Because You Never Asked

ESCAPE FROM AMERICA 

     The reader will forgive me for something that might be considered cheap in this essay, that being the devotion of a good part of it to the work of others. Hopefully, I can mitigate such offense with the following explanation:    

     The author's propensity to live a migratory life style has already been explained throughout this ever-growing mass of dubious philosophical patter. It is now the first week in May and, as always, this bird has landed on his sunny isle in the Spanish Mediterranean, where he will roost for the next two months.

     Obviously, when one repetitively returns to the same place throughout the course of one's life, the fondness held for the locale can be safely assumed. In my case, "fondness" is a bit of an understatement. At this point in a life that is now ripe beyond the possibility of any great intellectual catharsis, I not only carry a piece of this place in my heart wherever I go, but also leave a piece of myself here at all times. With this in mind, it would generally be superfluous to explain the eagerness with which I embark upon this annual migration.

     So why am I doing such?

     As I sit here writing, allegedly 2003 years after the birth of the "Prince of Peace", the failure of His mission as such has never been more evident. Being a resident-citizen of the country currently most responsible for this failure, my desire to come to Spain this year was not just the whimsied passion of the average vacationer, not just the normal longing for a change of airs, to see a different landscape, to alter one's humdrum routine for something fresh. I live in the United States of America, where people who ostentatiously claim great devotion to the "Prince of Peace", have made the death and destruction of war the foundation of their governance. This year, coming to my beloved island was less relevant than fleeing the United States.

     Escape from America.

     I needed a break from the unctuous pall of political propaganda that is strangling the American intellect under a thick layer of mind pollution soot. It was getting hard to breath, to see, to go about one's business in a normal way. The incessant onslaught of contrived images, hidden truths and lies made edible for mass consumption, was laughing sardonically in my face everyday. It was insulting my intelligence. It was making me bitter and putting me in danger of losing my composure.

     I came to Spain this year much less for the usual sun, fun and relaxation, and more to find some sanity and relief from the jingoistic aggression pedaled so shamelessly by our monopolistic sources of information working in close concert with the global economy politicians of greed and self interest. I'm relieved to say I have not been disappointed. 

     Having now arrived, I can only chuckle pathetically when thinking of the spite and anger directed by the average American towards the French for their anti-war position. These same average Americans, led like dogs on a short leash, have been so befuddled and confused by the consortium of media giants in America that control their thinking, would only have warm and cuddly thoughts for the Spanish, one of our few allies in this conflict. They've seen all the images of the Spanish head of state, Jose Maria Aznar, posing with Bush and Blair. "Sure", the average American might say, "there were some demonstrations in Spain, but hey, there were some kooks in America too. Yeah, the Spaniards are with us, not like those wimpy, quiche-brained French."

     Guess again.

     The moguls of "information" in the United States have contrived such a fallacious facsimile of reality, that it might be dubbed a "virtual lie". Could any American taking their cues from their usual sources of news, sports or television programming (and they all work in concert to create the virtual lie), ever believe that 90% of Spain opposes the war in Iraq? Aznar and his right wing government stand alone in the country, staring down a citizenry that is perhaps more opposed to the war than that of France. Many people on the right in Spain take their Catholicism seriously and the Pope's opposition to the dirty deed does not go unheeded here. It might even be given more weight than whatever Aznar has received as compensation from Bush. (I still haven't translated this quid pro quo, but it might have something to do with Basque terrorism.) And yet, Mr. and Mrs. America perceive Spain as our friend and France as our enemy.

     It's almost laughable.         

     Before embarking on this year's trip, I already had some idea as to how the Spanish public felt about all this. I didn't have to glean any of it from what was being said in the American press, or read between the lines, or crack the code used by the gringo media to twist the truth. No. Spain is a part of me and I am a part of Spain. In my heart, I knew how they felt, regardless of the burlesque being played out by the people who control their government.

     But I had to have it confirmed live and in color.

     I started writing this essay on the second day after my arrival. By then, I had already seen enough in the mainstream press to know that Spain had not deserted me. It must be emphasized that the following journalistic excerpts come from the mainstream press. We are not talking about extremist weeklies, or the counter-culture underground, or vegetarians, or nudists, or environmental activists, or some network of truth seekers spreading the word on the Internet. No. This is what your average Gonzalez is reading on a regular basis. These attitudes and information might be found in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, or the local daily representing the city your town orbits around, but before getting to it (if it exists at all), you'd have to clear away a tangled web of debris that few people have the patience or inclination to do. With this in mind, I ask any American reading these excerpts if he or she has read anything quite like it in the print media, or seen or heard anything through the electronic media that somewhat resembles the attitude and information set forth below:

     The first excerpt is taken from a routine report of what is happening in post- war Iraq, signed by one "G. Altares, Baghdad."

