TBT: The Brutal Truth

2012 -- The New Age Of Enlightenment

The following was written in late November of 2006 and, after incubating on my desktop since then, I finally decided to make minor revisions and publish it here on TBT. I don't know if its good, bad, or ugly as I lost all sense of perspective sometime after the 4th paragraph and, at this point, I've got too many text documents taking up space on my desktop that apathy has set its dirty claws in and convinced me to just be happy to be rid of it. --S--

In the heydays of the 1990s, Ted Turner's professional wrestling organization WCW made a last ditch effort to dethrone Vince McMahon's ratings Goliath -- the WWE -- from the top of the industry's dominion by turning Hulk "Hollywood" Hogan into a heel, allying himself with the rogue New World Order (nWo) made up of former WWE wrestlers Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Playing the evil villain roll very well, Hogan shed the old and tired buzzphrases of "eat your vitamins and say your prayers" and adopted some of the most belligerent rhetoric to whip the audiences into a hateful frenzy week after week.

Then one night while Hogan and his NWO goons celebrated in the ring after destroying another wrestler, the sound of bagpipes started to drown out the NWO's music and, out from backstage, appeared Hogan's long-time Scottish nemesis Rowdy Roddy Piper, who entered the ring, looked a shocked and bewildered Hogan in the eye and said six wonderful words that made the crowds rejoice: "I am here to break your monotony!"

America's political and media system has since resembled what can now be considered ancient pro-wrestling storylines and angles. The Bush Administration is "Hollywood" Hogan, the Republican party of crooks and criminals are the NWO, the Democratic party is the locker room full of good guys who could take them all on if it weren't for the Stockholm Syndrome (and corporate bribes) holding them in complete and utter paralysis, and the mass media as the marketing and distribution cartel of it all.

The only thing missing, unfortunately, is a figure to stand up, brandish its pristine spinal column to the heavens, and declare to all of them that he's arrived to systematically break all of their repulsive monotonies -- a monotony of wars, a monotony of dead soldiers, a monotony of dead Iraqi civilians, a monotony of hundreds of thousands of veterans that experience homelessness per year, a monotony of a still struggling New Orleans from the effects of Hurricane Katrina a year ago, and the biggest most ridiculous monotony of them all: the monotony of "Entitlement Culture" amongst the rich monied tax-break collecting bourgeois Capitalist elite.

The reason why this figure hasn't arrived on the scene yet to totally and unapologetically speak truth to power is because of three reasons. First, history hasn't provided any example of such a figure crawling out of the woodwork; at least not an example of a person that wasn't already a bought and paid for stooge of the great Corportocracy. Even in the days of Susan B. Anthony and Rosa Parks, no politician came along, saw their respective plights, and chose to help empower them. Tales such as that are limited to Hollywood movies and assorted fiction novels on a Borders bookshelf (including the mother of all fiction tales -- The Bible -- but that probably goes without saying).

On the contrary, the opposite happened -- Susan B. Anthony and Rosa Parks respectively and accurately came to the well-reasoned logical conclusion that if they waited for such a figure to come along and empower them, they'd be waiting forever whilst having to languish under the oppressive boots of patriarchy and segregation respectively. Thus, they chose to stand up and empower themselves, to which the results are now very obvious but, of course, not until after a long hard brawl.

That leads me to the second reason: such a figure can not be a politician and instead must be a virtual nobody amongst the American poor and middle class citizenry -- an American who has finally reached the ends of their patience and tolerance, experiences a Howard Beale moment either at home or while wage-slaving at their job, and then proceeds to scoop up a folding chair or two-by-four, and make a mad dash for the squared circle.

The third and final reason is sad but still must be dignified: such a common poor or middle class citizen hasn't reached that zenith yet. Oh, they've reached it mentally, of course. That is evidenced by the recent mid-terms elections where the majority of American people decided to use John Bolton's upper-lip as a unilateral push broom to help sweep the Republicans and NeoCons into the dustbin where they belong. Another piece of evidence is in the Blogosphere where millions of people around the world flock like mayflies to A-list liberal blogs such as DailyKOS, Firedoglake, and Crooks & Liars to get their news and critical analysis, perhaps even to make a comment of their own. When it came to reaching that mental zenith, the blogosphere and its readers were leagues ahead of the majority of the American people at the polls last November.

But neither of them have reached it physically or spiritually; at least not to the point of scooping up that folding chair and vowing to go to the mattresses with their taskmasters and that is evidenced among the majority of the American people realizing way too late just how badly the MSM and the Bush Administration deliberately misled them over the last 6 years for ratings, access, tax breaks, and corporate profits that they otherwise could've corrected on Election Day 2004. It's also evidenced among the Blogosphere and its readers in the fact the Blogosphere -- for the most part -- allows these crimes to continue since the longer their readers prefer or continue to keep reading blogs instead of taking their rage and contempt to the streets, the benefits go directly to the criminals and profiteers. I myself am guilty of this very sin and, like most blog readers, I guess I'm waiting for a bunch of other blog readers to get of their dead asses first. One person revolutions never work; just puts that person in jail (or worse - Gitmo/Abu Grahaib).

