(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
Control
[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Monday, March 10, 2003
Christopher Hitchens, recently reborn as a darling of the warbloggers and an enthusiastic admirer of Imperial Might, surely reads the Sunday Post. I wonder what the self-proclaimed opponent of "theocratic fascism" made of this:
Bush has come to view his leadership of post-9/11 America as a matter of fate, or of God's will. He has said the country is "called to defend our nation and to lead the world to peace," and he often says the mission is to extend liberty, "God's gift to every human being in the world."
With that assumption, it is almost impossible to imagine Bush confining the war on terrorism to al Qaeda. Instead, he quickly embraced the most sweeping foreign policy proposal his most hawkish advisers had developed -- a vision of American supremacy and preemption of emerging threats -- and that policy leads inexorably to Iraq, and beyond.
The unelected president as a vessel of Providence? The Daisy Cutter as a manifestation of His will? Seems so...
Bush's religious devotion encourages such distinctions. Bush implies but does not directly assert that he is doing God's work. Still, those who share his religious beliefs say it is natural to assume that Bush believes he is divinely inspired.
"It seems as if he is on an agenda from God," said Jim Cody, a Tennessee Christian broadcaster who was at a convention of religious broadcasters Bush addressed last month. "The Scriptures say God is the one who appoints leaders. If he truly knows God, that would give him a special anointing."
Indeed, as they say.
Over at Madison Indymedia, there's a post with a publisher's note for a book that, while as of yet unpublished, is likely just days away:
In this brash follow-up to "Letters To A Young Contrarian," Hitchens takes his acolytes from going against the status quo to embracing it with both arms.
"One cannot truly appreciate conformity," Hitchens writes in his introduction, "without first playing the part of the contrarian. It is like the dichotomy between pleasure and pain, only more profitable."
In a series of brief but explosive letters, the one-time iconoclast shows you how to take state power at its word, how to find humanity in the most corrupt and deceitful places, how to adopt a mainstream stance while pretending to be skeptical, and how to, as a sideline, compose extended captions for glossy photos of Hollywood mediocrities.