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CounterPunch
September
25, 2002
Bush the Magician
by KRYSTAL KYER
In a bid for a new public image, President Bush
is trying to move away from being an international laughing joke,
to a top-rate magician. For years now, the public has poked fun
at his poor use of grammar, breathing pauses every third word,
beady eyes, and just plain goofy expressions that the media has
a talent for capturing.
But in times of war, we need to put jokes
aside and get serious. Grave issues are at hand, and this is
no time for making fun of the nation's leaders. ;-) The humor
masks the horror.
Bush's new image as a magician, he figures,
will be especially useful when it comes to dealing with those
wacky environmentalists and their nagging causes. For instance,
in recent months we have seen devastating wildfires throughout
the West, and calls for solutions burn like flames licking a
Bushy chin. In a bold and illusory move, Bush proposed a new
"healthy
forest initiative" last month to put out the flames.
That is, he can't see the forest for the trees, because cutting
all the trees down removes the threat of wildfire, as well as
the forest itself. The magician in him trusts that the public
will not notice the lack of forests, and all the diverse species
that inhabit them. He is likely to pull off this magic trick,
because in his left hand he holds all the distractions a captive
audience could desire - terrorism/war, "regime change,"
high unemployment, corporate scandals, and a lagging world economy.
In short, fear.
In another fantastic trick, Bush reinforces
his earlier unilateral decision to not sign the Kyoto Protocol
on Global Warming. In another attempt to hide the issue of human-induced
climate change, he collaborates with the Environmental Protection
Agency to make the threat of global warming disappear. In the
EPA's annual pollution report, the section on global warming,
the most significant and ubiquitous environmental issue today,
will not be included in the report. Thus surpassing renowned
magician David Copperfield, who once made an airplane disappear
from the sky. Indeed, Bush may be the greatest magician ever,
since he has made global warming and climate change vanish.
Of course, not all of Bush's audience
is convinced by his feats. While some people want to believe
what their eyes tell them, others are more skeptical. Some of
us look for rational explanations for hard-to-believe stunts.
After all, if it seems to good to be true, it probably isn't.
The challenge is for those wacky environmentalists
who are skeptical of Bush's illusions, to see through them and
expose the trickster's tricks. In this case, if we cut all the
trees down, we may not have forest fires. We also won't have
birds, insects to pollinate crops, flowers, large mammals (food
for those who lack the money to buy neatly packaged meat at the
grocery store), carbon sequestration to reduce
the effects of global warming, outdoor
recreation for the urban elite, fish, clean water - in short,
a healthy ecosystem. Hell, any ecosystem, for that matter. Removing
the threat of wild fires, using Bush's magic, only creates a
spiraling trail of disaster.
Global warming is an even bigger issue,
requiring a more complex magic. This magic trick relies on a
particular state of mind to pull it off. And there are plenty
of us who have this psychological disorder - denial. If we don't
talk about a problem, we don't have a problem. Thus, refusing
to sign global warming treaties, and refusing to publish information
on global warming, both signal a state of denial. They also signal
a state of trust. Bush trusts that Americans trust the government
to do the right thing. And if global warming is not an issue
for the government, we trust their judgment. After all, if global
warming were a grave threat, then Bush would do something about
it, right?
Do you trust the magician -- the primo
practitioner of deliberate deception?
According to national public opinion
polls, the vast majority of Americans approve of the magician's
performance since he stole the stage two years ago. But who conducted
those polls? A private corporate 'think tank. Who is the president's
constituency? Private corporations. Who benefits from such polls
showing support for his actions and illusions? The president
and his constituency. So go figure, the president is popular!
That is why us skeptics in the audience
should not believe those polls. They are just another clever
illusion. One in which we deny that the president is acting not
in the interests of the vast majority of working Americans, but
in the interest of a handful of private corporations seeking
profit at the cost of our planet, and the young lives of America's
working class enlisted military.
Now we know that Bush is no more a talented
magician than he is a responsible, intelligent, and elected president.
Let's stop fooling ourselves otherwise.
Krystal Kyer
is a highly unpaid activist writer, and has a master's degree
in environmental studies. She can be reached at: klynn@nocharge.zzn.com
2002 Copyright 2002 Krystal Kyer
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