All New, All Totalitarian, Truth

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Tuesday July 19, 2005 00:41 by Gar

The truth is no longer pragmatic.

Rather than the austere brick wall of Stalinism, the new totalitarianism is an amorphous film of jelly. It absorbs all efforts to penetrate its surface. The force of each blow dissipates into ripples of ever decreasing consequence. When challenged the new totalitarians do not smash you with a rifle butt but instead smile, tell you that they understand your concerns and promise to address them. If your concerns do get addressed however, it will either be in a purely tokenistic fashion, or in a way you never intended. This, you see, is because the new totalitarians are the designers of deceit, the oligarchs of obfuscation.

As an aid told the President of the United States of America in October 2004, “we’re an empire now, and when we act we create our own reality.” In this post-modern philosophy reality is not something empirical, objective, or of any consequence. Instead reality is something that can be tailored to better fit the needs of the vested interest.

Journalist Greg Palast wrote about how British lobby firm Lawson, Lucan and Mendelsohn offer access (for clients that can cover the cost of the fee) to the policy makers of the British government. Indeed, Palast indicated that LLM may in fact be an arm of the British government itself, reaching out to the corporate interest. To avail of LLM’s services one must embrace the principles found in LLM’s eleven-page statement. Page three of the statement is divided into two columns: ‘The Passing World’ and ‘The Emerging World’. Underneath the passing world are ‘ideology’ and ‘conviction’. Alternatives to these outdated concepts are listed under the ‘Emerging’ column, they are, ‘pragmatism’ and ‘consumption’.

So serving the vested interest is now a philosophy devoid of ‘ideology’ and ‘conviction’ and in the name of pragmatic consumption. Is the occidental rate of consumption pragmatic? I guess it depends on whether you believe you can fashion reality to make it so.

Under this new philosophy we settle for perception over reality. When it comes to debt relief it does not matter what is actually on the table, only what seems to be on the table. If it’s good enough to make our favourite musicians feel good then it should be good enough to make us feel good, regardless of whether it is in fact good enough.

Under this new philosophy the occidental Dr. Frankenstein battles its monster whilst innocent parties suffer in the crossfire. Do we understand what these atrocities are actually about? Is it possible for those outside the corridors of power to ever understand? Is it more comforting to blame it all on an adjective such as ‘terror’, or an anonymous foe that seeks to attack our very “values”? (Values? That will be the pragmatic consumption I supposes, they’ll not stop me shopping.)

The Downing Street memos (site ref) reveal the extent to which reality was tailored in order to embark on an illegal invasion. No coy euphemisms appear in attorney general Goldsmith’s note to the British Prime minister, just straight talking like “I will be justifying what in essence may turn out to be an illegal war … this is why it is necessary to grey the lines as much as possible.” Perhaps it is permissible to acknowledge such pre-meditated deceit if you no longer acknowledge a concept such as ‘reality’.

The philosophy of LLM’s Emerging World is one that refutes the existence of truth because with truth, and the search for truth, comes ‘conviction’, and that is just not pragmatic. Truth is a concept that has motivated scientists and artists for millennia. Truth is a concept that is core to the human condition. However, maybe I’m being old-fashioned, perhaps now pragmatic consumption is core to the human condition. Perhaps our conflicting ideological convictions and our clashing truths, are what caused all the wars and suffering in the past. Maybe now it is time for the most powerful amongst us to tailor a new reality. A new reality for an ‘Emerging World’, an Emerging world devoid of counter-productive convictions, an Emerging World devoid of warring versions of the truth, an Emerging World as a void.

Ignore the flames, keep shopping!