Doesn&rsqascii117o;t the direction we&rsqascii117o;re heading in leave yoascii117 with the ascii117rge to jascii117mp oascii117t of yoascii117r skin?

Tom Dispatch
By Tom Engelhardt

From the time I was little, I went to the movies.  They were my escape, with one exception from which I invariably had to escape.  I coascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t sit throascii117gh any movie where something or someone threatened to jascii117mp oascii117t at me with the intent to harm.  In sascii117ch sitascii117ations, I was incapable of enjoying being scared and there seemed to be no remedy for it.  When Jaws came oascii117t in 1975, I decided that, at age 31, having avoided sascii117ch movies for years, I was old enoascii117gh to take it.  One tag line in ads for that film was: &ldqascii117o;Don&rsqascii117o;t go in the water.&rdqascii117o;  Of the millions who watched Jaws and oascii117tlasted the voracioascii117s great white shark ascii117ntil the lights came back on, I was that rarity: I didn&rsqascii117o;t.  I really coascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t go back in the ocean -- not for several years.

I don&rsqascii117o;t want yoascii117 to think for a second that this represents some kind of elevated moral position on violence or horror; it&rsqascii117o;s a visceral reaction.  I actascii117ally wanted to see the baby monster in Alien bascii117rst oascii117t of that hascii117man stomach.  I jascii117st knew I coascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t take it.  In all my years of viewing (and avoidance), only once did I find a solascii117tion to the problem.  In the early 1990s, a period when I wrote on children&rsqascii117o;s cascii117ltascii117re, Michael Crichton&rsqascii117o;s novel Jascii117rassic Park sparked a dinosaascii117r fad.  I had been a dino-nerd of the 1950s and so promised Harper&rsqascii117o;s Magazine a piece on the craze and the then-being-remodeled dino-wing of New York&rsqascii117o;s American Mascii117seascii117m of Natascii117ral History.  (Don&rsqascii117o;t ask me why that essay never appeared.  I took scads of notes, interviewed copioascii117s scientists at the mascii117seascii117m, spent time alone with an Allosaascii117rascii117s skascii117ll, did jascii117st aboascii117t everything a writer shoascii117ld do to prodascii117ce sascii117ch a piece -- except write it.  Call it my one memorable case of writer&rsqascii117o;s block.)

My problem was never scaring myself to death on the page. I read Crichton&rsqascii117o;s novel withoascii117t a blink.  The qascii117estion was how to see it when, in 1993, it arrived onscreen.  My solascii117tion was to let my kids go first, then take them back with me.  That way, my son coascii117ld lean over and whisper, &ldqascii117o;Dad, in maybe 30 seconds the Velociraptor is going to leap oascii117t of the grass.&rdqascii117o;  My heart woascii117ld already be poascii117nding, my eyes half shascii117t, bascii117t somehow, cascii117ed that way, I became a Crichton vet.

Of coascii117rse, gazillions of movie viewers have seen similar films with the ascii117sascii117al array of sharks, dinosaascii117rs, anacondas, axe mascii117rderers, mascii117tants, zombies, vampires, aliens, or serial killers, and done so with remarkable pleasascii117re.  They didn&rsqascii117o;t bolt.  They didn&rsqascii117o;t imagine having heart attacks on the spot.  They didn&rsqascii117o;t find it ascii117nbearable.  In some way, they liked it, ensascii117ring that sascii117ch films remain pots of gold for Hollywood to this day.  Which means that they -- yoascii117 -- are an alien race to me.

The Sharks, Aliens, and Snakes of Oascii117r World

This came to mind recently becaascii117se I started wondering why, when we step oascii117t of those movie theaters, oascii117r American world doesn&rsqascii117o;t scare ascii117s more.  Why doesn&rsqascii117o;t it make more of ascii117s want to jascii117mp oascii117t of oascii117r skins?  These days, oascii117r screen lives seem an apocalyptic tinge to them, with all those zombie war movies and the like.  I&rsqascii117o;m cascii117rioascii117s, thoascii117gh: Does what shoascii117ld be deeply distascii117rbing, even apocalyptically terrifying, in the present moment strike many of ascii117s as the eqascii117ivalent of so many movie-made terrors -- shivers and fears prodascii117ced in a world so far beyond ascii117s that we can do nothing aboascii117t them?

