Not having spent much time in the U.S. in the last 10 years I was curious how I’d find things there. It’s certainly an interesting time to be here right now. Curiously the country appears both polarised and disengaged in the political process, while the foreign policy decisions made by the unilateralist Bush administration are having a direct and immediate effect on the rest of the world in ways that are quite new and disturbing.
There really isn’t much point in running away to Bali nowadays, as one lady who wrote in recently did, if you’re doing it to get away from US politics, global corporate greed and environmental degradation and whatever else was wrong with with wherever you came from. As we have seen and terribly, Bali is not immune from the effects of international politics and anyone who fondly believes local politics, business and environmentalism in Indonesia, and that certainly includes Bali, does not show room for improvement is obviously off with the fairies.
The point is I think, you have to be aware of what’s going on around you both immediately and further afield at some level. That can be done just as well intuitively than by being glued to Fox News, CNN or BBC World. Indeed the TV channels are part of the problem, distorting not informing as they do. If you
are not aware on this temporal level, it is unlikely you will be aware at any other. Being aware of the bigger context without being hung up on the details allows us to sit a lot more genuinely and rewardingly in our immediate environment I reckon.
After 6 weeks here in LA homesickness for Bali really hit home yesterday and the sheer artificial construct of this weird, interesting and unlovable town hit home. l longed for the greenness and organic feel of Bali. When all is said and done, Bali is a special place. Now, as it was and as it shall be, whatever the retro-bores have to say. If we can utilise the best of our own culture without bringing in its baser manifestations while enjoying the best of theirs, and not succumb to its non-dynamic nature or losing sight of who we actually are, then I think we may be getting somewhere.
The Michael Moore Effect
Went to see Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 the weekend it first showed and to my surprise, absolutely loved it. Go see it on a big screen if you can. It works on many levels. It could have been an hour longer and I‘d go see it again in a flash. Moore’s books may not be up to much but this movie is sly, funny and whacks you hard in the solar plexus by turn. First off, anybody who can skewer the Frat Boy for the fake and apology of a man that he is gets my vote and does the world a signal service. The inane make-believe swagger, the smirk, the narrow mean little eyes, the spiteful adolescent bully as little-boy lost it’s all there in trumps. Next, the two mothers, one American and the other Iraqi, grieving in their different ways for their dead sons came across simply and very powerfully. Just as telling was the succession of Black ward leaders from Florida being denied their votes and a recount because not one Senator could be found to sign off on their case. Most of all, the movie gave a timely reminder of just how powerful modern “conventional” weapons are and how terrible it is to be subjected to a barrage of them. On a large screen with wrap-around-sound the effect was devastating.
A far cry from the sanitised clips and sound bytes shown by the TV news channels. For someone like me who thinks it was right to go after Saddam Hussein but went on record at the time that Bush and crew would screw it up afterward for sure, it was a salutary reminder of what modern warfare actually does to real people, made all the more obscene by the wasted sacrifice. It's the "dog-and-car syndrome". Dogs spend a lot of time thinking about chasing cars. But they don’t know what to do with a car when they actually catch one. That’s the way it is with the Bush and the Neo-Cons.
Is the movie preaching to the converted? Without a doubt. What true blue Bush hater could resist a visit to the movies to witness the public exposure and humiliation of the object of their contempt?
Will it influence the swing voter and make any difference at all to the upcoming Presidential elections in November? That is much more in doubt. However, in a month Fahrenheit 9/11 has already grossed over US$100 million. It is the most successful documentary ever made. It is being shown to packed houses all over the country who can’t all be paid-up Democrats. It must have considerable effect on undecided voters, reinforcing their unease about the war in Iraq and the
sense that this is government for the rich by the rich.
The Lord is not Amused....
The funny thing of course is the way that the Republican Right who have tried every low trick in their non-libertarian book to prevent the movie being shown and to denigrate it and anyone who supports it only make it more popular. Funnier yet was the English hotel GM in Vegas who threw Linda Rondstadt out on the street because she’d told her audience they should go see the movie. She hasn’t had so much publicity in years. Of course Michael Moore is laughing all the way to the bank as the enraged rightwingers gnash their teeth.
In fact the fundamentalist, red neck and Big Biz right wing in America of whom this administration is either comprised or to whom they pander, are a very hypocritical and unprepossessing bunch, lacking any sense of humour and nursing a nasty sense of grievance. You should just hear them complain! Janet Jackson exposes a nippleless tit in public at the Superbowl (Eeeek!), the moral fabric of the nation is in danger. Theresa Kerry tells the editor of a rightwing scandal rag to “shove it” (gasp. shock, horror!). But when the Vice President Dick Cheney tells the senior Senator from Vermont to go perform an unnatural and highly gymnastic act upon himself (because he dared ask a question about Halliburton)
that is merely forthright politics. There is a left wing media conspiracy against them (Oh dear!). What, one wonders, do they think Fux News (as they pronounce it) is? Michael Moore is damned for all time as godless, unpatriotic and electioneering unfairly, but what about gerrymandering in Texas and voter fraud in Florida? Public servants who blow the whistle on incompetence, graft and dishonesty are slandered and accused of treason and/or self promotion, their good names smeared and their careers blighted.
These people really are a self-serving and highly motivated minority who, whether cynically or genuinely, have convinced themselves that any action they take is Godly and patriotic and all who oppose them are of the Devil. Thus any action they take is justified. For the last 20 years they have swung the country sharply to the Right, but with this wretched administration it has all begun to unravel.
Our Deliverance is At Hand....
But now, it seems to me, the pendulum is swinging back toward the Centre. Quite apart from Fahrenheit 9/11 there has been a rash of books, movies and bi-partisan reports all holding a light to the mistakes and sharp practices of the Bush administration, its mishandling of Iraq and the “War on Terror”, the nastiness of Fox News and the rest of the right wing media, not to mention corporate sleaze. None of this has been orchestrated but it all seems to be coming to a head in time for the November Presidential elections.
The conventional wisdom sees the country as more or less evenly divided between Bush and Kerry with only 12% undecided and the election will be a close run thing, possibly even a tie like last time. My gutfeeling is that it won’t be like that at all. There will be a massive repudiation of Bush and his divisive politics. The majority of Americans may be religious in a way that Europeans are not. Most of them may not even read a great deal or have any interest in politics. But that does not necessarily make them fools and bigots. In November they are voting for the man they most trust to run the country and that is a very subjective decision based on gut feeling. After the last four years I would place odds that large numbers of Republicans and Democrats who voted for Bush last time around will vote for Kerry and he will become President. Republicans may still dominate the House but that too will start to slowly swing the Democrats way. Out time, not only for Americans but the rest of us too I say.
