I don't know.
what's up with all this?
It has been said, that the business of Rome was war, a profitable business as Caesar will attest crossing the Rubicon.--
a report says Saudi Arabia informed the CIA of their misgivings, alas, they too were ignored;
yet why are they now distancing themselves from their old friends? Perhaps lying is anathema to our Islamic allies? or is it something else? The attractiveness of the euro in the face of what will soon become apparent?
In which case, just how far has the cabal sold America down the river? It is not a question of western civilisation falling, rather a fat segment is sacrificed, a holding action--a retrenchment in the face of what has become a liability due to fiscal concerns, intellectual properties shifting in the economic sphere--innovation in production, the technological edge which is the basis of the dollar eroding. The petro economic model changing parameters with the ever increasing demand vs relatively static supply--shift of where the ability to pay resides.
The deflection of blame in the face of the inevitable rising of the east, shift of capital to ever more hostile markets (self interest dictates loyalty to the "company" but the company seeks long term survival at the expense of the individual, a variant of Jung--the corporate identity resides not in the quest for profit but in survival, an aside, but diversification and expansion serve only longevity, not profit). Markets are not bound by territorial claims, historically the Merchant class is hostile to nation states.
The matter at hand; the matter at hand--
The Company is godless. Ideology is limited to corporate slogans, catch phrases to extol the worker to greater efforts "in service" to the company. It has no need of a separate entity of control, other than itself. The chain of command must end at a finite point.
The Company is not bound, nor has it ever been bound by adherence to a Moral code. It's essential coda therefore is expedience, conservation of time in production, (see Nazi Germany, innovations of Japanese for models)dehumanisation of the individual for the conservation of capital, etc--which obviously does not include any notions of the Good, other than definitions which apply to expectations of Quality or methods of production. The company, is exempted, in that sense of being bound by the conventions of what for the most part has been a high-minded but often empty morality, lip service to honor and duty co-opted to coerce the masses to die for the greater good of whatever is necessary for the sake of efficiency.
which is still not the matter at hand!
The corporate model applied to government, first of course, tested by Mussolini and the National Socialists ending in dismal failure (apparently)--due to the exuberance of the "Leader" in spreading the message (see French revolution as corollary) of absolute loyalty and obedience overreaching the limits of the state as corporation. Reconstituted it finds direct control of political institutions cumbersome, expediency is hampered by dealing with codes of conduct that conflict with its need to survive, it is necessary only to influence local pockets of political control to maximize its interests. It need not be brutal, but it can be ruthless, and it is dictated and predicted by the dialectic.
All of which, he said, finally getting around to the matter at hand, has been found in the current situation which America finds itself.
It is the reason why lies are permitted, why no proceedings of impeachment have proceeded, why the infringement of individual rights have continued to be expanded. The "dominant minority" is entrenched, the creative minority which our republic routinely produced has become (both on the right & the left, designations which no longer have any meaning, other than to deflect the eye of scrutiny from the "real" objectives) marginalized, objects of ridicule: see Ron Paul, Ann Coulter, Naomi Wolf, etc.
The business of America becomes war, (by proxy) and at some point a politician and\or a general will come to the shores of the Rubicon.
As to all that, so what?
See the movie: Metropolis,
and after that read Milton's "Paradise Lost"
...if you can tear yourself away from the Bread & Circuses long enough.
Author notes
Posted in response to DP Robertson's; Just a little too juiced up on jingoistic righteous rage; http://allpoetry.com/poem/3552254
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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lol
I love your sense of humor and your intellect.
I find the modern world so baffling at times... I don't know who or what to believe or where I stand.
Too often, I find myself following the other sheep.
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Interesting.
If we vote a Republican into office in Nov, 2008, we will get a LOT more of the same. We need to nationalize the goddamned oil companies. -
I agree with YOU! The international banking system muts attempting one world government. Right under our radar and no one much becoming alert to it. However, Ron Paul has nothing to do with it. Quite the contrary. It's a whole slue of members such as the current administration Bushs and the likes of those such as the Rothchilds and Rockerfellers.American's had better wake up! And like yesterday.The dollar will crash,by design. We will be under Marshal law soon.
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Well, now ...
in most respects you are right, but in one major point you are wrong, wrong, wrong. Ann Coulter is a maggot. She has no place in any listing of "creative" anything. She is scum. Period. As to Naomi Wolf and Ron Paul, they are indeed right on many things, but also wrong on many others, which makes them what? Human. That's all.
The rest of this is essentially correct, except that you are looking at things from the perspective of the West only. The East has other ideas, and the Saudis are not really our friends at all. They depend on us to hold back the tide, but their twilight will soon fade into night, and the radical Islamists who are taking over one government after another in the Arab world (mostly thanks to the U.S. insistence on elections, being too stupid to realize that those only give the radical Islamofascists more room to expand their influence and destroy any type of moderation that might have crept in with the new Millennium.)
The fate of the Western World has been drastically damaged and deflected by the madman in the White House, and nothing can ever totally undo all the damage he has done in the last 7 years. Add to that all the damage he will do in the last year remaining (assuming he doesn't fabricate some "emergency" so he can declare martial law and take out the last vestiges of the Constitution and Bill of Rights). You've made some obviously cogent points, but you've also overlooked some which are far more relevant.
