I'm a huge fan of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. His new season started up last night, and as a true junkie, I was watching. His panel guests were Joe Biden, Tommy Thompson, and Robin Williams. The only downside was, given Robin Williams' propensity to be stream-of-consciousness in his commentary, there was really very little space left for the others' (I particularly wanted to hear Biden) point of view.
The panel, however, seized on an interesting thought:
Don Cheadle, recently of "Hotel Rwanda" acclaim, was a special guest towards the end. The subject naturally turned to the Sudan and Darfur, and to a flat declaration by Cheadle that while the US government bickers over whether Darfur is a genocide vs. a civil uprising, people die horrible deaths. Point very well taken.
Maher's observation was more subtle. He commented generally that these "uprisings" seem to occur when outside forces take groups or parties in the minority (for example, the Tutsis) and back them over that of the majority. The minority, then, knowing that they ARE a minority, mobilize other tactics to keep and increase power. The parallel was immediately drawn as well to past Iraqi policy where the US advocated the Sunni minority rising to power to supress the Shiites, which the US found dangerous and volatile.
The conversation then turned generally to empowering the minority to speak for the majority and how injustices propagate as a result of that minority maintaining power. Although the point following was not overtly made, the clear implication was made back to the US: what I heard in the discussion was a clear statement of well-organized, well-funded minorities seizing power in the US and mobilizing their "machines" to keep power. The clear underlayment was a statement that we (the US) are only slightly better than or roughly equal to terrorizing regimes (Sudan, Rwanda, Saddam-era Iraq, Bosnia etc.) and that we further turn around and support and foment regimes that lead to equal unrest. We are our own worst enemy, in other words, and as long as we allow this minority to speak for us, we will find ourselves in this situation. I found that whole line of thinking very interesting and gilded by a strong thread of truth. It seems so obvious once put together, but it was pretty interesting to come to the realization.
Was I the only one who heard it that way?