Recently the author Sebastian Horsley was denied access to the USA to launch his new book (Dandy in the Underground) on the grounds of “moral turpitude”. A confused Horsley complained that he was “feeling quite well” and went on to point out that “I’ve never drunk turpentine in my life.” (Reuters)
Perhaps Horsley had missed something for the US state dept. defines moral turpitude for the purposes of refusing someone entry to the USA as being “conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty, or good morals”.
Or maybe Horsley hadn’t missed a thing. He has written an honest autobiography of life spent in the British underworld and it is a cautionary tale as much as anything else.
Horsley had spent much of his life addicted to drugs, frequenting prostitutes and selling his own body as a rent boy. Well, at least he was no hypocrite as in the case of the recently resigned Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, who recently stepped down after being linked to a prostitution ring in his own state where he had campaigned for years to eradicate the “vice” of paying for sex.
It seems that we are led to believe that Addiction to drugs for one is not to be seen in the same category as an addiction to the tenants of consumerism, shopping, eating fast food and drinking the coke (a large glass/mug/carton thing you can get in the USA contains up to 48 teaspoons of sugar in it…). A compulsion to fornicate – even with prostitutes – is seen as more degraded than someone who sits in front of porn all day/night long… now just what is going on… Addiction surely is addiction, and the problem of addiction lies not in the object of addiction but in the mind set of one who is addicted…to be addicted to one thing or another is as bad as being addicted to anything else, no matter who sells it or says that no one else can have any.
So, as a community we have sanctioned advertisements all over the media that fundamentally seek to get people addicted to (their) product(s). Products that is, and lifestyles, that are sold for profits. Bottom line. And the aim of this is a life long “loyalty” to a brand or object. This goes for everything from food to services, from cosmetics to automobiles. Now, the root of the problem with addiction as far as one can rationally see it is that once addicted a person looses something of what it is to be free. To need to have one thing or other – beyond sustenance – removes an important element in the process of choice making and thereby reduces that person’s liberty. Is this not the real problem?
To blindly belief that more is always better, even if that has to result in less for others, has got to be how the US State Dept would define a drug users dependence, where the user who has developed a compulsion (however irrational that may be…) to consume more of the said drug to get the same fix is in a vicious downward spiral. This can apparently justify in the mind of an addict stealing from another in order to fund that addiction. And often enough it is true to say that this theft from others does not even register on the moral compass of an addict.
Now for honesty. Does the situation described not fit just about every single body who has bought into the great American dream? I will do all in my power to increase my material lot even at the expense of my neighbour would be a good enough motto for any good true upstanding American. At the extreme end of this madness you have certain Christians who believe that there is only so much room in heaven and that everybody else will burn for eternity in hell suffering to extents that are unimaginable in this life. These Christians will gloat openly throughout their lives about this imagined fact; well, I can’t wait to meet them all in hell…
Remember that the State Dept defines moral turpitude in terms of Community justices etc. Community not Ideological…
The great American dream is harmful to communities. Something like 30% of Americans do Not have full or any health cover. The American dream has created a society where if you are rushed to hospital in an emergency the first thing that doctors may do is check your wallet for credit cards… the American dream has created a society that has recently sanctioned the use of torture within its system of justice. The American dream has created a society that accepts racist foreign and domestic policy. The American dream has created a society where the Statue of Liberty is closed to the public until further notice.
The American dream has created a society that has denied an author access to its country on the grounds of his apparent moral deviations from their own little understood beliefs. Whatever this is reminiscent of is unimportant in some ways. What is important is that it is happening and it is being allowed to happen. America seems to be suffering a great deal at this time, it is engaging itself and its people in illegal and morally corrupt wars world wide for the sake of Profit and Oil and Power and to bolster its massive Defence Industry (note on doublethink - for defence please read Attack), it has eroded what was one of the finest constitutions in recorded history as well as run itself bankrupt. Although we do need sympathy for this falling star, we also need to be realistic and portray this monster in its true image.
So here’s to hoping that Horsley does eventually get to visit, and that his book does help a broken people understand themselves better, and maybe even come off the terrible drugs that so many of our cousins across the Atlantic are suffering so much while on.
The incident in itself is minor. It is not significant in itself – or at least in the context of all things considered. It is, however another straw in what is rapidly becoming an unlit bonfire, and when it does flare up – probably by some trivial incident such as this one just described – it will go up in roaring unforgiving flames leaving nothing but ashes. But maybe all we can hope is that as well as those ashes some memories remain such as the ideas of True Liberty that once underpinned a beautiful American Dream.
Perhaps Horsley had missed something for the US state dept. defines moral turpitude for the purposes of refusing someone entry to the USA as being “conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty, or good morals”.
Or maybe Horsley hadn’t missed a thing. He has written an honest autobiography of life spent in the British underworld and it is a cautionary tale as much as anything else.
