"You know what is in Room 101, Winston. Everyone knows what is in room 101." --O'Brien."And why do you imagine that we bring people to this place?"
"To make them confess."
No, that is not the reason. Try again."
"To punish them."
"No!" ..."No! Not merely to extract your confession, nor to punish you. Shall I tell you why we have brought you here? to cure you! To make you sane!..."
"Nineteen Eighty-Four," by George Orwell, is one of the most powerful pieces of horror one can ever read.
Shusli and I have even watched the MGM version of "1984" on DVD that I checked out from the library. Not nearly as terrifying as the book, but it adds a visual aid to the novel that, when rereading the novel, enhances the terror of both. I think that, however, a much better more horrifying closer to the novel type of movie can be made today. A movie that is relevant to today. Afterall...
What inspired me to read the book and see the movie was the acceptance speech of U.S. president Obama for the Nobel (alleged) Peace Prize on December 10, 2009.
“The Instruments of War Do Have a Role to Play in Preserving the Peace”
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
With all the books of history I read, I enjoy the books that give me information about the more dirty and disgusting details, usually about those who are perceived to be great people. Thomas Jefferson is held up as a great founding father, who also wanted the complete annihilation of the indigenous populations, was a slaver, and fathered many children from his "bed nigger" Sally Hemmings. Henry Ford and Thomas Watson received the highest civilian honors from the Nazi's. Henry refused to give his up, Thomas downplayed his because not only was he CEO of IBM, but he was also president of The Carnegie Foundation for International Peace. I enjoy these ironies. These "doublethinks." These "doblespeaks." The information is there, just folk refuse to read it or learn about it. Could it be that some Big Brother type figure has taught them not to want to learn about these things?
"Who controls the past controls the present; who controls the present controls the past."
And the torturing, like that at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. It doesn't just happen at those places. It happens everywhere. Why does it happen? Confessions? To inflict pain? Truth is, the information gained from torture is useless. Studies have shown this. So why does the U.S. enjoy toruturing prisoners like so many other alleged civilized nation states? Could it be because they can?
"How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?"
Winston thought. "By making him suffer," he said.
"Exactly. By making him suffer. obedience is not enough. unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing..."
It is said that George Orwell wrote "Nineteen Eighty-Four" as a spit in the face to communism, as Stalin was enacting some horrific attrocities against his people and others at the time. However, so was Britain, the U.S., and many other nations states. They still do. In my opinion, George Orwell wrote the book about all alleged civilized nation states. What he describes happens in all nation states.
"Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless."
Read George Orwell's "Ninteen Eighty-Four." It will scare the crap out of you. See the movie, "1984," only because it is a good visual to go along with the book. The movie in and of itself can be seen as disappointing, but you get the picture. You get the gist. It is driven home, however, by the book, and I recommend the book above the movie, or together, but not the movie on its own. I would have created a different movie, something whose trailers would make you squirm and have nightmares, let alone watching the movie as a whole. But that is my fantasy...that is my...thought crime.
As many as one in five former Guantanamo Bay detainees are suspected of or confirmed to have engaged in terrorist activity after their release, U.S. officials said, citing the latest government statistics.
ReplyDeleteThe 20 percent rate is an increase over the 14 percent of former inmates that an April Pentagon report said were thought to have joined terrorist efforts, said the officials, who requested anonymity. The officials didn’t provide the numbers on which the 20 percent is based.
The increase adds a complication to President Barack Obama’s efforts to close the detention facility for terrorist suspects at the naval base in Cuba, a national security analyst said.
“No one wants to be responsible for releasing someone who goes on to kill Americans,” said Dan Byman, director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University in Washington. “This makes it more difficult to close Guantanamo.”
WOO-HOO! Good to see you're still around, kk. I've missed our discussions. Liked your comment about Paul, I wished I could have posted it.
ReplyDeleteParagraph 1: Key words there in my opinion, "government statistics." The U.S. government (as well as pretty much all governments) lie for their own means. Thus, I want information on these 5 former Guantanamo inmates and what exactly these terrorist activities are before I even BEGIN to fantasize that such a statement is true. I'm an Indian, my wife is an Indian, our whole families are pretty much filled with Indians. We KNOW the government lies.
Then again, what is their definition of terrorism. Jonathan Paul is in prison for allegedly inciting or participating in property damage as an animal rights activist. He is doing some 5 years under the U.S. definition of terrorism, which seems to be something along the lines of any act costing a corporation money. Where I come from, terrorism is the intent or actual harm upon persons in order to force ones will upon them.
