The Empire strikes again
After the sun set on most of the British Empire, the cold war kept matters around the world in balance. With the fall of the Soviet republic, is America in the process of building a new empire for the new millennium?
Firstly let us define the term "empire". In other words let us see what the British empire- easily the most powerful and enduring of empires in recent times- stood for. The British wanted to spread not only the English language but also English values and morals throughout the world, much in the same way America is bent upon imposing democracy and "fairness" in every country. In this endeavor America is rapidly eradicating the major difference that distinguished it from the British Empire. The British went to other countries and exploited at all levels the raw materials and other resources from these places. On the other hand, America has focused on importing the best available talent from other countries into their borders.
However, nowadays that is no longer true. It is becoming extremely difficult to get entry into America even for the brightest people from many countries. American bases are springing around the world; many of them were occupied not so long ago by British ones. So the answer would have to be “yes”. No longer satisfied with subtle control via multinationals, sanctions and bodies such as the IMF, America is setting about establishing an empire in the old fashioned way.
I genuinely hope that President Bush is only being politically correct when he says that he is invading other countries because he is interested in establishing a “good” society. A place where “truth” will abound. It would be far more reassuring if he says that he is conducting all these battles, because like the British Empire, he is more interested in the natural resources that abound in other countries. One can at least see a conceivable point in time where this war will end.
If however, God forbid, if he is interested in the notion of truth then this is a war that will never end. For starters, can anyone in the world sincerely put his hand up and define truth? It is after all important to know what we are seeking before getting into the reasons for embarking on any quest.
I can tell you this much. Truth is slightly more complex than the answer to, “Do you know what time it is?”
If truth is anything that seeks to preserve and maybe even increase the span and number of the human species, then something deep within me tells me that Mr. Bush is going about it in the wrong way.
After the sun set on most of the British Empire, the cold war kept matters around the world in balance. With the fall of the Soviet republic, is America in the process of building a new empire for the new millennium?
Firstly let us define the term "empire". In other words let us see what the British empire- easily the most powerful and enduring of empires in recent times- stood for. The British wanted to spread not only the English language but also English values and morals throughout the world, much in the same way America is bent upon imposing democracy and "fairness" in every country. In this endeavor America is rapidly eradicating the major difference that distinguished it from the British Empire. The British went to other countries and exploited at all levels the raw materials and other resources from these places. On the other hand, America has focused on importing the best available talent from other countries into their borders.
However, nowadays that is no longer true. It is becoming extremely difficult to get entry into America even for the brightest people from many countries. American bases are springing around the world; many of them were occupied not so long ago by British ones. So the answer would have to be “yes”. No longer satisfied with subtle control via multinationals, sanctions and bodies such as the IMF, America is setting about establishing an empire in the old fashioned way.
I genuinely hope that President Bush is only being politically correct when he says that he is invading other countries because he is interested in establishing a “good” society. A place where “truth” will abound. It would be far more reassuring if he says that he is conducting all these battles, because like the British Empire, he is more interested in the natural resources that abound in other countries. One can at least see a conceivable point in time where this war will end.
If however, God forbid, if he is interested in the notion of truth then this is a war that will never end. For starters, can anyone in the world sincerely put his hand up and define truth? It is after all important to know what we are seeking before getting into the reasons for embarking on any quest.
I can tell you this much. Truth is slightly more complex than the answer to, “Do you know what time it is?”
If truth is anything that seeks to preserve and maybe even increase the span and number of the human species, then something deep within me tells me that Mr. Bush is going about it in the wrong way.
If
I am happy that I am not a flowerpot on a window
Sitting on a windowsill in Harlem
For in Harlem the streets are darker than the night
When the sun sets
Then as a flowerpot I would appear bright by day
Grim by night
And they would still call me schizophrenic
I am happy that I am not a flowerpot on a window
Sitting on a windowsill in Harlem
For in Harlem the streets are darker than the night
When the sun sets
Then as a flowerpot I would appear bright by day
Grim by night
And they would still call me schizophrenic
Disappointment
A man getting down from a bus
Says Thank You to the driver
Pausing tensely (for a very small amount of time)
For a welcome.
A mime artist
He reaches for an apple
He pretends it is there
Rather than forgetting it is not
He awaits anxiously for applause.
In this manner
The world pauses for an instant
Swallows two more disappointments
And continues to spin.
A man getting down from a bus
Says Thank You to the driver
Pausing tensely (for a very small amount of time)
For a welcome.
A mime artist
He reaches for an apple
He pretends it is there
Rather than forgetting it is not
He awaits anxiously for applause.
In this manner
The world pauses for an instant
Swallows two more disappointments
And continues to spin.
I would also like to thank
I would also like to thank Matisse and Picasso for producing works that do not criticize or make any judgments and also by their very nature are beyond criticism.
The childlike nature of their early work blossoms into the childlike courage of doing something new; an effort that results out of lack of knowledge of what is old. Sometimes the whole is much more the sum of many carefully constructed, individual parts that do not necessarily feed off each other. Sometimes, the sum of parts does not even make up the whole. It makes you realize how large the universe actually is and how small is the faculty of reasoning.