Horsley had spent much of his life addicted to drugs, frequenting prostitutes and selling his own body as a rent boy. Well, at least he was no hypocrite as in the case of the recently resigned Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, who recently stepped down after being linked to a prostitution ring in his own state where he had campaigned for years to eradicate the “vice” of paying for sex.
It seems that we are led to believe that Addiction to drugs for one is not to be seen in the same category as an addiction to the tenants of consumerism, shopping, eating fast food and drinking the coke (a large glass/mug/carton thing you can get in the USA contains up to 48 teaspoons of sugar in it…). A compulsion to fornicate – even with prostitutes – is seen as more degraded than someone who sits in front of porn all day/night long… now just what is going on… Addiction surely is addiction, and the problem of addiction lies not in the object of addiction but in the mind set of one who is addicted…to be addicted to one thing or another is as bad as being addicted to anything else, no matter who sells it or says that no one else can have any.
So, as a community we have sanctioned advertisements all over the media that fundamentally seek to get people addicted to (their) product(s). Products that is, and lifestyles, that are sold for profits. Bottom line. And the aim of this is a life long “loyalty” to a brand or object. This goes for everything from food to services, from cosmetics to automobiles. Now, the root of the problem with addiction as far as one can rationally see it is that once addicted a person looses something of what it is to be free. To need to have one thing or other – beyond sustenance – removes an important element in the process of choice making and thereby reduces that person’s liberty. Is this not the real problem?
To blindly belief that more is always better, even if that has to result in less for others, has got to be how the US State Dept would define a drug users dependence, where the user who has developed a compulsion (however irrational that may be…) to consume more of the said drug to get the same fix is in a vicious downward spiral. This can apparently justify in the mind of an addict stealing from another in order to fund that addiction. And often enough it is true to say that this theft from others does not even register on the moral compass of an addict.
Now for honesty. Does the situation described not fit just about every single body who has bought into the great American dream? I will do all in my power to increase my material lot even at the expense of my neighbour would be a good enough motto for any good true upstanding American. At the extreme end of this madness you have certain Christians who believe that there is only so much room in heaven and that everybody else will burn for eternity in hell suffering to extents that are unimaginable in this life. These Christians will gloat openly throughout their lives about this imagined fact; well, I can’t wait to meet them all in hell…
Remember that the State Dept defines moral turpitude in terms of Community justices etc. Community not Ideological…
The great American dream is harmful to communities. Something like 30% of Americans do Not have full or any health cover. The American dream has created a society where if you are rushed to hospital in an emergency the first thing that doctors may do is check your wallet for credit cards… the American dream has created a society that has recently sanctioned the use of torture within its system of justice. The American dream has created a society that accepts racist foreign and domestic policy. The American dream has created a society where the Statue of Liberty is closed to the public until further notice.
The American dream has created a society that has denied an author access to its country on the grounds of his apparent moral deviations from their own little understood beliefs. Whatever this is reminiscent of is unimportant in some ways. What is important is that it is happening and it is being allowed to happen. America seems to be suffering a great deal at this time, it is engaging itself and its people in illegal and morally corrupt wars world wide for the sake of Profit and Oil and Power and to bolster its massive Defence Industry (note on doublethink - for defence please read Attack), it has eroded what was one of the finest constitutions in recorded history as well as run itself bankrupt. Although we do need sympathy for this falling star, we also need to be realistic and portray this monster in its true image.
So here’s to hoping that Horsley does eventually get to visit, and that his book does help a broken people understand themselves better, and maybe even come off the terrible drugs that so many of our cousins across the Atlantic are suffering so much while on.
The incident in itself is minor. It is not significant in itself – or at least in the context of all things considered. It is, however another straw in what is rapidly becoming an unlit bonfire, and when it does flare up – probably by some trivial incident such as this one just described – it will go up in roaring unforgiving flames leaving nothing but ashes. But maybe all we can hope is that as well as those ashes some memories remain such as the ideas of True Liberty that once underpinned a beautiful American Dream.
hesq.,
DEAD FLAG BLUES - God Speed You Black Emperor.
and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides
and a dark wind blows
the government is corrupt
the government is corrupt
and we're on so many drugs
with the radio on and the curtains drawn
we're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
we're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
and the machine is bleeding to death
the sun has fallen down
the sun has fallen down
and the billboards are all leering
and the flags are all dead at the top of their poles
it went like this:
the buildings tumbled in on themselves
it went like this:
the buildings tumbled in on themselves
mothers clutching babies picked through the rubble
and pulled out their hair
the skyline was beautiful on fire
the skyline was beautiful on fire
all twisted metal stretching upwards
everything washed in a thin orange haze
i said:
i said:
"kiss me, you're beautiful -
these are truly the last days"
you grabbed my hand and we fell into it
like a daydream or a fever
we woke up one morning and fell a little further down -
we woke up one morning and fell a little further down -
for sure it's the valley of death
i open up my wallet
and it's full of blood.
God Speed You.
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