Then there is the case of Sami al Hajj who did six years in Gitmo, not because he was a terrorist, but because he refused to spy on Al Jazeera who employed him as a cameraman for the United States. Hmmm...
Have you heard of "Operation Northwoods." Operation Northwoods was during the Cuban Missile Crisis times. It was a plot planned by the U.S. government to create terrorist attacks on the U.S. east coast (who knows how many Americans they were willing to slaughter, I've read numbers in the millions according to "Body of Secrets" by James Bamford), blame them on Cuba, then Genteral Lemay could go in with his air force and bomb and kill every single person sucking commie air in Cuba (also see the movie "Fog of War").
Darrell Anderson, a former U.S. soldier in Iraq, told an audience I was a part of that his patrol headed into a fort and they passed some "unarmed protesters carrying signs." The Marines were heading out of the fort with their tanks. Not much later they heard gunfire. The Marines and tanks returned, his patrol went back out, and he saw at least 50 bodies in the streets whom he recognized as the unarmed protesters his patrol saw earlier.
I can go on and on if you'd like with just the horrific crap I know, if you'd like.
Paragraphs 2 and 3: 20% increase of a previous %14 percent the year before WITHOUT any documentation but coming EXCLUSIVELY from the U.S. government which has been historically and currently recorded as being liars quite a bit of the time. Hmmm. I seem to remember a fella coming to my blog and telling me that global climate change wasn't real because scientists were using too small of a statistical sampling. But here, using statistical sampling of which we don't have anything but the U.S. government saying it is true is to be believed...C'MON, kk. If I used crap like that to back climate change you'd be all over my behind.
ReplyDeleteHere, we need information: Who were these folk? Where they actually involved in terrorist activities prior to being arrested as most were not? Was this information garnered through torture? (It has been proven that pretty much all information garnered through torture is useless because most folk will tell you anything they want you to in order to make you stop torturing them). What were the terrorist activities these folk are alleged to have engaged in upon release. For Sami, it would be talking about the torture he underwent at Guantanamo; that I believe would be considered a terrorist act to the U.S. government.
Without any information that can be verified, the U.S. can say whatever it wants. Knowing the U.S. government lies makes the statement EXTREMELY questionable in my opinion.
As far as it adding complication to Obama's closing of the illegal facility, of course. The U.S. (and many other governments) enjoys torturing. As stated earlier, viable information is not garnered through torture. So why do folk torture? Because power over others is felt (not actual) through making them suffer. It's fun for those who feel powerless to feel power by use of force to create suffering. It is said that a rapist doesn't rape for the orgasm, they do it because they feel power through the use of force to create suffering in another human being.
Here's another question, if you are truly concerned about the safety of Americans. Why are the pedophile priests of various denominations still covered up or transferred from one facility to another instead of being arrested and justice being enacted upon the individual and or organization? Isn't that terrorist activity toward children?
Paragraph 4: “No one wants to be responsible for releasing someone who goes on to kill Americans,” said Dan Byman, director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University in Washington. “This makes it more difficult to close Guantanamo.”
ReplyDeleteAgain, there is no VERIFIABLE information to back this statement. It sounds like "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
I don't trust peace organizations because of the personal work I did with them and because Tom Watson headed the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace while profiting GREATLY by selling his IBM technology to the Nazi's whom he knew used it to round up Jews, Sinti, Roma, French Communists, etc. Thus...Who is Dan Byman.
Now, knowing how justice should actually work, or at least having an idea, you would ASSUME that these alleged intelligence types have vast sums of information on the INMATES at Guantanamo. I mean, they've had all these years, right? Thus, it should be fairly clear as to who has conducted illegal terrorist activities, wouldn't you think. I mean these folks are supposed to be on the ball and have all this information, correct? Thus one should be able to tell if a PRISONER has been engaged in ACTUAL criminal activity.
Here I will leave with a paraphrased quote from General Tommy Franks: I kill one combatant, I make 3 more combatants. Because of the severe, brutal, and UNWARRANTED oppression of the civilian populations of Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. government, Al Queda (allegedly almost defunct prior to 9-11) has had a massive recruitment influx. When people are forced to suffer en masse, they fight back. When they fight back, the U.S. calls it terrorism (even if they fight back WITHOUT violence: see my post on Pudgy Indian 2 about the Crow Creek).