It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of
a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into
privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing
algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the
planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times. In July, George W. Bush was offered a deal in which Muslim nations (none bordering Iraq) would contribute troops to provide security to the U.N. mission preparing for a democratic election in January 2005. George W. Bush rejected the deal because the U.N., not Bush, would be in charge of the troops. As a result, the U.N. has decided to maintain a staff of only 35 to handle humanitarian and elections duties. (Source: Reuters October 19, 2004) Return to the Irregular Times Main Page
Read our Blog Archives
|