Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Daughter of the Hegemon

Watching... A documentary on suicide bombers. Very disconcerting. It hadn't occured to me that they line the bombs with bolts and nails, so that hundreds of pieces of metal fly out at high velocity, like bullets, to cause maximum damage. Reading... Urine Trouble: every once in a while, something leads me back to The Smoking Gun and I wonder why I don't read it more often.

writing geopolitical haiku with a twist of existential angst. Heaven help us all. Coddled, blind, but free Children of the Hegemon Gadgets obscure truth Profit, small or great Comes at the highest stakes "Third World" is people Citizens at fault Media ignores dissent And corporate greed Ever uncertain Senseless, macho posturing A zero sum game Endless tit for tat Can there be a safe end, if Humans act godlike? All claim to know best God picked them over the rest And loves others less Youth ? eager, restless Martyrdom and fame to gain Unafraid to die Her sudden husband Arouses no suspicion? Desperation wed Will more be as blind? So afraid of spinsterhood Ignore ev'ry sign And, when will it come Subway, office, bus or in Her too-happy home? Paranoid? Lucid? Prejudiced or just Seeing all the signs Hometown folks have said "You wanted to be at the attention's center" But just not like this Living in a state of fear Anhedonia Hegemon's daughter At the empire's demise Pampered no longer : : : Why can't Americans make the connection between the blinding excess of U.S. hegemony and the persecution of the poor worldwide. Then I get people who know nothing about politics (e.g. power relationships) telling me I'm a "bleeding heart." Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Riot is the language of the unheard." Those without access to any means of redress will make desperate choices. Particularly susceptible to extremist groups are angry, young men because they don't have families, careers; in other words, nothing to lose. It nauseates me to no end to have been chewed out recently, told I know nothing about politics, by a friend who went on to stereotype what "they" do in government. He meant, of course, Islamic fundamentalists. Yes, because, only Muslims abuse power. No Christians, Catholics or Jews ever got drunk with powef, then? No power-mad egomaniac ever veiled their greed and bad behavior with a religion other than Islam? "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." [Next entry: "Enamorado con Nueva York"] [Index] [archives] [bio] [Wish List]