Did the irony escape you? The obvious comedy of this historical irony escapes us, because we continue to be attached to a neurotic preoccupation with our racial identity. Only the heroic possess the courage to explore and expose the racial psycho-pathology of our collective unconscious. Only when thoroughly exposed, can we effectively stop the self destructive downward spiral of this continuing race war that we brought upon this innocent New World. As we expose the pathology of race, we come face to face with guilt. Guilt is an Old World disease that we have spread across the New World like a cancer. Guilt is a self-hating desease unconsciously carried by every man that surrenders his freedom to the effeminate security of hierarchical civilization. We hate the Men of the New World because of their freedom. Because they were as brave and free as the wind, we had to destroy and enslave them. If one free man exists in this world, our self-deceptions will never be safe, and we will never succeed in hidding our guilt. Thus our continuing racist colonialization of the world. The mark of Cain.
Not true. There comes a point when you simply have to say "Enough is enough" rather than "Let's point out every possible prejudice anyone might hold." NOTHING is gained from "thoroughly exposing" racism (i.e. blaming whitey). If there are any race concerns in this matter at all, they are secondary to other issues. It sounds to me that you're just projecting what you perceive as your OWN faults onto the rest of humanity. Most people in the Americas do not hold any serious prejudices against people just because of their race. Even among those who might act slightly differently around a member of a different race, most of them don't actively discriminate or wish others ill. Is it possible that most people subconsciously judge people differently based on their race? I suppose. Is it the dominating force of the human psyche? Not even close.
** Oh point pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase I mean one moment you seem to claim that racial war is part of socialist theory the next you are saying they are completely separate. You sound like a misinformed baffon when you say such stupid things, and I’m almost certain you are not. When you tell me that I shouldn’t be concerned are you saying that I shouldn’t worry about your seeming inability to think straight? But I am concerned it is terrible to see an old friend seeming to their loose grip.
From my experience, that point comes when we can look at our unconscious racial attachments with humor rather than defensiveness. In that sense, hidding from our attachments is sort of like merely sweeping it under-the-rug because it makes us feel uncomfortable and defensive. That feeling is a clue that we still have a lot of unresolved identity attachment. That's true. What little I understand of the tragi-comic idiosyncrasies of our shared Human motivations begins with my own self examination. Fortunately, your right. Our most consciously blatant and serious racial prejudices are thankfully disapearing. My focus however, is not on that tiny island of conscious occupation, but within the vast and deep surrounding ocean of sub-conscious motivation. It is here that we can find the deep powerful currents that have always disguised themselves as Business, Politics, and Religion. I agree with you 100%!!! Even our racial preoccupations are not really about race at all, but about SEX! SEX and DEATH are by far the dominating forces of our Human Psyche. ----------------- What does all this have to do with poor old Venesuela?!? lol Only that my critiques of the situation in Venesuela touches all the same hidden impulses as my critiques of every other aspect of Hierarchical Civilization. Which is why I don't post very often in the political forums, because I would simply be repeating the same observations over and over regardless of the thread-topic. Most feel I am off topic and hi-jacking the thread, because most don't make the same uniquely singular connections that I make. So my apologies to Cobcottage for hi-jacking her thread in this strangely unusual direction.
(snip) I'll just have to hijack it back then won't I? There's an interesting discussion going on at DU about Chavez sending in troups to take over a "Lord Vestey's" property. Democratic Underground Thread Please DO start another thread if you want to veer so far off-topic again.
cob, If you have access to DU, then you've probably already seen that great documentary about the attempted coup against Chavez? The whole coup was video-taped from begining to end. The documentary has been making the rounds of Universities and Unitarian Churches. Also, Greg Palast has an excellent article about the land redistribution that you mentioned at 'Common Dreams' website.
I think Hugo Chavez's actions over the past month warrant the resurrection of this thread, because he's moved from being just another authoritarian leader, to being an alarming threat to the security of the Western hemisphere. In my opinion, he's reached the point where he beats even Fidel Castro as the worst human rights abuser in the Americas, and he certainly poses the greatest threat to other nations in the Americas. For those who don't know, for years Chavez has notoriously supported Marxist rebels in Colombia who seek to overthrow the democratically-elected government. About a month ago, President Uribe of Colombia got tired of Venezuela ignoring his extradition requests, so he ordered the kidnapping of one of the rebel leaders who was living in Caracas, to bring him to justice in Bogota. Since then, Chavez has been hollering about Colombia violating his national sovereignty (in between his disgusting rape fantasies of Condoleezza Rice) and overtly supporting terrorism in Colombia. Hugo Chavez is no longer just another idiot despot. He threatens to start another world war, this time centered in the Americas, by invading or threatening to invade Colombia, Ecuador, and Chile (all liberal capitalist democracies). He'll be South America's Hitler if something is not done...SOON.
Kandy, The title for worst human rights abuser in the Americas belongs neither to Castro nor Chavez, but to the US-backed military junta in Guatemala: http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ceh/report/english/toc.html As for Columbia, I agree that it is unconscionable to support the FARC butchers, but bear in mind that the government-allied paramilitaries are responsbile for a majority of the carnage there: Despite the declared cease-fire, paramilitaries were still responsible for massacres, targeted killings, “disappearances”, torture, kidnappings and threats. They were allegedly responsible for the killing or “disappearance” of at least 1,300 people in 2003, over 70 per cent of all attributable, non-combat, politically related killings and “disappearances”. - http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/col-summary-eng
Your material on Guatemala mostly documents a violent period which peaked nearly 25 years ago. I think something more recent would be better. Having said that, Chavez isn't all that scary, and he's certainly no Castro in terms of human rights abuses. Chavez abuses some peoples rights, Castro abuses everybody's rights. Chavez is a typical Latin American tin pot dictator. His politics are leftist populism and nationalism, but he's not a real socialist. The biggest risk is more his ineptitude than his intentions. He'll make a big scene out of the FARC kidnapping, but in the end it will go nowhere. I'm not even sure that Colombia is all that worked up about it - they think he is sympathetic to FARC and soft on them, but they doubt he would want to get too involved with such a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs.
At the world social forum he called for the return of "real socialism" so he thinks himself a true socialist. Here are a couple of interesting articles http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBYDUVXL4E.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4072533.stm I wonder if the US really did engineer the coup if they knew about it. With all their friends in the oil business I wouldn't put it past them.
I would assume so. Almost immediately after the coup, George Bush said "Hugo Chavez has no one to blame but himself" or something along those lines. Probably not the words of someone who is surprised to hear the news.
I know I disagree with you on many things Kandahar, but I appreciate how you think for yourself. To few people do these days. I WANT to like Chavez, because I've always liked the idea of democratic socialism, but I have yet to see an example of where it works. Has anyone seen an occasion where it has worked out in a way that doesn't violate the "Universal Declaration of HUman Rights" http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html I see few enough examples of capitalism that don't.
