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Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est la Même Chose
Well, I guess God must have needed another angel. Or a creep, a freak, a probable pederast; maybe it was a recall operation—you know, a defective product cast back into the furnace for reformation. He or the Reaper or medical profession bungling or chance or bad luck will work in their respective mysterious and plebian ways to carry any of us off soon enough and likely sooner than some of us will wish. But you and I won’t make the news in such unending, unrelenting, uncritically adulatory fashion as did the self-proclaimed King Of Pop, Michael Jackson. And a good thing, too, assuming something real and newsworthy and important might happen on the day we die.
Even the BBC, usually a news source I can listen to without cringing or cursing, ignored a world full of death and disaster and wars and lies and abuses, forgot that the climate is unsprung from its governor and we are all riding an overloaded coal train with a full load of steam on an express straight to Hell on Earth. Who could even think about torture and trials and terror and elusive truth when the awful fact has been revealed that the Bleach Boy has left the building? Public Radio, the network evening news shows, the Internet in its million myriad and ever shallower ways, what passes these days for newspapers—none could resist mouthing this foul and gooey morsel.
We did at least and at last learn that the deceased did not much reduce the planet’s store of sickness when he discorporated; we are all and everywhere in our weeping and our frenzy and our attention poisoned, dirty and probably doomed. R.I.P, you poor, sick creature; at least you suffer no more, while we must struggle on in our depraved state.
I write Monday night; Tuesday will be the funeral spectacular. Expect the mourning and praising to lead the news that evening. If your son is blown up in Afghanistan he will die unnoticed by those who help choose what we see and hear and know.
And, if he is in that distant, dusty, damned and disrupted country, working to keep us Free From Terrorism or hoping to survive his tour with the promise of some college money for his trouble, there is a better chance today than a few days ago that he (or she) will be blown up, desanguinated, decapitated, dismembered, and sent to sit with God and Jesus (the man who will have shot or exploded him probably soon dispatched to see Allah and Mohammed in retaliation). For we are again escalating. The Change We Can Believe In has turned out to be but a change in venue.
Today old Bob McNamara died. Ever heard of him, you Michael mourners? Ford Motor Company, Department of Defense, World Bank. He did many terrible and some noble things in each capacity. During his seven years as Secretary of Defense he presided over, authorized, ordered, excused, enabled and promoted the American war in Vietnam, in the company of other blood-soaked notables such as President Lyndon Johnson, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and General William Westmoreland.
He came to believe that the war was a mistake, its foundation an error and its prosecution immoral. He resigned or was forced from office by Johnson. For many years the man lived with and suffered from the knowledge of what he had done until, a tormented old man, he submitted to a number of interviews in which he said, among other great and necessary revelations, that he had been a war criminal, not only during the Vietnam years but also in his work with the decidedly crazy (and later vice-presidential candidate) General Curtis LeMay, in the bombing and burning of civilians in Japan during World War Two. A hundred thousand persons died in one night in March of 1945. Altogether: about a million murdered.
The most remarkable example of McNamara’s confessions may be seen in the documentary movie The Fog Of War, by Errol Morris. You should be watching this instead of moaning over Michael Jackson.
So should President Obama. Remember when he was going to lead us in a better path than George W. Bush? Remember when you voted for him because he’d end the war in Iraq? Remember how sure you were that so many good things would come “on day one”, within the first hundred days, or soon, for certain soon, because he was so different and better and smarter and spoke so eloquently?
Well, my friends, while you were watching that moondance or listening to “Bad” or otherwise occupied, your new president took up the Bush regime’s warmongering ways. We’re still “rendering” prisoners to foreign countries; Guantanamo is still running; prisoners in Iraq are denied Habeas Corpus; documents and photos are withheld, information denied. Congress passes more war funding bills, Obama signs them. Into Afghanistan we surge. To Pakistan we send the deadly drones, aircraft with an unerring attraction toward wedding parties and schools and hospitals and peasant huts, and no conscience to concern them.
Of course we do this because of “The Terrorists.” Robert McNamara predicated his enthusiasm for Vietnam on “The Communists.” But watch that movie. Hear the man who was there repudiate Domino Theory; listen to him when he tells you Ho Chi Minh was not the devil our government and press claimed. Look at the torment as he confronts the suffering he caused. Look on this, ye mighty and despair.
Too little? Too late? Too easy? Sure, if you like. But you’ll never get such a re-examination from Dick Cheney or Don Rumsfeld, and G.W. Bush simply isn’t capable of introspection and complex thinking. But Barack Obama, everybody tells me, is. He’s so smart and so eloquent, after all. But he’s also cautious and conservative and enthralled by the notion of bipartisanship and maybe just a little pumped-up to find himself Commander-In-Chief, saluted smartly as he steps off Air Force One.
