<nettime> Re: Energy, Elections, and the Internet (ii)

[brian carroll <human@architexturez.com>]

 Bush the 2nd, General Swartzkopf, Gen. Colin Powell,
 Former CIA Director and President Bush the First,
 and Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense, at the
 Helm. i wonder how all these old Cold Warriors,
 whom thrive on authoritarian and totalitarian,
 non-democratic structures of militarism, are
 going to do at protecting human rights and
 freedoms of speech and liberty and conscience,
 when it is not in their institutional nature
 to do so. a General, as a General, does not
 function in a democratic realm, but in a
 hierarchical, top-down structure of total
 control. add some idealism/dogma, and a
 thousand messiahs to the cause, and the
 'New Republican Era', as they've announced
 it, has been birthed. not by the 3% Nader
 voters, not by the 48% Gore voters. but by
 the 49% of Bush voters whom identify with
 the simplistic view of media personification
 as 'President as friend and good neighbor'
 that the mass media has amplified so well.
 that is, the personality as larger-than-
 life, the newest electronic icon in the
 pantheon of the mythic nation-state.

 the Democrats, at least on tv, are turning
 on the Naderites as their reason for losing.
 not their own rightward drift and playing the
 center and ignoring progressive politics. it
 was inevitable, the shift, as the trade-off
 had a price that will now be paid. the illusion
 is now over. reality will set in, that the
 Conservatives are in control, and have been,
 the whole time. it started with the 3rd party
 of Ross Perot, with his charts and graphs
 showing the US federal deficit. Clinton took
 it up as his cause, and the Clinton economy
 took off. Nader, not having the money to do
 the infomercials that Perot did to promote
 his cause, did not get into the debate by
 getting into the media. instead, he and his
 challenging ideas were and continue to be
 ignored, and are deemed utopic.

 the media protected Bush. they played it
 Conservative. it is hard to imagine that their
 uncritical analyses will ever cut into who
 Bush really is as a public citizen. insider trading
 violations with the Security and Exchange Commission.
 the Driving under the Influence 20+ years ago got
 some attention, who really cares, but the cocaine
 use attributed to Bush the 2nd never got air time.
 ironic, if Bush the First waged a war after Noriega
 while his son, George the 2nd, potentially the first
 King of the US, was snorting it in the Presidental
 bathroom. no problem with it, really, besides the
 fact that the candidate in question is running
 on the platform of bringing 'truth and dignity
 to the White House.' it is not hypocrisy, it is
 levels beyond that- it is a downright coup d'etat.
 wonder why there is no mention of Bush the 2nd going
 AWOL during his National Guard duty during Vietnam,
 and receiving no 'consequence', like he proposes
 everyone who does not 'obey the law' is due. Prison
 builders, of the mind, and death penalty users,
 against any remote idea of any 'immoral' crime.
 
 "They are going to get the Ultimate Consequence:
 The Death Penalty." he said of three (actually 2)
 Texas Death Row inmates during the second presidential
 debate. not once, not twice, but three times Bush the
 2nd declared this with glee- without any substantial
 critique by the media.
 
 General Swartzkopf, campaigning in the closing
 days with Bush in Florida, was given airtime to
 call Vice President Gore 'a liar', which was then
 broadcast across the country via radio, tv, and
 by the newspapers. this is a general of the US
 Military, calling the VP a liar. untruthful.
 e.g., deceitful. to me this is scary as hell
 when Generals join the political punditry of
 the media image. their call-to-arms is not to
 get out the vote, it is to wage war. apparently
 the US military is preparing itself for a long
 stay in the White House Oval Office and such, as
 Bush I, Bush II, Cheney, Swartzkopf, Powell, and
 probably Dole and McCain will join the ranks of
 the military elite, intelligence community,
 command and control, and the legendary 'American
 Heroes' in guiding the country ('and the World')
 into the 21st century.

 the 'democratic' mass media (misnomer, that is),
 having been conservative in their reporting, now
 will have dug their own grave. for example, a
 scenario of authoritarian boardroom influence on
 free expression in the press (and, Internet):

 A local TV reporter attempts to do an expose' on George
 the 2nd's shady background on insider trading and sweetheart
 deals with Texas oil and energy companies. it is about to
 be broadcast, when a rumor hits the boardroom of the pending
 broadcast. the local station, say NBC, is owned by a parent
 company, say General Electric, whom is tied into the highly
 monopolistic energy production and supply industry, which
 in turn ties back into billion dollar market relationships
 with energy companies such as Enron which financed Bush's
 political career, and whose special interests he protects
 and tries to enhance 'for the Good of America.' it seems
 a critique of government by `free' media, which is itself
 owned by the private people whom may put the Bush government
 in place, ironically, happens to be run by authoritarian
 leaders from the military and intelligence communities.

 will democratic free speech prevail? or will a hyper-
 surreal self-censorship and purging of dissent occur
 for all those whom do not follow the party line... from
 the mass media whom have to obey, to further restrictions
 and monitoring of dissenting free speech online the inter-
 network?
 
 like the game scoreboards that reporters were using
 to chart the election exit polls like a football game,
 will the false-reality of choice and freedom disappear
 to a simplistic authority of pseudo-choice, that being
 the 'right' or wrong choice, whereby the opposition
 grows and the militarists are in office, as media
 celebrities, like Stormin' Norman, whom had his own
 television special 2 weeks before the election on
 his Gulf War victory. the subtle, now literalized.

 don't be scared- be prepared. that's what i'm telling
 myself over and over. and yet it is awfully isolationist
 in America tonight. people hoped for what they thought
 was `the best' and got the worst. makes me really wonder
 if mass democracy and representation work well at all,
 given the ambiguity of the public-private enigma that
 looms larger than ever before over the American psyche.

 it is about organizing, i hear. yet, nobody seems to
 care much about commonality from a philosophical or a
 mundane perspective. yet, it is so very fundamental to
 the future of geopolitics and the Internet. to nuclear
 war and global warming. to being able to feed oneself
 and drink clean water. time to get back to the basics.
 enough new words. enough endless texts about variants
 on a theme. time for a common language, a structure
 from which to organize a larger movement for change.

 some say "it's not time yet." let's make it the time.

 shared energy + shared work = shared power

human being bc

the architecture of electricity
http://www.architexturez.com/ae/

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