Dear George,
There are two reasons men rule. The first has to do with the talk every mother has with her little girl in which she explains that girls develop faster than boys. What she forgets to mention is that the guys never catch up, to which I say, Thank God!
The world would be a sorry place, indeed, were it not for the eternal adolescence of the male. There would be no capitalism, no corporatism, no conquest, no empire, no porn, no bombs, no navies, no armies, no air forces, and no wars in which the emotionally crippled male could find glory in carnage.
In other words, life would be a monotonous succession of days stripped of the untimely death only conflict can offer.
The bottom line is that peace is a drag queen mincing across the stage, singing discordant songs of love and community. The peaceful life is the empty life lived in a somnolent state in which the greatest challenge is staying awake. There would be no rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in the air. There would only be spacious skies and amber waves of grain as far as the eye could see. Gone would be the stimulation of explosions and the aesthetic chaos of ruin and rubble. No longer would the motherless child pull at the heartstrings.
Were a permanent state of peace to break out, it would spell the end of our prosperity as the machinery of war rusted and went to ruin. There would be no call to sacrifice, no medals or ribbons and no more war movies that glorified, even as they sanitized the face of war.
No, George, we don’t need men touching their feminine side; we need men grabbing their gonads and going out to kick some ass.
Which brings me to the second reason men rule: we’re the poor bastards who have to get it up, and that leads to an awful lot of posturing and bullshit.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Lead us, O leader. We fall as you fall.
Dear George,
For someone as jaded and bored as I am, the descent of our empire into hell is the only thing that makes life worth living. How I love to see our idealism curdle as it is distilled into the black bile of decay. How wonderful is it to be lead by leaders so stark raving mad they believe they are on the cutting edge of reality. How stimulating it is to be kept informed by elite pundits whose servility is rewarded by access to power as long as they mouth the approved platitudes.
Liberty’s torch is now a sputtering smudge pot that sends its black murk across the face of the earth choking and blinding all that it touches, while your minions try valiantly to persuade the world that its darkness is the light of freedom, illuminating their shattered lives.
Famine and pestilence stride the land singing your praises as the very god of want and despair. The cry of a hungry child is freedom’s song; the wail of the widow its polyphonic motet. The water board and the hood are its teachers.
You have brought America into a new age of integrity and honesty. The evils of the 50's once committed in silent denial in Iran and Guatemala are now openly broadcasted and bragged about. Evil is now good, and worn as a badge of honor.
And as the crushing boredom of impoverishment closes around the America public, they turn a blind eye to your dark visage and see in you, themselves, for you are an extension of the public’s fear and loathing. Their pathological consumption has eaten away their souls and all that remain are empty shells rattling in the icy wind that blows from the north, so cold it freezes the marrow of their bones and turns their hearts to stone.
Lead us, O leader, and we will follow you to the precipice over which we will find the ultimate freedom that only death can offer.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
For someone as jaded and bored as I am, the descent of our empire into hell is the only thing that makes life worth living. How I love to see our idealism curdle as it is distilled into the black bile of decay. How wonderful is it to be lead by leaders so stark raving mad they believe they are on the cutting edge of reality. How stimulating it is to be kept informed by elite pundits whose servility is rewarded by access to power as long as they mouth the approved platitudes.
Liberty’s torch is now a sputtering smudge pot that sends its black murk across the face of the earth choking and blinding all that it touches, while your minions try valiantly to persuade the world that its darkness is the light of freedom, illuminating their shattered lives.
Famine and pestilence stride the land singing your praises as the very god of want and despair. The cry of a hungry child is freedom’s song; the wail of the widow its polyphonic motet. The water board and the hood are its teachers.
You have brought America into a new age of integrity and honesty. The evils of the 50's once committed in silent denial in Iran and Guatemala are now openly broadcasted and bragged about. Evil is now good, and worn as a badge of honor.
And as the crushing boredom of impoverishment closes around the America public, they turn a blind eye to your dark visage and see in you, themselves, for you are an extension of the public’s fear and loathing. Their pathological consumption has eaten away their souls and all that remain are empty shells rattling in the icy wind that blows from the north, so cold it freezes the marrow of their bones and turns their hearts to stone.
Lead us, O leader, and we will follow you to the precipice over which we will find the ultimate freedom that only death can offer.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
Thursday, June 12, 2008
A Musing
Hear, O George, the prattle of my meth-poxed brain:
To wantonly kill for the sake of wantonly killing is evil.
To wantonly kill for the sake of wantonly killing to bring democracy to the world is noble and just.
So, come on America! Let's get out there and kill a haji kid for Christ!