     "The story most followed by the press today occurred in Faluga, 50 miles to the west of Baghdad, where very grave incidents have taken place this week when American soldiers opened fire against two demonstrations and killed 15 people."    

     Is the average American aware that 15 unarmed civilians were killed by their "liberators" in only one incident in one town in Iraq? Obviously, the veracity of this Spanish reporter's information can be put in doubt, but, at the very least, if its content is insincere (which I have no reason to believe), it shows a tendency to reflect poorly on the war and not gloriously.

     The following excerpt is taken from a regular column in one of Spain's leading papers by one Enrique Vila-Matas. I can't pin down where I've heard this name, but it does have some resonance with me. Many of the regular columnists in this country are also well known novelists such as Manuel Vicent, Rosa Montero, Manuel Vasquez Montalban, Andres Trapiello, Juan Jose Millas, Carmen Posadas, and many more. The quality of their work, be it journalism or fiction, is irreproachably high. Perhaps I've read something by Vila-Matas in the past. I quote,

     "Since a year ago, in an obscure section of a mysterious law, specifically in clause 215, the FBI is granted the right to request a list of books solicited or bought from libraries and bookstores by chosen people. (.) This is not a joke, but the putting in practice of the delinquent imagination of those mentally defective people who now rule in the world, those who, in their immense criminal and illiterate delirium --- in reality, little more than a direct and natural consequence of their reading law espionage --- have permitted the vandalization of the Iraqi National Museum and the burning of the Library of Baghdad. (.) . numerous archeologists and international experts have not hesitated in calling this event, after acknowledging the scars of war, as the 'crime of the century'."

     It can be safely said that the Mexican writer, Carlos Fuentes, is one of the true reference points of contemporary Hispanic literature. Even more relevant is the fact that he, along with his countryman, Octavio Paz, must be considered amongst the great intellects of our time. I now quote from an interview just given in the Spanish press upon the release of his latest novel.

     Referring to the Iraqi war, the interviewer asks, "What is your opinion of Spain's posture in all this?"

     Fuentes replies: "In the streets, Spain has been splendid. That this combination of good information and public involvement has resulted in this spectacle of civic action, has been extraordinary and has filled us all with admiration. I will not make any comments about the government, but I want to emphasize the formidable fact that information has appeared in Spain that has not appeared in the United States. This combination of civic consciousness and good information has resulted in a glorious moment for Spain that will have to translate itself in political terms sooner or later."

     Perhaps the most lucid comments I've read in the Spanish press in my first two days here were spoken by one Abdelwahab Meddeb, a Tunisian intellectual who teaches at a Parisian university. He, like Fuentes, has just published a book and was being interviewed. The picture that accompanied the interview showed a well-groomed, middle-aged man, dressed soberly in western clothes. He could very well be the prototype for the kind of Arab the United States will install in Iraq as its puppet President.

     Q)- Why the current war in Iraq?

     A)- "It responds to a question initiated by the current government of the United States before they arrived to power: how to prolong America's domination in the world for the longest time possible? The strategy designed for such called for an invasion of Iraq. (.) It has absolutely nothing to do with the official reasons given for the war. (.) The performance of the United States called for the creation of a reality that adjusts to this goal. It is an old strategy called 'decisionism'."

     Q)- What do you expect after the war?

     A)- "We will soon see the United States lose interest in creating a new Iraq, a more complicated task than expected. An effort will be made to save face. There will be a hand picked government that will facilitate the American protectorate, as in Kuwait, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The oil fields will be militarily protected. There will now be limited sovereignty in the Middle East adapted to a globalization dictated by the United States. In such a frustrating context, I can't see an outlet for this frustration other than terrorism, which will find its decisive justification in American interventionism."   

     I remind the reader that I set forth these excerpts less for their intellectual opinions and more to show the average American, who has been so disrespected by the agenda of its information sources, that a thoroughly different reality exists outside the U.S., one even more anti-American than they've been led to believe. France is everywhere, ladies and gentlemen, even in our "allied" countries of Spain and England.      

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Email: JerryG@postcman.info