Narrative Construction: Another Howl?  The Long poem of terrorism…

I find it interesting how authorities and the media “construct” a narrative for anyone suspected of terrorism. It often begins with a series of questions. Why did someone decide to become a suicide bomber?  Why did someone decide to attack innocent citizens? There is always a search of the person’s house or apartment. Clues? There is always a few interviews with neighbors. The neighbors either say the person was quiet and kept to themselves, or they talk about how the person was “strange” to some degree. Then there is the educational background check. A quick sweep of a person’s computer and a tracking of all websites they might have visited. There is always a dark side one wants to discover. Of course we also have the “normal” conclusion that is often reached. In this case the person is always middle class, they have wonderful parents and the suspected terrorist is blamed for throwing the good life away. What else could one desire besides a family and a home?

Of course none of the above questions answer the most basic one- Why are we here?  The questions also don’t acknowledge that people have a public and private self.  Who would we be if we all were people without secrets?  I find it interesting that once a person doesn’t fit or accept the norm, then they must be crazy. If you’re crazy find an envelope and mail back your citizenship. Right?  What could be better than America?  Here again we find within the constructed narrative a person’s relationship to the American Dream. Becoming a terrorist is viewed as a rejection of all that America provides for an individual. It’s impossible to locate someones narrative when they place themselves outside the American story.

We live in a world in which people are now “writing” themselves into history or trying to write themselves out of it. If there is one thing our technology has done recently it has created a tension between stories. We now witness a clash between books -the Bible and the Quran. All this is taking place when the “idea” of the book is being transformed. No wonder people appear to be lost. How do you create a narrative when there are too many stories already in the world? It’s like demanding everyone speak English or become Muslims.

But what if most terrorists were viewed as performance artists?  Individuals who leave us shaking our heads, trying to grasp the meaning of their art?  Why throw paint against a wall, destroy a guitar or blow-up a building?  Maybe the new narrative begins with a scream or a howl. How do we protect our borders from what’s next?
- posted by Ethelbert Miller @ 4:24 AM

WHERE WE ARE AND WHERE WE ARE NOT GOING:

Our U.S. government is not broken. There is no need to change the rules in Congress. What we have today are mediocre politicians, poll-readers and not one courageous leader in sight. One could see this coming. Just go back and look at the people who ran for the presidency. If this was a pick-up basketball game – once again I would pick Obama first. The guy has a pretty good left hand. The other players are only good for rebounding which means they can quote Ronald Reagan
or FDR, when they don’t have the ball.

I can’t imagine who is going to run against Obama in 2012. But let’s make a list of the types I know the media will push – starting next year.

1. A young white man, handsome with maybe three kids and a wife with a nice charity interest. This person will be conservative and articulate. He will come from a state with high unemployment.

2. A white woman with a kickass attitude, attractive and very smart. Just think the opposite of Sarah Palin. This woman’s kids will play chess not hockey.

3. A Colored person who can pass as white. This might be someone who is third generation remove from South America or Asia. They have the last name, but no accent and really can’t speak the language of the old country.

4. Celeb Celeb. A media person, Hollywood type or former sports star. Maybe somebody with a Super bowl or World Series ring.

5. A Great White Hope. A blue collar guy with a hip hop attitude. Someone who can use the N world and claim they are not a racist. Maybe a guy who dated a black girl in high school or has a black friend he hangs with. A Pit Bull Democrat or Republican.

6. The Idiot. This will be someone who comes across as being funny, dangerous and outrageous.
The person with the simple solution. Bomb Iran. Tax only Muslims and Gays. Drones for our borders and close the libraries that have books.

HAITI:

It’s 2010, why are we throwing food at people like it’s the Middle Ages? Throwing food from trunks into crowds is just dumb. How can anyone call this a relief effort? Having a reporter describe people as animals during a broadcast simply perpetuates racial stereotypes. Are we distributing medical supplies the same way?

Once again it comes down to the role of government. The UN at times can be a joke. Are we talking Rwanda here? It’s obvious that the Haitian government has to get it’s feet back on the ground – and it looks like we are at the crawl before we walk stage. Progressives might place the veil of history over my face, but it seems the US military should take charge here. Who best to coordinate all the relief efforts?

Since Haiti is a failed state, one can easily predict that much of the food and goodies going into the country is going to create a serious black market in the very near future.

We’ve also reduced a country down to a city – Port-au- Prince. This is what we do in war zones.
Think Kabul or Baghdad here. The focus is just on one place and so the measurement of success is really nothing but a pictorial lie. Can you imagine if the success of life in the US was measured by conditions in Cleveland or Detroit?