You know the story. Devadatta wanted to kill the Buddha. So he took a big male elephant, waited until it was in a male rut, and then gave it alcohol to drink and turned it loose on the Buddha. The Buddha stopped the elephant, calmed it, and even made friends with it. Years later, when the Buddha's own disciples were fighting he went to visit his elephant friend. The elephant was better company than his human friends, so he stayed a while.
We all need a break now and then. And we are all a little bit like an elephant ourselves. Male Elephants go into a rut, during which time they are so emotional and can get so angry, that some of them become almost insanely dangerous. The "rut" is the power of desire. They have to be chained down or they'll hurt themselves, or at least a lot of others. Humans can be similar. When it comes to getting in the way of basic desires humans act like elephants. No matter how polished or "adept" in discipline or philosophy a person might be, human desires have a way of getting people to throw reason right out the window.
Politics is like that too. Try to argue with a person who is deeply attached to a cause, and it is like arguing with a wall. The more rationale of us will tie each other up in sophisticated knots rather than cut the nonsense and admit reality -- if we are attached to a particular idea. That is why folks chose war over peace, gamble millions of other people's money, or engage in fraud. The "thrill", the emotions, or the "anger" can completely blind a person to mistakes and prevent anyone from observing what to a non-attached outsider seems pure nonsense. The human rut.
So spending time with elephants is a good thing. We need the slow deliberate calm as an alternative to our own kind of dangerous rutting. We have to ask ourselves, "do I really need this." And if we don't really need it, find a way to tell our rutting hearts that that is so.
The reports are coming out of the field that interrogators are switching back to the tried and true methods of the milk of human kindness, that reinforces cognitive dissonance and breaks down enemy feelings by showing them that their preconceptions are only that -- pre-conceptions. The CIA/Militar/Junta way of getting information is only good as state terror, not as law enforcement or as a way to a better civil society. Repression and evil ways to govern aren't just evil but they are bad government and counter-productive. The country was in a rut. Some of us are still in the rut. Maybe the "alcohol" of 9/11 is wearing off.
We can pray so.
Chris
Posted by cholte at July 23, 2007 06:01 PMYes, the president says no more torture, mainly becuase it looked like a bill would pass requiring they stop. I don't see how it affects them hiring the work out. More cynical than that I see this as a promise not to get caught (again). I'll wait and see before I celebrate.
ch
The CIA still uses waterboarding on Muslims, that is not humane whatsoever, nor compassionate. Perhaps more research may be needed.
Patrick
Unfortunately Patrick you are right. I'm not saying the battle is over or that the tide has completely turned. Just watch what is being said in Congress as it debates how to respond to the Presidents recent assertion of dictatorial powers. Even moderate Republicans and Democrats seem ambivalent on the issue.
And the powers behind CIA torture are like bull dogs. It is a community with depth and reach, money and power, and entrenched in places that even the most liberal President, or Congress, can't get to easily. Even questioning them is like sticking red meat in front of a starving Pit Bull. We are in a dangerous time, and the people who love to waterboard suspected Al Qaeda sympathizers think of us as sympathizers. These are people who wanted to do the same thing to Communists, and any 'enemy' of their interests, and managed to run a hidden program even when the official policy decried such behavior -- and now credit that policy with "ending the cold war."
So yes, its not over. But a tide has turned. A pluality are now waking up.
Chris
Posted by: Chris at July 26, 2007 08:05 PM "Even moderate Republicans and Democrats seem ambivalent on the issue."
"A plurality are now waking up."
Who is waking up? As far as I can tell everyone is snoring away.
Posted by: clown hidden at July 27, 2007 11:17 AMThe polls say some 65% of American's want out. This war hasn't hit people viscerally. There are no lines to buy rations, the deaths are confined to families involved in the military anyway, and the media is controlled.
Posted by: Chris Holte at July 29, 2007 05:27 PMUnfortunately the Congress does not posses VETO power over the Executive Branch of government, not allowing the people's will to be heard by all three branches of government equally.
Amercia is asleep as the Executive Branch politizes the governmet into a conservative machine meant to fuel big business and not the will of the people.
Until more people wake up and elect public officials that are actually voting the will of the people and not he will of the Executive Branch, a simple majority is inadequate and useless.
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick at July 30, 2007 12:41 PM