Tonya Harding School of International Diplomacy

 

I'm always looking for clever, incisive, powerful ways to characterize complex ideas, compact little nuggets that sum it all up, say everything that needs to be said, a summation perhaps captured by a short and snappy phrase, a zingy meme, a stark self-contained image or dramatic self-evident diorama, which steers clear of the boredom and excess of dense and convoluted explications, conflated with histrionic exposition and other contrived manipulations.

Actually that last sentence is a lot like the kind of thing I'm try to avoid.

Too many words and too much self-indulgent grandstanding. 

Use a Thesaurus, go to jail.

Anyway, I was trying to think of a clever way of summing up America's foreign policy.

And by golly, I think I have it!

Remember the competition between Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan at the U.S. Nationals for two spots on the American Olympic team.  This was back it 1994.

It was obvious to Tonya she had met her match. Nancy was giving her a real run for her money.  So what did Tonya Harding do?

She hired a thug to bludgeon Kerrigan's knee cap with a huge pipe.

And that anecdote, ladies and gentlemen, sums up America's approach to international diplomacy!

If you get in our way, expect to get whacked!

Sometimes we just bomb the shit out of a country.  Whoever crawls out of the rubble tends to have a more conciliatory disposition.

If that proves inconvenient, or might lead to too much condemnation by the international community (there are a lot of wimps out there who just don't "get it") the U.S. will resort to secretive special ops units, color revolutions, weaponized diseases, hybrid warfare -- propaganda, NGOs, social media, cyber attacks -- to the same effect.  Once chaos has properly taken root in the targeted nation, down a civilian airliner, throw in some random assassinations, blockades, economic sanctions, create no-fly zones, engineer currency devaluation, invoke shrill comparisons to Adolph Hitler, blow up a hospital, and BINGO!  Mission accomplished!

 

I'm sure there are others who would like to claim credit for the U.S.'s our-way-or-the-highway approach to working with other nations, but let's at least give a visible nod of appreciation to the young lady who best epitomizes this exceptionalist philosophy.

Tonya . . . you will always be a true winner in our eyes, regardless of how grotesquely fat and ugly you've gotten over the years.

After all, it was you that boldly exemplified what has become the fundamental tenets of America's current foreign policy:

1.  We make the rules.
2.  Winning is everything.
3.  Preemptive attacks are awesome.
4.  All is fair because we say it is.
5.  Playing nice is for pussies.

If I can be so bold as to suggest it, I believe that it's high time that Harvard or Princeton or other equally prestigious institution of higher learning, set aside the resources and proper institutional setting for perpetuating and promoting this visionary philosophy of imperial order, and appropriately call it the "Tonya Harding School of International Diplomacy".

I'm already feeling the public excitement building for this and imagine that shortly after this article appears, crowdfunding on Kickstarter or Rockethub for this idea will get off to a rip-roaring start.




[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Tonya Harding School of International Diplomacy

I’m not worried … yes, I am … no, not really … well, maybe a little.

 

The prospect of Donald Trump being elected president in 2016 doesn't worry me at all.

He would be assassinated by the shadow government within 90 days of taking office.

Uh-oh!

That would mean that whatever half-wit buffoon -- the bad clone on the ticket as his Vice-President, an even worse version of Mr. Trump himself -- would now be in charge.

Would the self-declared-above-the-law slime balls in the CIA risk a "double-header" by taking out in such short order whatever unfortunate fool now sat in the Oval Office?

Of course, they would!  Accidents happen.  Fish bone stuck in the throat at a state dinner. Falling down the steps exiting Air Force One, splattering brains all over the tarmac.

The American public is so gullible.  No worries!  Problem solved.

But wait!  This time the shadow boys push things too far.  People are not just suspicious. The lights go on.  They figure it out!

"This is bullshit!" becomes the meme of the day.  Only it lasts for months and months.

And citizens are armed to the teeth!  Over 300,000,000 firearms in private hands.

Really scary!

Revolution anyone?

Naw . . . just one incredible made-for-TV shootout!  People dropping like flies.  Everyone starts living under their beds.  No one is safe anymore.

