Steve McAlexander on Fri, 12 Oct 2001 20:14:01 +0200 (CEST) |
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RE: [Nettime-bold] The State: Source of Our Problems |
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 What would you do if you were a bank owner that contracted with a security firm to guard your branches? One day, a group of armed robbers simultaneously stormed four of the branches, and successfully robbed three and killed all the customers inside. In the process of robbing the fourth, a group of your customers happened to hear a radio report that three of your branches were robbed, and all inside killed. They banded together, and foiled the robbery, although they died themselves. The security firms' contract specifically states that they are responsible for all security, and since this just a hypothetical case of two firms, the bank naturally made failure to protect the branches a breach of contract. Furthermore, any liability incurred for failure to protect the branches also falls on the security firm. As a rational CEO, you would fire the security firm, denounce their incompetence in no uncertain terms, and make sure the next security firm actually dealt with the problem, instead of giving it lip service, or taking actions designed to stop, say, jay walking in front of the bank. The security firm would be liable for millions in tort claims from you, the bank owner for monies lost and property destroyed, and perhaps millions of dollars in wrongful death claims from the relatives of those killed in the robberies. Now that we've taken this little exercise to its conclusion, let's compare it to our present situation with the airports, the airlines, security, and the FAA. In a previous essay, I recommended the abolition of the FAA. Seeing how this is anti-state.com, I'll go a little farther. The entire apparatus of the State is to blame for our lives being endangered. In a pre-taped announcement, Osama bin Laden spells out in no uncertain terms what it will take for terror attacks to on the United States to stop. First, get troops out of the "Holy Land" of Saudi Arabia. This is his homeland, and the spiritual homeland of Islam. We have ~6,000 troops there "guarding" "our oil" that the Saudi's just happen to be baby sitting for us. At least that' s the mentality Washington City displays by keeping US Forces there long after any possible threat of invasion from Iraq has passed. Not that there ever was one, and if there was some remote possibility that Iraq invaded Saudi Arabia, so what. They still have to sell us oil. In case you haven't noticed, sand is hard to eat, and wheat just doesn't take to it. Second in Osama's pronouncements to end terror attacks, is to cease our killing of one million Iraqis, mostly children. Hey folks, he's a fruitcake, but he's right. While we've been watching "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and contemplating the value of our tech sector stock portfolios, our military has been doing some nasty shit in our name. "But we're protecting the Kurds from Iraq!" Horse Apples. Go check the facts, and you'll see we're not only not doing that, but we're actively looking the other way while our ally Turkey kills Iraqi and Turkish Kurds with military hardware we sold them. This ties in nicely with pronouncement number one. Why not get the hell out of Iraq? Let them rebuild their shattered country with the money from oil they WANT to sell us, but we won't let them. Then we can get the hell out of Saudi Arabia while we're at it. Pronouncements number one and two solved. Third pronouncement from our Arab Hitler du Jour is the statement that until the Palestinians are not terrorized, Americans will be. This is a thinly veiled reference to our uncritical support for Israel. I have an idea. Let's cut off all government foreign and humanitarian aid to everyone. Israel, Egypt, and all the assorted African plutocrats that we prop up with dollar diplomacy should be cut off. Then we should withdraw from the U.N. and kick those no good socialists off Manhattan. Without our seat on the security council to constantly run interference for Israel by vetoing resolutions condemning their occupation of Palestine, it would be pretty hard to point a finger at the U.S. and say we support terror against them. The objections are already forming in your mind. First will be the old "we can't give in to terrorism, it will only breed more terror." Folks, we're not dealing with a dog begging for table scraps and some kind of Pavlovian conditioning. These folks have a reason for wanting what they want. Put aside the atrocity of 9-11 for a minute and ask yourself if there's a grain of truth in any of what the terrorists are asking for. Yes, the means are despicable. Then realize that we've killed one million innocents in a country of 23 million. Realize that we would be pretty pissed if foreign troops were stationed outside New York to protect us from Canada. The reason terrorism works is because the terrorists keep at it as long as they think they have the moral high ground. Think of France and Algeria, The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, the Serbs and The Austro-Hungarian Empire. Each time, the attacks stopped when the occupying force left. The next objection will be "We can't just let Israel be destroyed." I don't want to see genocide. I also don't want to support a naked land grab half way around the world. If you're so keen on Israeli security, why not send them a personal check when we cut off foreign aid. You'll have more money in your pocket. If you're still gung-ho on Israel, why not go over there and sign up for the army? I think Israel would be forced to end their occupation and really try to make peace if we weren't shoveling them cash at the rate of $8.2 million dollars per day. As it stands, they keep putting settlements on Palestinian land, squatting on the old "principles" of might makes right, and possession is 9/10ths of the law. In the final analysis, it really is the State that's gotten us into this mess. Our founders said the only reason government exists is to protect the rights of the governed. What we've got is an out of control empire with troops all over the world, and it's finally caused more trouble than it can "protect" us from. From the military and the planners that indirectly caused this by antagonizing the world, to the morons at the FAA who's security couldn't protect us on 9-11, and still can't, to the extra police that uselessly guard the airports, while terrorists plan the next attack on some other piece of infrastructure, to the keystone cops in the FBI, CIA, and NSA that now predict that another attack is certain, but don't know where, the entire apparatus of the State is revealed for the worthless hoax that it is. Let's scrap the whole thing, and aim for the unknown ideal of anarcho-capitalism. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 7.0.3 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> iQA/AwUBO8cy19azH7VNBAc7EQJxGgCeM/w3HML+qXlDrsfKbTI1kYeHkdEAoLSc DCWdwCIXKiqb+uBrn7Q6vvfx =ggYd -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold