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Thursday, January 19, 2017

Como hacer un Dios... Or the Making of a God.




By Roberto Rodriguez



Como hacer un Dios... Or the Making of a God.



That is where we find ourselves today, on a divine path to the White House. While this may sound hyperbolic; it is not. Somewhat metaphorical perhaps, but an exaggeration it is not. This is much more ominous than simply giving a con artist, with a juvenile delinquent mentality, the keys to the White House.



The nation is on the verge of installing its next president, not simply a mentally unstable and narcissistic charlatan – who is not simply a failed and vindictive businessman, with lots of unresolved conflicts of interests – but who in his own mind, is a God-in-waiting. Perhaps the only real question is what kind of God?



An ethically-challenged God of money, greed, fraud, debt and Other Peoples’ Property and Other Peoples’ Money?



A God of obfuscation, smoke and mirrors, mis-education and mis-Information?



A racial supremacist, xenophobic, misogynist, materialistic, megalomaniac and vainglorious God?



A tyrannical, all-knowing, all-seeing and omnipotent God?



An arrogant God that humiliates and demands and rewards 100% loyalty and delights in never-ending exaltation?



A pompous, deceiving, pathologically lying, jealous, judgmental, vengeful, punishing and wrathful God?



A petty, discriminating, angry, hateful, bullying and violent God?



A fear-mongering, God of war, conquest, ethnic cleansing, profit, exploitation, subjugation and domination?



Oddly, these qualities seem very familiar, and yet, he himself has no actual God-like qualities that would make even his own admirers think of him as such, unless we indeed are talking about a god of evil.



To be remembered is that his DNA requires that he be constantly praised in public. Without doubt, he is a mentally deranged man who craves adulation and who would not be satisfied with simply being a strongman president. Even dictator, King, Pharaoh or Emperor would not suffice for his delusional designs.



While some people think he is a Godless dyed-in-the-wool materialist, the truth is, he actually believes in God… when it serves his purpose and wallet. Professing his mediocre book as second only to the Bible, as the greatest book ever, that was blasphemy, though really but show, but also very telling of his delusional self-aggrandizement. Remember, he knows not even one Bible verse, except maybe the one about 2 Corinthians. Yet, he believes in destiny, his own, and that of the unfinished business of Manifest Destiny… of taking all the land from the savages, Providence really. Heaven on Earth. He is surrounded by religious doomsday fanatics that have encouraged him to believe that he alone will bring it about, and thus, he gets to enrich himself, while they get their doomsday. Oh… and his cosmovision, he sees savages everywhere, from Standing Rock to the U.S./Mexico border… that’s why he has lent his support for the pipeline and why he has called for the building of the Wall… and for the uncivilized nation to the south to pay for his wall.



There is something about walls and towers that give us a clue about his God-complex. He doesn’t believe that he is doing God’s bidding, but that he himself is an infallible God. A Supreme God. Simply being the ruler of one nation is not enough. Even his designs for his own Mexican wall would have to eventually come down in favor of towers across the globe. Tall ones, huge ones, located everywhere; all bearing his name and perhaps even his likeness too. Towers and walls equal power and strength, and yet, even using the presidency to create the largest corporation in the world would not suffice.



That he received some 3 million votes less than his opponent, which reportedly gets under his skin, means he will never have what is minimally required to run a country: the ability to say that the American people chose him, and legitimation. Though that is not what he seeks. Arguably, what he seeks is legitimation as Lord.



To simply see him as another money-grubbing, war-mongering Dick Cheney is to not understand that he seeks more than money, power and domination. He wants adulation from his subjects, and more than anything, he wants his “enemies that he defeated” to bow down and effusively praise him, always.



We may never get to see his wall – as he envisions it – go up, despite the fact that he sees it as his consummate Tower. But actual towers, yes. He needs to see more of them across the globe with his name in bright lights and will probably continue to make such deals, unless Congress checks him. Also, unless Congress checks him, perhaps we will soon be seeing oversized portraits of him everywhere, perhaps even huge statutes of him. And temples? Those indeed are his towers. What is missing is a name for this new God.

For him, God is money and money is God, and thus, perhaps from that equation his name will arise (MOOLAH?). Getting Congress to put him on Mt. Rushmore or his face on a $100 bill; probably a good bet, though not sufficient for this man with an oversized and overinflated ego.



Anyone wanting to oppose him simply as a potential ruthless and self-enriching dictator will miss the entire point, and thus will be ineffective. More than control, power and money, he wants to be worshipped. Our recent election shows us that he indeed has many worshippers, though not quite enough to his liking.



Someone please give him a name: The Swamp God works for me.


Rodriguez is an associate professor at the University of Arizona and can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com

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Wednesday, January 18, 2017

ARIZONA MOVES TO BAN SOCIAL JUSTICE & ACADEMIC FREEDOM

With the legitimacy of the president-elect in question, not a few people believe that the nation is on the verge of a constitutional crisis. Yet whatever people have feared about the future of the country, in Arizona we have already been living this crisis for 10 years now, especially in the realm of education. And it is about to get worse, as lawmakers have introduced legislation that would have the effect of banning social justice classes, activities and events, from K-12, to colleges and universities statewide. For rest of column, go to:
http://diverseeducation.com/article/91252/

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

THE MIS-COUNTED OF 2016 AND FALSE NARRATIVE OF POLICE ABUSE


On Dec. 12, 2016, as 73-year-old Francisco Serna stepped outside of his house and walked across the street toward seven armed Bakersfield, Calif., police officers, he was felled by 7 bullets, fired by one of them. While police thought that Serna had a gun in his pocket, they never saw a gun, nor did he have one. For rest of column, go to: http://diverseeducation.com/article/91022/