Remembering Saddam Hussein

photographs courtesy of http://aldea-irreductible.blogspot.com/2008/10/la-otra-cara-de-los-lideres.html

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Is it possible for Iraq to be "governed" except in the way old Mr. H did it? There seem to be so many awful people over there with all the self-righteous rhetoric they need to turn whatever desires they have into "rights" worthy of being defended via murder. And they produce such a steady stream of converts that there's no hope of just having them kill each other off so that everyone else in the country can get back to their jobs, cafes, family get-togethers, and tour guiding.

And how different will any other nation be in 5 or 20 or 50 years?

We all seem to take it for granted that there is a pretty firm boundary between the crazies and the common people, as if the world would be all peace and flowers if all of "them" could be put away for good, while all of "us" could run the country or the world with our humble peasant simplicity, liberal attitudes, earthiness and easy grace.

What a heap of stinky maggot droppings. The fact is, there is no firm boundary between "them" and "us." We are, or can become, them, they are, or can become, us. A serial killer is discovered to have been living in our neighborhood for years, and we immediately call him a “monster.” Why? Primary reason: to pretend that his fundamental humanity is fundamentally different than our fundamental humanity.

I’m not talking here about a moral equivalency - as if there were no appreciable difference between murder and watching too much television. Don’t play that game. Of course there’s a difference, and it's good when there is a justice system that can put some controls on the worst things we are capable of doing. But do you have the courage to think about how much of our own humanity is shared with the humanity of terrorists, wife and husband beaters, and corrupt politicians?

The corrupt machinery that spins out their victim claims and self-righteous justifications is right here in us too, spinning out what are essentially the same kinds of arguments - if not the same degree of obvious destructive behavior. Mr. H himself was once a tiny baby sleeping sweetly in the arms of his mother. He was part of a family - one that had the same humble occupations or preoccupations we do: money, "self-respect," comfort, direction, a need to get our way, etc. Money mostly. It's not two vastly different groups of people with a line drawn between them. It’s one deep polluted ocean we’re all swimming in, and the news only reports the most sales worthy events that happen on its surface. But each of us is a drop of water in that ocean - moving and being moved.

We all have known - I know I have - manipulative, deceptive people who put on a good outward show and constantly rehearse to themselves the evidence for their own worthiness. But do you see the trick I just played? I said we have all "known" such people. Naturally, I did not say we have all BEEN such people. But we all have agendas, want our way, "know" what's right, etc. Given a standing army, limitless oil resources, and a room full of people constantly telling us how wonderful we are, what might each of us be capable of?