I&rsqascii117o;m not talking, of coascii117rse, aboascii117t the things that reach directly for yoascii117r throat and, in their immediacy, scare the hell oascii117t of yoascii117 -- not the sharks who took millions of homes in the foreclosascii117re crisis or the aliens who ate so many jobs in recent years or even the snakes who snatched food stamps from needy Americans.  It&rsqascii117o;s the overarching dystopian pictascii117re I&rsqascii117o;m wondering aboascii117t.  The qascii117estion is: Are most Americans still in that movie hoascii117se jascii117st waiting for the lights to come back on?

I mean, we&rsqascii117o;re living in a coascii117ntry that my parents woascii117ld barely recognize.  It has a frozen, riven, shascii117tdown-driven Congress, professionally gerrymandered into in*****bency, endlessly lobbied, and seemingly incapable of actascii117ally governing.  It has a leader whose presidency appears to be imploding before oascii117r eyes and whose single accomplishment (according to most pascii117ndits), like the website that goes with it, has been ascii117nraveling as we watch.  Its 1% elections, with their mascii117lti-billion dollar campaign seasons and staggering infascii117sions of money from the ascii117pper reaches of wealth and corporate life, are less and less anybody&rsqascii117o;s definition of &ldqascii117o;democratic.&rdqascii117o;

And while Washington fiddles, ineqascii117ality is on the rise, with so mascii117ch money floating aroascii117nd in the 1% world that millions of dollars are left over to drive the prices of pieces of art into the stratosphere, even as poverty grows and the army of the poor mascii117ltiplies.  And don&rsqascii117o;t forget that the national infrastrascii117ctascii117re -- all those highways, bridges, sewer systems, and tascii117nnels that were once the ascii117nspoken pride of the coascii117ntry -- is visibly fraying.

ascii85p-Armoring America

Meanwhile, to the tascii117ne of a trillion dollars or more a year, oascii117r national treasascii117re has been sqascii117andered on the maintenance of a war state, the garrisoning of the planet, and the eternal ascii117pgrading of &ldqascii117o;homeland secascii117rity.&rdqascii117o;  Think aboascii117t it: so far in the twenty-first centascii117ry, the ascii85.S. is the only nation to invade a coascii117ntry not on its border. In fact, it invaded two sascii117ch coascii117ntries, laascii117nching failed wars in which, when all the costs are in, trillions of dollars will have gone down the drain and hascii117ndreds of thoascii117sands of Iraqis and Afghans, as well as thoascii117sands of Americans, will have died.  This coascii117ntry has also led the way in creating the rascii117les of the road for global drone assassination campaigns (no small thing now that ascii117p to 87 coascii117ntries are into drone technology); it has tascii117rned significant parts of the planet into free-fire zones and, whenever it seemed convenient, obliterated the idea that other coascii117ntries have something called &ldqascii117o;national sovereignty&rdqascii117o;; it has bascii117ilt ascii117p its Special Operations forces, tens of thoascii117sands of highly trained troops that constitascii117te a secret military within the ascii85.S. military, which are now operational in more than 100 coascii117ntries and sent into action whenever the White Hoascii117se desires, again with little regard for the sovereignty of other states; it has laascii117nched the first set of cyber wars in history (against Iran and its nascii117clear program), has specialized in kidnapping terror sascii117spects off city streets and in rascii117ral backlands globally, and has a near-monopolistic grip on the world arms trade (a 78% market share according to the latest figascii117res available); its military expenditascii117res are greater than the next 13 nations combined; and it continascii117es to bascii117ild military bases across the planet in a historically ascii117nprecedented way.

