How to Save the World

Dave Pollard's environmental philosophy, creative works, business papers and essays.

MADE IN CANADA

trust your instincts

< £ Salon Bloggers & >

March 21, 2003

FRIDAY FIVE: ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE

I'm getting a lot of traffic today courtesy of the Friday Five folks, since they're using my five questions this week (thanks guys, I'm honoured). So it's only appropriate that I provide my answers:

1. If you had the chance to meet someone you've never met, from the past or present, who would it be?
Alfred Einstein, who said this:

"A human being is part of the whole, which we call the call the 'Universe': a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest?a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its astonishing beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation, and the foundation for inner peace."

2. If you had to live in a different century, past or future, which would it be?
Any century more than 30,000 years ago. There's growing evidence that human life back then was not the 'nasty, brutish' existence that the apologists for modern civilization's mess would have us believe, but rather idyllic, peaceful, harmonious and easy.

3. If you had to move anywhere else on Earth, where would it be?
The Netherlands. More than any other nation on Earth, the Dutch are people of the world.

4. If you had to be a fictional character, who would it be?
Dan from Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night. A lot like me, but faster, funnier, a little better looking and a lot more articulate.

5. If you had to live with having someone else's face as your own for the rest of your life, whose would it be?
Pierre Trudeau. No one so good looking that it gets in the way. Intelligent looking.

1:45:37 PM  trackback [] comment []

'SEARCH SALON BLOGS' TOOL NOW UP

Scott Rosenberg thought my idea for a Search Across All Salon Blogs tool was a great one, but said Salon doesn't have the resources right now to host it on Salon's Home Page. So I've put it up on mine, as you can see on the right, underneath my Search Site bar. It seems to work fine - I tested it with 'post-modernism' and all the right blogs showed up in the search results. Try it out yourself, and if you like it lift the HTML and put it on your own site (don't forget to substitute the references to my masthead, and my blog URL, with your own).

And while you're at it, feel free to lift the Candle for Peace gif as well. If you're new at this stuff, save your Home Page template somewhere first in case you accidentally do something disastrous and need to restore it (speaking from experience here). And thanks to Google, for making this so easy and for its continuing strong support of the blogosphere.

1:00:31 PM  trackback [] comment []

THE WISDOM OF CONTAINMENT

Since I wrote the article A Man Consumed with Rage I've been thinking about what will happen to Bush when that rage is quenched. This utterly simplistic and single-minded demagogue has given us no clue about what he's going to do about the total shambles he has created in two short years:

Chaos and acrimony in international diplomacy

The future of the UN and NATO imperiled

Middle East and global political instability, with a dozen governments vulnerable to internal overthrow

Millions of new enemies and thousands of new terrorists created

The international reputation and trust of the U.S. in tatters

Domestic freedoms stripped away

Many Americans paralyzed with unwarranted fear

The prospect of massive civilian war casualties

Economic ruin, starvation and anarchy in Afghanistan and Iraq

Recession, loss of personal savings, and soaring numbers of unemployed and impoverished in debt-crippled America

My growing sense is that, just as he doesn't care about massive opposition to his war, or opposition to his extremist right-wing domestic social and political agenda, he doesn't care about any of these issues. His father, much wiser, more diplomatic and shrewd than he is, nevertheless lost his re-election bid. Winston Churchill, who was worshipped as a hero during WW2, lost his re-election bid in peacetime. Just as Saddam is making his last stand, content to die a self-perceived martyr, I think Junior knows full well he won't win again once the realization of the horrendous damage he has done to America (exemplified by the bullets above) hits the American electorate. Shock and Awe isn't just a plan for a fast and devastating war to achieve one single purpose, it's the blueprint for a president who knows he will have no second chance to achieve his obsessive goal of revenge against the Arab world for 9/11 and revenge against the Clinton Democrats for their hugely successful 'liberal' transformation of America. He's blowing his whole wad now.

This behaviour is entirely consistent with a psychopathic personality. Like a thief in a jewelry store, the objective is to smash and grab as much as possible and run, and then rationalize, lie, blame others and do whatever needs to be done to avoid the consequences of the crime. Psychopaths are good at this -- they are often very intelligent, highly respected people whose zeal and guile can attract devotion from others, some to the point where the followers will take the blame for the psychopath's actions (Tony Blair, Colin Powell, are you listening?). Psychopaths make powerful cult leaders. They surround themselves with the loyal and like-minded (just look at the savagery and sameness of Bush's inner circle).

The good news, and the bad news, is that the jig will soon be up. If Bush 'wins' the Iraq war quickly, he will have to either face the problems above or create another crisis, and then manufacture consent for another misadventure to distract attention from these issues. But history has shown that people grow weary of war quickly, and beyond Iraq and perhaps North Korea, domestic support for further campaigns will rapidly wane. And if the Iraq war drags on or produces huge civilian casualties, that distaste will set in even faster. Under either scenario (and psychopaths are good at studying scenarios) the endgame is near, likely before the November 2004 election. If the economy or the war goes especially badly, or if the dirty tricks like those played on the EU lately can be attributed to Bush, then impeachment could bring the end of the nightmare even sooner (Nixon also showed signs of psychopathy).

So what is to be done? Confronting psychopaths can be extremely dangerous, since they can rationalize taking any means to their obsessive ends, and they strike out when defied or challenged (ask the French). Waiting for Bush to self-destruct is an option, but just as Saddam left a million landmines when he knew he was beaten in Kuwait, the costs of waiting out a retreating, beaten Bush might be huge, and the destruction could linger for decades. The damage of Bush's deficits and environmental pillage are already going to take generations to undo.

As in any protracted siege, the best strategy is probably to be selective and focused, and choose one's battles. Filibustering the nomination of lifelong extremist court appointees is probably a wise choice of battle, as was the defeat of the proposal for Alaskan wilderness drilling. Democrats deserve, for once, credit for their stand on these two important issues. Ironically, perhaps the best strategy for dealing with Bush is the strategy that pacifists proposed in dealing with Saddam: Not a bloody confrontation, not appeasement, not sanctions that just hurt innocent victims, but a constant and close watch to disarm him before he inflicts further ruin. Until he self-destructs in the coming months, George W. Bush needs to be contained .

7:46:35 AM  trackback [] comment []