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Sweeper
by peptide Thursday, Aug 11 2005, 7:48am
international / social/political / opinion/analysis

It is not often that semantics attracts our attention, but the recent media saturation with the latest word-fad has prompted this response. The latest word that is ‘sweeping’ through the vocabularies of all right-wing speechwriters is (you got it) “sweeping”! Have you noticed that there’s a ‘whole lot of sweeping going on’? “Sweeping new terrorist laws; sweeping new security measures; sweeping new changes”, etc. It is a shame that Bush, Blair and Howard haven’t been swept out of office. But it’s a bigger shame that we are being swept back into a quasi-feudal world of Lords and slaves – no need to guess what your status will be, but more on that later – for now, “the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. Disregard it at your own peril!

Fifty thousand American lives were lost (in Vietnam) due to Presidents and others chanting a popular slogan, “there is light at the end of the tunnel”. Whatever that is supposed to mean in a jungle warfare scenario only the dead would know. Maybe the imbeciles who chanted it knew, or did they? Do not be too hasty to judge the past, the present has made an art form of inanity. Following are some of the latest semantic offerings ‘clarifying’ US intervention in Iraq:

Clarity
I think what you'll find,
I think what you'll find is,
Whatever it is we do substantively,
There will be near-perfect clarity
As to what it is.

And it will be known,
And it will be known to the Congress,
And it will be known to you,
Probably before we decide it,
But it will be known.

Feb. 28, 2003, Department of Defence briefing

The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defence news
briefing

The Situation
Things will not be necessarily continuous.
The fact that they are something other than
Perfectly continuous
Ought not to be characterized as a pause.
There will be some things that people will see.
There will be some things that people won't see.
And life goes on.

Oct. 12, 2001, Department of Defence news
briefing

You probably think this is a bad joke, not quite, it’s déjà vu, tragedy repeating itself, the person who is responsible for these inane babblings is none other than the US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld! In any other situation he would be receiving medication, but with a moron President (Bush) and a psychopath Vice-President (Cheney) it is little wonder that illogic is the order of the day. The sorry consequences of today’s wordplay are similar to the past, young Americans and innocent civilians losing their lives.

Inane drivel is not only confined to America; those who would be slaves to that rogue nation, are prone to the master-slave transference syndrome, Johnny Howard is without peer in that regard; the Australian media resonated with Howard chanting, “cut and run” when confronted with the illegalities of our involvement in Iraq. It rolled readily from his lying tongue every time he was confronted with pressure to leave American to clean its own mess.

Today we are all faced with sweeping changes. Sweeping new laws of “indirect incitement” are being pushed through Parliament. If while reading this article you have a sudden urge to oppose Bush, Blair or Howard (for example) on the basis that they have misrepresented the facts and you decided to engage in some form of protest activity, then I am liable for arrest as the instigator! If we refer to the impact the world’s great writers have had on social issues throughout history, this hack would consider it an honour to be arrested by those who attempt to implement totalitarian methods of social control in democratic societies.

Contractive policies of social control result from fear of the population, all despots resort to these methods for fear that they will be challenged and easily exposed for the liars and frauds that they are. If people were aware of the sordid behind-the-scenes machinations of today’s rulers I shudder to think of the consequences – in order to avoid any violence I would always refer these matters to the International Criminal Court at the Hague. This is the appropriate venue for State leaders to be legitimately tried and sentenced for their war and other crimes against the people – and so it will be, ample evidence already exists in the public domain.

In addition to the new laws designed to muzzle the voices of dissent, John Howard of Australia is presently attempting to eradicate Industrial Relations laws, the existence of which have made Australia the only remotely egalitarian nation left on the planet. What did the people who voted for Howard expect? The price of fear is slavery, and fear politics is Howard’s principal strategy. The only beneficiaries of Howard’s proposed changes are the bosses and Corporations, all of whom are no doubt ecstatic that Johnny does exactly what he is told.

The land of equality and the ‘fair go’ is being undermined by Australians themselves. The bosses constitute a tiny minority, however, the masses that once had a proud and brave identity, have momentarily lost sight of the Southern Cross and what it represents! [An extremely fortunate situation for the Transnationals, Uncle Sam and the new would-be (local) Lords.] The elites of Australia have such a profound contempt for the people that they openly serve them ‘bitter gruel to eat’, then laugh as they watch the poor sods choke on it. The people, constrained by oppressive debt, are not enjoying the bounty the nation provides – the profits are now going offshore – a ‘bitter pill’ for some to swallow.

It is always intriguing for analysts to observe how a tiny minority exercises control over the vast majority with nothing more than semantic gibberish, meaningless metaphors and inane drivel. The current fad word, “sweeping”, used in the present context, is a totalitarian term. However, the meaning and usage could be re-defined if the people decided it was their prerogative to use the ‘broom handle’, the term would then become a revolutionary adjective.


Postscript:
The creative human spirit is irrepressible; we learn more of our ancient anthropological past from artefacts than ideological abstractions like economic rationalism. A visit to any museum reveals the results of artistic freedom and expression. The forces today that would attempt to control free expression are fighting shadows – they would have more success trying to stop the rain.

If the conservative powers imagine they can stop what is innate in human nature then let them arrest this hack – you are fighting yourselves you silly little fleas!

Terrorism, whether semiotic or in any other form is Art – Whoa! Regardless of what anyone thinks – history has proven it rarely fails. “Give me freedom or give me death” – Thomas Bin Everyone.

Do not follow leaders or lead followers.

We are One.


[Surely the above qualifies as direct incitement – I will be waiting.]