Friday, August 11, 2006

Make hay while...

Today morning was just like any other except for a gentle sense of relief borne out of an escapist’s realization of the approaching weekend. I adjusted the chair in my cubicle which had been facing away from the computer, a byproduct of my enthusiasm to rocket out of the workplace the previous day, and began sipping on a cup of coffee. My life’s marked with constant endeavor to earnestly evade hard work and the hour or so that I devote every morning to reading news and surfing for the same information over and over, seems to quite nicely fit the creed I live by.

It’s been in the news everywhere since yesterday – “British authorities foil a terrorist plan to blow up multiple airliners traveling between the United Kingdom and the United States of America, a plot to create mass murder on an unimaginable scale”.

Now it’s interesting to note the verbal grandiosity of the phrase “mass murder on an unimaginable scale” and its repeated occurrence on almost every site that has covered this episode. I don’t know about you, but I sure do smell a distinct whiff of Uncle Sam here.

US political honchos were quick in their propaganda of “being actively involved in working concertedly with the British government in identifying and nullifying this threat”. “The co-operation on this venture was excellent”, quoted Bush on NY Times. Right after I read the news yesterday morning, I had an uncanny feeling of America taking such a stand during the course of the day – and sure enough, they did not disappoint me.

Ever since 9/11, men with political power in the United States have tried to instill and disseminate fear in the minds of Americans. They invented a system of grading the possibility of a terrorist attack which anyone can get a glimpse of on any airport in the country. Periodically, they have got accustomed to messing with the “threat level” and making people aware of an unknown fear that lurks around the corner. When they were unsuccessful in burrowing out the alleged perpetrators, they turned their attention to Iraq. Using media as their weapon, they created an illusion of Iraq being involved in building “weapons of mass destruction” (again, note the verbal grandiosity I was talking about earlier) that could endanger lives of Americans, and you know the rest – no such weapons unearthed, commencing war on Iraq, apprehending Saddam, continuing war on Iraq, losing lives of American soldiers, killing Iraqi civilians, war continued, Private Green raping an adolescent and killing her family, and the list (and the war) goes on.

Ladies and gentlemen, with the US House elections around the corner in November, it’s time for another dose of fear! It’s time to join hands with the media again and make people believe that their safety and well-being ultimately rests in the hands of Republicans, a conglomeration of the noblest of men, who have relentlessly strived to wage a war on terror!

I strongly believe this incident is going to be well ruminated over by Bush and gang, in the next few months. They so desperately need this to distract focus of the American populace away from the stalemate in Iraq!

And to provide comic relief, Tasnim Aslam, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry joined the bandwagon today and was heard spitting on media microphones – “Pakistan played a very significant role in breaking this terrorist network”.

Oh yes baby! There’s absolutely no doubt about Pakistan’s intelligence quotient when it comes to huddling heads with the likes of The Scotland Yard and the CIA. There’s absolutely no doubt Pakistan would want to embrace this stance, especially after several of the suspects arrested so far, have their origin linked to that country. And we can understand if you want to divert the attention of the international community away from you after a spate of bomb explosions in Mumbai raised suspicion of your involvement. And not to forget, Pakistan has been lobbying hard to play tit-for-tat and nominate one of their own against Shashi Tharoor for the post of the UN Secretary General, and a “contribution to world peace” effort would stand them in good stead, if at all they find a wanker capable of nomination.

My friends, we ARE living in a Hollywood movie.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think everything aside....we shud give credit where it is due...the MI5 after the London subway debacle did a fab job to sniff out the attack. And the sad part is that the consumers (flight travellers like us) have to pay the price...they r soon going to stop ppl from taking shaving creams and tooth pastes....we sure r living in a Hollywood movie...an absurd one if i might add.

Anonymous said...

"Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism" - Hunter S. Thompson

Yes we need to give them credit but have you thought of a possibility where political forces could have orchestrated a classic coup to accomplish their personal agendas?

For all you know, MI5 could be seeking a moment of redemption, US has elections and the Iraq war debacle in their view, the UK government has to live up to what the United States would expect from an ally, in addition to which, they have the task of weeding out suspected trouble-makers from their country. An atmosphere of a thwarted attack could give them the needed pretext and the power to interrogate such suspects and “bring them to justice”. The Patriot Act is precisely the same thing, albeit a bit more extreme.

Such so-called conspiracies cannot be proved mainly because powerful governments today are totally ruling the media in their respective nations. Area-51 was supposedly a hoax, a conspirator’s wet-dream but eventually its existence was proved, wasn't it?

Anonymous said...

Correction in my earlier comment - I meant to say a conspiracy theorist's wet-dream...

Anonymous said...

