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Lira On Chile's Triumph, America's Exhaustion
Submitted by Gonzalo Lira
Chile’s Triumph, America’s Exhaustion
In Chile, the collective mood is one of hard-earned triumph, after the successful rescue of the 33 miners.
There was of course joy and jubilation when the miners were pulled out after their two-month ordeal underground. I wasn’t watching the news at the time, but I knew the precise moment when the first miner was pulled out alive: Passing cars started loudly honking their horns—Tat–tat–ta-ta-tat!! Tat–tat–ta-ta-tat!! Tat–tat–ta-ta-tat!!
But in the nearly two weeks since the rescue, there has been a collective afterglow in Chile: Everyone feels happy. Everyone feels confident. Everyone feels as if any and every problem—no matter how big—can be taken in hand, and solved successfully.
There is none of that feeling in the United States.
Americans were glued to their television sets, watching the rescue of the Chilean miners. It was all day, every day—24/7 coverage that got to be a little tedious. But Americans couldn’t seem to get enough of it—on and on and on, the coverage never seemed to stop.
A few Chileans—a small but not insignificant minority—got irritated by the American television coverage: They got irritated by a certain American attitude they sensed in the coverage—an American arrogance.
“It’s like these gringos think that they saved the miners,” a close friend of mine told me here in Santiago. “Like us poor little Chileans couldn’t have rescued the miners on our own—as if we needed the gringos to do it. But we didn’t need the gringos. It was Chilean workers, Chilean engineers, Chilean plans that made the rescue happen—not the gringos.”
“Yeah,” said another friend. “What did the gringos bring, aside from television crews and talking heads? Gringos never respect anyone else’s achievements—they always try to make it about themselves.”
This wasn’t the prevalent thinking in Chile—but it wasn’t an insignificant minority, either. And I couldn’t refute my friends, because they were right—
—but at the same time, I could understand why Americans wanted to latch on to this amazing story:
Americans just want to feel a little bit of triumph, a little bit of joy.
The problem with Americans isn’t that they’re trying to hog the credit: It’s that Americans feel as if their country is a failure—they just want to share in a little bit of that wonderful feeling.
The glow that comes after an undisputed success.
The United States hasn’t felt success in a long, long time—at least a decade. Ever since 9/11, Americans have been living in a state of constant panic—constant fear—an irrational fear egged on by the leadership classes.
This constant state of panic has led Americans to create a police-state, where the police is there not to serve the citizenry, but to keep them in line.
This constant state of panic has led Americans into two pointless, endless wars, where “victory” is impossible—because there’s nothing to be won.
This constant state of panic has led Americans to be afraid of anything and everything—no matter how trivial and innocuous—and turned the American people into a timid, docile, frightened lot.
This constant state of panic has exhausted America.
First 9/11 and the pointless, endless Global War On Terror. Then the Global Financial Crisis in 2008—then more financial bad news—unemployment—downsizing—then another financial crisis with the Mortgage Mess: Constant never-ending crises! Never a moment’s rest!
And throughout these crises, throughout these years of wailing sirens and flashing red lights, there’s the sense—inarticulate, but ever-present—that the American people are being played for fools:
Played for fools by the banksters, with their multi-billion dollar bonuses, paid for courtesy of the U.S. government that bailed them out—and not a one of them going to jail for what they did.
Played for fools by the politicians, who promise hope and change, but deliver more of the same—because they are the same: Peons of the lobbyists, suck-ups to their corporate masters.
Played for fools by the corporations, who sell foods that are unhealthy, plastics that are unhealthy, communications gadgets which are unhealthy—then lie and say, “They’re harmless!”, even as they settle lawsuits whose conditions are that they do not admit to wrongdoing, or accept responsibility.
Played for fools by the security apparatus, growing like a cancer on the body politic, which periodically issues vague and pointless warnings—“Danger! Danger!—A terrorist-threat alert for all of Europe!”—a security apparatus which has become more threatening—even more dangerous—than the terrorism it is supposed to prevent.
Played for fools by the generals, who claim that this new strategy will bring about victory—a strategy which, after tens of thousands of more soldiers, and hundreds of billions of dollars for the military contractors, fails like all the other strategies.
Played for fools by the doctors and hospitals and insurance companies, who don’t so much heal Americans’ injuries and cure their diseases, but rather suck them dry like leeches of old—only they don’t drain them of blood, but of money.
Played for fools by their fellow citizens, as everyone seems hell-bent on trying to screw over his neighbor, whatever the costs, whatever the consequences.
