Terrorism

Just found a picture of a dictionary page (digital camera make excellent photocopiers)

Shorter Oxford Dictionary.

Terrorism (1795) A system of terror. I. Government by intimidation; the system of the 'Terror' (1793-4) 2. gen. A policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; ... 1798

I thought it ironic at the time when Mr Rumsfeld spoke of "shock and awe" in the same breath as speaking of terrorists. Its an ancient battle technique, win the war before you even fight psychologically. According to Herodotus, Alexander the Great over came an impenetrable citadel in India after pretending he had a winged army. The king surrendered immediately. Actually he had just sent some climbers onto the citadel's summit hill during the night and timed a flag waving display. But psychologically it did the trick. This is where Alexander was so superior, conquest for him was the whole "theatre" (pun intended) - political, social, physical, military strategy and performance. My weakness amongst many is that I don't do any of these - they are illusions precisely because we can chose the play them or not. So who is the stronger - the one who plays cat and mouse with the illusions or the one who is wise to them but doesn't even get involved? Well that is another conquest illusion isn't it ;-)

Mr Rumsfeld like the who American PR stunt has sadly shattered the performance illusion because it was so badly done. It seems these days that our intelligence is under profound assault because what we here is so completely ridiculous we have only two choices - to be incredulous of the stupidity of it and so believe it, or to take the radical move of having to disbelieve the state. Which is a big move since we are supposed to be playing this game where they are in charge. To stop playing that game is a profound move. So to keep our "lives" together we have to believe what is ridiculous. This has been going on for so long now that we have forgotten what is not ridiculous and the governments push the boundaries of the ridiculous all the time.

So terrorism was originally the french name for the period of extreme opponent cleansing by the Revolution, a policy of total force to qwell any resistence. Don't see how the American policy is anything but this. So does that mean that Americans are on the Axis of Evil? Of course it does... irony is always ironic!

This is where I should be careful... already noted in previous blogs... I had this poem which started,

"I have never known a word of criticism not intended for the self."

(always start with long lines it seems, "In early June I took my place upon a chequer floor" - should look at poetry formally some time...2do)

It seems whatever you say, or anyone says to you in criticism in actual fact it is always about the speaker. This seems to be the nature of criticism.

Can only think of one reason why at the moment: whatever measure I chose to judge you with, it is me who chose the measure. Now why should we instinctively chose the measure that really applies to us?

My mother calls me selfish at the moment, but actually I can see that what has happened is she has grown so used to being alone that the company of another is considered an invasion of her privacy. She feels this as invasion and so accuses me of taking liberties and being selfish. Well I've done everything I can to help and on a few occasions shown her that actually i was not being selfish. She's calmed down, but still has a few flare ups.

The difference here from the situation at work is that while she thinks "I am your mother" in response to any threat its not quite clear what authority this entitles her to. She gets off her high horse and watches and listens eventually. The system of capital leads weak people to really believe they have ontological authority however. Thus I imagine it is pathological throughout industry that the last person to ever realise they are wrong is the "boss". In actual fact it is just the rules of the game which give this illusion, anyone can be wrong at any time. Or to put another way, how would we ever know if we were wrong if we didn't listen (at least to Reality or God)?

So the Terrorist stunt falls rather flat because the Americans have stopped listening, believing that now is the moment for the Global American Empire before it has even come to fruition. Hubris is alive and well.