Stalking the Shadows: More torture photos would remind us that “The Others” IS us.

[shadowknows69]

And we can’t have that.

There always has to be an “Other”. We must always be at war with Eastasia.

By “We”, of course, I mean the mythical, but all too real, Military Industrial Complex that General Eisenhower tried to warn us about so many years ago.

I can’t seem to stop myself from going into full Orwell mode on this one. Poor, rat fearing Winston Smith, soul sold back to the overlords in the end, is rolling around in his fictitious grave.

Were the first torture photos that came out only a few lost pages of “Goldstein’s Book”, and the rest that have been blocked, the tapes that have been destroyed and the actual victims who have died, the rest of the volume?

Maybe the analogy of “Goldstein’s Book” is actually bigger than just the photos. Included in that I would place the torture memos, the Downing Street Memos, the PNAC manifesto et al. as evidence of the endless war we have fabricated for our nation.

When I watched the President’s statement on his decision not to have the photos released I saw a horrifyingly familiar sight. Even though George Bush is, in my opinion, immeasurably more evil than Barack Obama could be even if he tried; you could still tell with W that when he spoke he said some things that whatever is left of his soul instinctively knew were abominable. I saw that fully in our President’s eyes that day and I doubt if I’m alone in that.

Worse than that, Bush was probably just someone who read the prepared statements of the image and direction that had been written for him without any ethical consideration whatsoever to the policies he was implementing.

I hate to say I saw a little of both in our current President. I saw a man saying, nay reading, barely looking into cameras or eyes, something he knew was the wrong thing to say and do.

In the spirit of full disclosure and as many of you know, that is pretty much my cynical default perception of politicians. Until after he was elected President, Obama never felt like a politician to me, and that’s why I voted for him enthusiastically.

The previously released photos had enough of an impact, amazingly enough during the Bush/Cheney years, to actually prosecute some of those involved; albeit bullshit convictions of a few of the “bad apples” very low on the tree. I can’t help but believe that further exposure would help cause a swell in pressure to start climbing up the branches until we reach the top.

I do believe our President when he claims the photos aren’t “any worse” because I’m almost certain that the truly vile evidence has been destroyed beyond redemption by now. The fact remains that there is some reason that they are not being released. Perhaps President Obama is simply “officially” getting out of the way and maybe it’s a chess move, but there are more efficient and definitive ways to get to checkmate in my opinion.

Or perhaps the real reason is because the photos will once again remind us that these atrocities, these TORTURES, that we have prosecuted so many others for in the past, were not done to “Others”, but to people and allegedly even to women and children just like us.

For the war to remain endless the enemy must not have a face. It can’t have children, it can’t get married, love, lust, dream or dare. It can only hate YOU. It wants to kill YOU, your family, your dreams, your desires, and especially your freedom. It’s a rabid dog that needs to be put down.

The masses need a “Hate Week” presented to them in boogeyman form. Our own shadowy “Goldstein”, always just an inch away, kept out of reach by our brave soldiers fighting against…..Who are we at war with this week again, and why can’t they capture this Goldstein guy anyway after so many years? Cue the Thought Police.

Anything we did to “Them” in order to save a few of “Us” is cool, and letting the world see it will endanger our soldiers, who “They” have been trying to kill for seven years and change, pretty much since we invaded their countries, without further motivation than that being necessary.

The wars, the daily tragedy of them, have been deftly hidden from the “masses” by the useless and now completely partisan media. Newspeak has turned torture into “enhanced interrogation” and “The Others” shall remain the faceless enemy for a while longer.

The only key to stopping the madness this country has fallen into is disclosure, justice and restitution on a global scale, not monetary, but in humility and an adherence to the judgment of independent parties.

Enemies combatants or not, “terrorists” or not, the victims of our war crimes must be given a face and thereby a voice to condemn us for becoming the monsters we claimed them to be.

And the only way to really stop humanity’s continued injustice against itself is for “The Others” to be seen on equal human terms as “Us”.
Peace
-S

[H2O Man]

1. Nominated.

This reminds me of an on-going conversation that I've been having with my brother on the west coast. He e-mailed me yesterday, regarding an Erich Fromm book that I recommended he read. It's the second in the series of Fromm's writings that he will be reading.

For a brief period, my brother went through what was a "republican phase." It was not unlike having an obnoxious teenager, who thinks they know everything, when in fact, they know very little. Luckily, I was patient, and helped him through that ugly period. In the years that have passed, he has found authors like Vince Bugliosi to be valuable sources to explain what we already know: how a shit like Bush became president.

Fromm's book explains "why."

Another topic in this particular book is "why" some "leaders" are able to convince a population that torture is not torture, but in fact is a last-choice for defense. And that, as you note so accurately, involves the lie about "they" being a separate, less-than-human group of people .... when, in fact, it is those who delight in torture who are a distinct group, lacking in the development of humanity.

Thank you for this OP. It is much appreciated.

[shadowknows69]

2. Thank you Sir.

A have a friend, who is like a brother to me, who once said I was a Republican and didn't realize it, but he's a Republican so I don't believe him. B-)

[H2O Man]

4. All the roads to wisdom

lead through valleys of doubt, a good friend once told me.

[Echo In Light]

3. Kudos Double Plus (un) Good K&R

[shadowknows69]

5. Kicking

So sue me. I'm in manic mode today....:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

I must be read or I don't exist. It all gets pretty weird when you try to figure out the science of it.

[H2O Man]

6. Important OP.

I'd like to request that other DUers reading the OP give it a "k&r." It is the type of OP that should be getting lots of attention.

[shadowknows69]

7. Wow, if you can't help my PR H2O I must be done for the day

I'll come up with a 40 word rant for tomorrow that should wow em. I'm off to play video dungeons and dragons to ease my sorrow.

No, I'm not in my parent's basement. I'm in my wife's basement; thank you kindly.

[MisterP]

8. there are a thousand roads to dehumanization

there's hatred at the Other, and there's also ignoring of the Other: when many think of other countries, they don't see the people. Maybe they see a vague, homogeneous mass under the natural resources, the state, and its foreign policy. This is "realpolitik": that's why Internet freaks can mush-mouth about "collateral damage" in Iraq or Germany under the BritBlitz or "acceptable losses in the quest for needed oil." The humans on the ground are unreal to them: they just can't see them.

[DemReadingDU]

9. afternoon kick

[rhiannon55]

10. I have wondered at how "pro lifers" can reconcile their fervent

belief in the right of every unborn American zygote, er, baby" to be born with their callous lack of concern for the babies being blown to bits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those babies are "Others". Little brown future terrorists.

Excellent OP, Shadow. I love your writing.