Hmm.  Anymore?  When is the last time we felt safe?

 

Who was president back then?

Millard Fillmore?

Frankly . . .

I'm a little worried.

How about you?




[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

The Case For Female Circumcision

There is no case for female circumcision.

But we live in a very sick world.

We've come to expect the worst.

So here you are . . . reading this.

I’m not being judgmental. I would have clicked on the link too.

Curious . . . confused . . . offended . . . appalled . . . outraged . . . sickened!

I would absolutely have to see what some psychopathic individual had to say
about such an inhumane, degrading and completely offensive practice,
what twisted justification some misguided misanthrope was proposing for
perhaps the ultimate assault on the dignity of females __ the mutilation
of their genitals.

But isn’t that the way things work these days?

There’s always some outrageous headline, some teaser being dangled, some
grotesque manipulation of our reality using loaded phrases and
press-your-hot-buttons language.

It’s not just the sensational stuff either. It’s often fluff, feel good blather which
plays on sympathies or compassion, fantasy or nostalgia, offering
hearts-and-flowers stories or syrupy melodrama, maybe patriotic anthems
and tales of alleged bravery and heroism    __ which dramatically slant
and obscure the truth.

Anyway . . . here we are: “The case for female circumcision.” 

Yup . . . that’s how it reads.  Sucked you right in!  I do understand . . .

 

You wanted to see some demented asshole try to stick up for grotesque and degrading mutilation. What would he look like? Maybe you wanted to both disdain and savor his depravity?

Why?

So you could gag? Hate someone for being so pathologically and sadistically ignorant?

Then share it on Facebook? Send out indignant Tweets?

Really show that bastard!

Yes, letting people know how we feel gets the job done, and more importantly, establishes that we're morally superior . . . because you and I could never support something so foul and inhumane and repulsive, right?

How about these photos? You and I paid taxes and that money went toward this . . .
 
I rest my case.

We all live in a glass houses. I’m not going to pretend I’m any different.

But that’s not the end of the matter, is it?

I am confident that most of you __ like me __ would like to do better.

We’d each like to turn things around and become the person we always 
believed we could and would be.
But to do that, we must first answer this question . . .

How did we become so numb?


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

The ‘P’ Word

 

P ... as in popular? This is the most popular video on YouTube as of this writing, with 1,676,424,490 views. That's billion, folks!

P ... as in poetry? Hmm. You mean like Eminem? No! You know. Like poetry slams. Cage fighting culture. I slam, therefore I am. Sounds familiar. Isn't that Dr. Seuss?

P ... as in pornography? Apparently, porn __ at least porn on the web __ is becoming less pervasive. Maybe that's because there's so damn much pornography everywhere you look nowadays. Isn't drone assassination porn? How about whole communities going bankrupt from fraud by the major banks. Rape porn. Read all about it here! Or watch it on everyone's favorite porn channel, Fox News.

P ... as in polygamy? We had our chance to put a polygamist in the White House. Well, not a polygamist per se. But one belonging to a religion which institutionally peddles polygamy. It could have been an interesting chapter in the whole DOMA thing, eh?

P ... as in pedophile? Probably we have more on our hands than we realize, some in very high places. But what can we expect? We have runway models who are thirteen, beauty contests for pre-schoolers, more hypocrisy about sex and sexuality than the Catholic Church __ speaking of pedophilia! __ a population pumped up on steamy ads, hot bods, prurient celebrity gossip, and a panoply of pharmaceuticals which despite their pervasive abuse can't keep all this libidinous heavy-breathing in check. Lovely. Simply lovely.

P ... as in patriarchy? A strong contender. We men have made a complete mess of the world, not satisfied with occasional penile penetration, we have to launch our phallic analogs in every shape and size of projectile, missile, bullet and bomb into every nookie and cranny of the world __ so much soft succulent flesh, so little time __  jumping up and down with ecstatic glee at the ultimate ejaculation, the nuclear bomb. What can I say? Everyone knows this. It's an old story with the latest trimmings.

P ... as in patriotism? A noble, if much abused concept. But don't get all patriotic as in standing up for the Constitution. Edward Snowden will tell you how that works out.