The mantra of the last decade in America has been buy!-buy!-buy your way to happiness!—as if mere things could fill a life with joy and purpose. No wonder something like half the population of the United States is morbidly obese, while the other half smokes as much ganja as they can get their hands on: They eat and get stoned so as to numb the mind, dull the pain—get some rest.
The people of the United States are exhausted. Fatigued. Burned out. No más, no más, as Roberto Durán said: No more. No more.
The trapped Chilean miners—as historical events go—was trivial: It’s nowhere near as important as, say, the upcoming QE2, or the Currency War, or the looming crash in America’s debt.
But for the little bit of time that America’s attention was so single-mindedly focussed on the trapped Chilean miners, the American people could pretend that they were saving the miners.
For a little while, they could pretend that America’s leadership was responsible and serious in the face of a crisis—not incompetent and ridiculous, as they proved to be after Katrina, and during the BP Oil Spill disaster.
They could pretend that America’s engineers and workers solved this difficult problem—with no excuses, no second guesses, no failed plans.
They could pretend that America was basking in the warm comforting glow of confident success.
As they were digging out the trapped miners, a Chilean mining engineer said at one point, “We’re prepared: We’ve got three rescue plans going on at the same time—and each of those efforts has a back-up. And each of those back-ups has a back-up! So one way or another, we’re going to pull our fellow countrymen out of there alive.”
That’s what America needs—that’s what America yearns for: Someone to pull them out of their hole, something that will bring them back up to the surface—alive and beaming with joy, a clenched fist triumphantly punching the black night sky.
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The same arrogant ass who declares he won't even stop in WV is worried about whether or not we have good hunting because we are mining too much coal that powers his house. Please continue not stopping.
correction. take a few hunting trips down southern end towards somersville..boars..but tend to hunt closer to estern panhandle, northern panhandle..sometiems go out towards ohio border. Your post (and I guess you junked..again don't giev a flying fuck) still have not addressed safety issue and the issue of mountain top removal, to wit, where to go from here when the resourecs get so screwed up..not only hunting and natural animal stocks, but drinkable, accessable water..so atleast you agree? oh, not so many well drillers round the way either strongbad..you shove a mountain and all the excess unwanted shit into a valley down below..what does that do for your homestead, your way of life..figure it out? oh, i've stopped in some areas in beckley and would not stop again. some, not all, are backwards as hell.. KKK has small pockets in southern areas of the state..seen it myself and prepped myself to take a time warp back into 1940's. I dunno, seen you in a flurry..you seem like a general lurker type.I'm on the ground and have firm roots in the state. so do yourself a favor. i love the state and yes, even the ass backwards portion....don't try to tell me what I've seen and experienced is wrong..got the cred..put up or shut up? what experiences do you have on the state on wv? are you a resident, from there? got family there? please respond in kind. I will retract my hostilities if you do and start a conversation..otherwise, or kindly stfuh
and one other thing..your posts make alot of assumptions..I would be careful about that...assumptions that is..with no factual basis strongbad
I didn't junk you.
Anyway, I am 8th generation or so West Virginian. My mother's side of the family settled in Summers/Greenbrier County sometime around the time of the Revolution. Father's side came in 1800 or so to the northern panhandle. I am related to about half the people in Greenbrier county, lol. Two Great-Great-Great Grandfathers in the Army of Virginia that I know of and a third martyred for his Confederate sympathies. No one in my family has ever worked the mines - farmers on the southern side, rail and steel workers on the northern side. Try visiting Charleston, Fayetteville, or Lewisburg sometime - you will find them nicer than Beckley. :)
fort ashby, where that lynch girl's from. had the brilliant idea to move after college, regretful. whats a guy to do? in and out for the last 5 years, but fuck this shit..back to basics. 3 days worth food? then you got to worry about the bloods and crypts? then what about the apex gang: the cops..f that. just got one question for you? marshall or dub-v? either way, no harm no foul. cheers.
That would be where is MSHA, the MINE Health and Safety Adminsitration, both are under the DOL. Larger lobbyist coffers in Mining thatn in Construction. General Industry ahs less pull in lobbyists that the Mining guys as well.
I stand corrected
Give it a rest Gonzalo. We don't envy Chile. We're glad the miners got out. No ones emigrating.
Not fearful, not panicked, not fooled, and not tired.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmceSj07_fs
Mr. Lira,
As I remember, National Public Radio interviewed an US engineer in a US company who supplied the specialized drill bits to help liberate the trapped miners. I'm sure Chile has some great engineers, but the US did not send only reporters. Please set the record straight. Thanks.
