Hope for the Future / Fuck Everyone and Run

The Great Wall of China
What A waste of Time
The Maginot Line
What a waste of time. 

It appears Marillion's new album Fuck Everyone and Run may hit the nail right on the head in terms of the Zeitgeist (more on the album later.) Contrasting this title with their 1997 song Hope for Future, really shows the change in times, clearly for the worst. I'm not optimistic about the future, especially after yesterday, and it would seem the predictions of Marillion, as well as others from Nostradamus to George Friedman [1] are coming to fruition.  We have become so over-reactionary that every little event of violence by someone of Non-Western origin is immediately cast as terrorism. [2] But not every unfortunate incident of potentially intense violence is terrorism [3]. Some are simply violent acts committed by homicidal lunatics, who may or may not be religious.  But, in any case, they are homicidal maniacs first.

It seems certain that whatever conflict arises out of the current tension, there will be those who lose who don't deserve to. Not only the innocent people who happened to be born a different race [4], but those humanitarians that try to de-escalate the tension in order to protect undeserving people on both sides.  As seen, in current online discussions, the hatred for each side is so strong that it will be propelled at anyone who tries to question what is going on.  As we spiral around history, there always has to be the Other - coming to take our joy, one who can't be negotiated with, but is 100% alien and must be eradicated. While ISIS might fall factually into this category, the prevailing opinion is to include all Muslims in this category.   I wonder what would happen if Sting rewrote his 1986 song Russians into "Muslims," something like this: 

In Europe and America, there's a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
ISIS said we will bury you
I don't subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Muslims love their children too

How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy
There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Muslims love their children too

There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the President
There's no such thing as a winnable war
It's a lie we don't believe anymore
Mr. Trump says we will protect you
I don't subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Muslims love their children too

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me, and you
Is if the Muslims love their children too

Certainly the message would be the same  -  "the Muslims love their children too," it would be timely and accurate, and I fear, far less acceptable.  The Muslim scare seems deeper rooted than the Red Scare and anti-communist Reagan years.  Which goes to show the "political correctness" of the right.  If you dare to throw out words like Islam, or Marxism, you are immediately shot down, dismissed and discredited as you try to make as serious intellectual point.  They are buzz words used to differentiate the other and cannot be used for any correct point - regardless of the facts of the situation.
The complete alienation of the Other is apparent whenever they try to take a positive position.  If BLM protests, they are told to be peaceful. If they are peaceful during the national anthem, they are told to stop being disrespectful.  If the Somali community doesn't publicly denounce Muslim violence, they are  accused of quietly supporting it.  If they do publicly denounce it, they are told to shut up and go away.  The divide will only get bigger, as the extreme right now has a voice on the public stage, they will continue to expand and veer farther right. They are waiting and hoping for more of the so-called "colossal" attacks, like 9/17, so they can respond with ever more retaliation, and prove their resistance to the Other.   It wasn't that we underestimated Trump. It is that we (and Trump) underestimated his followers.  Perhaps things will get better in 50 days.  But the way things are sliding, that is becoming less and less likely.  At which point the real divide will begin, and we'll all have a better understanding of 1930s Germany. Let's hope we don't have to choose sides and get caught in the middle while trying to take the moral high ground.


[1] STRATFOR's analysis of Russia, Turkey, etc, is increasingly seeming more likely after the last 3 years.

[2] Acts of mass violence, when perpetrated by Whites are not called Christian terrorism, or Western terrorism. Terrorism is limited to the Other. The way "terrorism" is used/understood (not the way it should be defined) is when the Other attacks Us. So, Colored people are terrorists, whites are criminals [see 4A].

[3] Violence- the kind of a homicidal maniac is a necessary quality of a terrorist, but it isn't sufficient.  Terrorism is more - it is ideological, and furthermore has an agenda to achieve.  It is therefore planned, organized and coordinated, to have any effect as terrorism.  If we start to call any violent act by someone who has an ideologically agenda (almost everyone) then the term loses all meaning.  This is a disservice to those in New York, Paris, Israel,/Gaza, etc. There are real terrorists out there- evil people - and we must not dilute that fight by calling every criminal act of a brown person terrorism.

[4] I realize "Muslim" isn't a race, but then race is an artificial construct - we're all the same species [4A].  When we're talking about Muslims,we're not talking about white Westerners that have converted. We mean Arabs, or Africans.  Like Jews, Muslim is a term for a culture that includes attributes of geography, history, and physical features, all united through a religion.  One is born into that religion as a part of their heritage, there isn;t much transfer in and out of such religious thought. Since those in that culture share "family resemblances" of traits, it makes sense to classify them in contrast to Western (mostly Christian) groups, through "race"for lack of a better term.

     [4A] The Irish and Italians used to be non-white, as were some German descents, and if German isn't white, then what is? But, all of these Europeans became white through common use which expanded and changed the definition.  Which culture associated with terrorism has a drink named after them?  The "Irish Car Bomb" has become so normalized that the Irish terrorists aren't terrorists anymore (because they're now white).