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<DIV><FONT size=2>DRM pondered:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> The Americans however, perhaps addled by a too firm belief<BR>in the
sort of foolishness found in corporate 'mission<BR>statments', popular culture
and a religous faith in<BR>our metallic death tech (and the god who
reportedly<BR>guides the hand holding the laser targeting device)<BR>seem to
believe that stick and stick will not only<BR>suppress but somehow be accepted
by the oppressed as<BR>good and right. As, in a word,
liberation.<BR><BR>Were the Romans this stupid about human nature?
Were<BR>the Brits?<BR><FONT
size=2>----------------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>(Hi Dwayne!)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I know you're waxing rhetorically but as you know the modern
Empire of the Spectacle works under entirely different rules than those of yore.
It is amazing that for all the rhetoric of the "Global Village" and being so
much more interconnected, there is still so little comprehension of what it
means to live in the slums of Baghdad or any other Third World slum (see below).
There has been a disccussion on the list recently about American cultural
blindness which ties into what is stated above. M. Pugliese forwarded a link to
a FrontPage Mag debate regarding Islam/Fundamentalism that includes this
question:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>"Why is it difficult to imagine a stand-up comedy club, like
on BET comedy, in an Arab Muslim society, with an Arab Muslim woman on stage
cracking “inappropriate” jokes and shocking people -- and everyone in the
audience is roaring with laughter? Why is this scenario difficult to picture?
And what does this mean?"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I realize that FrontPage is very fringe but I think this
attitude is present in many liberals also. I have been calling it the "cereal
freedom" meme for a few years and was happily suprised to see it discussed on
this list a while back. Anyhow, the crux of is that "Democracy" = "Freedom" =
"Many types of sugary cereals in the supermarket". I'm sure everyone on
the list sees how this facile logic morphs into the current situation in Iraq
and the major media coverage of it (as D. Perrin aptly termed
"insane").</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Regarding slums, Mike Davis has a new article at the New Left
Review website called Planet Of Slums</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><A
href="http://www.newleftreview.net/NLR26001.shtml">http://www.newleftreview.net/NLR26001.shtml</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I realize that he has his detractors but he makes some
interesting points about the rise of not only Islamic Fundamentalism but also
Pentacostalism in South America. It's also worthwhile for the
stats.:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>"...many readers will be surprised by the <SPAN
class=smallcaps>un</SPAN>’s counter-experiential finding that only 19.6 per cent
of urban Mexicans live in slums. Yet, even with this restrictive definition,
<I>Slums </I>estimates that there were at least 921 million slum-dwellers in
2001: nearly equal to the population of the world when the young Engels first
ventured onto the mean streets of Manchester.</FONT> <FONT size=2>"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Cheers,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Greg L.</FONT></DIV>
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