Eros Day 2005 - The Counter-Inaugural Ball

[donsu]

"The Shrub is a Lynching Tree, a Burning Bush of Apocalyptic Mass Destruction, an obedient servant of Thanatos."

http://www.counterpunch.com/block01152005.html


It's almost time for Thanatos, the ancient Greek God of Death, to ascend the throne of America. This is, of course, a throne His Immortal Ass is already sitting on. But that doesn't mean it's not an occasion to throw the most expensive American Presidential Inauguration in history, ushering in the second term of one of the most universally loathed American Presidents the world has known, including a 4-day, 9-ball, 40 million smacker shindig, with a parade, concert, fireworks display and, at the Ritz-Carlton, white chocolate cowboy boots (just white?) to honor our horse-fearing Cowboy-in-Chief. The 40-mil bill for the bash is 5 mil more than Ebenezer Bush's second offer of aid to tsunami victims, but just a drop in the bucket of human waste that is the American War on Iraq. Franklin D Roosevelt, another "War President" who came from privileged stock, at least had the sensibility (breeding?) to forego the showy parties when he was re-elected during WWII. No such restraint for Bush II, the Aw-Shucks White Chocolate Cowboy Prince of Thanatos.

Nobody talks much about Thanatos these days, except the occasional discontented Freudian. But His presence is keenly felt. Death is always with us, a constant companion to Life. But He is most powerful in wartime. According to the Greeks, Thanatos is the fatherless son of Nyx (Night), twin brother of Hypnos (Sleep), a wingéd young male God who, in Euripides' Alcestis, coolly reminds Apollo, "I win greater honor when the victims are young."

Of course, Thanatos is no more merciful to victims of tsunamis than He is to victims of war. Yet there is something about being killed deliberately by our fellow humans that twists the knife more sharply (at least to those of us left behind) than death at the tides of nature. And killing fellow humans is what Bush, our second-term "War President," prides himself on. The Shrub is a Lynching Tree, a Burning Bush of Apocalyptic Mass Destruction, an obedient servant of Thanatos.

Thanatos will be inaugurated into His place at the very pinnacle of the American political pantheon, with pomp and ceremony, bands and some major balls, as the Rape of Iraq plays on. Many of the important guests, paying as much as $250,000 (not to mention under-the-table billions) per "inauguration ticket package," will be leading Death profiteers, arms dealers and world-class polluters, sponsors of Dubya's Christian Crusade and End-of-the-World Environmental Policies. Fine champagne will flow, but Inauguration Ballers are sure to be high on the narcotic of war, hooked on the endgame logic of death.
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Dr. Block ends her article with some advice:

Don't stop yourself. Not now. Now is the time to release your political art, prayers, protests and resistance parties, while we've still got a few precious freedoms left. As the Bushies hoist Thanatos to the top of their pyramid, think of how you can topple that baby down. Think of how you can honor Eros in your life. Then take it to the streets (always with nonviolence, darling), or to the bedroom, or to the EROS DAY Counter-Inaugurals, or take it to your webcam. And don't let the Thanatoxic Brigade take it away from you.

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