2005 Unacknowledged Jews in Djibouti
“…the air of Djibouti will make you take leave of your senses.” — Arthur Rimbaud (w/o mentioning the ubiquitous *qat*)
Jews in Djibouti who can’t get beyond simplistic slogans and notions, who are stalled in the mud, filthy with the residue of toxic paradigms, have zero to learn from me. Ditto for other lefties in our Lalaland. Like contemporaries of Copernicus, they are confused about retrograde motion, and they insist upon a center of the universe…which does not exist. Little should revolve around them, but, alas, almost all “progressive” projects do.
As with 16th-century academics citing badly distorted Scripture to suit their purposes, they’re slated to give innovative minds cerebral hemmorhages. Let them, as Mel Brooks might say, remain world famous in Poland, shall we? Let’s have some fun and try to make a better world.
I’ve got the ‘04 and ‘05 Project Censored stories underneath my steaming black coffee. The lack of *meaningful*/sufficient action which their scandals stimulate has a lot to do with my writing this article.
In a sentence, every Leftie in good standing continues to talk to death most of the misrepresented news subjects, but continues to document media misinformation in lieu of doing something about it all. Short of taking part in rigged voting and the like, that is.
Can’t stomach “Best” lists or “Top Ten” delineations for Year Endings, as a rule. But that doesn’t mean there might not be a benefit to my sharing a few 2005 indiscretions (among the pathetic Left) which come to mind. The Pathetic Right Ones aren’t worth citing…a focus of much too much misguided energy on the part of Dissenter Critics. And that fact* would be a fine candidate for topping the kind of column I’ve provided below.
*Talking ’bout the tendency to burn down the highly inflammable Straw Figures, the too-easy targets of Leftie marksmen/women. Humanitarians of so many different stripes.
But to be more specific (in no special order):
1. Editors and writers roll along extolling political figures who have very bloody hands (in great part because they’re deemed to compare favorably to Scarecrow-Made-Of-Straw Bush). See what ignorance is compounded with ignorance vis-a-vis Jimmy SOA Carter courtesy of Alexander Cockburn, Jeffrey St. Clair and Paul Craig Roberts in a featured piece (http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts12282005.html). The repeated lack of discriminate judgement in this realm ‘cross the board rings the death knell incessantly. My wish for all “progressives” for 2006 is to learn what I learned much too late in this respect. Disrespect is begged for…. There’s zero to be gained in the long run by doing what Helen Caldicott did when she went to bed with Robert McNamara in 2004…in the name of advancing her nuclear nonproliferation agenda.
2. *Responsibility* continues to be evaded…on the ground. If I crack someone over the head to steal a purse ’cause I’m hungry I’m setting myself up for some huge consequences. That dynamic must be underscored with anyone who decides to do anything remotely related to support for the U.S. military. Among some brilliant, very welcome commentary by Noam Chomsky (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=9404 we find the following:
“Charles’ email: “I have a relative who is now serving as a soldier in Iraq. What advice would you give to him?”
Noam Chomsky: Look, I have plenty of correspondence with soldiers in Iraq and all you can do is offer them your sympathy. You hope that they make it safely and that their leaders will get them out of there. The same kind of advice you would’ve given to Russian soldiers in Afghanistan. You have to sympathize with them; it’s not their fault. It’s the fault of their commanders. I don’t mean their military commanders, I mean the civilians in the Pentagon, in the White House and their counterparts in England.”
No. It’s long past the time when we all have to put aside debates about our national vulnerability, and insist that no one have a damn thing to do with our Storm Troopers. Advice? Well, you not only do not have to “sympathize” with them, you must not. You can’t point your gun at a foreigner, and have him (ever) eat cake too. One starts with not permitting anyone to rationalize murder as per socio-economic pressures. None of this precludes having empathy.
Y’know, I’m in danger here of turning into the very monster who I keep ranting about. The Talktalk Monster who doesn’t touch Walktalk, doesn’t do something about what he detests, laments. That is, I would be if I were to continue with this useless list.
Ah, I’ll throw in one more from the initially conceived Top Ten (again, in no special order):
3. Lack of discrimination. How on earth –to help/honor this Mother Earth– can an influential Non-Djibouti Jew like Michael Albert (among many others) continue to make no distinction between the fine posting of, say, George Monbiot’s work and the pedestrian products of so many others? The redundant lumping together of soooooo much mainly serves to keep people busy (as in *off the streets*) and overwhelmed. It is a seemingly incurable *progressive* disease slated to make…me…move…to…Djibouti! Arson is called for for the Ivory Tower, and the ashes must be sprinkled over every WSF meeting heretofore…unless *Jews from Djibouti* are given the floor…and pseudo-good news (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=1&ItemID=9438
) is banned.
Most activist jews I know are trying to do socially-conscious work following obsolete models. In fact, the vast majority of all activists are infected by some politically correct diarrhea (coming out of their mouths and pens), destined to keep all of us in bad health and ineffective…as the planet dies.
They are, to contort Sartre, *accomplices for the bourgeois classes*. Or mere rebels. And they wouldn’t recognize something new, like a first jew in Djibouti, if the Sun suddenly decided to revolve around the Earth.
Richard (not Louis-Ferdinand Céline) Oxman, rmoxman@yahoo.com, would welcome dialogue on the above. His recent writing, including puzzles like this with an infinite # of pieces, is at www.oxtogrind.org and http://www.parisgraves.com.
