Mahogany: Governance/Terrorism

A Story by Abishai100

Gods and goddesses convene to talk about the value of democracy in modern dialogue about sociopolitical troubles between coexisting groups in Northern Ireland!

I felt the personal spiritual need to add just one more important and symbolic vignette about the terrible troubles between British Protestants and Irish Catholics in Belfast (Northern Ireland), and this last tale of this sort was inspired by the important Alan J. Pakula film The Devil's Own.

Thanks so much (signing off),

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The Hindu gods Shiva (master of destruction) and Vishnu (master of protection) met to talk about the problems between British Parliament (BP) and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) in Northern Ireland and the impact of such troubles on 21st Century pro-globalization politics. The world was interested in commerce and dialogue, and problems regarding anti-British rule in Belfast (Northern Ireland) would spell more terrorism and conflict between British Protestants and Irish Catholics living side-by-side. The Irish were concerned about economic iniquity in Northern Ireland, and Shiva and Vishnu hoped to evaluate how these difficulties could catalyze undesirable anti-globalization terrorism. This was a real modern issue requiring creative or even 'divine' solutions, which is why Shiva and Vishnu convened!

SHIVA: The Provisionals assembled after the Easter Rising.
VISHNU: Things got pretty complex in the era of Eamon de Valera.
SHIVA: Yes, de Valera wanted a whole Ireland, not just Dublin.

VISHNU: Belfast was given to the British because of a Protestant majority.
SHIVA: Thus, the Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland became a minority!

VISHNU: So, now we see much dissatisfaction among the Irish in Belfast.

SHIVA: Let's intervene in the matters of men on Earth to establish commercial peace.

VISHNU: Commerce is the hallmark of 21st Century securities!
SHIVA: It's why America elected a capitalism-baron as its President.
VISHNU: We can negotiate with the Protestants and Catholics in Belfast.

SHIVA: We can determine how to choreograph commerce with politics!
VISHNU: To do so would mean more peaceful interactions between conflicting groups.

SHIVA: There's trouble afoot if non-Islamic countries are fighting.
VISHNU: Yes, that's not unlike North Korea escalating troubles with America.
SHIVA: It'd be more ideal if America was only concerned with Middle East problems.

VISHNU: True; and that's why problems with Belfast and the British spell real danger!
SHIVA: So let's evaluate why the Irish have for such a long time refused British rule.
VISHNU: Irish Catholics simply feel they're too different from British Protestants.
SHIVA: Perhaps Provisional Irish Republican Army rhetoric is akin to sociocultural schisms.
VISHNU: Can this schism be resolved with lifestyle rhetoric?
SHIVA: It can if we can wrought ideological 'aesthetics' from cultural flair!
VISHNU: What do you propose --- Provisional Irish Republican Army sandwiches?
SHIVA: How about Irish Republican Army breakfast napkins?

While Shiva and Vishnu continued evaluating how to wrought commercial peace in Northern Ireland between Irish Catholics who felt they were in multiple cases under-represented by British Parliament, the Hindu goddesses Kali (goddess of anarchy), Lakshmi (goddess of patience), and Saryaswati (goddess of learning) convened to see what women could add to this conversation about European peace amidst 21st Century high-commerce traffic! Kali believed in war, while Lakshmi and Saryaswati believed in creativity. They wanted to see what Shiva and Vishnu would do to offer words of insight to Irish and British and forge peaceful bridges that would bring an end to troubles, conflicts, and of course, terrorism! They didn't want to feel like this issue of global peace would leave out the input of women!

KALI: The problems with the Irish spell anarchy!
LAKSHMI: We must encourage free-speech.
SARYASWATI: Maybe there're consumerism solutions.

KALI: Consumerism --- like toys and cheeseburgers?
LAKSHMI: How about robot-toys symbolizing intelligence?
SARYASWATI: Sure; robots signify war and peace to humans.

KALI: Alright, we'll tell Shiva and Vishnu to talk about robot-toys.
LAKSHMI: The distribution of such toys among youngsters would encourage dialogue.
SARYASWATI: Consumerism could encourage peace contemplation!

KALI: I doubt Shiva and Vishnu were thinking seriously about toys.

LAKSHMI: We can contribute a toy-dialogue regarding Parliamentary impact!

SARYASWATI: Yes, we can talk about how the British trade freely with America and like American toys!

