Dialectics of a Crisis

                                                   by James M. Craven/Omahkohkiaayo i'poyi

The Taoists, had it right:
        any crisis,
represents, embodies,
        and is driven by,
many opposing,
        yet unified,
opposites.

A crisis,

“Wei Ji”,

represents,
Wei, or danger;
and yet also,
Ji , or hidden opportunity;
if one can grasp,

organic complexities,
and intricacies of systems.

Wei Ji:
a critical turning point;
natural evolutionary change.

In all Order,
potential, often hidden,

Chaos.

In all Chaos,
potential, and often hidden,

Order.

Danger,
of sliding into the abyss,
in myriad ways,
with myriad consequences.

Opportunity:
to ponder,

to understand,

perhaps eliminate,
what caused the crisis;
that is what,
the Taoists meant.

No Crisis is all bad,
for everyone.
For some,
a crisis,

can be very profitable;
more opportunity than danger.

Opportunity:
for “photo-ops”
for and with

movers and shakers;

perhaps those,

who caused the crisis,
the otherwise,

upwardly mobile.

Opportunity:
for TV networks,

            news anchors,
to make their bones,
            to get, or to keep,
            their “field creds”,
as they try to show,
            there they are,
            “there”,
on the scene;

            oh how they suffered,
to get “there”,
            how primitive their digs,
they will tell you,
             over and over,
             they are part of the story,
really, the main part,
             dressed,
             as if, on an African safari,
             “in the field”,
             in the middle,
of the misery and rubble,

on the hunt,

for worthy victims,

the ones that look

like themselves,

or our caricatures,

of "them";

the ones that do not

beg nasty questions

or troublesome visits

to history;

See for yourself,
the news anchors,

are not just coiffed,
teleprompter readers,

             Ken and Barbie dolls,
waxing so eloquent,
             with someone else’s words,
             so visibly somber,

and sad,
for a brief moment,
of shallow affect,

until they lead in,
to the next "piece",

victims and their misery,

just a "piece",

a comnodity,

news, as filler,

between the commercials,

the real point,

of "The News"

Business as business.

Victims and their misery,
so cynically used,

as mere commodities,
as mere stage props,

fixtures,
for careers,
of the upwardly mobile,

self-selected and self-anointed

messiahs with "The Truth"

just ask them

"The people have a right to know"

"We just cover what the people want".

"The people can choose to turn us off"

building and feeding

the celebrity,

narcissism and hubris,

of those
not even asking permission,
as they thrust the cameras,
microphones, and themselves,

into the faces and sufferings,

of death and misery;

Some very profitable photos,
of victims and their misery,

can be had,

maybe even a Pulitzer,

as they distract the rescuers

from rescue

when seconds

literally mean life and death.

"News"

           as stenography,
           for the fat takers,
           and gatekeepers,
of access,

the real coin of the realm,

           to the "scoops",
           that bring exposure and celebrity,
           and more access,
           to even bigger “scoops”,

closer to that Pulitzer,
never really posing,
the “fifth-W” of journalism:

WHY?

WHY
the poverty,

so many years,

before the earthquake?

Poverty that makes,

not all earthquakes,

and other such crises,

equal, or even,

all that "natural".

WHY,
Papa and Baby Doc in Haiti?
Did they just all out of the sky one day
to run their brutal dictatorships?
Who installed and kept them in power?
the U.S. imperium?

WHY?

is the past is not dead,

or even past?;

It lives within the present,

as for all of us.

Not only is there Danger,

there is Opportunity:
              largesse, beyond dreams,
              for bloated bureaucracies,
              for scams,

for “charities”,

often

far more about greed,

and huge salaries,

big offices,

than any charity.

There is Opportunity:
for failed ex-U.S. presidents,
malignant narcissists

megalomaniacs,

              psychopaths,
              war criminals even,
using their celebrity,
              for the "cause celebre",

              of the fleeting moment,
              to rehabilitate themselves,
              for the historians,

              and history books,
of the future;
after all,
               what good is fame,
               if it is not eternal?

imperfect immortality,

like statues and monuments,

and names on buildings

as death,

is the ultimate,

democratic institution,

not even the Carnegies and Mellons,

could buy

their way out of it.

Marx,
               Groucho, that is,
was right:
              “The secret of life,
               is honesty and fair dealing;
               and,
               if you can fake

that,
you’ve got it made."

There is Opportunity:
for sales and promotions,
for photo-ops

with selected victims,
the kind that look cute

and safely pathetic;

used as stage-props;
               for every item purchased,
               10 cents will be donated,
               to the victims

of this tragedy

that are "worthy" of mention

There is Opportunity:
for prayers and praying

that really amount

to more about preying

on the decency
and compassion,
of those well-intended.

There is Opportunity:
              for diversions,
              from other crises,
              even more problematic ,
              if the WHY? of journalism
              were ever seriously posed,

and really answered,

about them;

Give food to,

or pray for,

the poor,

they will call you

a saint;

but,

ask WHY

the poor have nothing,

they will call you a communist.

And there is Opportunity:

               in the giving of money,
               that can be so easy ,
               easier to give

than time,

or skills,

or serious analysis

involving serious risks;
often a cover,
                for all sorts
                of cognitive dissonance angst:
                “I did my bit”;
kept my Karma out of receivership;

There is Opportunity:

                for the celebrities
                of Hollywood,
                to strut their stuff,
                for their own cause célèbre
ribbons of various colors,

of their choice.

so promiently displayed,

on that tux

or that $30,000 gown.