03/17/03 America the PMC (People of Mass Consumption).
I swear I was not going to write anything on these blogs. But
I just had to say something about this war with Iraq.
Last week I defined a TLA which was U.S. DHS. Maybe this TLA should stand for
"Department for the Hegemonist State"
Let's define hegemony: The predominant influence, as of a state,
region, or group, over another or others. This word defines the
United States over the past 100 years so honestly that it feels like
a 4-letter word in the context of current US interests. The word seems to belong
to history's "ist" list like Marxist, Communist, and Socialist. One can certainly
argue that the United States is different from these "ist". We live in a democracy and we
abide by Superman's motto to fight for "Truth, justice and the American Way."
In laymen's terms we are the good guys. All those other "ist" were the bad guys. Those other
ists were typical hegemonist states. Communists dominated countries around them to be Communists.
And thus they were considered the bad guys. Prior to communism, the other political
ideologies did the same thing, so we had to consider those political ideologies as the
bad guys. So now I pose this question. Should we consider the US as THE hegemonist nation of the
next milenium? Are we the bad guys? Where have all the bad guys gone? In the past people used
words as empire, imperialists, or even globalization to describe US foreign policy.
Is the US using its own political ideology to dominate over other nations?
Do we want countries to be democratic for democracy's sake
or do we want countries to be democratic for US economic or military interests?
Are we going to war with Iraq so that a future teenager in a new Democratic Iraq can buy
the latest Britany Spears album and play that awful music in his/her new Cadillac
Escalade with the 4 lcd screens on the head rest with his/her embroidered name
"Pimp Mobile" on the driver side and passenger side head rest?
Seriously does anyone want that? Do we really want a people of mass consumption in future
democratic nations in Iraq and Afghanistan? The unfortunate truth is that we
want to go to war to get Iraq's oil. So that American teenagers can ride in their Cadillac
Escalades and bump Britany Spears on their radios. So sad but true.
Anyways, after considering my current rant I think the
the TLA of the day is PMC
"People of Mass Consumption"
Enjoy,
Jonathan
