The hype of hope

The current world of today is caught up in a tsunami of hype and wishful thinking that has rarely seen its match. With the election of the first non-white president of the United states we are supposed to be at the dawning of the age of aquarius. The spin we are supposed to believe is the following: the otherwise good and benevolent world leadership afforded to the free civilized (western orientated) world which had so terribly been corrupted by that fiend and enemy of humanity, the anti christ otherwise known as George Bush Jr., is to be restored to its moral pinnacle by that God in the guise of man, Barack Obama, the pope of hope.

This creed has gone beyond political hype and is in our view here at ( odidia , in house of Lado Institute of Sudanic Studies ) , a veritable religion running on high octane mass hysteria. Obamamania we dub the affliction and obamamaniacs we dub the afflicted.

The degree to which wishful thinking, naivity and gullability is misleading such a large section of humanity into one of the greatest seductions of modern times is truly amazing. One doesn`t know whether to laugh or cry and I suppose the adequate response would be a healthy dose of both. But as it is our duty and mission to call out hype for what it is, where does one start with a social phenomenon that has a hype factor of infinity ?

In the beginning our initial thought was to research all the facts and figures of the whole Obama phenomenon. Who was funding him, who were his backers, what was the policy he stood for, who was he associated to politically and who would be appointed to cabinet.

The initial research only proved our suspicions about the current American President. From wall street ties and funding to basically bringing the clintonian neofacist soft power types back into power, including one Hillary Clinton and a strong emphasis on maintaining and expanding American military power .

But soon to our suprise we found out that the average obamamaniac does deal not with such minor details as facts or rational thinking. No, the Obamaniac wants only to believe that all is not lost, the system can be salvaged and that the world they live in, is not in fact a racist and murderous slaughter house fixated only on turning a profit and maintaining living standards for its privileged citizens but is instead a global village of human beings learning to live together threatened only by fundamentalism and a lack of moderation.

The amount of self deception, faulty reasoning and consensus trance engendering smoke screens, one must be subjected to think in this manner is of course immense but clear sight causes us to still hold to the thought that somewhere down at the bottom of even the greatest liberal humanitarian rainbow nation type character, there lives an inherent acceptance of the worlds injustice because they are not on the wrong side of the beating.

People want hope meaning they want somebody to tell them" No you are not an accomplice to the daily, death suffering and living hell which your fellow human beings live through even though you prefer to enjoy the fruits of this oppression and refuse to accept the causes of this oppression: the system of which you are part and beneficiary.

Since 1945 when the USA took over the role as leader of the western world following the 2nd World War they have as a nation waged wars, wrecked economies, installed dictatorships and funded the slaughter of only God knows how many people(s) in order to defend their interests and maintain their political, economic and social dominance. George Bush Jr. continued the imperial theme. The fall of the Soviet Union gave birth to imperial hubris and Bush Jr. and his merry band of neo-cons felt that the time of empire cloaked in the velvet gowns of benevolence was up and proceeded to reveal the true spirit of American power. You are either with us or against us was the rallying cry.

The backlash this caused and the following military failures coupled with the manifestation of a systematic crisis in the global system which has been long under way, resulted in this crossroad which we have come to. What Bush did, in reality, was show the true face of the US. This presented the populations of the USA as well as the world with a choice. Accept the truth of how our world is structured and the role played in that global structure by its leading exponent - the United States of America- and truly change this entire system with all the inconvienience, wailing and ganshing of teeth or look for someone who could restore the myth of the inherent goodness and good intentions of the global order and its leading nation.

No system survives without the belief of its subjects in it. No matter how immoral and perverse its functions and logic maybe. And the world of today is truly perverse. The strong loot, pillage and rape and then turn around and blame their victims while lecturing on morality, human rights and good governance.

Hypocracy is the order of the day. Terrorists commit the unforgiveable crime of murdering innocent civilians but governments cause collateral damage, apologize, blame it on the collaterals the have damaged ( people they have blown to bits ) and the world opinion marches up and down their streets asking why the same governments are doing nothing to stop the killing.

Obama is no more and no less than a token. A symbol designed to ressurect American prestige in these most trying of times for the self proclaimed worlds greatest ( or should one say worlds fakest ) nation. They need unity internally to be able to do what must be done to survive the high seas of crisis. Unity internally meaning belief in the elite class who run their nation. They require prestige internationally so they can get away with the next round of looting required to get the capital and resources necessary to get their broken down economy running again.

So while the world cheers the closing of Guantanamo we forget the secret prison programs and rendition flights to Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. While we cheer Obamas noble denouncement of torture we forget what the CIA has been up to in that department clandestinely for over a half century and isn`t about to stop doing any time soon. While we rejoice over the hybrid cars and new jobs created by the green revolution we forget the resource wars and rape of Lands and Peoples South of the border in order to acquire the minerals and other resources necessary for these new technologies.

While we cheer the supposed withdrawal from Iraq we forget it means a doubling of forces in Afghanistan and we forget the bombs raining down on Waziristan. And while we all sing halleluja that there is a black president in America we forget the distributative mechanisms/structures which aportion wealth, status and power within that society are as racist and elitist as ever, we forget the law enforcement agencies and penal system still target and persecute Americans of African ancestry.

It boils down to one simple fact. USA politically is governed through a body of elites, the president is a figure head but the system is geared to do what every other imperial system through history has done: pillage and plunder the margins for the benefit of the metropolitan centers. Any president of such a system can never be more than an imperial administrator walking a tight rope between the various interests of the elite body and serving as an icon for the populace. We are in the realm of hype, and even if the whole planet pronounces their faith in the new religion of Obamamania at odidia at least, we cannot believe the hype.

Lado Institute of Sudanic Studies