P ... as in power? Hmm. We're getting close. That's one musical chair that stays in the game, especially unchecked by any moral restraint or sense of public duty. As we say: Power corrupts? Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Absolutely!

P ... as in politics? A dirty business to be sure. Not that it has to be that way. What is it? The kind of people it attracts? Or the people they become?

P ... as in politicians. Somewhere it's written that these guys are supposed to serve us, the people who elected them. But they've become a bunch of traitorous lapdogs to corporate elites who openly thumb their noses at you and I. It sucks, eh?

P ... as in plutocracy. Getting very warm. These are the scoundrels who don't even bother to give lip service anymore to the idea of egalitarianism. They view the rest of us as pigs. Nothing new. Hitler. Stalin. King Henry VIII. Blah blah blah. It's exhausting. Let's all sing Hail To The Chief. Of course, he won't have time to listen. He's poring over today's kill list.

P ... P ... P ...

I think I'm going to go with . . .

P ... as in plunder.

America is both plunderer and plundered. You would think it would be enough for the self-proclaimed entitlement class to use America's economic and military power to strip mine the rest of the world. But no. Now the ruling elite has its eyes on the ultimate prize. America itself! How much is enough? They don't even understand the question.

So we watch in wonder and awe as our resources, natural and human, are sucked dry to bolster a bottom line that is the top priority __ the only priority __ in a system that assigns no value to anything but what can be monitized, i. e. price-tagged.

Is this really the only way we can measure progress?

I think not. And probably many agree with this. But it's so hard. We don't ever see ads for sunsets or generational respect or love between parent and child. Sure, we see those thing in ads. But to sell more cars, cosmetics, wonder drugs, smart phones, digital sausage makers, stuff we don't need and soon won't be able to afford.

Ever look around the room when the TV's on? 



What do you see? People completely ignoring one another. People who will die as others regret those lost moments of sharing, companionship, communication, just basic human contact. At least they'll regret them until their favorite sitcom, reality show or the E! Channel comes on. Whew . . .

What a depressing thought.

Am I being too pessimistic? I don't think so.

Actually, I'm still optimistic.

Marginally optimistic anyway.

There are other 'P' words.

How about P ... as in people? There is the potential for greatness in everyone. There is the promise of better-than-yesterday. There are propositions we embrace: All men are created equal. Love thy neighbor. Do unto others. Principles we hold dear: Government by the people, of the people, for the people. All are equal before the law. Let no man be judged by the color of his skin.

When we are not driven by greed, frenzied by fear, blinded by hate, crippled by despair, possessed by prejudice, misled and misinformed, most people are good to one another. Humans are social animals, curious and able to adapt. When we are not artificially divided, we remain naturally united. This is almost impossible to see now, much less celebrate, in a world whose political engines are powered by disunity and discontent.

How about P ... as in praise? How about giving praise where it's due? Not Pavlovian praise. But praise based on the values we hold dearest and nearest to the center of our souls. Not iconic fan worship. Praise offered for ennobling acts of courage and generosity.

How about P ... as in pray?

I'm not a religious person. But praying in some form or another is universal. I've seen it on every continent, in countries rich and poor. What is praying but visualizing something positive for those around you and the community you live in? Or the whole planet? Or the entire family of man?

How about P ... as in participate? Even the most rugged individualists overcome pride, prejudice, and apathy to work in consort with others. Alone things can be difficult. But joined together in group action, individual but equal, the impossible becomes possible.

Finally, there's P ... as in perfection? We've sure got a ways to get there. But we reach for the stars, because even if we fall far short, we only risk ending up on the highest peaks here on Earth. Maybe we'll find room at the top for everyone this time.

I have to confess, though. There was a time when I truly believed in the perfectibility of humankind. That was when I was young and naive.
Now I believe in the improvability of humankind.

Maybe now I'm just old and naive . . . I sure hope not.

Okay . . . enough with the 'P' words.

My lips are tired from all the puckering.

And I've blown out my candle.

 

This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com

[ If you are really a masochist, be sure and stay tuned my upcoming "Dachau World" blog posting. It's certain to cause a stir. ]