of public information" to regain ground, but the tobacco industy is far, far weaker than the fossil fuel industry or even than the airline industry, which most people still percieve as benign and eternal -- Fascist Gods in our urban landscape. Big Tobacco will not give up here in Minneapolis or anywhere else. There are a host of willing victims, already seduced into the cadre of addicts who refuse to acknowledge the harm they do or the addiction that drives them. The way we live -- the needs we are taught that we have and then scramble to sate -- this shapes us more than anything else. Good fascist citizens are myopic and afraid; needy, feeling victimized, ready to fight even the smallest challenge to the increasingly untenable established order. Good fascist citizens are easily manipulated by colluding corrupt corporate and political leadership. Ouch. This is almost as painful to deal with as our addiction to oil, is it not? If it is this hard to face up to the suffering and death caused by secondhand smoke, then we can see why it is even harder to face up to the much greater harm we all cause by overuse and misuse of pertroleum. As long as we see ourselves as victims, we will be easily manipulated to fight convenient fictional targets to support the way of life we have come to see as "normal" and even our entitlement here in Minneapolis, insulated in the heart of empire. While we fight "Big, Intrusive Government" the GOP (Big Tobacco's favorite Political Party) is working to increase the amount of noise and air pollution cause by the airport. Very intrusive, very big government is colluding with very intrusive, very big corporations to poison us with more pollution caused by increased car traffic as well -- until oil production is outstripped by skyrocketing global demand, and then we -- the perfect fascist citizens, refusing to see the death and suffering we cause -- will cry out for cheaper gasoline, and for a bigger military budget so that we can continue to live "the American way of life" we in Minneapolis feel entitled to. The biggest Fascist God we worship in Minneapolis, of course, is the Great God CAR. Much more powerful than the Great God Tobacco, the Great God CAR is evrywhere, always, and is worshipped by all, willingly or unwillingly. Look at the most distinguishing feature od church architecture in our city. Is it Smoking Rooms? No, parking lots and ramps distinguish all of our formal Houses of Worship, as well as the real ones -- shopping malls. -- pedaling off to work in Kingfield in Fascist Minneapolis, where the more intentionally ignorant we are, the happier we'll be! Gary Hoover REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
