Letter to the Editor

Last year, after meditating for a month on Arundhati Roy's address to the World Social Forum 2003 in Porto Alegre, the following words came in the form of a letter to an editor. Albeit late, I tried to submit it to our local conservative paper on March 6. Of course, they would have none of it. So much for truth in mainstream media. Though it was like preaching to the choir, a great local alternative magazine ran it in April, 2003.


The things worth dying for are few: the Holy Status Quo isn't among them.

The impending slaughter of a weakened, humiliated nation has nothing to do with either Weapons of Mass Destruction or Saddam. Both are just ploys. Mr. Rogers could be ruling Iraq and we would still want him ousted, because he would be sitting atop one of the world's last reserves of what has lined our elite's pockets for nearly a century.

Still less (less than nothing = anti) is this about democracy or God.

No, it's all about empire. Broken down, that's keeping the controlling few in power through hoarding resources, money and privilege. From that position, the Corporate State of America can sell whatever seems pliable back to its McPeons -- you and me -- in the form of distraction, be it new stuff or just plain "news." Thus is the Holy Status Quo maintained.

Well, your pants are down, your power trails are well documented, so we blush for those who won't and say, "No thanks. Keep your distractions. We're not buying them anymore. In fact, go ahead, sit on our resources, our money and our privilege. You have no power, but what we give you. It's all going to implode sooner than you think."