My grade: B-
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the state of lame and the court of law
law and justice…
what good is law for
if its justice hurts the victim more
for the sake of being right
they punish the wronged just to punish the wrong
isn’t that revenge?
law can’t serve the property if it invades privacy
and victimizes the victim
justice should only give not take
if not healing just then at least compensation
...instead
the family gathers to watch the state of law
and crack some more pop corn
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And why not be juiced up? I got there in the end and felt sorry for our world - but why should we own it?
Just glad I wont be around to see the inevitable shift as "our" lawyers, politicians and self promoted leaders scrabble for survival.....oh, I don't know though! -
Although quite a misleading title, many people will turn to the page and might return back quite unsatisfied if the don't care to read it...I was rather expecting something Antony and stuff...
But the political stuff mentioned is also quite a fair deal and this is an argument I might like to think about it...I am not in a habit of thinking about wars, or rather History..
But for sure a thought provoking article, and the efforts deserves applauds.
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How refreshing to see a view of your country that relies on thought and not platitudes. The business of the poet is to bring attention to existing situations, and Fritz Lang was an expert. Neither he nor Milton can advise us on how to be human, though, and if this is part of what makes us up, we will come to accept what cannot change, and adjust our expectations. History is written by the winners but every viewpoint is valid. If we don't get it right, mankind will have another go later - at least, that seems to be what history teaches.
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I agree with most of these statements and Go a little further when we take jobs away who can buy the things the company wants to sell. when you use self checkouts who is left without a job and and if the company do not start seeing the value of employees they will not see sales !!!
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There is no doubt that success breeds envy whether in people or in nations and as America is the most outwardly successfully, and thus the most to lose, they are both wary and at the same time viewed by many as contemptible. But one cannot and should not paint a broad brush on microcosms. There has been many times where the individual disagrees diametrically with “the nation” and the only question the individual at that point need ask- “Is the issue more important than the patriotism?” If it’s the former, they protest, if the latter, they acquiesce, albeit, sometimes reluctantly and with reservations. The real problem with America is that they crossed the Rubicon really at the time Washington crossed the Potomac. To be a strong individual, whether personally or as a nation, one’s history is nothing but crossing the Rubicon. What this essay eloquently tells is an extension of thought that many on a “poetry” site would believe has no place here. However artists live in a world that is inextricably linked to humans and humans are linked to power, corruption and of course political machinations that dictate life either directly or run around the periphery until we are in effect hemmed in by their restraint and their expedience. As pointed out here, Milton certainly understood it, Fritz Lang understood it and nearly every great artist understands it- politics and art are both more or less a study of conflict, whether it be internal or external. A friend of my daughters writes songs; which another of her friends describes as being about, “sunshine, bubbles and shit!” Many people, for their literary pretense write about no more than that and enter into a political forum with blind ignorance, blind prejudice or simply blind panic of knowing how dangerous the whole thing can be. But as this essay so rightly explains we live in a world of skewed dialectics where lies are permissible and the people of nations are sold down the river and/or used as factory fodder.
This essay is both articulate and perceptive and demonstrates many reasons why your writing is both effective and comes with an artistic depth that is more a rarity than a rule at AP. This is good work.
David
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Misleading title, I'm a history buff and was expecting an historical essay (oh well). I think there are more profit-driven wars and usurpals to be found in Roman history. The crossing of the Rubicund wasn't really a financial/corporate move so much as it was a seizure of power from Ptolemy, for the sake of power. The brothers Gracci, Marius and Sulla, Augustus and Marc Antony- there are a lot of Rubicund moments in Roman history that you could perhaps draw from.
A primary issue with your argument (and I assure you I'm VERY sympathetic with most of it) is the identification of the military- or on a grander level the Lobbyist infrastructure as a single Company. Competition and conflicting idealogy between unethical factions WITHIN the infrastructure causes more trouble than the Grand Machines set up by the Fascists and Fascistic Socialists -which had a uniform pull enough to muster Stalin's Three Year plan and the Audobahn. If anything, the fact that our corporations are profiteering causes more trouble than the one-man or one-government dominated corporate rules that have preceded America.
You need to make the connection between the corporate machine and why neither we nor the government demands "truth" (which needs to be better specified) more clear and specific. That paragraph seems thrown out there in the general spirit of the essay without any real specification or analytical justification. Make the step, connect.
I'd like a bit of a more specific conclusion too. You bring up some interesting points and some, in my opinion -underdeveloped historical comparatives -but your ultimate shoring seems to be a bit fatalist -just reading Paradise Lost and getting angry won't do anything. As you just pointed out- the structure is designed in such a way that it's impenetrable- anybody who wishes to change it must defacto rely upon the support of the Corporates in order to get into a position to change it. You've got our attention with your complaint- it's well phrased and engaging- but to be a good essay you need to convince me of something, at least academically- that can be remedied.
You're very talented, and thank you for sharing this wonderful essay.
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well i have to say i am a little disapointed. You said this was an essay, all i read was a rant. Perhaps the current climate can be changed if we all stop spitting at the problems and get down to a serious discussion. You never accounted for the other side of the arguement, and because of that quasi ignorance, it degrades itself to the level it is against.
I don't even care about politics, but this is anti productive in my opinion, but would you care about that!? -
Thank you.
Efficiency is god with a small "g" -- that's what you are saying. Both war and commerce are amoral. No such thing as ethics.
Your article made me feel like I should be reading the news more thoroughly and reading the business pages. I hadn't thought of any of this lately. Maybe that's what the Powers That Be want, an unthinking populace. "Bread and Circus" to make a comparison to Rome again. Oh sorry, I see you have made a reference to bread and cirus at the end of your essay.
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