Brutality & The New Reality: Taxi to the Darkside

One thing is for sure, a reformation in the Islamic world is much better than the destruction of the Islamic world. This weekend watching from Carlata Gall and the BBC is enlightening about the way that brutality and reality meet to form a new set of rules in the American war on terrorism. It follows that my prediction of a ham handed response to a human problem is the cause of new forms of extremism for the "terrorism industry."


It shows less incoherence in the system then you would think at first, and it is not the work of a few bad apples, and it illustrates more systemic problems within our ability to effectively manage people we do not understand or who "some nameless 'we' do not care about" and are managed for us, to quote Adolous Huxley. The film is called the "Taxi to the Dark Side" and has won critical acclaim around the world. It is a sad contrast with my humorous posts and I am posting the whole thing here for your viewing with one question, "is American Idol still so entertaining?" Make sure you send this to all your friends.


Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--GCkdWlHdk


Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFCeNOfVduY


Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmsD_7uAS8w


Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXxJF_ixSaA


Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSwv6eF6QHo


Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiZuiGNHNuo


Part 7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC__qW7FDAQ

Part 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC3rUgGOMpk

The reality of this film has affected me profoundly and it reminds me of the 1664 persecution of Quakers; there are of course differences but they can be hard to discern during the fog of a total war strategy predicated on the idea that 9/11 changed everything, and must change us as human beings too. Such fear building techniques are less reminiscent of American political life and more reminiscent of the period just before the reign of Charles the II in Restoration England. I hope the restoration and reformation come quickly so that such deep sadness does not continue to occur here or abroad. I fear that what we win for "ourselves" by violence we will only be able to maintain with increased violence against ourselves and others.

I note with horror that in the film a taxi driver named Dilawar was killed by the Army and fear that Delaware could suffer the same fate because these details of the war of course have neither been explained to us or discussed with us as a people in an open democratic forum. It would be much better to do so to prepare the American people for changes and to explain the profound level of violence we are either willing to use or forced to use in the world.

Like others I of course will continue to advocate peace and non-extremism in all things, that includes from my own government, but the culture of "lawlessness" at one level of the executive branch has moved into other levels from the local DMV to the highest legislative offices of our state and I wish I our Governor, Senators and Congress people would work with the people to put an end to this type of arbitrary rule. Because while other states may not be good, or desire to be good, Delaware and Pennsylvania have William Penn sitting on our shoulder, and whose writings I will be publishing here soon, encouraging us to do so for the sake of all future generations.

We live in an imperfect, but it does not have to be brutal, world that is in deep need of a sense of the rule of law, the dignity of the human person and values of the enlightenment. Being tough on terrorism does not mean throwing away American values and principles- we can be better than good, we can be intelligent and good if we choose to be. This disturbing film is not for the squeamish. After you watch it you can all go back to your "American Idol" feel-goods.