Helplessness

[DaveT]

As I write these words on July 21, 2006, the world is watching another escalation in the war for control of the middle east. The military command of the Israeli Defense Force appears to be ready to re-occupy southern Lebanon, and nobody can predict what the ramifications will be.

We are all helpless.

We write our opinions on this website; journalists, famous scholars and politicians have their opinions published through various media; foreign ministries and heads of state the world over make contacts with other political leaders urging a cease-fire and a de-escalation of hostilities -- all of it without the slightest effect on reality.

We are all helpless.

The State of Israel has the discretion to start World War III, and the American "conservative" political machine goes on TV to cheer the prospect. In spite of polling data that demonstrates that the American public wants no part of perpetual war, the major TV networks and the handful of national circulation print platforms all report the "news" coming from the middle east as though it were a hurricaine or an earthquake -- an Act of God that no human effort could possibly avert.

We are all helpless.

The American government cannot sustain itself -- it borrows almost a billion dollars a day to stay in business. The American Economy cannot sustain itself either -- it borrows close to two more billion dollars a day to make ends meet. In spite of this hard core reality, we remain the Only Superpower. We can destroy any plot of land on Earth that our leadership deems worthy of nuclear annihilation. But we cannot prevent militias in Iraq from slaughtering dozens of people a day. And we cannot prevent Israel from starting World War III -- even if we somehow could overcome the shouting heads on TV who think it is a good idea.

We are all helpless.

Not only can we not control the Iraqi militias, Israel has tried and failed before to pacify southern Lebanon. Israel's right to exist has not been accepted by untold millions of people who live in the region, and it seems highly unlikely that this latest assertion of Israeli "power" will work any better than all the previous assertions of "power" over the last 58 years. Facing this reality would entail recognizing that military power does not necessarily prevail at all times and under all circumstances. This would also force us to re-think why we are failing in Iraq. Such thoughts do not play well on TV, and so we have to share them with each other on the internet.

We are all helpless.



What holds all of the above together is the willingness of the American majority to accept rule by the minority who have control of the national media.


We really aren't helpless. It's just the TV that makes us think we are.

[Redstone]

1. Whoa. That was good. Damn good.

I hope everyone reads it.

Redstone

[panader0]

2. I am coming to the belief that there is no military or political answer.

The answer must be a commonly held feeling, a spiritual feeling between people.

[Quakerfriend]

3. Excellent! And, a very small minority it is!

...IMO, very, very small!!

[Warpy]

4. That last sentence said it all

Turn that puppy off like so many other people are doing. You have no idea how much better you'll feel when you no longer have the cognitive dissonance supplied by burbling idiots who are trying to tell you the economy is great and the middle east is not a big deal and that democracy is on the march throughout the region. You have no idea what a burden that is until you shrug it all off, tell the bobbleheads to sell it elsewhere, and spend the time doing something that pleases you.

The more they lie, the fewer people bother to watch them. It's time to join the rest of us. Throw off your chains! Shut them up and shut them off.

[RufusEarl]

5. Well said, and thanks for your thoughts!