The River

Monday, September 10, 2007

A curmudgeon looks at 9/11

What’s up World’s Oldest?

I am. Barely. Wish I had one of those computers that can make you a latte.

Haha.

No, seriously kid. I distinctly remember reading an article in Wired that said the internet was going to put coffee shops out of business. And those commercials on television that said all work is accomplished via a laptop. Point, click and it’s done. Even more efficiently than ever before. It’s what we professionals call an enterprise-level solution.

Yeah, I guess media does like to hype things a bit.

Kid, you have no idea. This is where the movers and shakers of our world live. In the hype zone. The hyper-real zone. It’s where they continually troll for enterprise-level solutions.

What the hell even is that?

Ah kid. You’ll never get out of retail asking questions like that. Let’s see…an enterprise-level solution is one that achieves efficiency. Since the machine age started, efficiency has become the god that can either elevate you to become one with it, which is what we call C-level, or can banish you for insufficient faith, in which case you can work retail, corporate functionary, or, well it goes very far down from there, kid, and I don’t think I should get into it, because you’re young. You mind steaming the milk while I pull these shots?

Sure. What about this espresso machine? Is it an enterprise-level solution?

I’m sure there are powerpoint presentations from DeLonghi that say so.

So what’s wrong with this coffee maker?

Not a godammed thing, kid. Look at these three beyootiful shots. But…ahhhhhhh, but, but, but. The buts will kill you kid. So don’t smoke. But seriously, this machine was made by slave labor in China, and that is where the enterprise-level part of the solution comes in. The “enterprise” in the equation is like a shark with a single-minded focus on food. Food is the holy grail, which is, as said, efficiency. Efficiency scripture states that God is pleased when revenues increase, as they certainly do when you pay subsistence wages to your workers.

Does DeLonghi say “slave labor in China” on their powerpoints?

Aha. Good one, kid. You ask great questions.

Well, I just wanna know.

You’re golden, kid. Really. You know they couldn’t say that. It’s what Orwell called doublethink. The power of language. They use euphemisms to such a degree that they don’t even see it that way. Part of it, I think, is that God is so obviously pleased because they are so obviously wealthy. Or is it they are so wealthy because God is so obviously pleased? Same difference. When they write something like, “third quarter revenues increased 30 percent due to off-shore production strategies” their imagination conjures up nothing more than an excel spreadsheet, or a bar graph, a pie chart, or your proverbial rising trend line.

And yet, we both know that slave labor is driving profits. See, I’m not that naïve.

Sure kid. I know. But you probably want to take it easy. Party, get laid. All that. Don’t be reading "The Culture of Make Believe" by Derek Jensen. There’s a time and place for everything.

You sound like a mystic to me.

I am kid. I surely am. It’s the only way to be, especially at my age. Unfortunately, millions are sold a profoundly empty brand of mysticism, as I was sayin.

Who sells it? The illumanti?

I think there are smart, soulless, extremely wealthy people who understand this stuff, this machine that feeds on souls, and like it. I don’t like labeling them. Then some smart-ass will say, “ping, I just burst your illumanti balloon, whatcha gonna say now?” Or, “that’s stoopid. Prove it to me.”

Who sells the line of mystical BS then?

We do, of course.

We do..

Yes. The "War on Terrorism" is a great example. It's the ultimate enterprise-level solution, a great money-maker. And we go along with it. We write the mainstream news articles. We repeat the phrase “war on terrorism” over and over. Every once in a while, someone says, “you can’t have a war on a political tactic” and people go, “yeah, that’s right!” and then they hear ‘war on terror” repeated ad infinitum and go back to sleep. For a minute or two, they can almost see the whole disgusting reality behind the phrase – 1 million Iraqi deaths caused by the invasion, DU poisoning, millions of refugees, completely shattered infrastructure – but then they see the holy graph with America’s safety and prosperity going up and the enemy’s line going down. Double plus good. Goodness upheld, evil confronted. God’s grace ensured.

Why?

I dunno. Why do people insist the purveyors of the official 9/11 conspiracy theory are the one’s who have asked all the pertinent questions and it’s the truthers, as they’re called, that are crazy for the questions they raise? Because just as “war on terrorism” is repeated relentlessly, 9/11 as a jihad martyrdom operation – the work of Al Qaeda -- is repeated over, and over, and over. A “reality” has been established. Questioning its validity makes you odd, crazy, a nutjob, etc. Where is the refuge then? Where is the safety? Where is God’s grace?

