Mood:
irritatedTopic: "Frodo of Arabia(2)"
"My name," he said, "is Frodo Abdullah al-Jimsonweed and I am Shi'ia."
"I am Frodo Baggins of the Shire," came the response.
"Have you ever watched the movie 'Lawrence of Arabia', I mean have you ever watched and listened to the story behind the movie?"
"Well sure, Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif aside, it is an outstanding chronicle of the continuing disasters of British Colonialism that hound the world a century later."
"What do you mean effendi?"
"I mean that from the Indian Sub-Continent around to Sub-Saharan Africa and through to Palestine and Persia the British of the 19th and 20th centuries were there to exploit natural resources. The meddling of these Europeans in the affairs of tribal peoples is at the heart of every major 'hot spot' in today's geopolitical realm."
"Does it not give you concern effendi, that the British now stand with the Americans in support of their 'positions,' if you will?"
"Of course it does. It seems as if Tony (aka 'The Poodle') Blair feels he has to act to justify the gross incompetence of the Americans in each of these locations."
"Don't you realize effendi that there is no Iraq? The role portrayed by Sharif in 'Lawrence' was that of the first man put in charge of the artificial creation of the British."
"Frodo is very aware of your point. Iraq was India before the birth of Pakistan. Iraq was Yugoslavia, held together only by a tyrannical leader."
"Was, effendi?"
"Well let me turn the tables on you Imam, do you think Iraq is a viable nation-state?"
"Nation-state! Is this a serious question? Iraq is as artificial as the military service record of George W. Bush. Iraq existed only because of the tyranny which one religious group used to persecute another. Once the tyrant no longer existed there was nothing cohesive amongst the peoples."
"Then, Imam, I suppose you question why the Americans would commit so much of their most precious resources to the ideal of 'Freedom' as a unifier?"
"I question nothing effendi. I understand."
"Oh? Would you explain your understanding of that which seems so inexplicable to so much of the world?"
"Effendi, the late astronomer from your Cornell University, Carl Sagan (The Dragons of Eden), wrote that if Aristotle, the greatest thinker of all civilizations, should return to this life today, and were he to continue living to a natural end, that he would not be able to assimilate all of the technological changes which have occurred since his death. He would, however, utilize no more than twenty minutes in order to learn all that Man has learned about human behavior."
"I suppose Imam, that you feel that the 'Neo-Cons' who devised this strategy, despite their scholarly credentials, didn't have a clue about the cause-and-effect of human interaction?"
"Effendi, someday, history books will look at the purveyors of these times in much the same way that we remember the 'White Man's Burden,' 'Manifest Destiny,' and 'Separate But Equal'."
"Peace be with you Imam."
"And you, halfling."
Frodo of the Shire knows the pain of T.E. Lawrence. Frodo Abdullah al-Jimsonweed knows the treachery that befell him.
As Shakespeare implied, it is the same lines spoken only by different actors upon the stage that is Middle Earth.
Posted by loveysdaddyga
at 9:35 PM EDT
