Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Thanksgiving Moon<\/p>\n
Last night Dick said, “I’m a pacifist, so I refer to my cancer as the dark guest. \u00a0I’m not fighting it; I’m inviting it to leave.”<\/p>\n
Third time I’ve encountered this idea of abandoning the war metaphor for cancer or serious illness, third time among folks I know, that is. \u00a0I heard on the radio last night the current Drug Czar (an oxymoronic type title for a democracy) make a similar point. \u00a0He wanted us to stop using the phrases War on Drugs and War on Cancer. \u00a0As if these were situations where we could win and something else lose.<\/p>\n
(N\u00f3tt-rides-her-horse-in-this-19th-century-painting-by-Peter-Nicolai-Arbo)<\/p>\n
Metaphors matter. \u00a0Think how much different our world would be today if George the Bush had chosen to describe 9\/11 as a criminal conspiracy that needs dedicated police and law enforcement action rather than as an act of war. \u00a0When he put us on a war footing, he wrong footed us in this whole matter from the very beginning. \u00a0A metaphorical mistake that has cost literally trillions of dollars and thousands of lives.<\/p>\n
I can see terrorism as a dark guest; a violation, say, of the old Bedouin laws of hospitality or the Greek xenia. \u00a0I see it as a violent criminal enterprise, not much different than a heavily armed Mafia, one with a code of sharia and jihad rather than silence. \u00a0By not much different I do not mean benign or insignificant.<\/p>\n
No, terrorism is a true dark guest, just like cancer cells lurking after radical surgery. \u00a0And we need to invite it to leave with urgency and active intervention. \u00a0Just skip the F-16’s, the warthogs, the marine recon teams, the infantry. \u00a0Send in the CIA, the FBI, the ATF and other counter terrorism specialists, even special forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Thanksgiving Moon Last night Dick said, “I’m a pacifist, so I refer to my cancer as the dark guest. \u00a0I’m not fighting it; … Continue reading Dark Guests<\/span>