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
To wantonly kill for the sake of wantonly killing is evil.
To wantonly kill for the sake of wantonly killing to bring democracy to the world is noble and just.
So, come on America! Let's get out there and kill a haji kid for Christ!
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Evil is good when a spokesman speaks
Dear George,
For evil to prevail, those who perpetuate it must be convinced of the fundamental goodness of their acts. They must be adept at sopping up the gore that evil produces with the sands of euphuisms mouthed with a monotone drone that conceals even as it purports to inform.
If properly repositioned, evil becomes a common place banality that is fully integrated into the mundane sameness of our daily routines. With the passage of time, evil acts, no matter how horrendous, lose their ability to shock and move us.
Oh sure, you still have your do-gooders who are unable to adapt to the dynamic changes our culture has experienced over the last seven years. They are Luddites who have dug their heels in against the unstoppable march of progress.
Their latest effort was to gather 110 nations in Dublin, Ireland to hash out a treaty banning cluster bombs. Anyone who thinks America is going to go down that road is sadly mistaken.
The cluster bomb is not an instrument of war, it is an instrument of diplomacy, and diplomacy is all about persuasion. For example, let’s say we want a country to do things our way, and that country refuses to do so. Can you think of a more effective argument to change their minds than maiming their children when they start playing soccer with unexploded bomblets? It sends a powerful message.
Anyhow, 110 nations signed the treaty. We were not one of them.
Some might think us evil for refusing to sign the treaty. Thank God we had a military spokesman on the scene that effectively deodorized our decision. He explained that, “Well we—the number one priority of any country’s military is to defend its country. And if our military planners are determined that these are necessary to protect America’s interests, we—it’s not something were going to unilaterally get rid of (emphasis mine).”
What a wonderful smokescreen he threw up! He didn’t fall back on the old cliché that the West has a long and noble history of bombing natives into submission. Instead, he evoked that most bland of individuals, the military planner. There’s a poetic phrase for you. It is a phrase that reduces evil to the humdrum boredom of endless meetings and thick position papers that dull the mind with the monotonous flow of their syntax.
Our intent isn't to maim children even though we do; we simply want to be prepared for any contingency, such as maiming children to make a point.
What was fascinating about the statement was that embedded within it was a seismic shift that was so subtle the mainstream media missed it altogether. The spokesman didn’t speak about defending “America”; he spoke of defending “American interests.”
Resource wars, we have arrived.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
For evil to prevail, those who perpetuate it must be convinced of the fundamental goodness of their acts. They must be adept at sopping up the gore that evil produces with the sands of euphuisms mouthed with a monotone drone that conceals even as it purports to inform.
If properly repositioned, evil becomes a common place banality that is fully integrated into the mundane sameness of our daily routines. With the passage of time, evil acts, no matter how horrendous, lose their ability to shock and move us.
Oh sure, you still have your do-gooders who are unable to adapt to the dynamic changes our culture has experienced over the last seven years. They are Luddites who have dug their heels in against the unstoppable march of progress.
Their latest effort was to gather 110 nations in Dublin, Ireland to hash out a treaty banning cluster bombs. Anyone who thinks America is going to go down that road is sadly mistaken.
The cluster bomb is not an instrument of war, it is an instrument of diplomacy, and diplomacy is all about persuasion. For example, let’s say we want a country to do things our way, and that country refuses to do so. Can you think of a more effective argument to change their minds than maiming their children when they start playing soccer with unexploded bomblets? It sends a powerful message.
Anyhow, 110 nations signed the treaty. We were not one of them.
Some might think us evil for refusing to sign the treaty. Thank God we had a military spokesman on the scene that effectively deodorized our decision. He explained that, “Well we—the number one priority of any country’s military is to defend its country. And if our military planners are determined that these are necessary to protect America’s interests, we—it’s not something were going to unilaterally get rid of (emphasis mine).”
What a wonderful smokescreen he threw up! He didn’t fall back on the old cliché that the West has a long and noble history of bombing natives into submission. Instead, he evoked that most bland of individuals, the military planner. There’s a poetic phrase for you. It is a phrase that reduces evil to the humdrum boredom of endless meetings and thick position papers that dull the mind with the monotonous flow of their syntax.
Our intent isn't to maim children even though we do; we simply want to be prepared for any contingency, such as maiming children to make a point.
What was fascinating about the statement was that embedded within it was a seismic shift that was so subtle the mainstream media missed it altogether. The spokesman didn’t speak about defending “America”; he spoke of defending “American interests.”
