A BLAST FROM
THE PAST
The Brave New
Post-Coup2K World
By BBBR
Resistance Fighter Robert Cacciopoli
April 18, 2001
Dear
Diva,
I
stumbled across this recently, and it got me to thinking... - Aldous Huxley's
forward to the 1946 edition of his novel "Brave New World" - in part:
"There is, of course, no
reason why the new totalitarianisms should resemble the old. Governments by
clubs and firing squads, by artificial famine, mass imprisonment and mass
deportation, is not merely inhumane (nobody cares much about that nowadays); it
is demonstrably inefficient - and in an age of advanced technology,
inefficiency is the sin against the Holy Ghost. A really efficient totalitarian
state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and
their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be
coerced, because they love their servitude. To make them love it is the task assigned,
in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda, newspaper
editors and schoolteachers. But their methods are still crude and unscientific.
The old Jesuits'
boast that, if they were given the schooling of the child, they could answer
for the man's religious opinions, was a product of wishful thinking. And
the modern pedagogue is probably rather less efficient at conditioning his
pupils' reflexes than were the reverend fathers who educated Voltaire. The greatest
triumphs of propaganda have been accomplished, not by doing something, but by
refraining from doing. Great is the truth, but still greater, from a practical
point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain
subjects, by lowering what Mr. Churchill calls an "iron curtain"
between the masses and such facts or arguments as the local political bosses
regard as undesirable, totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much
more effectively than they could have done by the most eloquent denunciations,
the most compelling of logical rebuttals."
All
in all, a fairly accurate description of the evolution of future dictatorships.
At the time that this was written (55 years ago!), with the world emerging from
the horrors of WWII, the world had only witnessed "brute force"
totalitarianism of the "inefficient" kind. Huxley's genius was in
seeing that future despots would have more subtle and precise technology at
their disposal, and would take a more "managerial" approach in
wielding power. This is pretty much evident in our current regime's MO. Our national media is now part of the
new, efficient "ministry of propaganda", so the inconvenient truth of
the stolen election is simply not mentioned, and all strive mightily to confer
legitimacy on the illegitimate. And Huxley couldn't imagine the power and the
influence that electronic media (TV was in its infancy at the time) would have.
With the amount of time that the average child spends watching TV, (and the
fact that TV is now almost completely under the control of the corporate
interests) it hardly matters much that schoolteachers are still not fully part
of the propaganda machine. (Schoolteachers are yet to be an arm of this
ministry, and it isn't from a lack of trying. Remember this when you see
republican attacks on the Teacher's Union, attempts to teach "Creation
Science" and/or abolish teaching of "evolution theory", or
anything to do with vouchers or Smirk's "education reform".)
Huxley
goes on to describe the other aspects of his imagined "efficient totalitarian"
world - government sanctioned "safe" narcotic drugs to keep the
populace blissed-out in their free time, a fully developed science capable of
producing a uniform "human product", genetically manipulated to
produce a standardized type for all of the niches in society, and, since sex
has been removed from reproduction, a society engaged in mindless and soulless
hedonism. Essentially, he reasoned that a populace freely indulging in sensual
pleasures, and not pursuits of the mind, would be far more likely to accept
their lives, and therefore, be easier to control.
It
would seem, at first, that our current dictatorship would have trouble
implementing these parts of "efficient totalitarian", given their
close association with the "religious right" (who are on record as being
against drug use, intervention with the human reproductive process, and
promiscuity), but aren't we half way there already? Are not Viagra and the multitude of anti-depressant
drugs (readily available) creating a society of "blissed-out" slaves?
Do we not already have a system that creates a permanent "underclass"
to attend to our society's less desirable functions? (And does not the Smirk's
"tax cut plan" attempt to solidify the power and influence of a
hereditary ruling class? Is this not a crude form of genetic
manipulation?) And does not the media
serve up an endless stream of voyeuristic, "reality based" programs -
i.e. "Temptation Island". (Isn't paying people to try to seduce someone,
and filming it for national broadcast, legalized prostitution? Isn't this just
passive promiscuity?) Does anyone out there think it odd that Fox TV, the
conservative mouthpiece, is also the purveyor of some of the most blatantly
sexually suggestive shows, the kind of stuff that usually gets conservatives
foaming at the mouth? (Just asking.)
So,
although Huxley missed some of the particulars, I think that he got the broad
outline of the kind of "Brave New World" that our current "leaders"
would like to bestow upon America. A hereditary (genetic) ruling class, using
sophisticated technological means to maintain power and control disinformation;
a large middle-class, kept mainly comfortable by the masters, mindlessly
pursuing pleasure and status, mostly ignorant of the larger world around them
(by design), at once confident of "getting ahead" and fearful of
"loosing ground" (these hopes and fears being manipulated by the
corporate media to keep them just a little anxious); and a hereditary (genetic)
underclass to provide basic services to both. (As I said before, we may be
almost halfway there, but over fifty
million people voted for the Democratic party's vision of the future - not
to mention several million more that voted for Ralph Nader's vision - so
America is thankfully still not ready to turn this country into a cash-cow for
the corporate elite. Now if only the voters' will had been allowed to
prevail...)
