HAIL LORD FARQUAAD, THE DESPICABLE!!!

Bruce Monson, 3/26/04

 

One of the classic scenes in the movie Shrek is when Lord Farquaad—the insecure, egotistical, size-compensating ruler of Dulac—has organized a duel among his shining knights to determine which of them will gain "the honor—no, no, no—the privilege to go forth and rescue the lovely Princess Fiona from the fiery keep of the dragon."  As the duels are about to begin Farquaad proclaims, "Some of you may die.  But it's a sacrifice I am willing to make." 

While such despicable behavior is wonderfully amusing in the framework of a satirical animated feature, it is chilling to see such apathy and cowardice played-out for real on the world stage.  And that is precisely the game George W. Bush is playing; gleefully deploying our ‘shining knights’ as his personal pawns in a manufactured war of his making.

There is something deeply disturbing about a man who repeatedly claims to be a 'War President,' and yet he and the entire top echelon of his staff have no personal experience with the horrific realities of war; which makes their reckless warmongering and unilateralist chauvinism all the more deplorable.  Indeed, while people like John Kerry and John McCain were waist-deep in the horrific realities of the Vietnam War, Dubya and Cheney were preoccupied with Republican senate campaigns and "other priorities" that necessitated their presence here on the home front. 

Today these men occupy the highest offices in the land and have demonstrated a frightening gusto for war and might-makes-right foreign policy—a point which reminds me of something General Dwight D. Eisenhower once said:

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."  

Eisenhower was speaking from a position of experience and insight that George W. Bush does not and cannot fathom.  But the world is expected to kowtow to his every whim, and anyone who dares question the rationale, the evidence, the goals, the politics, and even the terminology of the Bush war doctrine is immediately vilified as “unpatriotic liberal pacifists” whose failure to fall in line behind the president is “helping the terrorists.”

Such is the rhetoric.  Yet much of America seems to be wholly out-of-touch with reality, sitting idly by in a 'patriotic' stupor as the Bush echo-chambers at Fox News and ClearChannel massage the lies and propaganda into feel-good images of heartland apple pie wrapped in the Stars and Stripes.

It sickens me.  And as an American citizen, professional firefighter, concerned parent and outspoken defender of humanity and civil rights, I am not afraid to say that I am absolutely disgusted with what the Bush administration has done to our country, and to the world.

It disgusts me how this man and his cadre of cronies have used the emotional trauma and fears manifested from 9/11 as a springboard for both a neocon war-for-oil in Iraq, and a trillion-dollar sell-out of the American people as payoff to the corporate, oil and special-interest aristocracy, while leaving our economy unsustainably mortgaged on the backs of our children and future generations.

It sickens me that this man shamelessly dons military garb pretending to be a hero when in fact he was AWOL when he had the opportunity to play the part for real during Vietnam; or that he stands amid firefighters at  Ground Zero while 343 of their brothers lie dead and buried in the debris, in order to paint himself as a noble blue-collar 'team player' who might easily have become a firefighter himself (or for that matter, an actual functioning fighter pilot in a time of war) if only "Jesus" had directed him toward those endeavors rather than ordaining him to a route toward the Oval Office as the "God-elected president," under divine decree to defend the world from liberals, secularists, homosexuals and the "axis of evil."

Such behavior—such yellow-bellied gall—is beyond crass, it is a slap in the face to soldiers and firefighters everywhere; a fact made sadder still by the voracity with which the media pays homage to such photo-op stagecraft.

Real people with real lives and real families are dying as a direct result of the hawkish actions of this president. But for Lord Farquaad, evidently, the death of hundreds among his shining knights (and multiple thousands in innocent "collateral damage") are of no consequence and "a sacrifice [he] is willing to make."

All hail the Chief…