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Two-Day-Old Fear & Loathing & Politics This is part of the entry I meant to post the day before yesterday. I scribbled notes to myself during lunch, but then, I never crystallised them into anything. I'm not entirely convinced that once I finish typing them into here they'll be any more "crystallised", but I figure it's worth a shot, just to document where I was at the time. I think I'm going to break it down into a few entries, actually, as I don't think I can manage to sift through the stuff all in one sitting. Desperately bored and a bit depressed, I wandered out of the office to try to figure out what I want for lunch. Initially, it was a cheeseburger and French fries ("freedom fries" my ass...of course there's nothing French about fried slices of potato, but I will not follow the lemmings in Congress with their ludicrous gesture at the country whose language and culture I love and respect above nearly all others, and who have given the world, in my opinion, so many fine things, and without a doubt, think far better than the current power figures in this godforsaken (another word I do not use lightly) nation), but I decided on Indian buffet instead, thinking it would cost less for more food (I was wrong, as the price has gone up, but I must confess I ate gluttonously enough to compensate). So I wandered grey, dirty streets, choked with trash where once, doubtless, there were flowers, contemplating my state, overwhelmed with fear and loathing. This feeling was not for Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-Il, Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, kidnappers, child-molesting clergy, or crooked corporate executives (okay, it was somewhat directed towards all of those), but chiefly towards the administration of this country, the one in which I was born and raised, with whose ideals and history I was indoctrinated from a very early age (I was amazed last night that on Final Jeopardy, every contestant missed the response when confronted with the oldest parish established by Europeans on this continent, which dated from, I believe, 1568, which of course, is St. Augustine, FL -- Jamestown was not even established until 1607, you cretins!), and for which I ought to feel love and devotion. I feel nothing of the sort. I feel sadness, powerlessness, desperation, utter disillusionment. I watch our "elected" leaders' posturing, I listen to what they say, and I understand all too well the disdain of much of the world for a nation which of late, contributes little, which claims to be a bastion of liberty, yet whose administration ignores, silences the voices, the wishes of its own people and not only disregards, but defies the will of the international community. I am horrified at the fear tactics which this government employs to keep the populace shivering in the dark without the strength, the confidence, to resist the agenda of a few madmen. I am, I must admit, ambivalent about what should be done to Saddam's regime; yes, he is a threat, but is he honestly that great of a threat? Is not Kim Jong-Il's potentially growing nuclear arsenal more terrifying, given his greater level of desperation? Are we really kidding ourselves into believing that this is not merely about oil? The recent attention to weapons "discovered" in Hussein's arsenal, all of which were in Blix's original report, I believe, makes me cringe not only at the dire possibilities, but also at the news media's willingness to be a blind mouthpiece for partisan propaganda without bothering to research anything on its own. Meanwhile, the economy languishes, and no one is minding the store. How can this have happened? Life was so much easier and pleasanter when the only thing we seemed to have to worry about was with whom the President was having sex (which, while none of our business, was certainly more entertaining). Is Bush merely president at a difficult time, or is this time difficult as a result of his presidency? I tend to believe that his only real concern is carving out a place for himself in history, and painting that space as he will. It is strange for one such as I, reluctant to use unequivocally such terms as "right," "wrong," "good," and "evil," to be so willing to fling these words so frequently now, but I watch daily as truth becomes more clouded by the graffiti spray-painted over it. I believe that the monkey in the White House is evil. (Can so many millions of people be unaware?) I believe that our lives will only improve when he is removed from his position. I believe that the Democrats must somehow manage to create a united front behind a highly visible and impressive candidate in order to accomplish this task, and they aren't doing very well just now. I acknowledge that the damage Bush and his cronies have done (and in such a short time!) is greater than can be repaired in the course of his successor's first four-year term. Sightly more than halfway through his tenure, he has created a mess which will not be able to be cleaned by the time of the next election. I also believe he is well aware of this. (Oh, Florida, who's sorry now?) I pray he is not re-elected. If he is, I pray Canada will have me. (I'm currently planning a week-long trip to Montreal in May to see how it fits.) I can scarcely bear to be associated for a moment longer with a nation whose most publicly visible face is that of such a degenerate. On overhearing a discussion in the office's kitchen yesterday about the statements his regime has made, I must have visibly reddened, as I felt myself filling rapidly with rage and saying, nearly at shouting level, "Can't someone just shoot that moron?!" The response was a knowing smile and the question, "Which one?" to which I responded, "All of them!" Seditious speech, indeed. I wonder if I were in danger of arrest for the expression of my opinions, might France grant me political asylum? I feel a strong kinship with those who have fled there in ideal-inspired self-imposed exile. These words resound in my head: r
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