November 2

Vic reminded me of a particular acquaintance coming back from camp this weekend, and I found myself looking at him, going, ‘Has it ALREADY been three weeks?’. It’s of mild significance to me because the night before this dude left for National Service, I had met Mike. Not like it’s a big deal, but it sure doesn’t feel like I’ve been sleeping with him all that much. Actually, I’m not; because in 16 days, the finals start, and by the time they are done with, I am sure they wouldn’t have yet decided the winning candidate for the US elections by the.

But who really cares on this side of the world if you don’t actually have a vote anyway? (although one forthright journalist did offer his vote to anyone who could give him a good enough reason as to why either twiddledumb or twiddledick deserved it). It’s just something amusing for cable TV to give all day coverage on, and for people who are too tired after work to do anything else but couch potato about and be dumbed down with. I have to admit though, I am sure it will be far more entertaining than Ariel Sharon shocking with his evacuation of the Gaza strip. It would have been fun to see how the media would have handled it, had he tried to upstage the elections; but somehow, these things just fit in smoothly.

Strangely though, it is important to me. The fact that I bet a hundred dollars non-withstanding, that made in America democracy… or any form of democracy for that matter… is of no relevance in an autocratic state, and that how either way I am sure whatever the outcome, we are not going to get a holiday, or a day of mourning (despite Bush’s FTA being somewhat essential to the country), it is important. Because for all my cynicism and hard-headed belief that the world can and never will be a better place, I actually think it will be slightly more toleratable with the challenger in charge. I did have such hope for Iraq turning into a shining battalion for Friedmen policies! Honestly, however, I must say now that this war has got to be a ‘sensitive’ one, as much of a paradox as that is. The shock tactics did not work, and the Iraqis are past shock now. The idea had been a quick wham-bam overhaul, which probably made very much sense to a president hell-bent on always doing something, while never actually thinking about anything. On a certain level, I did subscribe to it, in a very Singaporean way. The faster you do it, the faster it’s done with. It might hurt a lot more, but at least the shit doesn’t trail off your ass.

The thing is, economic policies matter. And they matter very much if you’re having your businesses stolen and auctioned off just like how it’s done in bankruptcy court. I am sure a lot of state owned businesses were mired in debt, but it’s still no excuse; Sell off America’s economy then. Just look at the translation of graffiti in Baghdad, and a whole load of them have Bremer’s name in it. It isn’t just about people dying (although it is extremely central to the problem), it’s about them having lost their jobs. Hey, if unemployment is such a terrible thing in the developed world, what more a war-torn country? Was there any necessity to rob them of their livelihoods? They don’t even care if they work for well below the minimum wage! Hypocrites.

Outsourcing is a problem; over-paid steel workers can’t afford as many big-macs as they used to, or drink a gallon of soda with every meal. Abortion is a problem; what has that innocent thing ever done to you? It doesn’t matter that it’s got the sentience of a calf (I love being on Atkins, you get to eat a lot of those), it’s a potential human being, Damnit. (Don’t get me wrong, I am against abortion, but acknowledge it’s necessity.) Oh hmm, children in Iraq, well, sacrifices have to be made you know, if we are to secure security.

Come On. Peace is an on-going process, and it is ever fragile. It’s not something you can just purchase with a huge deficit and a hundred-thousand lives.

But the president truly has god-given gifts (his god, not mine). He’s a real Machiavelli, for one thing. One of the arts of leadership is after all in pretending a capability of determining the future. By selling the idea that what is negotiable (as is the nature of peace) as non-negotiable. Peace, my dear Watson, has to be fought for. The calm before the storm, my love, Iraq is an impending doomsday. Saddam is one of those maniacs who’s really into martyrdom hiding under a façade of secularism.

By the end of it all, I am absolutely sure that more people would have been dead then if both Saddam and one of his heirs were to rule the regime consecutively. Tell me, how can a person coalesce laissez faire economic policies with heavy handed strategy in just about everything else?

We cannot do without leadership, but we could probably do without leaders. It is the requirement of all human organisations that some individual or group take responsibility for ensuring direction and secures the interest of it's members. But it does not mean we need leaders; IF that implies a group that is permanently distinguished from the rest...
-Keith Grint

Remember Oceania, Eurasia and East-Asia?

As one realizes by the end of 1984, Oceania's continuous wars in Eurasia and East Asia serve no particular purpose, aside from providing the stimuli that allow the population to be confused, manipulated and ruled.

… The struggle against international terrorism by military and other means need not have been defined as a perpetual war of good against evil. We are a country "at war," as Bush likes to say, and he is a "war president." This is not a description of a particular action or mood, but of a permanent existential state. The hero of 1984 "could not remember a time when his country had not been at war." Should Bush win the presidential election in November, the youngest generation of Americans will soon be able to say the same. As a society, we are less peaceful, less free and less informed than we were a few years ago.

War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.

Oh boy, saying that aloud nearly brings me to orgasm.

Xoxox

PS: I completely suck at politics, November 2 is none of my business, and I have exaggerated my dissent to quite an extent, so before you send any email, please be considerate. I am completely open to disagreement, but no personal attacks. Maybe I have made some, but at least I am not forcing it down your throats by sticking it into your mailboxes.