Posted by Andreas from dtm2-t9-2.mcbone.net (62.104.210.101) on Tuesday, July 15, 2003 at 5:22PM :
Shlama all,
C'mon, let's go on a historical-philosophical journey, lavishly sponsored by the Greeks and their wisdom:
The US neocons' "leadership" dream team can be described perfectly in terms of the deeply philosophical Greek mythology
(which latter is meant to educate by entertaining) :
Ares, Eris, Deimos, Phobos, Enyo + incompetence and a gratis vulture on top
[i.e. War (Bullishness (?) , Cowardice), Strife, Fear, Terror, Horror + Incompetence and a gratis Vulture on top].
Still for (American) incompetence a God or Goddess has yet be devised.
BTW: Greek "Ares" is of course the Roman "Mars", as some will surely know.
Best
Andreas
---------------
Ares the Klutz
by Bob Wallace
July 14, 2003
Since I don't have one of those Outer Limits/David McCallum/"Sixth Finger" –
episode gigantic light-bulb-shaped heads full of AD 1,000,000 brains, I
don't trust my opinion all that much. So, I look to traditional wisdom. Much
of that wisdom is contained in mythology, which are universally true stories
of human nature, with the dross burned away by hundred or thousands of years
of refinement.
Let's take Ares, the Greek god of war. He's not some real god out there
somewhere; he's a story about human nature, and like all stories about human
nature embodied in myth, it's meant to educate by entertaining.
Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, who didn't much like him. Small wonder,
since he was a bully and a coward. Ares didn't hang out with any reputable
people, either. His sister and constant companion was Eris, the goddess of
strife. Also always tagging along with him were his sons Deimos ("fear") and
Phobos ("terror"), and Enyo ("horror"), an old war-goddess.
All kinds of other unpleasant people followed Ares around – Pain, Panic,
Famine, Oblivion. The only two animals associated with him are the vulture
and dog – both scavengers.
The Greeks in general didn't think much of Ares. He was only worshiped in
Thracia, a region at that time known for its fierce people.
Not only was Ares a bully and a coward who delighted in war and slaughter,
he was also a klutz. He kept getting wounded, after which he would run back
to his father Zeus to get healed. He also lost all his battles; he never
won.
He was such a klutz he was utterly incompetent. Heracles wounds Ares on two
occasions, and once even stripped him of his weapons. On another occasion
two giants chain him up and imprison him in a bronze vessel for 13 months.
In the Iliad one of Odysseus's pals wounds him. The goddess Athena, which
whom he was always at odds, whacks him in the head with a rock and knocks
him cold.
What we have in this myth is some truly profound wisdom about wars. One
thing it points out is that wars, contrary to the propaganda, are never
truly won. If we look at just the 20th century, all the wars in it are not
separate wars; they are chapters in the same war, with intermissions.
The US's unnecessary entrance into World War I led to World War II, which
led to the Cold War. The Cold War led to Korea and Vietnam. World War II led
to constant war in the Middle East. And the US's interference in the Middle
East led to the attack on the WTC and the Pentagon. Now the US has
"conquered" Afghanistan and Iraq and is involved in World War III.
But...Ares loses all his battles; he never wins.
Ares' complete and utter incompetence is something which is not paid the
attention it deserves. A friend once told me that wars are won by those who
screw up the least. Those who are the least incompetent. All militaries are
incompetent; some are just less incompetent than others.
We may cheer the way the US rolled over Iraq, but that's like me kicking a
puppy. Now we're involved in a guerrilla war, which was predicted by
everyone with half a brain. The US doesn't have a clue how to handle the
problem over there.
Then, of course, we have the propaganda about Saddam flying drones across
the Atlantic, and the administration falling for forged documents about
smuggled uranium, and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (boy, am I tired of
that phrase) that never existed in the first place.
What we have here is incompetence piled upon incompetence. This,
unfortunately, is the nature of the State, militaries and war.
What else does this myth tell us? Ares is a bully and a coward. Now who
today fits these characteristics?
Well, for one, the neocons. Here we have people who are intellectual bullies
and physical cowards. They are great at running their mouths, but every one
of them avoided military service. David Frum, for a good example, is great
at abusing Taki in print, but I'd bet a lot of money that Frum would never
say anything to him in person – especially if there were no witnesses.
It turns out the neocons' carefully crafted plans for US domination of the
world are already falling apart. We're losing about one soldier every two
days in Iraq. Oh, yeah, those are some incompetent plans by a gaggle of
cowardly, incompetent pseudo-intellectuals.
Then we have Dubya, who has engaged in one of the most bizarre
transformations I've seen in my life. When he was asked what he thought if
he lost the election, he said, "Life goes on." Now he's turned into a
megalomaniac with a messiah complex, one who thinks God talks to him. He
deserted the military for over a year, and now he's strutting around in a
flight suit on an aircraft carrier, telling guerillas in Iraq to "bring it
on," which is a contemptible comment from a man who tried his darndest to
get out of his National Guard service.
The Thracians were the only Greeks who truly worshipped Ares. They're not
around anymore. What happens when a country worships Ares? The Nazis
(National Socialists) worshipped him, as did their blood brothers the
Russian Communists (International Socialists). What came out of their clash
was their extinction, and a gruesome battle at Stalingrad, in which more
soldiers were killed than the US has lost in all of its wars combined.
Obviously, Hitler and Stalin, both Ares worshippers, were military
incompetents.
Saddam Hussein was an Ares worshipper, and like all of them, was an
incompetent military leader. That's why I never believed a thing said about
him being a threat to the US. I also smile when I think of the gigantic US
stripping him of his weapons and chaining him up, not for 13 months, but 11
years.
What is going on currently is that the US administration, which has always
been somewhat of an Ares-worshipper, is now trying to turn itself into a
full-fledged empire. This would turn it into a complete Ares-worshipper,
because only an Ares-worshipper can run an empire.
This is another figure that reminds me of Ares. In the Christian tradition
it's Satan, another incompetent empire-builder. The question is raised (and
looked at in a certain way, it's a little bit amusing): Bush claims he is a
born-again Christian. However, since he's starting World War III, he's
actually worshipping Ares. Or, maybe, someone else, whose greatest sin was
Hubris, which invariably is followed by Nemesis.
Bob Wallace [send him mail] is the author of I Write What I See. Please
visit his Shameless Book Promotion Page. And here is his Page Full o' Fun.
Copyright © 2003 LewRockwell.com
Bob Wallace Archives
-- Andreas
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