A BuzzFlash Reader Commentary
September 14, 2002
Bush's "Git a Rope" Mentality
by YT Cai
Dear BuzzFlash,
It seems so perplexing how George W. Bush can retain such high popularity ratings while our country is crumbling beneath our very feet. We no longer have any hope for peace, our economy looks more and more like a third world country's each day, and we can no longer leave our homes without the fear of some zealot who hates us dropping out of the sky on our heads. In fact, we can no longer sit in our homes due to the fear that "the big mushroom cloud" will draft us into the stratosphere.
So what could possibly explain Bush's following? Actually the answer is quite simple - America is swept up in a mob mentality!
Here's where Bush's phony Texan schtick pays off. Bush is fond of Westerns you see, and in the 40's and 50's vintage movies of this genre it was common for some loudmouth, non-thinker to incite a crowd of normally nice folk to commence to a hangin' without the inconvenience of a trial. Bush used this tactic with bin Laden, and now he is trying to incite the angry crowd against Saddam Hussein. The masses not only stop paying attention to Bush's own shortcomings, the throng is led to believe that he is the only one who can save them from the evil rustlers.
Today at the U.N., the Connecticut Cowboy in Koffi Annan's Court tried desperately to whip up the other world leaders into marching over to the jailhouse and stringing up that dirty, lowdown Hussein. Again devoid of any evidence that might show that Hussein is the serious threat Bush contends, our Antagonizer-in-Chief proceeded to rehash every rule broken by Hussein, even though the majority of them were carried out with the implied blessing of Bush's father, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld.
If we are so intent on enforcing U.N. resolutions to promote peace and remove the threat of terrorism, maybe we should start with the 30 year delinquency Israel has outstanding for withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territories? This would seem more likely to help diffuse the problems in that part of the world than the attack on Iraq which now seems imminent. So go get the rope boys, and get a torch, because he's holed up in the stable and it looks like we'll need to smoke another one out. No need to give much thought to a few innocent townspeople that might get caught in the blaze, they'll understand it was for the good of the cause.
But I too grew up watching those very Westerns that Bush tries to live out. And without exception, there always seemed to be a single recurring theme -- some poor cowpoke who was at the wrong place at the wrong time got falsely accused, or was actually framed by the loudmouth, and would have to rely on the good guy not only protect him from the mob, but to eventually prove the innocence of the accused. In real life we know things don't usually work out this way.
There is hope, though. Once the mob realizes that it has been misled, and that undeserving souls have needlessly suffered, guilt sets in and things are eventually made right. I have great faith in the majority of my fellow citizens, and it is believed that once their eyes have been opened up to the hollowness of the ringleader, they will do the right thing and send the tinhorn back to the faux ranch from whence he came. It is up to us to lift the lids and perk the ears at every opportunity. It is up to us to be the "good guy" by reasoning with the mob. Otherwise, grab a torch and touch off that hay, because your inaction will end up having the same result.
YT CAI
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