Four hundred and two years ago today, Guy Fawkes was seized outside of the House of Lords. When captured, with matches and fuse, he gleefully admitted his intention to blow up the King and his lords. Fawkes was taken to the Tower and tortured, under the explicit permission of King James I, for three days. On the fourth day, Fawkes named conspirators who had already been known or arrested. Fawkes jumped to his death at the scaffold, saving himself the gruesome punishment of being drawn and quartered.
Fawkes, and his conspirators, had planned their act because the religion and politics in England had become too intertwined. Catholics and Puritans were being heavily discriminated against by James I and his Archbishop, Richard Bancroft. The roundup and trials of Fawkes and his compatriots were War on Terror of the day.
In participating of Kevin Drum’s Wingnuttiest Blog Post of All Time competition, I was reminded of the great American poet Wallace Stevens’ Emperor of Ice Cream for some reason. So here it is:
Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month’s newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Last night on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart relayed how Brian Kilmeade on Fox & Friends had been scared as a child, transcript courtesy of C&L:
Jon: “Luckily for my pre-conceived notions about the FOX network, the conversation soon got back on the express to Crazy Town.”
Brown hair guy who’s not Steve Doocy: “Here’s the problem, though. In 1970 or ‘68, Barbara Eden lowered the bar by wearing that sexy outfit, traumatized me as a child, and then every kid wore the Barbara Eden outfit…”
Well, I too was traumatized as a child. Not by Barbra Eden (aka Jeannie) , but by Diana Rigg (aka Mrs. Emma Peel). And that trauma has left me scared with heterosexual tendencies throughout my life. But I didn’t realize just how deep my trauma had scared my until a few months ago when a friend mentioned to me that Diana Rigg is now the Chancellor of the University of Stirling, in Scotland. This explains such terrible traits as my love of books and learning, my questioning of the world around me, and, of course, the fact the I never watch Fox & Friends.
Those who know me know I have a problems with the notion of security through obscurity — the idea that one can achieve some measure of real security by hiding the item or knowledge which needs to be protected. As a security measure, obscurity has been around since man first hid from a predator. It has never been a consistently successful strategy. The pilfered tombs of the Pharaohs illustrate that no matter how cleaver or determined one is to hide something away, an equally cleaver thief will eventually find the treasure. That the most guarded secrets of the cold war usually flowed between adversaries in a matter of weeks speaks to the ineffectiveness of obscurity when confronted with a determined and resourceful foe. Nonetheless, obscurity remains with us as a natural response to threatening situations. The desire to protect ourselves, or our possessions, immediately invokes the evolutionary response to hide from threats.
I was fascinated to read a recent NY Times article on the obscurity devices of Aya Tsukioka. Ms. Tsukioka has created camouflaging fashions for Japan’s urban dwelling population. Though violent street crime is down in Japan sensationalist news reports have created an air of fear among city dwellers. Among Ms. Tsukioka’s inventions is a skirt which allows the wearer to disguise oneself as a vending machine:
The wearer hides behind the sheet, printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine. Ms. Tsukioka’s clothing is still in development, but she already has several versions, including one that unfolds from a kimono and a deluxe model with four sides for more complete camouflaging.
Other creations by Ms. Tsukioka include a purse which can be disguised as a manhole cover — presumably to be thrown into the middle of the street when the carrier feels threatened — and backpack which allows a child to disguise her/himself as a fire hydrant.
There is something more then a bit disturbing with the idea that women and children should need to take on the appearance of common inanimate urban objects in order to protect themselves. Certainly it can be argued that historically these two groups have been objectified in this manner for thousands of years, and the need/desire to obscure the body in this manner is a reflection of a conservative cultural mindset. Fear, in general, tends to evoke the most primitive of responses in the human mind. The response suggested by Ms. Tsukioka’s creations is that we need to hide our humanity until the fear passes. I couldn’t disagree more.
It is often a sad fact of life that people who shine with brilliant insight at one moment remain imprisoned by their dark prejudices throughout their lives. Such is the fate of Dr. James Watson. In 1962 Dr. Watson won the Nobel Prize for his work on the discovery of the DNA double helix, this week Dr. Watson made the claim thats dark skinned people are less intelligent then lighter skinned ones:
The 79-year-old geneticist said he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really.”. He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true”.
Of course Dr. Watson’s opinions have no basis in scientific reasoning or fact. But the mere notion that a Nobel accredited scientist should utter such nonsense gives credence to racist theories and policies throughout the world. Dr. Watson has never been a good spokesman for the common humanity of man. In the past, he has suggested a link between skin-tone and libido, and has suggested that a woman may wish to abort her child if it can be shown the child would be a homosexual.
It’s not clear if Dr. Watson is simply so egomaniacle that he believes his discovery of fifty years ago is the golden key to understanding all of societies problems — and that we can ignore historical and economic movements like colonialism, slavery, and genocide to explain social/economic problems among people. Or if he is simply, like so many, a prisoner to the prejudices and racism of the culture of his youth. In either case, it is sad and disturbing to see a man who pioneered our understanding of the common biology of humanity to espouse discredited and divisive 19th century views. It all seems to suggest that no matter how far we extend our intelligence we must continue to fight the ignorance of our personal prejudices.
Congratulations to President Mr. Gore on being the recipient of this years Nobel Peace Prize. Though snarkly derided by the right wing pundits, the award of this prize to Mr. Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change demonstrates that there is a different heralded path for our world. One which is not based upon division, bombast and invasions. The Washington Post compares the path of the two leaders.
I have been slammed at work all week, so I haven’t had any time to devote to things unrelated to the broken Internet. Therefore I have a lot of catching up to do this weekend. But I have been deeply struck by the horrific and slightly hopeful bits of information coming out of Burma this week.
About ten days ago, Buddhist monks in Burma began protesting the repressive government’s increase of fuel prices. Over the next few days the protests continued to grow as students and others joined in. The government responded by sending in combat troops and murdering several of the monks.
Throughout the protests Burmese citizens and expatriates pushed pictures, stories, and videos out on to the Net to illustrate the horror of their plight. Using blogs, file sharing, and e-mail ordinary Burmese cried out to the world for attention. If there is anything repressive regimes cannot stomach it is attention. Approximately thirty hours ago, the Burmese regime tried killing the voices of the people by cutting Internet service and shutting down Cell systems. But it is too late. Communications have been established; alternate routes for information to travel have been set up; words and pictures continue to flow out of the country.
I’ll never claim to be more then marginally familiar with the history and political situation in Burma. I know something of its post-colonial history — the wacky Ne Win, who superstitiously reissued Burmese currency so all denominations would be a factor of nine (his favorite number); thus, wiping out years of Burmese savings. I am aware the Burmese regime uses rape as a weapon against ethnic minorities and prisoners to sew fear, shame, and compliance. And, like many, I have watched the plight of Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyl. But I am also aware that the Burmese state has been, and continues to be, protected from international pressure by China.
It is in this last area where some difference can be made. China desperately wishes the upcoming Olympics to be seen as a great success and renewal for their country. Already pressure is being placed on them to change their Burmese policy, but a slightly more pressure may provide the tipping point. The US Campaign for Burma has begun organizing events and a petition to persuade the Chinese to change their policies. I urge people to sign their online petition.
At a time when so many leaders claim to be acting in the name of their people, let us listen to the people of Burma. They are calling, and maybe we can help.
guy fawkes, Religious Bigotry, war on terror