Who knows how a man gets lost or how some find their way part way back? It’s easy to get lost on a battlefield, in a fog of war. It may be easier even to get lost in Washington D.C., surrounded by yes-men and money-men and party-men and the conventional-wisdom flowing over and through every thought, every plan, each constricted, co-opted, corrupted mind and soul.
McNamara learned from Vietnam, but he waited too long to tell. He did not denounce the war in Iraq, though he knew it was wrong. Now he is dead. But now, as then, with the collusion of advisors and Congress and the indifference of the most of us, the big fool says to go on. Not a coarse Texan these days, but a smooth neighborhood organizer who said he was different, he understood, he knew a better way; he would talk, he told us, not shoot.
They tell me I’m doing no good complaining. They tell me to write letters to Congress and the White House. I did that several wars ago; McNamara and Johnson didn’t change their minds because of my letters or a hundred thousand of us in the streets. It took a vast amount of blood and death to bring them to see what they had done and by then too much had been done for too long. They were war criminals.
The King Of Pop. The Masters Of War. Rave on. Rave on. Rave on.
Mr. Cooper writes and gardens and pesters his local elected leaders in Alna, Maine. His is a quiet life, rich with solitude and introspection interrupted by occasional bursts of hilarity and inappropriate and tasteless behavior. He owns no Michael Jackson records. He does not believe change of any deep or lasting significance is possible as long as we keep electing Democrats and Republicans and then ignoring or rationalizing their lies and abuses of our trust and self-agrandizement and personal enrichment. He might answer some E-mail if you write him at coop@tidewater.net. Or possibly not. He grows surly and short of patience. He takes comfort in the company of dogs.
16 Comments so far
Show AllThe American empire cannot sustain itself that much longer. As military expenditures continue to drain our coffers, we are in the midst of an indefinitely prolonged recession while at least parts of the rest of the world (China and India) are in expansion. Most of the rest of the world isn't bogged down by US levels of military expenditure so they are already ahead of the game. And what reward does the US reap from all its military spending? Not much. Military lobbyists seek the same thing that other lobbyists seek. Money for their particular line of work. With lobbyists sucking Washington dry and no political will to pay for what we are consuming militarily or otherwise, the game has to end as soon as China and others are no longer willing to loan us money.
Meanwhile, South America and other parts of the world are gearing up along the lines of a different economic model rather than dancing to the same tune as we've forced them to dance to for the last 30 years at least. It's not hard to see the writing on the wall: as long as the US can continue to sell Treasuries to various and assorted suckers, the US will spend itself into oblivion with no limits imposed. The imposition of limits will begin when others are no longer willing to loan us money and then the repayment of debt in earnest will begin or else there will be complete financial collapse. Our main creditor - China - is already antsy about continuing to loan us money. A change in the global economic system which presently favors the US is starting to happen. It's the only thing that will influence US warmongering.
As Mr. Cooper points out, there was McNamara warning America about the dreaded Communists and now there is Obama who, like Bush, is attempting to once again frighten the people of this country by casting the Terrorists as the devil incarnate. This is the same Barack Obama who on June 4 in Cairo, Egypt told his audience that:
"But let us be clear: Al Qaeda killed 3,000 people that day."
He also assured Americans that:
"These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be debated."
Was Barack Obama elected president or dictator of the United States of America? Are not people in this country free to decide whether or not the Bush government told the truth about 9/11/01 or can they actually think that, contrary to what Obama believes, that there is a mountain of evidence to lead one to conclude that 9/11/01 was either a cover-up and/or an inside job and which would then lead one to believe that this War on Terror has been a gigantic hoax. Without 9/11/01 the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq do not happen and the United States does not extend their dominance in the Middle East and is not in a position to control vast resources of oil in that region. Undoubtedly Obama cannot have Americans debating what occurred on Sept. 11, 2001 as that would totally undermine the United States's raison d'etre for being in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Right On, Mr. Cooper, and Write On!
Thank you sir!
But McNamara's war crimes did not end with Vietnam. Despite there being no "missile gap" as it was called in the 1960s, a fact of which he was well aware, McNamara continued to insist that the Soviets harbored a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons. He laid the groundwork for the regrouping of the ultra-right Committee on the Present Danger, who found the lack of evidence of Soviet disarmament treaty violation to be damning evidence itself. Reagan's victory in the 1980s was actually that of the CPD. McNamara meanwhile was claiming that he had been opposed to the growth of nuclear stockpiles for 20 years.
After leaving the Johnson administration McNamara became president of the World Bank, from which position he had catered to the needs of Chile's Pinochet regime after it had ridden with the CIA over the dead body of duly elected president Salvador Allende. A host of other holocausts and catastrophes occurred under his term of office, on which McNamara was always on the wrong side because of his reliable support for the official "national interest."
Too little too late, he tries to recast himself as a Solon in retirement by acknowledging some of his actions as being war crimes.