Some Trivia from me as usual:

Japanese airports have these checkings for the last couple of years. They have special equipement to check luggage including liquids. Japanese tourists dont carry anything liquid. (Info from my Japanese labmate).

Elections in UK are also very near. Blair, I am not sure is gonna run for elections but Labor Party do want seats.

Anonymous said...

It could very well might be...but you cannot say that for sure in this case. The Area 51 and this thwarted attempt doesn't add up.
And as for Pakistan...they always act as a pair of wet pants...when it rains, they seem to be a part of the party. They will go to any extent to leverage their 'supposed' stance to eradicate terrorism from the face of the earth...when one the world's most dreaded terrorist's daughter marries a celebrated cricketers son out in the open streets of Karachi....quite a 'sham'iana.

Anonymous said...

Firstly, let me apologize for 'ubsurd' and any other grammatical errors in the previous comment. I'm afraid India might be creeping into me.

Coming back, I have another point. When 9/11 happened George Bush had just assumed power as the President. The republican party used that very incident to spark (be it forcefully) national sentiment and assurredly destroyed not one, but two countries, in the pursuit of terrorism. Maybe Al-Quaeda, felt that it may have caused uproar against the new government leading to mass chaos, but that did not work, so why not plan something during election year, maybe this time it might work?


Overall though, I think irrespective of what the terrorist activities are, there must be a restriction on the freedom(s) that the government is allowed to control. I do not want to end up in a pseudo democratic world. I would rather be killed by a terrorist.

Anonymous said...

Firstly, let me apologize for 'ubsurd' and any other grammatical errors in the previous comment. I'm afraid India might be creeping into me.

Coming back, I have another point. When 9/11 happened George Bush had just assumed power as the President. The republican party used that very incident to spark (be it forcefully) national sentiment and assurredly destroyed not one, but two countries, in the pursuit of terrorism. Maybe Al-Quaeda, felt that it may have caused uproar against the new government leading to mass chaos, but that did not work, so why not plan something during election year, maybe this time it might work?


Overall though, I think irrespective of what the terrorist activities are, there must be a restriction on the freedom(s) that the government is allowed to control. I do not want to end up in a pseudo democratic world. I would rather be killed by a terrorist.

Anonymous said...

Firstly, let me apologize for 'ubsurd' and any other grammatical errors in the previous comment. I'm afraid India might be creeping into me.

Coming back, I have another point. When 9/11 happened George Bush had just assumed power as the President. The republican party used that very incident to spark (be it forcefully) national sentiment and assurredly destroyed not one, but two countries, in the pursuit of terrorism. Maybe Al-Quaeda, felt that it may have caused uproar against the new government leading to mass chaos, but that did not work, so why not plan something during election year, maybe this time it might work?


Overall though, I think irrespective of what the terrorist activities are, there must be a restriction on the freedom(s) that the government is allowed to control. I do not want to end up in a pseudo democratic world. I would rather be killed by a terrorist.

Anonymous said...

Hagged hagged hagged hagged there was a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE COMMENT BEFORE THIS ONE !!!! DAMN MTNL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE YOU I HATE YOU !!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Area-51 was an analogy to draw a parallel to what's written in this post. It, after all, started out as a hoax, as a conspiracy theory. A conspiracy theory ceases to be one after it's been proved or disproved to the world. Likewise, the happenings relevant to the post here are thought of as having undercurrents of a conspiracy, much like Area-51, which was earlier only thought of as having existed as a secret government-funded facility for all sorts of speculative purposes. The fact that the US government later came out in the open on that issue confirmed the theory.

On a side note, two valid points were made in comments:
1. We're living in a psuedo-democratic world, and
2. Hagged, hagged, hagged indeed!

Anonymous said...

Ab plane mein nanga jaana baaki reh gaya hai bas !

Anonymous said...

Great blog !

I have always held the view that the attention paid to the ability of people or institutions to doctor the minds of people on a mass scale is always ignored !

It is through affecting the minds of masses of people that men have changed the path of history - be it hilter or gandhi - be it for good or for bad !

Who is called the good guy ?, who is the bad guy ?- totally depends on ur persepctive - which again depends on the information that you have received on the issue !

An interesting quote by Gandhi here - "I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers. "

Anonymous said...

I was watching the Conan O'Brien show and he had a great joke about this thing. He said, "New counter-terrorist measures at airports require passengers to take off their shoes, jackets, belts and anything metallic and the DRIVE TO THEIR DESTINATIONS!"

Abhi picture baaki hai mere dost !

Freaks Inc.. Bengaluru.. 15 years 2 months and 8 days later.. Agenda for the meeting: Day 1 1. Paying our respects to the beginning of time ...