“POSIWID”

Let us suppose, as historians in their professional capacity do, that events have context. Expressed slightly differently this can be seen that events are related to processes, and that processes in turn related to systems, both natural and human.

Now in System Theory there is a short hand expression that means the purpose of a system is what is does (POSIWID). Some things as always are not obvious as natural systems, although the Earth’s climate system multi-variable, with all the factors not fully understood. Then there are human constructed systems such as the planning system in NSW which it seems is not an environmental system designed for sustainability, but a political economy governed by the flow of money, which in its large frame seems to have escaped the attention of the corruption watchdogs, so it merely corrupts and disempowers the democratic process.

But could the War on Terror, or the War against Islam, or whatever it is called that is responsible for the barbarity expressed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and now promised for Yemen be also a system? Chris Floyd thinks it is. He points out the disjuncture between the behavior we witness and our intrinsic and true human nature which would make it possible to live well (and better) in our local communities as in our global community.

Considering recent events in Afghanistan, Chris Floyd observes:

The Terror War is not an event, or a campaign, or even a crusade; it is a system. Its purpose is not to eliminate “terrorism” (however this infinitely elastic term is defined) but to perpetuate itself, to do what it does: make war. This system can be immensely rewarding, in many different ways, for those who operate or assist it, whether in government, media, academia, or business. This too is a self-sustaining dynamic, a feedback loop that gives money, power and attention to those who serve the system; this elevated position then allows them to accrue even more money, power and attention, until in the end — as we can plainly see today — any alternative voices and viewpoints are relegated to the margins. They are “unserious.” They are unimportant. They are not allowed to penetrate or alter the operations of the system.

The full post can be read at Empire Burlesque.