Resource wars, we have arrived.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Doing Empire 'cause it Looks Good
Dear George,
It makes no difference who will be our new president; there are certain constants that will remain unchanged: the Corporatist State will thrive and our empire will remain untouched.
The Corporatist State will continue as the Corporatist State because the oligarchy says so!
Our empire, on the other hand, must be preserved even though it is bankrupting us. Ours is a unique empire. Historically, Empires have been profit centers for those who ran them. Ours in the first empire in history to operate at a net loss.
Just as an impoverished society matron refuses to hock her mink coat because it the only status symbol she has left, we cling to our empire because we are a hollowed-out parody of what we once were.
Consumerism has made us a nation of things, not vision. Racism is weakening our economy by driving out the immigrants willing to take the shit jobs Anglos won’t touch. We are a nation of functional illiterates mesmerized by a dumb-downed pop culture. Our economy thrashes about in a St. Vitus’s dance as another bubble pops and we discover that we have no soap left to float another because we are insolvent.
Common sense says dump the empire, but common sense never won an election. No president wants to go down in history as the president who lost our empire, because we are convinced that to lose our empire would be to lose our soul even though holding on to our empire is slowly rotting it away. But when you stand for nothing, appearances are everything.
Sure, we mouth our platitudes about democracy and freedom. But these words have no relationship to their original meanings. Both have been reimaged to mean, “Do as we say, or else!”
Another reason we cling to our empire is that is an important revenue stream for our Corporatists. There’s money to be made in decline. Defense contractors bloat as America shrivels. This is why Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson spent four days touring the Middle East, tin cup in hand, looking for money to keep us afloat.
So, rest assured, George, that whoever takes the oath of office in January will continue the madness. We’ve been mad so long it looks like sane.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
It makes no difference who will be our new president; there are certain constants that will remain unchanged: the Corporatist State will thrive and our empire will remain untouched.
The Corporatist State will continue as the Corporatist State because the oligarchy says so!
Our empire, on the other hand, must be preserved even though it is bankrupting us. Ours is a unique empire. Historically, Empires have been profit centers for those who ran them. Ours in the first empire in history to operate at a net loss.
Just as an impoverished society matron refuses to hock her mink coat because it the only status symbol she has left, we cling to our empire because we are a hollowed-out parody of what we once were.
Consumerism has made us a nation of things, not vision. Racism is weakening our economy by driving out the immigrants willing to take the shit jobs Anglos won’t touch. We are a nation of functional illiterates mesmerized by a dumb-downed pop culture. Our economy thrashes about in a St. Vitus’s dance as another bubble pops and we discover that we have no soap left to float another because we are insolvent.
Common sense says dump the empire, but common sense never won an election. No president wants to go down in history as the president who lost our empire, because we are convinced that to lose our empire would be to lose our soul even though holding on to our empire is slowly rotting it away. But when you stand for nothing, appearances are everything.
Sure, we mouth our platitudes about democracy and freedom. But these words have no relationship to their original meanings. Both have been reimaged to mean, “Do as we say, or else!”
Another reason we cling to our empire is that is an important revenue stream for our Corporatists. There’s money to be made in decline. Defense contractors bloat as America shrivels. This is why Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson spent four days touring the Middle East, tin cup in hand, looking for money to keep us afloat.
So, rest assured, George, that whoever takes the oath of office in January will continue the madness. We’ve been mad so long it looks like sane.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
Monday, June 9, 2008
History Comes to a Screeching Halt in the Executive Suite
Dear George,
The reason the Corporatist State represents the end point of history is that history is nothing more than the struggle by the elite to control the unwashed masses, and the Corporatist State represents the perfection of this control.
Over the decades the State has subtly, but gradually, created a collective mindset that believes that prosperity and comfort are available to all on an equal basis, even though the exact opposite is true. This illusion of prosperity for all through the obscene availability of easy credit is the blanket that concealed the gradually increasing bifurcation between haves and have nots.
Such a split is necessary for the well-ordered State. With the Corporatist State, we have an ideal situation in which we have a small pustule of the superrich who are serviced by an upper middleclass cohort made up of senior and middle managers who have just enough disposable income to support the illusion that they, too, are among the rich and famous.
It is this cohort and feeds and supports the system. According to one sage, this cohort consists of the five percent whose annual income is over $100,000, but well below the millionaire/billionaire percentile.
The key members of this cohort are the economists who keep alive the theurgy of the Neo-Platonists of yore. They are to Corporatism what the early church theologians were to the rise of a politicized and oppressive Christianity. Like the Neo-Platonist, our economists believe that Corporatism represents the Devine Mind emanating from the World Soul.
