New Word Order (NWO) Addendum:
decelebration:
noun
1. The transformation (sometimes very sudden) of a celebration into something opposite such as a disaster or panic: a rapid decelebration of the Boston Marathon occurred following the explosion of IEDs.
Photo by Aaron Tang (via Wikimedia Commons)
PR comments:
First of all, the bombing of the 2013 Boston Marathon was outrageous. Sickening. Eff-ed up. It was an act of terrorism. But President Obama’s initial comment called it an act of “cowardice.” It has become fashionable for politicians to call terrorists cowards. Terrorists can be called a lot of things — murderers, psychopaths, monsters, flaming assholes — but cowards? I wonder. . . That particular accusation may say more about the source than the intended target.
I’m categorically opposed to terrorism, of course; but the better we understand it, the better we may become at averting it. I think it is fair to say that most terrorist acts are prompted by deeply-felt grievances or grudges that fester and develop into violent obsessions or compulsions when no better method of seeking attention, redress, or justice seems to be available (in their own view at least) to a particular group or individual. Their perception may be rational or irrational depending on the circumstances, but the label of “cowardice,” considering the grave personal risk usually involved to a perpetrator, is probably not apropos in any case. What’s more likely, IMO, is that critics who fail to question or to consider their own roles in creating (or ignoring) the conditions and circumstances contributing to such extreme grievances (and the lack of adequate opportunities or better means for their non-violent, lawful resolution) might be demonstrating some kind of political, moral, or intellectual cowardice.
Second: Numerous politicians, pundits, and other assorted mental masturbators have said things like “Americans refuse to be terrorized.”
OH, REALLY?
Martial law, warrantless searches, militarized police forces, mass surveillance, kangaroo courts, state-condoned torture, and too many other suspensions of civil rights and due process to list here would argue otherwise. In fact, it is all too obvious that a great many Americans (especially those who seek security at the expense of free speech, free association, privacy, due process, and democracy itself) are not only cowards — they are anti-American assholes who are too timid and/or too stupid for democracy.
We can’t simply put this down to incompetent and/or corrupt political, civic, and moral leadership. It is fair to say that the US has become a virtual Plutocracy or Oligarchy, but when bad leadership is as pervasive and prolonged as it has become in the US, the contribution and complicity of the general public can not be ignored.
“We have met the Enemy and He is Us.” –Walt Kelly, Pogo
Pogo – Earth Day 1971 poster (Wikipedia)
Happy Earth Day . . .
PR
Church of Reality
Critiques Of Libertarianism
Evolving Thoughts
Inquiry into Inquiry
P2P Foundation
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Stone
April 25, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Jul 30, 2005
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seerseeker/message/1746
“What creeped me out, though, on a sharp, visceral level, when thinking about
the recent suicide bombings as their impact rattled through the media, was
the image of this young man, just another face in the crowd, just another
guy hanging out on some corner shooting shit with his friends, or embracing
a loved one, or simply going to bed at night, getting up some summer
morning, strapping on the explosives, and going out to kill and die.
My thots started circling around other kinds of deadly protests, such as the
self-immolations of Vietnamese Buddhists to protest that invasion. Maybe
the idea that sometimes one feels so strongly and there is nothing to use as
power against the powerful but directly putting one’s life on the line. Or
is it despair? Is one simply overwhelmed by the immensity of hate and
destruction, so, almost lemming-like, one feels compelled to jump into the
flame?
My thots jumped to the phenomenon we refer to as “going postal.” Is there
something ultimately exhilirating, ultimately cathartic, about taking
control for a brief horrific blast of carnage? Is there something about
destroying the world that had been so overpowering and disappointing,
perhaps as the Bokononists destroyed the world by commiting suicide in
Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle? It’s not just suicide. It’s not just murder.
It’s not just war and indoctrination and hatred.”