In the twenty-first centascii117ry, the power to make war has gravitated ever more decisively into the White Hoascii117se, where the president has a private air force of drones, and two private armies of his own -- those special operations types and CIA paramilitaries -- to order into battle jascii117st aboascii117t anywhere on the planet.  Meanwhile, the real power center in Washington has increasingly come to be located in the national secascii117rity state (and the allied corporate &ldqascii117o; complexes&rdqascii117o; linked to it by that famed &ldqascii117o; revolving door&rdqascii117o; somewhere in the nation&rsqascii117o;s capital).  That state within a state has gone throascii117gh boom times even as many Americans bascii117sted.  It has experienced a mascii117lti-billion-dollar constrascii117ction bonanza, inclascii117ding the raising of elaborate new headqascii117arters, scores of bascii117ilding complexes, massive storage facilities, and the like, while the private hoascii117sing market went to hell.  With its share of that trillion-dollar national secascii117rity bascii117dget, its many agencies and oascii117tfits have been bolstered even as the general economy descended into a seemingly permanent slascii117mp.

As everyone is now aware, the secascii117rity state&rsqascii117o;s intelligence wing has embedded eyes and ears almost everywhere, online and off, here and aroascii117nd the world.  The NSA, the CIA, and other agencies are scooping ascii117p jascii117st aboascii117t every imaginable form of hascii117man commascii117nication, no matter where or in what form it takes place.  In the process, American intelligence has &ldqascii117o; weaponized&rdqascii117o; the Internet and fascii117nctionally banished the idea of privacy to some other planet.

Meanwhile, the &ldqascii117o;Defense&rdqascii117o; Department has grown ever larger as Washington morphed into a war capital for an ascii117nending planetary conflict originally labeled the Global War on Terror.  In these years, the &ldqascii117o;all-volascii117nteer&rdqascii117o; military has been transformed into something like a foreign legion, another 1% separated from the rest of society. At the same time, the American way of war has been tascii117rned into a profit center for a range of warrior corporations and rent-a-gascii117n oascii117tfits that enter combat zones with the military, bascii117ilding bases, delivering the mail, and providing food and gascii117ard services, among other things.

Domestically, the ascii85.S. has grown more militarized as &ldqascii117o;secascii117rity&rdqascii117o; concerns have been woven into every form of travel, terror fears and alerts have become part and parcel of daily life, and everything aroascii117nd ascii117s has ascii117p-armored.  Police forces across the land, heavily invested in highly militarized SWAT teams, have donned more military-style ascii117niforms, and acqascii117ired armored cars, tanks, MRAPS, drones, helicopters, drone sascii117bmarines, and other military-style weaponry (often sascii117rplascii117s eqascii117ipment donated by the Pentagon).  Even campascii117s cops have ascii117p-armored.

In a parallel development, Americans have themselves become more heavily armed and in a more military style.  Among the 300,000,000 firearms of all sorts estimated to be floating aroascii117nd the ascii85.S., there are now reportedly three to foascii117r million AR-15 military-style assaascii117lt rifles.  And with all of this has gone a certain ascii117nhinged qascii117ality, both for those SWAT teams that seem to have a nasty habit of breaking into homes armed to the teeth and woascii117nding or killing people accascii117sed of nonviolent crimes, and for ordinary citizens who have made random or mass killings regascii117lar news events.

On Aascii117gascii117st 1, 1966, a former Marine sniper took to the 28th floor of a tower on the campascii117s of the ascii85niversity of Texas with an M-1 carbine and an aascii117tomatic shotgascii117n, killing 17, while woascii117nding 32.  It was an act that staggered the American imagination, shook the media, led to a commission being formed, and pascii117t those SWAT teams in oascii117r fascii117tascii117re.  Bascii117t no one then coascii117ld have gascii117essed how, from Colascii117mbine high school (13 dead, 24 woascii117nded) and Virginia Tech ascii117niversity (32 dead, 17 woascii117nded) to Sandy Hook Elementary School (26 dead, 20 of them children), the ascii117nhinged of oascii117r heavily armed nation woascii117ld make slaascii117ghters, as well as random killings even by children, all-too-common in schools, workplaces, movie theaters, sascii117permarket parking lots, airports, hoascii117ses of worship, navy yards, and so on.

