Greetings USED KARMA readers! This month’s column examines current signs of peaceful consciousness at work throughout the world, as well as the usual evidence of government conspiracies.
Many seers, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama (and yours truly!), predict the advent of world peace by the year 2000. Cynics scoff at this notion, yet the signs abound as 1997 draws to a close. A look at recent history may prove helpful. Back in the early 80s many seers, including myself, were predicting the fall of the Berlin wall by the end of the decade and the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90s. Many people thought we were crazy. Yet not only did these events occur within the predicted time frames, but they happened virtually overnight. So when people scoff at my belief that world peace will exist by year 2000, my typical response is: "Would you have believed that the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union would collapse overnight?" They respond in the negative. I then beseech them to apply this same reasoning to allow for the possibility of a peaceful entry into the new millennium.
However, the reasons behind the rapid collapse of the rigid and repressive social and political structures promulgated by the Communists are seldom examined in the media and public discourse. The truth is that the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union fell not to ideology, but to consumerism. The people in the former Communist bloc wanted Sony Walkmans, Nike sneakers, affordable televisions, good stereos, compact discs and Levis jeans. Ultimately the desire to share in the bounty of globally-produced commodities proved stronger than the adherence to a hypocritical ideology that benefited an elite few at the expense of the suffering masses.
So what will be the driving force behind world peace? The environment. All the nations of the world are being fouled by the greedy and wasteful practices of wealthy multinational conglomerates. The survival of all forms of planetary life are currently being threatened by the greed of a small group that controls most of the world’s wealth and the vast majority of the world’s governments. This small group will be forced to accede to the will of the masses as our solar system passes through the photon belt for the final cleansing that will herald the new age of compassion, peace and love.
What possesses people to wake up one morning and slaughter their neighbors by the thousands? This is exactly what happened in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. This is what happened in wars that led to the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh. This is what the Nazis did to European Jews. What accounts for racial and ethnic hatred? Lifelong indoctrination. Ethnic and racial hatreds engendered thousands of years ago are still alive on our planet today because they have been carefully nurtured so the fires or rage are passed on from generation to generation.
The good news is that peaceful consciousness is taking hold all over the planet in places where ancient hatreds have been cooking at a hearty simmer for centuries. All over the globe ancient enemies are negotiating for peace. Examples include: the Israelis and Palestinians, the English and the Irish, the Indians and the Pakistanis, the North and South Koreans, and the Truth Commission in South Africa. Although South Africa is still far away from eliminating prejudice in South African society, South African blacks have attained tremendous advancements in terms of economic opportunity and employment. The attitude of peace and conciliation is nothing short of remarkable, given the violence that has plagued that country in recent years and for generations. Last September the Zapatistas marched peacefully through Mexico City. While the Mexican government is still not dealing fairly with the Zapatistas, the fact that they are no longer murdering them in cold blood indicates that the Mexican government recognizes that the Zapatistas are a respected force to be reckoned with.
Popular culture is often a reflection of popular thought. The increasing number of movies and television shows dealing with the existence of extraterrestrials, secret underground military bases, mind control and other forms of experimentation on unwitting humans by the government evidence an increasingly belief among the general public that the U.S. Government routinely lies to the American people. Within the next few years the full extent of secret underground military bases around the United States and the world will become common knowledge. Thirty years ago the average American would never have believed such a thing, but today pollsters find that between 60% and 70% of the American people believe the U.S. Government is covering up the existence of extraterrestrials and the extent of their influence upon our planet.
Last month the Government announced that the Air Force was going to test a laser missile by firing it at a $60 million satellite with several years of useful life. Last year the Republicans were positively gleeful about cutting less than 1% of the federal budget to slash the Aid to Families With Dependent Children program, depriving needy children of free lunches and the basic right to a regularly full stomach, yet there has been no outcry from a single one of them about destroying a fully functional $60 million satellite. It must be because they buy the military’s lame excuse that this insanity is necessary because the only way the military can determine whether the laser missile is effective against a satellite is to destroy a working one. Then they have the hubris to explain that this laser missile is a purely defensive weapon -- PURELY DEFENSIVE??? How can any sane human say that a weapon capable of destroying a satellite is purely defensive? The military derisively brushes off critics who say that testing this missile will encourage another arms race in this technology, yet this is exactly what will occur when the military goes through with this foolish plan.
The good news is that the military is finally admitting they have a laser missile. Remember how loudly they decried the existence of such weapons in 1996 when Pierre Salinger claimed that Flight 800 had been downed by one? Do you believe the government had no such weapon last year when Flight 800 exploded, yet now they are ready to test one on a live satellite? If the military is telling the truth (the likelihood of which is usually next to zero), then they sure developed this one in a big fat hurry, didn’t they?
The truth is that the military has had laser missiles for some time, they tested one on Flight 800 (whether deliberately or by accident 1 ) and it worked. Now the Air Force has concocted a bizarre story about how one of Flight 800’s fuel tanks was empty (why would a plane that just took off for Paris have an empty fuel tank?), so when the explosion happened air came into the empty fuel tank, causing the plane to split in the middle, and the fuel igniting along the sides of the split plane accounts for the flash of light the witnesses saw. (Yeah, right U.S. Air Force -- tell us another one. Perhaps you know the one about the farmer’s daughter?) I might have laughed at this explanation, had my intellect not been so insulted.
Last month that living national treasure, Daniel Schorr, speaking on National Public Radio pointed out the supreme irony of "Slick Willie" Clinton coming out fine as usual in the campaign finance brouhaha while "Clean Al" Gore chafed under Janet Reno’s scrutiny. Naturally this caused the pundit community to comment on how this "scandal" will hurt Al Gore’s chances for the presidency in the year 2000.
Frankly, I think anything that will hurt Al Gore’s chances for the presidency is a good thing. I say this out of no ill intent toward Al Gore -- he is a highly intelligent, capable, competent and compassionate man. However, I believe Al Gore is not the right man for the job, especially when compared against former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley (who is currently raising money for a year 2000 presidential bid). I foresee another position for Al Gore that will make him a more important player on the global stage than being a President of the United States.
Alexander Gore is both an environmental expert and a seasoned (and second-generation) legislator. In the year 2000, Al Gore will be the U.S. representative to a global legislative body charged with creating policies and crafting legislation to protect the planet’s delicate ecosystems. Thus Al Gore will lend his environmental expertise, compassion and legislative talents to changing the entire planet for the benefit of all forms of life. This experience will grant him a larger role in both world events and world history than the U.S. Presidency.
Copyright 1997 Marcy J. Gordon. All rights reserved. The author wants you to know you are free to copy and distribute this article for noncommercial purposes, provided you reproduce it in its entirety and credit the author. For quotation permission, please contact the author at mgordon@pipeline.com.
1 I am willing to give the military the benefit of the doubt here, because I think that the laser missile that destroyed Flight 800 was launched by a mentally imbalanced individual -- the Dr. Strangelove scenario.
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