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11/29/2001
BLASPHEMY
Now that the Attack on Afghanistan is headed towards a finale it's time to look
to the future. If we kill, or capture then kill, bin Laden what next? Nobody
is saying life will return to normal. In fact, if I hear one more media outlet
declare we're entering a new age I'm gonna hurl. Bush is already speaking loudly
and pointing a big stick at Iraq to prepare us for the next round of posturing
and possible military action, and congress is busily pushing laws that, in any
sane moment, would be unconstitutional at best. But this is hardly any sane
moment.
Before the Cold War the US didn't have to give a damn what happened in the rest
of the world. We were geographically separated enough to enjoy such ignorance.
Transportation and communication technology hadn't bridged the gap enough to
allow seemingly petty squabbles to interfere in our day to day life.
Eventually we couldn't ignore the conflicts in what was the motherland for the
vast majority of US citizens and we took a side in two world wars.
Pardon me while I oversimplify, generalize, and make huge leaps of logic and
time, but then came the Cold War.
The theory was that communism would spread and eventually we'd all be speaking
Russian or Chinese or something, and the personal liberties we'd fought and
killed for would be swept away in a red tide. So we took sides in conflicts
all over the world, some in secret and some with massive military campaigns
but few with any degree of success such that we could claim clear victory.
The fall of the Berlin wall pretty much punctuated the end of the Cold War era.
It wasn't the CIA or the Marines that won the war. The USSR just couldn't compete
with our military and industrial production and consequently collapsed. The
countries that relied on their support have since collapsed entirely or lapsed
into third world poverty. For a brief time there the US could again ignore what
was happening in the rest of the world, as long as the oil kept flowing from
the mid-East and the cheap toys and electronics kept coming from the far East.
But now easy and cheap transportation and communications have bridged those
oceans. We have joined the rest of the world, like it or not. And the rest of
the world has problems we're not used to dealing with.
So when the president talks about the war on terrorism try (hard) not to think
of it as something like the war on drugs - an expensive, impossible task that
will waste billions of dollars and incarcerate countless people, some of whom
we know personally, under unjust laws with no end in sight. Instead, try to
think of it as a new Cold War, where secret trials and assassinations take place
with no need to worry about it affecting our day to day lives since we'll never
hear about it, while massive military operations take place in countries we
know little about and could care even less but at least we get to see those
flashy night-vision-green smart bomb video game displays, and in the place of
the specific fear of our kids getting busted for smoking a little pot and ruining
their entire lives we just have a general worry about the end of the world as
we know it.
Meet the new era, same as the old era.
No, I'm not suggesting we do nothing. I don't have an answer. It is a war. I
just hope I'll live long enough to come out of the cold...
Degenerate RVI has posted a few things on the DP Blasphemy board. Check it out:
http://www.degeneratepress.com/blasphemy/
PARTY HARDY
The discussion continues, but no new ideas for New Year's this week. Our current
top three choices, in no particular order are: Las Vegas, Memphis/Graceland,
The Star Bar/Truckadelic. Ideas? Votes?
Here's one bit of feedback from a subscriber:
I vote New Orleans, and yes there will be an abundance of morons out on new
years eve-but when isn't there? I mean if there's no house to have a house party
at, then I think rebirth an george porter followed by insane drunkeness @ butler
street bar or snake&jake's would be fun....but then again I miss N.O.
Editor's response:
Yeah, I miss N.O. too but the damn Sugar Bowl is the next day, from what I've
heard, and it'll be damn tough to find a hotel room. And I've been to N.O. several
times so unless there's a once in a lifetime can't miss show I'd rather do something
new.
Take me to Degenerate Press' home page!
There's no place like home... no place like home...
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