The networks tell the anchors to dwell on Michael Jackson and other trivia because they boost the ratings. It is the networks' fault or it is the fault of the multitude of airheads who can't get enough garbage?
I think it's capitalism's fault.
In "The Fog of War" McNamara does not admit he was wrong about Vietnam. He continues the McNamara trickery--successfully, it seems.
Righteous, Mr. Cooper. Thank you.
"You should be watching this instead of moaning over Michael Jackson."
Even assuming that real "hard news" and truthful analyses were made widely available to American audiences (an unlikely supposition in itself) the potential impacts are highly questionable. Unpleasant truths are not among that audience's most favored diet which tends more toward the "bread and circuses" of an earlier declining empire.
Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est la Même Chose. That what my beloved dad used to say to me, God rest his soul.
As a music lover, political activist, dancer, and avid consumer of books like "The Shock Doctrine" and movies like "The Fog of War", do I appreciate the genius and talents of Michael Jackson over those of Robert McNamara? You bet I do! Do I praise the life and mourn the passing of the former high and above that of the latter? Absolutely! Can I imagine a world without people like RM? If only it could be!; a world without the likes of MJ? I don't want to try. What opposites these men were and how entirely opposite (and appropriate) the reaction to their deaths. Michael, through immense personal suffering, thrilled millions and inspired generations of people while McNamara, with no apparent personal torment and questionable remorse was responsible for the deaths and suffering of millions. Who was the real monster or creep here? To thrill or kill...is that the question? How sad that the "thrill" is gone but the kill will go on and on. How many millions loved and will continue to love Michael for the rest of their lives? How many ever loved McNamara? How many never got the chance or lost the chance to love anything or anyone through McNamara's actions? Though you may not want to think about it or admit it, as long as the question has anything to do with humanity, love will always trump everything else. Let McNamara forever be lost in the fog of Michael's mourning.
As much as I enjoy Mr. Cooper's writing, I'm with you k! MJ was a light, bright part of my childhood where RM was a heavy personification of darkness. And like other talented, successful entertainers, MJ was exploited--in life as he is now in death. Not to say he was a completely innocent victim but certainly a sad, lost soul--even though he sang and moved with a lotta soul. His life story is fraught with the grotesque American idolatry of fame and fortune gained through excessive ambition and competition, at the expense even of one's own children (the Jackson 5). Can't hold him responsible for the usual media pigs' feeding frenzy at the trough of fame (the same media which was happy to discredit him when that was the scoop). And it isn't like that same media would be reporting any more truth if it was just business as usual. I haven't watched the tv frenzy of the last week, but have to admit I've shed some tears for Michael Jackson while cursing the empire.
Just what we need - racist commentary from a nasty old white guy from Alna, Maine (population 675 - 99.7% white - maybe one latino, native american or black.
In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,in 1984, all Tanzanians knew the music of Michael Jackson. They sang, they danced, they even moondanced. Michael Jackson was a brief moment of joy in a horrendous existence.
In 1985, Michael co-wrote "We are the world". This song and USA for Africa provided milions of dollars in relief for 12 million Ethiopians.Only Bob Geldorf did more for Ethiopia as an individual who cared.
We can dwell on Michael as a confused individual or we can celebrate Michael the artist and citizen of the world.
Michael was one of the first to unite peoples of all races. He united people of all religions. He was a pacifist and a vegetarian. He was, in many ways, what many members of the so-called progressive community want to be.
Michael spent millions on terminally ill children. Make a Wish Foundation used Neverland as a preferred destination.
Mr Cooper ranks with Representative Hunter as a racist prick who has little sense of the world.
Like other racists of his ilk ... Plus ca Change - Plus
C'est la Meme Chose
Ducksawce bizarrely believes that because Mr. Cooper dares to criticize Michael Jackson then he must be a racist. I think not. Unless Ducksawce can point to examples of where Mr. Cooper has maligned other African-Americans, then I submit that ducksawce's allegation is unfounded. The point that Mr. Cooper tried to make is that the coverage of Jackson's death, which is being covered ad nauseam by the mainstream media, has blotted out other important stories such as the unending bombing of civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the death of one of the architects of the Vietnam War, Robert McNamara. As Mr. Cooper inquires, one has to wonder how many of Jackson's adoring fans have even heard of McNamara and his impact upon American and Vietnamese history. This, of course, is what the people in power desire which is that Americans remain ill informed in order for the establishment to keep the populace meek and subservient.
Chris: I hope you are reading the responses to your well stated article. There are a few (few being the key word here) who realize that the main stream media no longer exists to present the 'news.' It died some time back, reached a high point with the blue dress or red dress, whichever, in Clintons indiscretions. Feeding frenzy over trivia is what sells tv, newspapers, periodicals, etc. In case no one has mentioned it lately I would like to note that observations such as yours are far more revealing than anything available elsewhere. For that we are grateful. thank you.