States and statements

I was sent a powerpoint presentation with some of the horrors US soldiers practiced in Iraq over the past couple of years. Among the deeply mortifying images of rape, mutilation, humiliation and general inhuman horror, the flashing colourful subtitles in Spanish asked with an indignant chord sounding in the background: how can the country with the most developed Economy and some of the greatest genii in many academic fields perpetrate such monstrosities only the Neanderthals have?

Many arguments could bring this question down. The US are only practicing what the kingdom of Spain the sender takes so much pride on, for instance, has practiced in this side of the Atlantic for at least three centuries. Exactly the role Brazil played in Paraguay in the 19th century. What, according to many, China will do in this side of the Pacific sometime soon. And what unfortunately will be performed time and time again for a good deal of our short time left in this beautiful planet—by many countries, in many lands. You don’t need to be American. You only need a gun.

Also, calling the US the most developed Economy is outdated. It’s sinking at lightspeed—but that doesn’t matter. Money never prevented monsters from being monsters, and never will.

The greatest genii of the US, which are indeed many, are not the ones who went to Iraqi soil. Neither were Neanderthals. In actuality, as far as my amateur research went, I haven’t heard of any evidence that Neanderthals put a gun in somebody’s head to make them suck their dicks. Neither did they take pictures of that.

That fallacy of a question has really no use other than making me disturbed for the rest of the morning, unable to concentrate on the translation work I was hired to do. The flashes and acute colours that followed suggested we could pass the images of horror forward, spreading the bad vibes, that it would help change the world. Actually, very few things can change it. Caring is not just the most helpless, but also what helps feed the monsters under Calvin’s bed. Caring made Rachel Corrie’s brain be spread on Middle Eastern desert sand by an Israeli bulldozer, because she left her safe home in Illinois four years ago to save somebody else’s house in Gaza, and trusted the humanity in that soldier driving a big, powerful brain-squashing machine. In two months, I’m turning 27. Rachel never made it to 24. Stupid American girl. I’ve learnt with her mistake.

And I’m not passing the fucking powerpoint forward.

And no image today. My right brain need recovery.