Will the Real Dick Cheney....?
WILL THE REAL DICK CHENEY …?
There are two “Dick Cheney’s” being talked about in the news. Two threads of predicates leading from the single name.
One leads to a flesh and blood man, who can surely be forgiven for trying to grab a little quality time down Armstrong Ranch in south Texas way. No one could wish another the shattering thing he has gone through, all fault aside. And seen from that point of view, the scene and events Vice President Cheney related seem like a perfectly acceptable reality, the narrative of a tragic American drama all can and, I suppose, must live with.
However, because of who he was, and what he represents, this was not just a private event; it is something that happened to us all. I argue here that this is true in two senses.
It is a touch of tragedy whenever an individual is singled out for punishment for a guilt incurred by the entire group he represents, as if Germany’s Third Reich was all about Hitler. To make him a scapegoat for the program all have promoted is not right. Perhaps that, by itself, will evoke a sympathy reaction strong enough to shield him.
But he IS Mr. Military-Industrial Complex, incarnation of the figure Dwight Eisenhower warned against in his last address. The WHIGs, White House Iraq Group run from his office, coordinated the neocon’s war build-up. Public relations-wise, he carried the heavy water for the Republican political base, defending torture, spying, and routinely equating their political enemies with al Quida terrorists. He became so radioactive CNN actually showed an big X over his face recently – glitch in the switch, lamented the producers.
Such was his enormous karmic burden 2.17.06. Further, legal terms, he was under the gun of Fitzgerald’s possible indictment in connection with the Libby CIA leak case.
One needn’t be a mystic, psychic, or spiritual genius to surmise that a man under such intense pressure, together with all those with him that fateful afternoon, can simply crumple inside, if momentarily, under this weight, and ACTS OUT what, for any hunter, or human, is the worse thing they could do. In psychoanalytic terms, he was being “pursued by the unconscious”, catching up to with him with this historical curse, with him impulsively trying to ward it off .
I agree with those who think he will resign. Not because he cannot rise to the level of objective self-forgiveness, which he should, as many are obliged to do. I have looked into the face of a young woman who had watched her mother drown, as a girl. It took her a long time to come back and look at anyone at all. It isn’t something you want to see as a daily mirror.
He will retire because of what his re-appearance on the public stage would do to America, as one who did it. Riven into two fresh new camps: those who will take his shot, and “move on”, as they have it. Or one who will say: wait. Enough, already – as of a long time ago.
This is where the second Dick Cheney, the one that belongs to all in Public communications splits (ramifies) again. On the one (right) hand, he must be accepted as a Charlton Heston NRA hero, interrupted by an act of God or the impulsive gesture of an old man, in the process of carrying on whatever his destined life as best he could, who could demand more?
Or the Dick Cheney of Darth Vadar fantasy frame.
Dark Dick Cheney is what is lodged in the Collective Unconscious, ready to erupt with the full volcanic rage and hate set off by cartoonizing what is sacred to Muslims. These events, brought together by fate in these times, are also linked by deep unconscious psychodynamic processes.
Publication of the cartoons was a Cheney/Rove neocon type political act, exported to Denmark last September; then, brought forward recently, as the situation called for release of mass pent-up energy. Fleming Rose, editor of the newspaper first publishing them, is probably Jewish – not to indict all, but possibly as such he thought it might advance Israel’s cause to inflame hatred of “western values”, carrying over to burning tokens of western culture, especially churches, to create solidity in reaction against the inflagration.
From a neuropsychological standpoint, it should be noted that the act of shifting types of tokens from words to pictures, in representing Mohammed, what is communicated is brought down from the realm of pure conception, appropriate to the essence of spirit as unseen, to the realm of the visible – and risible. This is another stark connection between Cheney’s misfire and the Cartoon’s bonfire: risibility – laughter; a distinguishing mark of the species, as Aristotle first noted, I believe. Hardly anyone I spoke to about the VP’s accident could refrain from laughing; from snicker to hee-haw to knee slapper. Not to his or the Wittington’s face, of course. Behind their back. It would be extremely discomforting, if not outright dangerous, to have waves of cartoons showing him hunting down liberals. Wonder if any will appear? But he has, in fact, as argued above and elsewhere, put us all under the gun of Iraq war makers. In the case of Muslims, it is not just Vice President, but the one they call “The Prophet” pasted on newspaper cartoons for tittilation of the degraded. Their reaction to this as a way of “burning” their spiritual leader is to burn back. The violence of the reaction comes under the heading of what Carl Jung called “loss of soul”. It is what one must not do unto others, make fun of their innermost domain. The “west”, under the Cheney/Bush neocon Republicans, seems driven to do just that, first at Abu Ghraib, now in faux ‘liberal’ cartoon caricatures of sacred objects.
These things do not add together well. Cheney’s “shoot first, ask questions later” brigade, yucking it up with beer while splattering tall turban targets?
About this there is something as chilling as a ‘Noreaster deep freeze in February.
