Gilded Missiles and Misguided Minds. Men Drunk With Power

Let’s walk and talk through the madness gripping this ball of confusion, mass confusion.

Raised as an only child, my paternal grandparents crafted me into an “inquisitive” reader. I routinely sat on the front porch, in my “treehouse” Gramps had constructed, or in the bathroom with a Reader’s Digest, an edition of Weekly Reader, Boys Life, Right On, Jet, The Auto of Frederick Douglass, “Life” and “Look” coffee table picture books, National Geographic and the World Book Encyclopedia books, seriously.

Trust me, I’m a vivid example of a massive waste of parental time and resources, and I like to believe pure inherent talent…. “Underachiever” is my middle name.

On one occasion they gave me an oversized set of iconic disaster newspaper headlines, you know, like the sinking of the USS Maine, the Hindenburg, The Great Depression, December 7th, 1941, and the blood-soaked trilogy of JFK, MLK & RFK assassinations, and of course, the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

For whatever reason, perhaps my innate fear of water, I was fixated on the Titanic, at around age 9. Virtually none of my peers were.

The Titanic remains above all else an illustration of greed and arrogance, placing oneself, and others, in harm’s way… in search of massive financial rewards.

There are ubiquitous examples of this reckless, thoughtless, and careless attitude present throughout society, like the magical pills with wild names from immense Pharma peddling treatments for conditions you weren’t even aware of, bombarding us with ads, regardless of the far-reaching side effects of these formulations. “If you bleed out of your ears, can’t breathe, your heart begins skipping beats, contact your physicians.”

The vivid colors and synthetic scents of the foods we eat mask the invasive additives that significantly benefit the big-name producers while causing growing health risks like a sixth finger on our hands. Greedy corporations don’t think twice about mass-producing these harmful commodities, even with the government’s lenient stance – all for a hefty portion of gleaming profits.

Marauding, rapacious voodoo economics, honed and perfected by cunning minds trained at the world’s top business schools. Steely-eyed, rapacious capitalists engaging in unscrupulous, predatory practices, honed by formidable corporate titans from esteemed institutions – what does that tell us, my friend?

Buyer beware!

Ford recognized that the “Pinto” hatchback was a virtual ticking time bomb, with an explosive gas tank mounted to the back bumper. Yet, in an act of insatiable greed, they reasoned that any potential lawsuits resulting from these dangerous cars would only affect a small fraction of vehicles and still lead to enormous financial gain. Consequently, production continued without even the slightest modification to the flawed blueprint.

The government, the lawyers, and the dealers – they were all aware of what was really going on, but despite that, everyone was getting filthy rich.

Gilded missiles and misguided minds… men drunk with power….

Recently, the world, fixated on wealthy people, as always, all but ignored the mass drownings of perhaps as many as 750 Pakistani, Syrian, Egyptian and Palestinian refugees and migrants. Only 104 people were rescued alive from the Mediterranean Sea. Granted, they weren’t assumed to be alive for almost a week, but our collective compassion and interest was about a “5” on the “give a damn” meter, while for the Titan tragedy, it was like 5 blond-haired White millionairess beauty queens were being held hostage by a group of Black thugs….

Gilded missiles and misguided minds… men drunk with power….

It’s interesting the value and importance, or rather lack thereof, that can be attached to human beings, fascinating how the worth and significance, or even the absence of it, which can be placed on human beings varies so drastically. We have misplaced and misconceived values and standards.

Are we merely “cave” people living with electricity?

Russian Emperor Vladimir Putin towered in evident intoxication, drunk with power, unrestrained in his aspirations for control. His attempted annexation of Ukraine serves as evidence of his deep-seated appetite for wealth and dominance. The recent Prigozhin Rebellion brought into strong scrutiny the extent of his authority, leaving some to question if Russia could be perceived as a nuclear-armed fuel station with a harmless elf as its mascot.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s ravenous goal to seize absolute sway in 2024 appears driven by his hunger for power and supremacy.

Clutching power in their ruthless fingers, China has a maniacal man at the helm with a vision to monopolize the planet. Israel is led by a power-hungry madman in Netanyahu. And all the while, weapons of mass destruction exist on every corner, threatening global destruction.

Gilded missiles and misguided minds… men drunk with power….

May the Gods help us!