What a coincidence? After my earlier rant about my personal situation with intersecting thoughts on Democracy, I happened to watch John Pilger’s documentary, “War on Democracy“. I will highly recommend it to anyone that likes to know about wretched U.S foreign policy in Latin America. In a generation that is viscerally engineered by mainstream media, I think, it is discerning to watch people like John Pilger and Oliver Stone. I would also recommend Oliver Stone’s America (his interview). This is usually available as a part of Oliver Stone’s movie collection. For a more candid and alternative perspective, check out Howard Zinn’s People’s History of United States.
Personally, John Pilger’s documentary was to the point! Based on my interpretation of George Washington’s policy, he was against the formation of organization (like NATO) in alien land that would espouse American interest. Ironically, today, we have more of the Nixon products that as a part of the New World Order Agenda, propagate and safeguard the interests of powerful Corporations in under developed and developing worlds.
What particularly outraged me was the complete denial of facts and callous disregard for lives in Latin America by the then CIA Latin America Head. I mean, it is damn dirty! As a matter of fact, I hate to quote from the Gordon Gekko character, “if you don’t take over there is someone else waiting to take over”. It was about a game of world domination. If it wasn’t for the U.S., it would have been the Soviets. The Chinese Government is doing pretty much the same these days with their aggressive material interest in African countries (Sudan and Congo), Laos and Cambodia. I recently read an article that talks about China’s billion dollar port expansion project in Sri Lanka and a murky arms deal to fight the ongoing war with the Tamil Separatists.
This makes me to quote from the same dirty Gordon Gekko character:
Gordon Gekko: [To Bud Fox] The richest one percent of this country owns half our country’s wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It’s bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you’re not naive enough to think we’re living in a democracy, are you buddy? It’s the free market. And you’re a part of it. You’ve got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I’ve still got a lot to teach you.
Gordon Gekko: Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has 33 different vice presidents each earning over 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can’t figure it out. One thing I do know is that our paper company lost 110 million dollars last year, and I’ll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these vice presidents. The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated. In the last seven deals that I’ve been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. Thank you. I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.
Does it sound similar to Corporate Raiders like Carl Icahn? There will be more Gordon Gekkos in the Wall Street as long as there are Nixons and Henry Kissingers at the White House and Milton Friedmans in the Univ Campuses. There is no dearth of Intellectuals as is global poverty!