Like all the oppressors of history, misery feeds our Corporatists. As the above cited sage puts it:
When factories are closed, or relocated to cheap-wage regions, when pensions are slashed, or stolen, when laws to protect the workers or the environment are defeated, when whole industries are taken over by opportunistic raiders…in sum, when human and planetary misery increase, or promise to increase…corporate valuations jump off the charts and a merry choir of mavens come out of the woodwork to celebrate the good news and help break out the champaign.
The drones, the proles, the ignorant, and all the other oppressed demographics are kept in line by working them to death, driven as they are by the threat of the economic ruin that will be their lot if dare protest their condition.
And singing the praises of our Neo-Feudal society is our compliant media that either marginalizes or ignores dissent even as it praises its oppressors as the benevolent gods without whom the world would sink into a cesspool of freedom and creativity.
Truly, the Corporate Way is the only Way, which is why we are doing all in our power to bomb and slaughter it to the rest of the world, so they, too, can wallow in our illusive prosperity.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
The reason the Corporatist State represents the end point of history is that history is nothing more than the struggle by the elite to control the unwashed masses, and the Corporatist State represents the perfection of this control.
Over the decades the State has subtly, but gradually, created a collective mindset that believes that prosperity and comfort are available to all on an equal basis, even though the exact opposite is true. This illusion of prosperity for all through the obscene availability of easy credit is the blanket that concealed the gradually increasing bifurcation between haves and have nots.
Such a split is necessary for the well-ordered State. With the Corporatist State, we have an ideal situation in which we have a small pustule of the superrich who are serviced by an upper middleclass cohort made up of senior and middle managers who have just enough disposable income to support the illusion that they, too, are among the rich and famous.
It is this cohort and feeds and supports the system. According to one sage, this cohort consists of the five percent whose annual income is over $100,000, but well below the millionaire/billionaire percentile.
The key members of this cohort are the economists who keep alive the theurgy of the Neo-Platonists of yore. They are to Corporatism what the early church theologians were to the rise of a politicized and oppressive Christianity. Like the Neo-Platonist, our economists believe that Corporatism represents the Devine Mind emanating from the World Soul.
Like all the oppressors of history, misery feeds our Corporatists. As the above cited sage puts it:
When factories are closed, or relocated to cheap-wage regions, when pensions are slashed, or stolen, when laws to protect the workers or the environment are defeated, when whole industries are taken over by opportunistic raiders…in sum, when human and planetary misery increase, or promise to increase…corporate valuations jump off the charts and a merry choir of mavens come out of the woodwork to celebrate the good news and help break out the champaign.
The drones, the proles, the ignorant, and all the other oppressed demographics are kept in line by working them to death, driven as they are by the threat of the economic ruin that will be their lot if dare protest their condition.
And singing the praises of our Neo-Feudal society is our compliant media that either marginalizes or ignores dissent even as it praises its oppressors as the benevolent gods without whom the world would sink into a cesspool of freedom and creativity.
Truly, the Corporate Way is the only Way, which is why we are doing all in our power to bomb and slaughter it to the rest of the world, so they, too, can wallow in our illusive prosperity.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Unifying Unity in the Name of Unity
Dear George,
There is a simple sound bite that tells you all you need to know about holding on to power: unity, not community. On the surface they appear to be one and the same. In truth, they are mutually exclusive.
Community is able to deal with diversity; unity deplores it.
Community needs neither symbol nor slogan; unity needs both.
In community, people see things they’d rather not see, hear things they’d rather not hear and smell things they’d rather not smell; unity is scrubbed clean of all that is offensive.
Community is comfortable with debate and dissent; unity demands that we stay on message.
Community is consensus that ascends from the ground up; unity is ideology force-fed from above.
Under no circumstances must a gaggle of proles be allowed to coalesce into a community! Keep them fragmented; bombard them with wedge issues and with real and imaginary threats. Season these with empty platitudes about freedom.
Nothing fragments a community faster than angry patriots with their magnetic ribbons asking God to bless America as we rape, pillage and torture. Every flag flapping from a car antenna is a nail driven into democracy’s coffin.
Both symbol and slogan reduce life to the infantile question of who's with us and who’s against us. In doing so, they sound the death knell on the process of compromise and conciliation between conflicting groups in a pluralistic society that is the foundation of community. It is this pluralism hat must be crushed beneath the dead weight of unity.
One word of warning: Strength is grounded in humility; destruction is grounded in hubris. Since your Neocon handlers are leading you down the path of hubris, remember that your objective is not to achieve victory but to court disaster.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
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