freedom my ass
Wednesday 31 March 2004 at 7:32 pm
'Freedom is not a natural inheritance of man. In order to possess it we have to create it.'
(Ernst Cassirer, The Myth of the State)
fine little insight by cassirer. writing when? during the second world war. interesting isn't it. for once I would like someone in the public sphere to explain to me exactly what the units of this present currency of fog-speak actually mean. perhaps if we defined these 'freedoms' and 'civilization' more clearly the rampant, diseased paradox of the current regime physically ripping the spine out of their back in the name of preserving them, by dismantling civil liberties, disposing of democratic accountability, setting up extralegal courts and concentration camping asylum seekers - as well as running the military as the public and particularly hostile acquisitions department of the financial sector - might become more apparent. maybe then The Ones Who Rule could actually start working to preserve the real and all-too-fragile achievements of hundreds of years of political and social struggle, rather than using nebulous fog-speak simulacra to eradicate the real thing and legitimate their increasingly unchecked abuse of power.
the patient died but the fever left him. somebody might finally put a gun to the back of david blunkett's head or send a cruise missile 'decapitation strike' down his chimney in the name of freedom.
I can not verbally communicate how fed up and sick I am of the way terms like 'freedom' and 'the values of our civilization' are shamelessly bandied about by politicians unable to define them and unwilling to cash them in and translate their bland, vacuous political rhetoric into real and systematic political commitment. what the fuck are the 'values of our civilization', if not the very thing we're abolishing in the name of defending them?
the blairite understanding of democracy amounts to the idea that elected leaders are only accountable to the public that elects them in the context of and in terms of elections - the rest of the time, electedness functions as a mandate for an unbalanced autocratic regime based on the personal 'tough choices' of our Reverend Leader.
all the fuss about accountability, public 'conversation', listening to the public - fucking hegemonic lies that mask the real power on the throne, the fact that his secular highness will listen when he wants to. when push comes to shove, blair and his sycophantic inner cabal will force through what they and their backers want, whether it is privatisation schemes - oh, sorry, it's PFI under this government isn't it - or the war on iraq.
mister blair evidently thinks that democracy means every few years picking someone to rule you like a king with improved rhetorical skills, wearing a sham mask of accountability.
maybe that is how 'democracy' works. maybe in the end its proper functioning boils down to the russian roulette of electing leaders who feel the moral imperative of democracy in their guts enough not to overstep the unwritten mandates and checks of their position. blair, like hitler, clearly doesn't. because he believes people in the end elected him to run the country as he likes until the next election. in the growing madness of king blair, I'm waiting for the public alert that abolishes the constitution.
pray for a revolution. meanwhile I'll pray for some 'freedom-loving' equivalent of the CIA in the third world to assassinate the motherfucker with a poisoned cigar.
(Ernst Cassirer, The Myth of the State)
fine little insight by cassirer. writing when? during the second world war. interesting isn't it. for once I would like someone in the public sphere to explain to me exactly what the units of this present currency of fog-speak actually mean. perhaps if we defined these 'freedoms' and 'civilization' more clearly the rampant, diseased paradox of the current regime physically ripping the spine out of their back in the name of preserving them, by dismantling civil liberties, disposing of democratic accountability, setting up extralegal courts and concentration camping asylum seekers - as well as running the military as the public and particularly hostile acquisitions department of the financial sector - might become more apparent. maybe then The Ones Who Rule could actually start working to preserve the real and all-too-fragile achievements of hundreds of years of political and social struggle, rather than using nebulous fog-speak simulacra to eradicate the real thing and legitimate their increasingly unchecked abuse of power.
the patient died but the fever left him. somebody might finally put a gun to the back of david blunkett's head or send a cruise missile 'decapitation strike' down his chimney in the name of freedom.
I can not verbally communicate how fed up and sick I am of the way terms like 'freedom' and 'the values of our civilization' are shamelessly bandied about by politicians unable to define them and unwilling to cash them in and translate their bland, vacuous political rhetoric into real and systematic political commitment. what the fuck are the 'values of our civilization', if not the very thing we're abolishing in the name of defending them?
the blairite understanding of democracy amounts to the idea that elected leaders are only accountable to the public that elects them in the context of and in terms of elections - the rest of the time, electedness functions as a mandate for an unbalanced autocratic regime based on the personal 'tough choices' of our Reverend Leader.
all the fuss about accountability, public 'conversation', listening to the public - fucking hegemonic lies that mask the real power on the throne, the fact that his secular highness will listen when he wants to. when push comes to shove, blair and his sycophantic inner cabal will force through what they and their backers want, whether it is privatisation schemes - oh, sorry, it's PFI under this government isn't it - or the war on iraq.
mister blair evidently thinks that democracy means every few years picking someone to rule you like a king with improved rhetorical skills, wearing a sham mask of accountability.
maybe that is how 'democracy' works. maybe in the end its proper functioning boils down to the russian roulette of electing leaders who feel the moral imperative of democracy in their guts enough not to overstep the unwritten mandates and checks of their position. blair, like hitler, clearly doesn't. because he believes people in the end elected him to run the country as he likes until the next election. in the growing madness of king blair, I'm waiting for the public alert that abolishes the constitution.
pray for a revolution. meanwhile I'll pray for some 'freedom-loving' equivalent of the CIA in the third world to assassinate the motherfucker with a poisoned cigar.