They do it over there but we don’t do it here

“There’s a brand new dance, but I don’t know its name. That people from bad homes do again and again. It’s big and it’s bland, full of tension and fear. They do it over there but we don’t do it here. Fashion! Turn to the left. Fashion! Turn to the right. Oooh, fashion! We are the goon squad and we’re coming to town. Beep-beep. Beep-beep. … Listen to me – don’t listen to me. Talk to me – don’t talk to me. Dance with me – don’t dance with me, no. Beep-beep. Beep-beep.” — David Bowie: “Fashion”

Isms. I’m terribly tired of isms. Communism, socialism, liberalism, conservatism, and all other freaking isms. Including totalitarianism, islamism, anarchy, and fa fa fa fa … I mean: what’s in an ism? I mean: what is the ism for? I mean: aren’t all isms social and communal constructs, put in place in order to create and maintain division among and between people who share the same culture but, unfortunately (because this is the way it works, it has worked in this way for centuries, so there is nothing anyone can do about it, and especially so these days when the weapons at our disposal are so indescribably potent and cruel, the end result being that we cannot do without this potentially murderous ruling class of ours, the military-industrial complex, ’cause some of us need to exert complete and unrestricted control of the weapons and ammunitions belonging to the state), do not enjoy the same good standard of living. Some inequality measures — call them small or know tham as enormous — are only the end result of centuries of social history, it’s only natural, and if you should think otherwise, we’ll tag you with an ism and treat you accordingly, forever and ever, ever and ever again, until you give in, give up, and get out of here at your own chosen speed, so bye-bye, off you go, and in case you wonder: the answer is “No. It’s not that we hate you, it’s only that we can’t tolerate much more of your bullshit.”

Fas(chm)sm is a political term which is hardly ever in use these days. Come to think about it, I think I can say that it is most often in use among potential suicide bombers, as they are doing some oral thinking about the state of thing over there, in the United States of America, and, to a certain degree, within the EU, but then some other speeches come to arrest my mind, as I’m thinking of the language used by some of the leaders of “the free world” — the brand new term of “Islamo-Fascism” comes forth. The fact that this term is basically used in order to tag about 600 million people — the number of muslims around the world — as potential serial killers, well … that would be my personal opinion and point of view …

Now, in the automn of 2005, I a Swedish social worker employed in the county of Oslo, Norway, told me, straight out: “we just can’t help you; I suggest you read up on the works of Michel Foucault, who states that ‘the system is fascist, and works to protect and preserve itself.’” That was about the time when I should have given up and started to crawl from here to the faraway fringe of the world. That was about the time when I — the little David that I am, with my little catapult — should have given in to the enormous strengths of Goliath, which would be the social democratic government and social system of Norway and the rest of the Scandinavian peninsula. But still — the foolish idiot that I am — as I am thinking of this social worker, I feel pity for her, poor soul: a typical socialist voter who can do little or nothing about the fact that she is working every day under the strict rules and routines of a system that is fascist. It’s like Michel Foucault said it was (and now I’m thinking of the proverbial chains of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (I can’t help myself, they are stuck in my head and sit like glued to the top of my mind)): “The strategic adversary is fascism… the fascism in us all, in our heads and our everyday behaviour, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us.”

But don’t quote me on this! You’ll only be making a fool of yourself, of course. Norway is not a fascist country. The Norwegian political system has nothing to do with fascism. This is a very good country, it is among the best countries in the world to live in, and it is a quiet and peaceful democracy (at war in the Middle East), it is a country in which the idea of freedom rings true in the minds of the masses, it is just lovely. Fascism, dear friend, is something we do not do here. They do it over there, and that is why we’re on numerous peace-keeping missions and operations over there. In Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in the future maybe in Somalia too, and in Sudan (you know, Darfur, you know) as soon as we possibly can. We are ready to embark on peace keeping missions all over the place, wherever fascism seems to be the order of the day, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is just lovely. But most of all, and most frequently of all, in countries well known for their abundance of natural resources (Iraq), or in countries that are, as seen on any world political map, strategically useful geographical areas to control (look up on the whereabouts of Afghanistan, so neatly stuck in there, in-between Iran, Pakistan, and Kasakhstan: such a lovely place; always a warzone).

I wonder. How are these people — the political, economic, cultural and social elites of our times, and the ruthless powers that be — likely to go about the saving the world from all sorts of unwise human acts of environmental destruction and daily human routines of an ecologically degradable nature?

Oh gee!

I have no way of knowing just that.