Possibilities?

Liberating Provocations: use of negative and paradoxical strategies (Part #10)

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Assumptions are readily made with respect to the desirability of leaders as exemplars of "positive" change. It is assumed, for example, that highly ethical leadership encourages emulation of such qualities by the population as a whole, and by those reporting to the leadership. However there is a strong case for ensuring that leaders of extremely dubious ethical quality are elected to the highest institutional positions in society on the grounds that "positive" qualities are evoked in the population to counter-balance such "negative" influences. From a systemic perspective, it is possible that unconsciously a population may evoke "negative" leaders in situations where the health of society can only be effectively ensured by the "positive" impact they have on the population as a whole.

This would be a reassuring perspective at a time when the leadership in most modern national and international institutions, even at the highest level, is characterised by extremely suspect ethical standards [more]. It would certainly be a creative way of explaining the election of a former Nazi to the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 -- and subsequently to the presidency of Austria from 1986 to 1992. It would also be helpful to understanding the value of raising a person who advocates perverse legal policies on torture to head the US justice system in 2004 and appointment of the key architect of the Iraq war as president of what is supposed to be the world's largest development agency in 2005 [more].

In this light, given the admiration of George Bush for the Roman Empire, is there any possibility that he may follow the initiative of Emperor Gaius Caligula (37-41 A.D) in nominating his horse, Incitatus, as consul -- perhaps as ambassador to the United Nations, or even as Secretary-General? The Texan town of Lajitas, has repeatedly elected as mayor Clay Henry III -- a goat, thus adding to the pioneering efforts of Saucisse another precedent for animal leadership in human affairs.

With the subtle insights of the movie Being There (Peter Sellers, 1979) concerning the ambiguity of intelligence in those elected to public office, the World Social Forum could campaign for a gorilla or an owl as a more suitable candidate for high office in these times. Perhaps more should be understood from the statement of Pope Benedict XII on his unanimous election: "You have elected a jackass!" On the other hand, members of Damanhur, an intentional community, now adopt the names of endangered species -- including gorillas -- to engage in their community conceived as an ecosystem [more]. This echoes the practice of tribes in which individuals associate themselves with particular totemic animals.

Perhaps George Bush's favourite cat, Cowboy, now dead, could have made history in this regard, surpassing Bill Clinton's "First Cat" Socks, who had its own well-used White House email address [more | more]. In the light of Caligula's relation to Incitatus, in seeking office perhaps cowboy presidential candidates should have a horse as a vice-presidential running mate -- Zorro and Toronado, Roy Rogers and Trigger, Don Quixote and Rocinante -- given the proven public appeal of such a team. For the voting population of the future from whom "new thinking" will be required, the "Harry Potter" stories are a reminder of alternative sources of wisdom through characterisation of such "familiars" -- and owls such as Hedwig. In this regard it is curious that although Incitatus was also nominated for the priesthood, the closest that animals in the west get to being treated as sacred is when they become endangered national symbols (as with the American Bald Eagle). Whereas Asian cultures, for example, not only treat some animals as sacred (eg the Hindu cow), but even accept blessings from them (eg from elephants as an incarnation of Ganesh)

A form of "perverse strategy", articulated as Freudian twist by Josep-Anton Fernández (Another Country: Sexuality and National Identity in Catalan Gay Fiction, 2000) describes Terenci Moix's subjection of himself to the discipline of canon constitution in an attempt to subvert the Catalan institution from within. For those who question the insight of the professionally trained, there is a case for including in such training a period of experience as the object of such services. Physicians scheduled for responsibility for mental institutions could profitably be signed in (incognito) as "involuntary" patients. Members of the legal profession, and those responsible for penal institutions, could similarly benift from temporary incarceration.

Through Art in Defence of Humanism, the Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot specializes in donating large-scale, provocative "Pillar of Shame" statues to countries complicit in human rights abuses to provoke recognition of that complicity; also "Survival of the Fattest" statutes to highlight the imbalanced distribution of the world's resources. Several have been accepted and place prominently in public places. War museums and memorials of atrocities also serve the purpose of "painful reminders", though their messages may be multiple and the paradoxical benefits diluted.

The Cannibal Flesh Donor Program has none of these ambiguities. When you become a flesh donor, you agree to donate your body, in the event of your death, for human consumption. This has direct benefits for sustainable agriculture and food availability for the 6.4 billion humans on this planet. "The real beauty of the Cannibal Flesh Donor Program is that it doesn't require the citizens of the industrialized first world nations to relinquish flesh from their diets". This follows the notorious suggestion of Jonathan Swift (A Modest Proposal -- for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public, 1729).

Rather than tolerate the present levels of mass slaughter and genocide, why not encourage, through international competitions, the design of even more efficient forms of "gas chamber" to facilitate the next Holocaust? But, of course, this is already done (as with the thermobaric weapons currently used in Iraq), thanks to the military-industrial complex and its complicit community of scientists and technologists -- who mistakenly keep their achievements secret for fear of disapproval. Should they not be duly honoured for their contribution to human civilisation ? A new category of Nobel Prize -- for "population reduction" to ensure the spread of democracy and survival of humanity -- consistent with the activities from which the Nobel prize funds originally derived?

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