Barring an attack on Iran, I'm convinced this won't happen until between 2009 and 2011 mainly because the American people -- even when their tolerance and patience has reached epic proportions -- still finds it within themselves to grant the undeserving Democratic Party (e.g. The "Rent-To-Ownership-Society") one final stay of execution masquerading under the rubric of a diplomatic last chance to rescue this nation. When they fail (and notice I said when and not if), all bets will be off, the masks will fall away, and we will witness our own "Concentration Camp" moment as scores and scores of American poor and middle class people leave the confines of their cable-ready, propaganda-filled, internment camps and take it to the streets as they march against their oppressors. Whether they're armed with folding chairs and two-by-fours or with pistols and shotguns matters little. As STYX's Tommy Shaw sings "the jig is up - the news is out". The American people will become renegades -- much scarier renegades for the great Corportocracy because they will be armed with two things that frighten them more than folding chairs, two-by-fours, pistols and shotguns: "Murika Hatin'" passionate activism coupled with "Saddam Lovin'" pesky agendas.

Nothing is more putrid to our ruling, monied, and pampered elite than the idea of common middle class and poor Americans empowering themselves though partisan activism and open agendas simply because the ruling elite believe they -- and only they -- are entitled to be activists and have agendas whilst the rest of the unwashed masses are supposed to mindlessly adhere to. The passionate activism among the poor and middle classes of Americans will channel Roddy Rowdy Piper as they shout "BREAK THE MONOTONY" and their agenda will be laid out crystal clear when they respond with another shout of "BUST THE CORPOTOCRACY!" in response. There will be no safe haven for the CEOs of CBS/Viacom, News Corp, Disney, GE, AOL/Time Warner, Halliburton, Exxon-Mobil, and the rest of the Corportocracy who profited (and keep profiting) from their criminal and immoral assault of the people of Iraq and America.

Despite all the death, doom, and destruction our elected and bribed officials will wage between now and 2011, something remarkable and awe-inspiring is already happening underfoot, intent to catch on and snowball from there on out and the only thing hindering that remarkable event is the final edifice of Christian fundamentalisms' black tower of hubris still stands but not for much longer.

A lot of Christian religious shysters over the decades -- predominately the prophecy mavens -- have been enamored with the year 2012. They believe that their beloved Rapture and the end of the world will occur before then since, according to them, the Mayan calender doesn't go beyond 2012. Of course, any logical and well reasoned being knows that the Mayan Calender (as well as Planet Letdown here) will indeed go beyond 2012, especially if we manage to impeach Bush and Cheney and turn them over to The Hague afterwards as well as reclaim the media from crony Capitalistic CEOs by repealing the 1996 Deregulation Act and reinstating The Fairness Doctrine.

But could it be possible that they've misread the prophetic tea-leaves? Could it be possible that the Mayans have accurately foretold that 2012 will usher in a new era of Enlightenment centered around logic, reason, common sense, and critical analysis? An era where the returning good sense of our nation comes full circle to return yet again; ushering in a new age of Enlightenment similar to the old Enlightenment that brought America her initial brilliant yet fallible forefathers? An era where human rights trumps the entitlement culture of fame, fortune, empire, and exorbitant profit?

How wonderful would it be that the new Enlightenment inspires the American people to take up John Bolton's upper-lip all over again and proceed to push-broom not just the aforementioned pro-Capitalist religious shysters and prophecy mavens irrevocably into history entirely but also their worthless pro-Capitalist Republican and Democratic Party brethren, along with all the prime time/AM Radio pundits we find ourselves plagued with?

If I may channel Martin Luther King: I HAVE A DREAM -- and that dream is being made manifest. Over the course of the next few years, the "War on Religious Hubris" that the rightwingers and Christian fundies erroneously refer to as a "War On Christmas" will grow into a deafening crescendo to the point where Wal-Mart cashiers and restaurant waitresses will gladly risk termination and the loss of tips by reminding all the spoiled rotten 21st century Christian-American "Disciples of O'Rielly" that 1st century Christians suffered far, far, far worse persecutions and tribulations than being told "Happy Holidays" by somebody on minimum wage standing next to a cash register way too small to hold a Roman Colosseum and a herd of hungry lions, and therefore should take their purchases, have a "Merry Christmas", and grow the hell up.

And may the Gods bless those waitresses and retail cashiers and regale all the sanctimonious and pious to the proverbial outer darkness where there's not only much weeping and gnashing of teeth but empty office freezers save for the Senator, lobbyist, or fundamentalist preacher stuffed therein.

posted by Sizemore at 3:14 AM

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