Skimming through the comments, it seems Lira's touched a nerve. Nevertheless ignore the smarting for a while, forest for the trees, baby with the bath water...He makes some very thoughtful points. I remember the liberation of Bangladesh, the Indian army had essentially accomplished it when the 7th Fleet sailed into the Bay of Bengal. Didn't want to miss a photo op? Every international endeavor, American newscast will magnify our role with the sheer amount of equipment and manpower employed. It's not all about us. The Chileans deserve accolades for their determination, planning and execution to accomplish the rescue. Back up plans laid upon back up plans, failure was not an option. It was the people trapped that was their focus, not the money. Here, the almighty dollar would have diminished the effort to candlelight vigils and prayers. Yes, we have all the tools, but the will has weakened.
Like Lira pointed out, it is pretty much the same with the economic crisis we are facing. The effort is all directed at Wall Steet, Main Street be damned. No back up plans, no planning at all, employ all the muscle to money making more money. One tight, rapidly spinning little eddy swirling around the hole. No will to lift the entire country, candlight vigils and prayers, even though we see the EKG sloping ominously.
Yes we are being played for fools. You would be foolish to buy into the fear propaganda and not chew on what you're being fed, but rather, swallowing it whole. The latest meme being floated is of baby boomers being a drain on social security. Do you think it is a coincidence that just before the boomers starts to withdraw their pensions, savings and investments etc, the market blows up? 15 years of gains vaporized? What about the blow up from the dot.com bubble, or the housing bubble? They got hit hardest of all, years of savings gone. These are the same people who put this kids through college, paid their bills and counted on the integrity of the government and market systems. It was the generation that worked hard, had a vision to place a man on the moon, believed in ideals, protested against wars, fought for equality, and freed us from rigid social mores.
If you listen to the talking points from the tr0lls, and this is repeated on many sites, they shift the blame for the upcoming economic fallout to the baby boomers. I believe they need the younger generation to buy into it to push their agenda to end social security. They do not talk about cutting defense spending or raising taxes, no, they talk about cutting social security. There is no money in it for the oligarch's, They can't steal it, goes straight from the government to the worker.
It's right in line with their talk of squatters, UI addicted lazy layabouts, you know the list. Blog ops in full swing...We're all trapped in the mine together, there are no plans A, B or C. The cavalry is'nt coming, and they're piping subliminal messages to destroy each other down in this wretched hole. This hole however is about as solid as the rest of the maya they have spun. A moment of illumination and you will see how fragile the walls really are. All the FICO scores, bank monuments and printed papers they hold turns to ashes. A vast collective test, we have to defeat the demons in Chapel Perilous before we can reach Satori. It's just the way it is. Take it from here folks, I have enormous faith in you guys to add to my two lousy bits!
Declare bancruptcy if need be. Turn your back on debt and look forward to living FREE! My grandfather from the old country never understood our desire for debt slavery. Things were purchased with cash. You bought what you could afford. God bless him.
Chile could not even bring itself to prosecute murderer such as Pinochet who terrorized so many of them: it took England to arrest the murderer. There are still walking wounded in Chile. What can the Chileans teach us? Get back to me, when you get your own crime scene in order.
Pinochet mainly killed communists from what I understand. When you declare yourself a communist, you have declared war on freedom, morality, and civilization as we know it - and as such are an enemy of humanity.
I don't get this idea that there were Americans who thought they helped. According to comments, there were apparently a few American engineers helping, but I didn't see coverage of this event other than in an AP article in the local paper and never got the impression from anyone I've talked to that people were paying close attention. Silly article - Americans are not optimistic because we have realized our government is run by corrupt morons and socialists, not because we are "living in fear." Most of the "fear" an outsider would detect is just media people trying to creat a story for ratings.
American Companies Resuce Trapped Chilean Miners
Posted on Wednesday, October 13, 2010 8:06:25 PM by STARWISE
Far be it for an American President to publicly congratulate (let alone even mention) AMERICAN ingenuity and AMERICAN PRIVATE ENTERPRISE for the miracle rescue of the Chilean Miners.
Schramm Inc. of West Chester, Pennsylvania built the drills and equipment used to reach the trapped miners.
Center Rock Company, also from Pennsylvania, built the drill bits used to reach the miners.
UPS, the US shipping company, delivered the 13-ton drilling equipment from Pennsylvania to Chile in less than 48 hours.
Crews from Layne Christensen Company of Wichita Kansas and its subsidiary Geotec Boyles Bros. worked the drills and machinery to locate and reach the miners and then enlarge the holes to ultimately rescue them.
