D_Raay
11-01-2004, 01:54 AM
In the story "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, the Wizard, actually a carnival side show performer from the American midwest, builds a hideous mask of paper-mache and sets it on fire, then uses the burning apparition to scare Dorothy Gale into agreeing to attack the Wicked Witch of the West.
Now attacking witches is a tricky business. There is a good reason that the wizard himself, being just a carnival performer from the midwest, does not want to do it. Witches, after all, have air superiority. Dorothy Gale has had the good common sense to avoid combat with witches. So the Wizard resorts to trickery to fool Dorothy into thinking that she has no choice but to do what the Wizard asks. The Wizard concocts a monster that appears when needed to terrify Dorothy into attacking the Witch. In the process, Dorothy and her companions are nearly killed. But for the sake of the requisite happy ending (this is a children's story, after all) and the eventual MGM musical, they survive, only to learn that the Wizard's burning head was a fake, and nothing to be afraid of in the first place.
America is living that story right now. A huckster from the midwest has conned his way into being ruler of the land, and for his own reasons came into office wanting to wage war on a variety of targets, most of which had a great deal of oil sitting on top of them. But of course the huckster does not wish to risk his own life (or that of his family and friends). And the people of the land, like Dorothy Gale, see no reason to go wandering off, in this case east rather than west, to confront an enemy of unknown lethality in a war based on dubious motives.
So, the huckster makes up a paper-mache monster and shows it to the terrified audience amid a display of smoke and flame called 9-11. The manufactured monster's name is "Osama bin Laden", trained and funded by the CIA during the Afghanistan wars.
So Americans, scared by the paper-mache and fire monster, are scared into marching off to war. Because this is NOT a children's book and there is no planned MGM musical, many of those who marched off to battle are not marching back home; roughly 1200 as of this writing.
Americans have taken a closer look at the huckster who sent their loved ones off to die. They have looked past the smoke and mirrors of the wizards deceptions and seen the truth. They have seen that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for them to be afraid of. Americans have seen that Iraq was not supporting Osama, nor was Iraq connected to the smoke and fire display that terrified Americans into supporting a war none of them really wanted.
Americans have peeked behind the curtain to see the huckster from the midwest pulling his levers and pushing his buttons to animate his mechanical monsters, to scare the people into going off and fighting those targets the huckster dare not confront himself.
And here we are, with America ready to throw the huckster out, and sure enough, with a press of a button and a throw of the lever, the manufactured monster appears right on cue to scare the people into doing what the huckster wants, which is to not fire his lying ass over all the kids who died in a war based on lies and deceptions.
So, we come down to the real question here. Are you a child that can be scared into doing what you are told without question? Or are you an adult, ready to peek behind the curtain at the machinery with which the huckster from the midwest, marveling and yet shamed at how easy you were fooled before?
Will you be fooled and made a fool of yet again? Or are you ready to live without being controlled by manufactured monsters?
Now attacking witches is a tricky business. There is a good reason that the wizard himself, being just a carnival performer from the midwest, does not want to do it. Witches, after all, have air superiority. Dorothy Gale has had the good common sense to avoid combat with witches. So the Wizard resorts to trickery to fool Dorothy into thinking that she has no choice but to do what the Wizard asks. The Wizard concocts a monster that appears when needed to terrify Dorothy into attacking the Witch. In the process, Dorothy and her companions are nearly killed. But for the sake of the requisite happy ending (this is a children's story, after all) and the eventual MGM musical, they survive, only to learn that the Wizard's burning head was a fake, and nothing to be afraid of in the first place.
America is living that story right now. A huckster from the midwest has conned his way into being ruler of the land, and for his own reasons came into office wanting to wage war on a variety of targets, most of which had a great deal of oil sitting on top of them. But of course the huckster does not wish to risk his own life (or that of his family and friends). And the people of the land, like Dorothy Gale, see no reason to go wandering off, in this case east rather than west, to confront an enemy of unknown lethality in a war based on dubious motives.
So, the huckster makes up a paper-mache monster and shows it to the terrified audience amid a display of smoke and flame called 9-11. The manufactured monster's name is "Osama bin Laden", trained and funded by the CIA during the Afghanistan wars.
So Americans, scared by the paper-mache and fire monster, are scared into marching off to war. Because this is NOT a children's book and there is no planned MGM musical, many of those who marched off to battle are not marching back home; roughly 1200 as of this writing.
Americans have taken a closer look at the huckster who sent their loved ones off to die. They have looked past the smoke and mirrors of the wizards deceptions and seen the truth. They have seen that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for them to be afraid of. Americans have seen that Iraq was not supporting Osama, nor was Iraq connected to the smoke and fire display that terrified Americans into supporting a war none of them really wanted.
Americans have peeked behind the curtain to see the huckster from the midwest pulling his levers and pushing his buttons to animate his mechanical monsters, to scare the people into going off and fighting those targets the huckster dare not confront himself.
And here we are, with America ready to throw the huckster out, and sure enough, with a press of a button and a throw of the lever, the manufactured monster appears right on cue to scare the people into doing what the huckster wants, which is to not fire his lying ass over all the kids who died in a war based on lies and deceptions.
So, we come down to the real question here. Are you a child that can be scared into doing what you are told without question? Or are you an adult, ready to peek behind the curtain at the machinery with which the huckster from the midwest, marveling and yet shamed at how easy you were fooled before?
Will you be fooled and made a fool of yet again? Or are you ready to live without being controlled by manufactured monsters?