It makes you want to look at your apartment closely again. See things that you haven't seen. It makes you want to do this before you reach for the newspaper.
I would also like to thank Matisse and Picasso for producing works that do not criticize or make any judgments and also by their very nature are beyond criticism.
The childlike nature of their early work blossoms into the childlike courage of doing something new; an effort that results out of lack of knowledge of what is old. Sometimes the whole is much more the sum of many carefully constructed, individual parts that do not necessarily feed off each other. Sometimes, the sum of parts does not even make up the whole. It makes you realize how large the universe actually is and how small is the faculty of reasoning.
It makes you want to look at your apartment closely again. See things that you haven't seen. It makes you want to do this before you reach for the newspaper.
I would like to thank
In these troubled times of war and retribution, I have little to say in addition to what the more than one hundred peace marchers in New York chanted yesterday. They celebrated the dawning of spring- tentative as it might be- protesting against the war in Iraq. They exhorted the government to stop the campaign and begged the media to report developments with a resemblance to fairness.
Speaking of which, the coverage of the war on CNN and FOX News is nothing short of atrocious. A reporter backtracked on his statements the other day and said that a majority of the people in Jordan welcomed the US invasion. Another one said that the best manner in which the campaign can be conducted is to ensure that the US bomb all of Iraq, kill Saddam, capture the oil fields (with a little help from Halliburton) and use the natural resources of Iraq to rebuild their infrastructure. This, he opined would be an ideal way to “spread the love.” I must hasten to add that this method of spreading the love is not very similar to that practiced by Mahatma Gandhi or most people who are even slightly interested in pursuing such a noble intention. If you are the type that likes to follow war developments on TV, then PBS or News from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (available on Channel 103 in New York) tend to present a balanced view (as opposed to being a mouthpiece either for the US government or even the far left). Much of what is happening in the mainstream media is commonplace only in a totalitarian society and if George Orwell were alive today, he would have enough material for a new story, the size of which would make War and Peace look like a pocket diary.
There are many such voices that are speaking out against the war. It is futile to hope that the big media shops are going to have a change of heart and present the other side to every story. It is however important that they broadcast the peace message as they reach the most number of people. There are ways in which this can be done. The Academy Awards tonight is one such forum that no news channel worthy of its salt can ignore. Some people like Will Smith and Tom Hanks have already made the news for choosing to stay away from celebrations of this nature when innocent people are dying.
It is indeed debatable as to whether the Awards should go on as planned tonight. What is beyond doubt is that even if the awards do go ahead, conscientious celebrities utilize the platform given for thank you speeches and predictable introductions to- as a news reporter I once heard put it - spread the love. This is not a defiling of art by mixing it with politics. It is merely reinforcing the message of peace to a large portion of the world that identifies America synonymously with the movies that it produces.
In these troubled times of war and retribution, I have little to say in addition to what the more than one hundred peace marchers in New York chanted yesterday. They celebrated the dawning of spring- tentative as it might be- protesting against the war in Iraq. They exhorted the government to stop the campaign and begged the media to report developments with a resemblance to fairness.
Speaking of which, the coverage of the war on CNN and FOX News is nothing short of atrocious. A reporter backtracked on his statements the other day and said that a majority of the people in Jordan welcomed the US invasion. Another one said that the best manner in which the campaign can be conducted is to ensure that the US bomb all of Iraq, kill Saddam, capture the oil fields (with a little help from Halliburton) and use the natural resources of Iraq to rebuild their infrastructure. This, he opined would be an ideal way to “spread the love.” I must hasten to add that this method of spreading the love is not very similar to that practiced by Mahatma Gandhi or most people who are even slightly interested in pursuing such a noble intention. If you are the type that likes to follow war developments on TV, then PBS or News from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (available on Channel 103 in New York) tend to present a balanced view (as opposed to being a mouthpiece either for the US government or even the far left). Much of what is happening in the mainstream media is commonplace only in a totalitarian society and if George Orwell were alive today, he would have enough material for a new story, the size of which would make War and Peace look like a pocket diary.
There are many such voices that are speaking out against the war. It is futile to hope that the big media shops are going to have a change of heart and present the other side to every story. It is however important that they broadcast the peace message as they reach the most number of people. There are ways in which this can be done. The Academy Awards tonight is one such forum that no news channel worthy of its salt can ignore. Some people like Will Smith and Tom Hanks have already made the news for choosing to stay away from celebrations of this nature when innocent people are dying.
It is indeed debatable as to whether the Awards should go on as planned tonight. What is beyond doubt is that even if the awards do go ahead, conscientious celebrities utilize the platform given for thank you speeches and predictable introductions to- as a news reporter I once heard put it - spread the love. This is not a defiling of art by mixing it with politics. It is merely reinforcing the message of peace to a large portion of the world that identifies America synonymously with the movies that it produces.
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