Statesman - or Appeaser
People being human, there is not all that much to distinguish us, one from the other. We share similar emotions, needs, aspirations. It hardly matters what our ethnic grouping, our religion, our cultural underpinnings, the traditions that we celebrate. The fundamentals of personal human need remain constant.But then there is also the often demonstrated reality that the aggregate can be manipulated by singular individuals whose social conscience and sense of entitlement lifts them above the ordinary. They are, in fact, uniformly and pathologically sociopathic in nature.
For them, the people are as chattel, to be used to their particular advantage. Whether it's through religious devices or political imperatives, ideological patterning or any other deviously-useful scheme to ensure that the order of their manufactured destiny rises toward the future and success, they rise above normal human needs and assume the mantle of ineffability, presenting as the ultimate authority leading the helpless masses.
These elevated autocrats conspiring to author the identity and future of an entire population are answerable to no one but their own very particular agendas. Power is what guides them toward their ultimate goal. And usually that goal is to assume some manner of ascendancy over other groups, other nations, presenting themselves as supra-powerful, leaders of multiple nations.
They are not reasonable people. They do not take kindly to any manner of intervention. They resent, mightily, the incursion of some foreign element into the homogeneity they have achieved of popular assent and support. If that popular assent and support is not total they have the means and the intent to oppress, victimize and totally subjugate as a totalitarian power.
The world has always met the distinct displeasure of hosting a number of these egomaniacal dictators, at any given time, capable of utter control, inflicting harm upon those under their 'protection'. And there have been many occasions when well-intentioned, reasonable, well-balanced and intelligent leaders have attempted to do the decent thing and speak one-on-one with these regimes.
One doubts there has ever been one single shining example when a politically, economically, socially advanced head of state has been able to parlay reason with a religious, ideological or secular-totalitarian head of state. Their perceptions, values, priorities and sense of entitlement and empowerment are simply too dissimilar.
An intelligent, reasonable individual may always feel there is much to gain by open-handed and sincere communication. A rigidly authoritarian, power-mad individual will always feel himself superior to the pallid humanity exposed by one who espouses human rights and justice.
So it will be most instructive to see what results from President Barak Obama's overtures to the Muslim world in general, and Iran in particular.
Indeed, the world waits on tenterhooks.
Labels: Troublespots, United States, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, April 08, 2009
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