The
biggest thing that Huxley missed was something that nobody could have foreseen
at that time - the alliance of the corporate totalitarianism that the republican
party now represents, and Christian fundamentalists. (After all, early 20th
century dictatorships sought to eliminate religion as an institution that could
challenge it's authority.) And an odd alliance it is. Although they both seek
total political power (fanatically), they do so for different ends, and use different
means to achieve their goals, and these differences are, for the moment, muted.
Their differences are muted now because they are both "drunk" by the
success that they have achieved, but this coalition will fracture, and soon.
State/religion partnerships work best when the religious leaders are simply
corrupt politicians in vestments. The two "partners" are then
speaking the same language, they understand each other, and they're able to cut
deals, having no principals beyond staying in and increasing their power.
(Think of the history of Catholic Church in Europe, or think of, in keeping
with the current season of Easter, the deals cut by the
political/legal/religious power structure in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago to rid
themselves of that pesky prophet, Jesus.)
But religious fundamentalist "leaders" are absolutists. Their mission
is a holy one, and based on the "word of god", and there isn't much
wiggle room in their thinking, there isn't much room for deal-making. They, in
fact, have principals, unyielding (and misguided, in my thinking) principals
beyond mere earthly power. They are seeking their reward in the
"hereafter", they will not compromise in the "here and now".
They are not very good politicians, but they can be absolutely wonderful
hypocrites.
We
can already see the fractures opening up between the corporate and religious
factions of our current "government" - the "faith based" initiative,
the AIDS office, the handling of the "spy plane crisis" with China.
It was a lot easier holding this coalition together when they were trying to
gain power than it's going to be now that they have gained power. (Their
inevitable falling out may provide some amusement for progressives, but we
should not wish one to prevail over the other - that would be like wishing to
commit suicide in order to avoid being killed - we should wish for both to
self-destruct.)
On
their own neither group could have attained the power that they now wield, and
even together they would have failed, if not for the illegal action
of the Xtreme Court Five, and for that we should be grateful - not that
they stole the election, of course, but that they did it in such a blatant
manner. The political "tin-ear" of the religious fanatics has rubbed
off on the usually more cautious corporate, managerial types, and will be this
coup's undoing. Emboldened by the fact that they were actually able to bring
impeachment charges against Bill Clinton, oblivious to the fact that they lost
the legal battle, enraged beyond rationality that their adversary still stood
and that public opinion was squarely on his side, and maddened by the smell of
blood in the water (and like sharks in a feeding frenzy, unable to discern that
most of the blood was flowing from fellow sharks - as Newt and Livingston went down),
they were unable to cope with the fact that their carefully scripted election
scenario was now also coming undone. When Al Gore retracted his concession, the
anti-democratic forces could not restrain themselves, they could not allow the
power that they had worked so hard to achieve through underhanded methods slip
away from their grasp - just a
half a million popular votes and one electoral vote away! And so all niceties
were dropped, all pretenses' were disposed of - Pandora's box was opened - and
the Xtreme Court stole the election as America, and the world, watched in
stunned disbelief.
But
what escapes from Pandora's Box can never be put back...and neither can the
evil spirits that were released this time - not as long as there is a person
who remembers what it was like to see the iron fist in the velvet glove
revealed, not as long as there is a person who remembers what it was like to
stare in horror at the black heart and soul of our corrupt political system,
not as long as there is a person who remembers the grief and anger that they
felt when their idealism was shredded and mocked in front of their faces, not
as long as one of us is alive! It is up to us, the progressive democratic
internet community, to insure that Huxley's prediction about the power of
silencing the truth, as a methodology of the new totalitarianism, fails. The
media will ignore (suppress) the truth, the spin machine will spin (lie about)
the truth, and if we were all living in our pre-internet isolation from each
other, they might well pull it off. But we are not isolated, we are connected by
the "magic" of the internet - something that Huxley could never have foreseen,
hell!, something that wasn't foreseen just 20 years ago! (And something that the rightful President
of our country nurtured, and helped to grow - thanks Al!) And so it falls
to us - those who know, those who remember, those still angry, (and those of us
with internet connections) - to make sure that the truth, which was revealed
when Pandora's Box was opened, is never ever forgotten.
The
battle lines can not be more clearly drawn, the dark forces have come out from
hiding, consolidation of media power is rapidly moving toward monopolization,
only the "wildness" of the internet has yet to come under their thumb
- and should they prevail, they'll come after that (us) next. They have put
their cards on the table and we must play the hand that we have (and we have a
damn good hand, it's called "freedom") - it's "put up or shut
up" time. If we don't, we get to live in a variation of Huxley's novel, if
we do, we may still be able to live in the promise of America again.
Somewhat
depressed, but hopeful (blame the mood swings on the crazy ass weather here in
NY!),
From
a normal looking suburban house that is now a BBBR bunker,
Your
friend,
Robert
C
"Don't
Give Up the Fight"