There are two “Dick Cheney’s” being talked about in the news. Two threads of predicates leading from the single name.
One leads to a flesh and blood man, who can surely be forgiven for trying to grab a little quality time down Armstrong Ranch in south Texas way. No one could wish another the shattering thing he has gone through, all fault aside. And seen from that point of view, the scene and events Vice President Cheney related seem like a perfectly acceptable reality, the narrative of a tragic American drama all can and, I suppose, must live with.
However, because of who he was, and what he represents, this was not just a private event; it is something that happened to us all. I argue here that this is true in two senses.
It is a touch of tragedy whenever an individual is singled out for punishment for a guilt incurred by the entire group he represents, as if Germany’s Third Reich was all about Hitler. To make him a scapegoat for the program all have promoted is not right. Perhaps that, by itself, will evoke a sympathy reaction strong enough to shield him.
But he IS Mr. Military-Industrial Complex, incarnation of the figure Dwight Eisenhower warned against in his last address. The WHIGs, White House Iraq Group run from his office, coordinated the neocon’s war build-up. Public relations-wise, he carried the heavy water for the Republican political base, defending torture, spying, and routinely equating their political enemies with al Quida terrorists. He became so radioactive CNN actually showed an big X over his face recently – glitch in the switch, lamented the producers.
Such was his enormous karmic burden 2.17.06. Further, legal terms, he was under the gun of Fitzgerald’s possible indictment in connection with the Libby CIA leak case.
One needn’t be a mystic, psychic, or spiritual genius to surmise that a man under such intense pressure, together with all those with him that fateful afternoon, can simply crumple inside, if momentarily, under this weight, and ACTS OUT what, for any hunter, or human, is the worse thing they could do. In psychoanalytic terms, he was being “pursued by the unconscious”, catching up to with him with this historical curse, with him impulsively trying to ward it off .
I agree with those who think he will resign. Not because he cannot rise to the level of objective self-forgiveness, which he should, as many are obliged to do. I have looked into the face of a young woman who had watched her mother drown, as a girl. It took her a long time to come back and look at anyone at all. It isn’t something you want to see as a daily mirror.
He will retire because of what his re-appearance on the public stage would do to America, as one who did it. Riven into two fresh new camps: those who will take his shot, and “move on”, as they have it. Or one who will say: wait. Enough, already – as of a long time ago.
This is where the second Dick Cheney, the one that belongs to all in Public communications splits (ramifies) again. On the one (right) hand, he must be accepted as a Charlton Heston NRA hero, interrupted by an act of God or the impulsive gesture of an old man, in the process of carrying on whatever his destined life as best he could, who could demand more?
Or the Dick Cheney of Darth Vadar fantasy frame.
Dark Dick Cheney is what is lodged in the Collective Unconscious, ready to erupt with the full volcanic rage and hate set off by cartoonizing what is sacred to Muslims. These events, brought together by fate in these times, are also linked by deep unconscious psychodynamic processes.
Publication of the cartoons was a Cheney/Rove neocon type political act, exported to Denmark last September; then, brought forward recently, as the situation called for release of mass pent-up energy. Fleming Rose, editor of the newspaper first publishing them, is probably Jewish – not to indict all, but possibly as such he thought it might advance Israel’s cause to inflame hatred of “western values”, carrying over to burning tokens of western culture, especially churches, to create solidity in reaction against the inflagration.
From a neuropsychological standpoint, it should be noted that the act of shifting types of tokens from words to pictures, in representing Mohammed, what is communicated is brought down from the realm of pure conception, appropriate to the essence of spirit as unseen, to the realm of the visible – and risible. This is another stark connection between Cheney’s misfire and the Cartoon’s bonfire: risibility – laughter; a distinguishing mark of the species, as Aristotle first noted, I believe. Hardly anyone I spoke to about the VP’s accident could refrain from laughing; from snicker to hee-haw to knee slapper. Not to his or the Wittington’s face, of course. Behind their back. It would be extremely discomforting, if not outright dangerous, to have waves of cartoons showing him hunting down liberals. Wonder if any will appear? But he has, in fact, as argued above and elsewhere, put us all under the gun of Iraq war makers. In the case of Muslims, it is not just Vice President, but the one they call “The Prophet” pasted on newspaper cartoons for tittilation of the degraded. Their reaction to this as a way of “burning” their spiritual leader is to burn back. The violence of the reaction comes under the heading of what Carl Jung called “loss of soul”. It is what one must not do unto others, make fun of their innermost domain. The “west”, under the Cheney/Bush neocon Republicans, seems driven to do just that, first at Abu Ghraib, now in faux ‘liberal’ cartoon caricatures of sacred objects.
These things do not add together well. Cheney’s “shoot first, ask questions later” brigade, yucking it up with beer while splattering tall turban targets?
About this there is something as chilling as a ‘Noreaster deep freeze in February.
posted by Sid Thomas | 9:41 PM
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