Archives: October, 2011

I’ve been against the Western intervention in Libya because I know that U.S. and E.U. interests are the only interests that will be served by helping the Libyan people overthrow their brutal government. The regime that takes over will be one approved by these interests and not the interests of the Libyan people. Their revolution has been co-opted in order to steal the wealth of the Libyan people while their lives change little if any. There’s also the broader idea that revolutions should be won and not handed over. The Libyan people cannot emancipate themselves if their revolution is won via American missiles, or as Eugene Debs would say, “I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition.”

But if I am being brutally honest, the videos depicting a beaten and terrified Gaddafi provided a mixture of emotions. A sick pleasure at seeing possibly the world’s richest person being torn from power after creating misery for decades. A revulsion at the blood lust in the Libyan rebels’ (and soon to be murderers’) eyes as they lowered themselves to the level of their former enemy. I didn’t take pleasure at human suffering, but rather the symbolism of it all, I suppose.

The Libyan people have traded one enemy for another in allowing for Western involvement in their struggle for freedom. Their land will be the new “breeding ground” and decades of chaos await them, if Iraq and Afghanistan are any example. I think it was Conan O’Brien I heard make the joke recently that the way Obama’s administration is handling itself, “healthcare” would be one of the last things Obama would be known for – what with his miles long kill list.

Despite these fears of what lies ahead for the Libyan people, the fact remains that with or without help they have removed their dictator and have made an important step towards liberating themselves and deciding their future for themselves. I wish them the best of luck and hope that my fears are mistaken.

Not that we ever needed to, but if we ever needed to prove to ourselves that the Tea Party protests were/are anything besides corporate-corralled dissent redirected into expressions of racism, misogyny, and staggering ignorance, the Tea Partiers reaction to the Occupy Wall Street movement provides all proof we could ever need. The predominately white, older, middle/upper class members of the Tea Parties have been seen taking every chance to insult and minimize OWS or its members, despite the overlapping portions of their agendas. The corporate and think tank controlled Tea Party decried the bailouts (among many other things, sensical and otherwise) too, so why does this Venn diagram refuse to meet? The strings attached to the Tea Party prevent any ability to recognize what all workers are suffering. It was designed to never do anything besides make noise and elect more capitalist politicians. So long as OWS can retain independence from a controlling authority like the Democratic Party or something similar, it flies in the face of the Tea Party’s agenda and abilities. 
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I was raised in a sports family. My childhood bedroom had an entire wall painted with the logo of the family’s favorite college football team, done by my father. I was taken to games for hockey, football, baseball, et al. One summer I remember, I was sent to a tennis camp. The only problem was that I have never had any interest in sports. It kind of made things awkward with my family because they didn’t really understand it (I remember being in the car once with my father in my early teens and being asked if I was gay). In fact I’ve never had much of an interest in team based competition, and the team based politics of American government is one game that still eludes me. Team R versus Team D, locked in perpetual “struggle” while you and I suffer their consequences.
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