Jeff Hart of Denver Colorado was called off his job drilling water wells for the U.S. Army's forward operating bases in Afghanistan to lead the drilling crew that reached the miners.
Atlas Copco Construction Mining Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin provided consulting on how to make drilling equipment from different sources work together under differing pressure specifications.
Aries Central California Video of Fresno California designed the special cameras that were lowered nearly a mile into the ground sending back video of the miners.
Zephyr Technologies of Annapolis Maryland, made the remote monitors of vital signs that miners will wear during their ascent.
NASA Engineers designed the "Phoenix" capsule that miners would be brought to the surface in, and provided medical consulting, special diets and spandex suits to maintain miners' blood pressure as they're brought back to the surface.
Oh, and Candadian-based Precision Drilling Corp. and South-African company Murray & Roberts, drilled a backup rescue shafts in case the American rig failed. Which it didn't.
Gonzalo - you got some splainin' to do.
WTF?
Although the Chileans should feel good about themselves for their countrymen being saved, to say that Americans are jealous is ridiculous.
“It’s like these gringos think that they saved the miners,” a close friend of mine told me here in Santiago. “Like us poor little Chileans couldn’t have rescued the miners on our own—as if we needed the gringos to do it. But we didn’t need the gringos. It was Chilean workers, Chilean engineers, Chilean plans that made the rescue happen—not the gringos.”
“Yeah,” said another friend. “What did the gringos bring, aside from television crews and talking heads? Gringos never respect anyone else’s achievements—they always try to make it about themselves.”
Please. Was it not Jeff Hart - an American - who was redeployed by Layne Christenson on September 5 specifically for the purpose of going to Chile to assist there? Once he arrived at the mine, Hart played an integral role in operating the drill and discovering the right location to open an escape hole.
Was the drill not also designed and built by Americans?
Gonzalo and his friends are ungrateful little sods.
You simply re-inforce the shame on gringos.
You seem to think that pointing at any one single contribution by any gringo thereby gives full 100% credit for success to gringos! What arrogance! So, if the miners all died, would you accept full 100% credit for failure?
I visited Chile last year, and have been making plans since then to relocate from the USSA to Chile. The mining disaster had nothing to do with my decision, but the arrogance, stupidity, insanity and extreme lack of benevolence of most folks in the USSA was a major contributor to my decision to leave. Chile has far fewer shopping malls, but I sure won't miss them!
A substantial percentage of the best of us are leaving the USSA, which has been taken over by the predators and destroyed. And when I say "best", I mean the most "honest, ethical, productive and benevolent".
Where we hang our hats is irrelevant, since governments and countries and borders are all pure fictions. The universe is our playground. Get real. We already are.
I was going to write an obnoxious and racist post in an ironic reply to your apparent ignorance, and lack of reading comprehension.
Instead, this "gringo" just wishes you a speedy exit from my country. Don't let the border guard hit you in the ass on the way out.
“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
-Samuel Adams
You think I go to Chile for wealth? Hahahaha! What a mistaken assumption! Not sure where you got that idea. I can make far more money living and working in the USSA.
I go elsewhere for [increased] liberty. I go elsewhere for lower population density (1 per 1000 square kilometers is about right). I go elsewhere to escape the endless mindless stupidity of amercians, endless rise of predatory government, predatory FederalReserve, predatory mega-corporations, etc. I go elsewhere to be away from "stupid human tricks".
When I hung out with the many-generation natives in the high Andes, I felt I was spending time and sharing thoughts with real human beings. We should have been as different as humans can be: I a cutting edge scientist and engineer, they simple unassuming folks living off the land for generations. But in fact, we were closer to being "like-minded" in the most fundamental ways than anyone I've met in the USSA. Why is that? When you discover the answer, you'll understand my motives. Until then, you can assume I move for wealth! Well, I guess you are right - I move to gain a wealth of peace, quite, honesty, reality... but certainly not money.
Jeff Hart of Denver Colorado was called off his job drilling water wells for the U.S. Army's forward operating bases in Afghanistan to lead the drilling crew that reached the miners.
“It’s like these gringos think that they saved the miners,” a close friend of mine told me here in Santiago.
Isn't gringo a slur? Just checking
Who ever did the work, Thanks. Whoever survived, good.
Get back to work and fix the problem. Step away from the sandbox you will get ringworm.
Lira's article, in my opinion, lets out some of the resentment of people all over the world, but especially Latin America, against the US. To understand it one would have to review the history of US interventions in Latin America, never on the side of the people, and always on the side of the same oligarchy of late so criticized in this blog.