So people are scared to confront 9/11 truth?

Many are. Many have spent so much of their life trying to fit in socially, out of fear of ostracism, that they’re afraid to voice their doubts, even to themselves, let alone in public. Then it’s them against the world. Nevermind that the Twin Towers obviously exploded, and there is no possible explanation for WTC-7 except demolition. Truth is dead, and when you see that, you have no ground to stand on. But, and here’s the corner you find yourself painted into, you can’t go back either. Because to stand with the horrible simulacrum of reality that accepts monstrous crimes as the due course of civilization, is also impossible.

But how can you know that?

I..uh..I speak from experience, kid.

You know 9/11 was an inside job?

Yes.

So your own government is more chilling than a Bin Laden video could ever hope to be?



Maybe you should write, kid. You nailed it, there. It is indeed. I’ve known for a long time. No evidence. I don’t need it. It has always been obvious to me. Perhaps that fact freaks me out more than anything else, because it’s so at odds, ya know? I’m a man without a country, and I have been for six years.

Yet I’ve heard you say you want others to know it too. That seems almost sadistic.

Maybe so. It’s kind of a dark period we find ourselves in, don’t you think? How does one keep on the light side? 9/11 is like some kind of satanic initiation. You can’t help but feel contaminated by it. Yet look at Iraq, or Vietnam, or Rwanda, or the world wars. Or third world starvation, modern slavery. The Roman empire. It’s not like slaughter was invented six years ago. We’re living through it. We can’t always make sense of it.

I know that’s right.

Yet something’s gotta pull ya through. I just can’t shake the feeling that 9/11 simultaneously makes that search essential and robs you of your necessary supports.

You’re positing a diabolical mastermind.

Am I? I dunno. I know there is an agenda. I know 9/11 fits with it. I know our world is being led, herded in a direction through brutality. I know Bush and Bin Laden are two of the biggest frauds ever foisted on humanity. Yet millions, even billions, play along. Can you imagine how that must feel to the people behind these cardboard cutouts, the people who I believe are one and the same? This is a new order of power. I would dearly love to go back, ya know. Innocence. I know it's not gone from this world, but it's so fragile...

You ok?

Yeah. I’m aged, but I’m not old. I’ve still got my rock band, Stupidity of Hubris. We’re thinking of changing the name though. Gotta stay fresh. What do you think of Google News Juxtaposition?

It’s alright. You don’t worry about people making fun of you, being the World’s Oldest Curmudgeon and all, and playing rock n roll?

Nah. I don’t do anything for them, whoever “they” are. I do it for my friends. That’s what gets me through. Besides, I’m an American. It’s my music. Might as well claim it. It's the one thing I've found that can hold it all. Hold it together...

Fuck, Mudge.

I know. Why don't you pull us another latte while I crank up Todd Snider's latest?

Can't dance and it ain't Christmas.

No, it's fucking September 11th. But we can dance.

Comments:
Comment from A Tiny Revolution post, but it fits here so well:

It all depends on the definition of human. I am convinced that the majority of the richest and most powerful people think of us as live stock: here to generate revenue for them and to sacrificed for profit as needed. And they feel as little for us as does a hog farmer for his hogs when they are slaughtered. We are sold Pintos which are known to explode because the profit will be higher than fixing the problems; including estimates of the extra costs of law suits for injuries and deaths. Dollar figures were actually given for human life in the profit/loss analysis. We are sold drugs with known serious and deadly side effects. To quote someone far wittier than I, "Tobacco is the only product which, when used as recommended, will kill you." And they add chemicals know to increase the addictiveness of nicotine. No one (human) would do this to another human merely for profit. Look at the way they are sacrificing our soldiers for obscene profit. Or as a surrogate penis to prove their toughness. Or to make then feel safer because of their extreme cowardice. And then they treat them like animals when they come back... except for the few "prize hogs" that are useful for photo-ops and to maintain the lie that they support the troops.

For them, humans are profitable business partners and near kin (in that order). But if they get in the way of anything *seriously* profitable...

In all ways, they are worse than the Mafia or any other segment of organized crime. For they cause death on a global scale to maintain their power and wealth.

But, IMO, these are not the actions of human beings, but of subhuman beasts. And hopefully, the dysfunctional genes that lead to minds that can conceive of and execute these actions are on a dead-end evolutionary branch.
 
Yes, 65 years ago they were talking up "the final solution," but they've processed through all that and it truly is the time of "the enterprise solution."
 
Post a Comment