Hey Squad:
I dare say - the topic this month is too broad. Power has 32 definitions
in my Random House dictionary. There are 31 additional power words.
Between power amplifier and power train there is power boat, power
elite, power play and power steering. In light of the recent events in
Kosovo, I'd have to add air power to the list. An MOQ interpetation of
all 64 definitions wouldn't be much fun.
Reading through the various meanings, one gets a feel for the underlying
definition. There is a common archetypical concept in all the different
uses of the word. There is always the idea of a concentration of energy.
Power always seems to imply a focusing or gathering of energy.
I'm told that the poppy flowers make a nice tea. The effects are
soothing and relaxing. When these soothing agents are concentrated, the
same poppy plants can produce opium and herion. These POWERFUL drugs
don't sooth, they kick your ass and then imprision you with addiction.
Poppies have a natural energy, but herion is concentrated and can
rightly be called POWERFUL.
The best image of power in our age is the mushroom cloud of a fussion
bomb. So much POWER is unleashed by these ghastly devices, that
destruction is their only purpose. These bombs are the center piece of a
global policy called MAD; mutually assured destruction. It is nearly
impossible to ironized such a state of affairs.
And of course we live in the fossil fuel age. Everything we do is
powered by energy concentrated by time and geology. Our entire existence
is subsidized by the energy derived from oil. (Seemed better than wood,
coal, and blubber I guess.) We depend on it so much that we might even
use one of those fussion bombs to keep it flowing.
DRUGS, NUKES AND GASOLINE? These are concrete examples of POWER as
concentrated natural energy. The power of naturally occuring static
patterns like poppies, uranium and oil are gathered and focused to
create more powerful "things".
You could say power is created by exploiting the natural energy in
nature.
DRUGS are manufactured by POWERFUL cartels and the DRUG WAR in the U.S.
is riddled with POWER issues. There's the Opium War, Reefer Madness.
Timothy Leary, Cheech & Chong, Easy Rider and Al Capone. Power is a huge
and complex topic. I don't need to remind you of all the power issues
mixed up with nukes and oil. All three are cause for war.
Just give me the warm power of the sun
or the steady flow of a waterfall
until the spirit of living things
returns to us
There is something terrifying about the level of power achieved in our
world. Its too much. Its un-natural. Its out of control. But I'm not
ready to return to a hunter-gatherer culture either. There's too many of
us for that to work now. We need power that is less concentrated and a
"greener" technology.
Money is key to understanding political power structures. Who was it
that said "Economics is politics in disguise"? Money represents stored
energy. Money is concentrated work. My paycheck represents all the
energy I spent do work for my employer. I trade it for goods and
services, which were also produced by work. How money is spent and
earned are both moral issues. Do you buy sweat shop sneakers and support
near-slave labor? Do you eat bananas even though they were produced on a
plantation owned by a company that helped depose the host country's
democratically elected government in a brutal coup? Can you drive a Ford
knowing they made profits from slave labor in Nazi Germany? Can you work
in a bomb factory? Could you work in a concentration camp if the pay
were really good?
When you give your money, you give your power. Who gets your money? Who
gets your power?
David B.
MOQ Online - http://www.moq.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Jan 17 2002 - 13:08:41 GMT