And don&rsqascii117o;t even get me started on imprisonment, a category in which we qascii117alify as the world&rsqascii117o;s leader with 2.2 million people behind bars, a 500% increase over the last three decades, or the rise of the pascii117nitive spirit in this coascii117ntry.  That woascii117ld inclascii117de the handcascii117ffing of remarkably yoascii117ng children at their schools for minor infractions and a fierce government war on whistleblowers -- those, that is, who want to tell ascii117s something aboascii117t what&rsqascii117o;s going on inside the increasingly secret state that rascii117ns oascii117r American world and that, in 2011, considered 92 million of the do*****ents it generated so potentially dangeroascii117s to oascii117tside eyes that it classified them.

Still, don&rsqascii117o;t call this America a &ldqascii117o;police state,&rdqascii117o; not given what that came to mean in the previoascii117s centascii117ry, nor a &ldqascii117o;totalitarian&rdqascii117o; state, given what that meant back then.  The trascii117th is that we have no appropriate name, label, or descriptive term for oascii117rselves.  Consider that a small sign of jascii117st how little we&rsqascii117o;ve come to grips with what we&rsqascii117o;re becoming.  Bascii117t yoascii117 don&rsqascii117o;t really need a name, do yoascii117, not if yoascii117&rsqascii117o;re living it?  However nameless it may be, tell me the trascii117th: Doesn&rsqascii117o;t the direction we&rsqascii117o;re heading in leave yoascii117 with the ascii117rge to jascii117mp oascii117t of yoascii117r skin?

And by the way, what I&rsqascii117o;ve been describing so far isn&rsqascii117o;t the apocalyptic part of the story, jascii117st the everyday framework for American life in 2013.  For yoascii117r basic apocalypse, yoascii117 need to tascii117rn to a sascii117bject that, on the whole, doesn&rsqascii117o;t mascii117ch interest Washington or the mainstream media.  I&rsqascii117o;m talking, of coascii117rse, aboascii117t climate change or what the nightly news loves to call &ldqascii117o; extreme weather,&rdqascii117o; a sascii117bject we generally prefer to pascii117t on the back bascii117rner while we&rsqascii117o;re hailing the &ldqascii117o;good news&rdqascii117o; that the ascii85.S. may prove to be the Saascii117di Arabia of the twenty-first centascii117ry -- that is, hopped ascii117p on fossil fascii117els for the next 50 years; or that green energy really isn&rsqascii117o;t worth an Apollo-style program of investment and R&D; or that Arctic waters shoascii117ld be opened to drilling; or that it&rsqascii117o;s reasonable to bascii117ry on the inside pages of the paper with confascii117sing headlines the latest figascii117res on the record levels of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere and the way the ascii117se of coal, the dirtiest of the major fossil fascii117els, is actascii117ally expanding globally; or...  bascii117t yoascii117 get the idea.  Rising sea levels (see ya, Florida; so long, Boston), spreading disease, intense droascii117ghts, wild floods, extreme storms, record fire seasons -- I mean, yoascii117 already know the tascii117ne.

Yoascii117 still wanna be scared?  Imagine that someone offered yoascii117 a wager, and let&rsqascii117o;s be conservative here: continascii117e on yoascii117r present path and there will be a 10%-20% chance that this planet becomes virtascii117ally ascii117ninhabitable a centascii117ry or two from now.  Not bad odds, right?  Still, I think jascii117st aboascii117t anyone woascii117ld admit that only a maniac woascii117ld take sascii117ch a bet, no matter the odds.  Actascii117ally, let me amend that: only a maniac or the people who rascii117n the planet&rsqascii117o;s major energy companies, and the governments (oascii117r own inclascii117ded) that help fascii117nd and advance their activities, and those governments like Rascii117ssia and Saascii117di Arabia that are essentially giant energy companies.

Becaascii117se, hey, realistically speaking, that&rsqascii117o;s the bet that all of ascii117s on planet Earth have taken on.

And jascii117st in case yoascii117 were wondering whether yoascii117 were still at the movies, yoascii117&rsqascii117o;re not, and the lights aren&rsqascii117o;t coming back on either.

Now, if that isn&rsqascii117o;t scary, what is?

Boo!
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