idesign
12-10-2008, 05:40 PM
Whipping boy Bush
Five years after 9/11, philosopher Andre Glucksmann looks at
the logic of the new Chicago, asking how we will face today's world of extended gang warfare.
The
attack on the World Trade Center is never-ending. The horrors of September 11 still set hearts and minds aquiver.
Increasing numbers of Americans (79 percent compared with 72 percent a year ago) and Europeans (66 percent, up from
58 percent in 2005) consider international terrorism a "massive threat" (according to a
survey (http://www.transatlantictrends.org/) conducted by the German Marshall Fund and the Italian San
Paolo society).
snip
In the media, the commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the attacks on New York and
Washington often turned into an exorcism seance with George Bush as the perfect whipping boy. When attacks
and threats increase, he is to blame. When terrorists here and at the other end of the world engage in unscrupulous
murderers, this is his sorry legacy. When in Iraq the faith war swells, when Muslims in Morocco, Algeria,
Afghanistan and Indonesia slaughter each other, when Iran builds nuclear weapons, then they don't look for those
responsible, it is Bush and Bush again.
snip
In the past, people used to stick dolls with pins to ward off bad
luck and kill evil spirits. In our day we apostrophise the supposed master of the world, accusing him of abusing his
"superpowers". He is the cause of all our evils. If he disappeared, universal harmony would be
re-established. Our magical behaviour wins on two counts. While our finger points to the cause of world chaos, our
angelic smile assures that once the evil power has been paralysed, everything – the dove and the snake, the lion and
the lamb – will coexist in harmony. Five years ago, public opinion was riveted on the mastermind of the largest
terrorist attack in the history of the world. Now, however, on September 11, 2006, all eyes are on the abominable
Bush and the lunatic America. The bloody instigators of the massacre fade from memory, to the point that they
desperately attempt to get back into the limelight with video cassettes drawing attention to their presence.
But
let's be serious. Whatever his trials and whatever his errors, Bush did not invent the planetary extension of a
terrorism that existed well before he came to power, and will continue no matter who succeeds him. The Cold War
stopped with the fall of the Soviet empire, but the cold warriors have been there all along.
The
article originally appeared (http://www.perlentaucher.de/artikel/3395.html) in German on
Perlentaucher on September 21, 2006
http://www.signandsight.com/features/964.html
Five years after 9/11, philosopher Andre Glucksmann looks at
the logic of the new Chicago, asking how we will face today's world of extended gang warfare.
The
attack on the World Trade Center is never-ending. The horrors of September 11 still set hearts and minds aquiver.
Increasing numbers of Americans (79 percent compared with 72 percent a year ago) and Europeans (66 percent, up from
58 percent in 2005) consider international terrorism a "massive threat" (according to a
survey (http://www.transatlantictrends.org/) conducted by the German Marshall Fund and the Italian San
Paolo society).
snip
In the media, the commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the attacks on New York and
Washington often turned into an exorcism seance with George Bush as the perfect whipping boy. When attacks
and threats increase, he is to blame. When terrorists here and at the other end of the world engage in unscrupulous
murderers, this is his sorry legacy. When in Iraq the faith war swells, when Muslims in Morocco, Algeria,
Afghanistan and Indonesia slaughter each other, when Iran builds nuclear weapons, then they don't look for those
responsible, it is Bush and Bush again.
snip
In the past, people used to stick dolls with pins to ward off bad
luck and kill evil spirits. In our day we apostrophise the supposed master of the world, accusing him of abusing his
"superpowers". He is the cause of all our evils. If he disappeared, universal harmony would be
re-established. Our magical behaviour wins on two counts. While our finger points to the cause of world chaos, our
angelic smile assures that once the evil power has been paralysed, everything – the dove and the snake, the lion and
the lamb – will coexist in harmony. Five years ago, public opinion was riveted on the mastermind of the largest
terrorist attack in the history of the world. Now, however, on September 11, 2006, all eyes are on the abominable
Bush and the lunatic America. The bloody instigators of the massacre fade from memory, to the point that they
desperately attempt to get back into the limelight with video cassettes drawing attention to their presence.
But
let's be serious. Whatever his trials and whatever his errors, Bush did not invent the planetary extension of a
terrorism that existed well before he came to power, and will continue no matter who succeeds him. The Cold War
stopped with the fall of the Soviet empire, but the cold warriors have been there all along.
The
article originally appeared (http://www.perlentaucher.de/artikel/3395.html) in German on
Perlentaucher on September 21, 2006
http://www.signandsight.com/features/964.html