Dumbness and Denial
When one reads Michelle Goldberg's new book "Kingdom Come ", it is shocking. Shocking in the sense that those of us not in fundamentalist religious sects never know what really goes on within those walls. It seems that the Republican far right has married the Christian far right. Now, we are not talking about just speaking in tongues or awaiting the rapture. We are referring to an extremist position on homosexuality, the rights thereof, abortion, and yes.... even what many would label progressive or liberal philosophy. To these right wing Christians, it is blasphemy to support any of the above. Yet, it is not blasphemous to support the killing of innocent lives, the destroying of whole countries, in preemptive attacks based on lies and half truths. And this writer asks: What would Jesus say.? "Dumbness" perhaps?
America is lost, as a culture, as a economy, as a former beacon of light, truth and liberty. They might as well pack up the Statue of Liberty, cover her eyes and ship her to Mars. Our republic was taken away from us the minute those jets hit into the twin towers. Like ' thieves in the night ', Bush, Cheney , Rumsfeld, Rice, Ashcroft,Wolfowitz, Perle, Gonzales and their underlings staged a Coup d'Etat. The look on Junior Bush's face, when informed that a second plane had plowed into the second tower, is indicative of what our general public has become..... dumb and in denial. How the most powerful man in the world could just sit there reading to those kids, while his nation ( to quote him ) " is under attack ", is symbolic. Many Americans have allowed themselves to be led like sheep. Meanwhile, the mainstream media behaved like mountain goats, shepherded by the Lords of Power and Influence. Even today, the NY Times, that so called ' liberal rag ' , is a mouthpiece for the rich and powerful. When, on March 19th, there were countless War on Iraq protests worldwide, check out the Time's coverage on the fourth anniversary of the attack and invasion. Disgusting! A watershed day of worldwide protest with millions participating, reduced to a blip on some inner page. Even the most progressive of N. Y. Times columnists refuse to demand hearings on the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Oh, yes, the Democratic Party leaders, both nationally and locally, still refuse to stand on the street corners in protest, or demand investigations? Denial!
When this economy, suffocated by debts incurred by what Eisenhower (rightly) labeled ' The Military Industrial Complex ', finally sputters and bursts, then what? When Soccer moms and Nascar dads lose their jobs, their SUVs, and finally their homes, then what? When the right wing churches lose all those tithes and weekly donations, then what? When fascism shows its ugly face once again ( and it will), then what? When the illegals that Lou Dobbs is so obsessed with ( not the lying ,war mongering Bush/ Cheney cabal) lose their dead end jobs to millions of desperate unemployed Americans, then what? Sadly, we who have always been ' ahead of the curve ' on all of the above, will be like the ' baby thrown out with the bath water'. Ah, to be dumb and in denial...... how peaceful!
PA Farruggio
Port Orange, Florida
Philip A Farruggio is a free lance columnist, small business owner and activist leader. The son of a Brooklyn, N. Y longshoreman, he is blue collar through and through. Since 2000, he has had 60 columns and op-ed posted online in various sites, most notably Op-ed News, After downingstreet .org and counterpunch.com. He can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net