I may be ashamed of U.S. foreign policy, the general ignorant public, crony capitalism, the FED, Goldman Sachs and the socialism sweeping the States. But goddammit I am one american who is not going anywhere, not going to lay down and still flies the same flag my great grandfather did. IMHO, the americans posting on zerohedge need to cut back on the whining and instead find the courage to restore liberty in the U.S.A. God knows, China sure as hell isn't going to do it.
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/2008/summary_summary.html
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You mean that putting the giant foam finger with "USA" stenciled on it and chanting "We're number one!" isn't cutting it any more?
This is one of the rare times I am leaning toward agreeing with Gonzalo. Not on everything, as there is some evidence that US-derived technical assistance did go a long way. But in the spirit of destroying the village to save it, it strikes me that TPTB have destroyed the American Way in the name of saving it.
Yup, someone has to pull USA out of Jackson's Hole.
To restate the article in a different way, the ENTIRE government of the USSA is corrupt. The entire administration is corrupt predators. The entire congress and senate are corrupt predators. The entire court system is corrupt predators. The entire realm of large corporations is corrupt predators.
Virtually 100% of the problems of the USSA today were created by the predators-that-be. Result: not one single big-shot has gone to jail, even as several million individuals in government and corporations deserve to be hung for treason and crimes against humanity.
There is not even one powerful individual in so-called authority that any individual can trust. Perhaps the only individual who might be mostly trustworthy (RonPaul) has no power whatsoever... he often votes alone, as the sole "no" to the egregious treason that occur daily.
Any individual who thinks like an [real] engineer, like a real, honest, ethical, reality-focused problem solver --- is prevented from coming anywhere near the "levers of power".
Increasingly, americans have given up, have decided "there is no hope for the honest", and have joined the swollen ranks of dishonest, unethical liars who seek any way to gain unearned advantages.
The USSA is rotten to the core... with apologies to the 1% who remain honest and ethical to the last. The USSA must die if america is ever to return. Very unlikely.
We are at an extremely nasty time in history. In earlier times, there was generally some frontier or other for those who refused to become corrupted to explore and make life work on their own, or perish trying. Today, the frontiers have been purposely blocked by the predators that be, for they wish to control all sentient life in the universe, without exception. This is why space habitation has been thwarted, for example. From zero to men landing on the moon in 9 years... followed by zero advancement if not regression in the past 31 years. This is no coincidence.
The predators-that-be are recreating the dark ages, where humans feel hopeless. The predators-that-be are certainly "winning", they are destroying the civilized world of honesty, ethics, justice and individualism... and replacing it with the new dark age of pyramid power structure, dishonesty, propaganda, endless rules and regulations, endless prohibitions, endless requirements, arbitrary non-justice by corrupt "authorities", and the exact opposite of individualism.
In the end, this is the history of mankind, the war between predators and producers. To be sure, the predators are winning today - hands down. Will mankind wake up and throw off these vile cretins? So far, no positive signs.
Wonderful summary, Ann. And very honest, too. You chose a good nom-de-plume!
As you suggest, we need a new system to replace the 100+ year onslaught of the Keynesian-Fabian central planners to create a system in which they have centralised power and corruption to the point where it is about to go supernova!
My preference is for the aftermath to be one of anarcho-capitalism -- wherein each individual is his own sovereign -- but I harbour no illusion that any more than 1% of the populace is in any way prepared for the personal responsibility that that would entail. Indeed, I suspect we are at least 3 generations away from such enlightenment!
However, if we could at least turn the socialistm meltdown back to what the founding fathers envisaged -- a constitutional republic of 50 competing sovereign states, keeping each other in check while working for a common good, under the light hand of a very small central government for defense and bugger-all else beyond protecting individual sovereign rights -- then at least the central planning globalists would be thwarted!
Though the founding fathers were misguided in their trust of a small central government remaining that way for more than just a few weeks (until the first cushy deal between a legislator and his bribe-paying buddies), at least we could get the populace on board until one or more of those states could demonstrate the joys of private enterprise with no taxation and no government (now that they all know the end result of central government running/ruining everyone's lives)!
Maybe a Second American Experiment is still possible?
PS. Good choice to get out before the implosion. :)
Ooops, 2 steps back Gonzalo.
Right sentiments -USA is exhausted and defeatist- but remember (apart from all the technology used to help the miners) good-ol' Uncle Sam still had time to send free sunglasses.
They're lucky they were in Chile. Massey Coal would have abandoned them to their fate.