Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Shopping for Bargains During THE HOLOCAUST

by Rocco Rococo

While U.S. corporations and their government continue to perpetrate worldwide atrocities on a scale that dwarfs — yes, dwarfs — the German abominations of WWII, most people I come across are shopping.

Deals or no deals.

That, or they’re planning to shop. Or returning some of what they’ve bought. Or going over — thinking about, talking about, etc. — what they’ve purchased. Or criticizing the shopping phenomenon. Or discussing other worthless topics such as Obama, McCain et. al., ad infinitum.

Whilst they dwell midst The Horror. Doing zero. Or merely chatting, writing about the… unspeakable. Marching in circles with placards (or the like) doesn’t count.

Do me a favor. Send me a list of all the conscious, caring people from the 30s and/or 40s who knew about what’s known as The Holocaust… who carried on business as usual. Who didn’t lift a compassionate finger. For all practical purposes didn’t. Who offered only token resistance.

I can certainly support my contention that what’s coming down today is worse — by almost any standard — than what transpired vis-a-vis the Nazis. PLEASE ask me to do so.

The problem isn’t that I’m way out there with my take of the times. Rather, it’s as if we’re all living right next door to Auschwitz, smelling the foul odors and cringing at the arrival of each train, but — ultimately — buying into the notion of American exceptionalism sufficiently to look, smell and listen the other way.

Or simply too invested in shopping.

For personal bargains.

I have a recommendation: Try bargaining with your Soul.

But remember: No Returns. No matter how warm it gets.

Rocco, who asks that most of his articles be read as prose poems, can be reached in Los Gatos, California at headburg@yahoo.com. He would really like contact for the purposes of acting in solidarity. Publishing more books and lecturing to larger audiences aren’t answers. Not any more than are longer stints with coffee shop blah blah or efforts at formal complaint. Ditto regarding protest plays, candlelight vigils, the usual conscious works of art…. And let’s forget about having our heads bashed in as we high profile our compassion. Bootless cries and the planting of singular seeds, perhaps, should be the exception not the rule for today. Get motivated by listening to a little Carlin? He wasn’t spot-on-target about everything, but the following isn’t a bad point of departure for meaningful action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIECyzf4YM&feature=related . Then again, maybe I should be happy if I wind up with enough of a quorum to __________________ on a regular basis whilst everything and everyone burns down.


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