Meanwhile, Shiva and Vishnu considered the concept of toy-marketing for the IRA problems with British Parliament quite shaky, since basically, terrorism would not be so easily dispelled by colorful toy shopping! However, Shiva and Vishnu liked what the goddesses were saying about the potential of, say, Christmastime consumerism affecting how Irish Catholic and British Protestant youngsters would daydream about peace in Northern Ireland. After all, these kids would grow up and see more and more of their older brothers (and sisters!) dress up in 'uniform' and play 'war games' regarding IRA-Parliament paranoia!

Shiva and Vishnu decided to tell Irish leaders and artists to start marketing and promoting the Transformers (Hasbro) leadership-avatar Ultra Magnus, a blue-and-red colored robot-toy who transformed into a heavy transport truck equipped for serious battle. If Irish Catholic kids in Belfast played with Ultra Magnus robot-toys alongside British Protestant kids in playgrounds, they might think less fearfully about war and more idealistically about imaginations of peace. Shiva and Vishnu agreed Ultra Magnus was an ideal robot-toy for their mission!

Meanwhile, the Hindu goddesses (Kali, Lakshmi, Saryaswati) chose as a female Transformers (Hasbro) toy the heroic warrior-robot Greenlight who transformed into an awesome land-vehicle. They'd tell Irish girls and British girls living side-by-side in Belfast (Northern Ireland) how Greenlight was a colorful and sweet female robot-toy who symbolized daydreams about democracy, peace, imagination, and fair-play. Thus began an intriguing conversation about creative links between consumerism/capitalism and social consciousness!

However, there were still serious pro-war advocates in Northern Ireland such as PIRA (Provisional Irish Republican Army) 'angel' Ajay Satan who was half-Algerian and half-Irish. Ajay Satan believed the only way to oust the British from Ireland altogether was to keep in mind all the work and battles between the IRA and British military/police over the years and how the Irish Catholics simply found British Protestants intolerable to live with in Northern Ireland! Ajay Satan didn't want to think about why or how robot-toys could encourage British policy-makers to recognize the need for more Irish Catholic rights and sovereignty in Belfast. Would the role and voice of men like Ajay Satan drown out modern cries for commerce-oriented peace imagination?

Fortunately, there were key figures in Western media (e.g., Hollywood, D.C., etc.) who were getting more and more interested in pro-globalization politics. These new age society role-models were 'celebrities' and considered media torchlights in this new atmosphere of imaginarium-driven free-speech. After all, D.C. politicians cared about the marketing of politically incendiary films such as J. Edgar (Leonardo DiCaprio) and The Contender (Joan Allen)! Perhaps new age actresses, very attractive on screen and in the media, would remind the Western world of the power of entertainment (and hence consumerism!) in this imaginative age of virtual networking. That was the hope anyways.

The super-celebrity Tom Cruise, himself intrigued by both American and European politics, had read quite a bit about Irish troubles and Parliamentary worries in the United Kingdom (UK) and hoped to add some meaningful dialogue using his media role-model status. Cruise talked about how various American Presidents had gotten involved in Belfast politics and were eager to see commercial bridges forged between Dublin (Ireland) and Belfast (Northern Ireland), which would create more dialogue in the British Parliament! Unfortunately, Hollywood (USA) wasn't as involved in politics as non-American media networks such as Al Jazeera (Muslim-TV), so celebrities like Tom Cruise still eagerly awaited a time when media would be more practically equated with modern social missions!

Meanwhile, Shiva and Vishnu continued talking about the marketing of Transformers (Hasbro) toys such as Warpath, a mahogany-colored war-robot toy who transformed into an impressive tank. Would a toy like Warpath be used in creative new age dialogue about the role of consumerism, cinema, and entertainment in the promotion of peace-imagination, especially in this developed age of high commercial dialogue (e.g., Wall Street)? After all, kids didn't understand money, but they certainly appreciated the social value of creative play!

SHIVA: Kids shouldn't play with water-guns.

VISHNU: Maybe kids of Irish Republican Army sympathizers should play video-games!

SHIVA: Sure; video-games promote creative thoughts about real-life and synthesizing rationalism.

VISHNU: Maybe there're war-games (video-games) that can be marketed alongside robot-toys!

SHIVA: That sounds cool; maybe a major video-game company like Konami can branch out in Ireland.

VISHNU: Let's encourage that.

Americans liked education and college fraternities and sororities that promoted social networking and clubs! On the campuses of major Ivy League schools such as Dartmouth, symbolic fraternities and sororities such as Delta Tau Delta (DTD) believed in encouraging their members to become advocates of the business world and democratic world. These fraternities and sororities threw elaborate campus parties that reminded everyone why Americans cherished social networking. How could such social activity be coordinated with modern network activity to promote more bridges between consumerism and politics (e.g., Planet Hollywood, alumni fanzines, etc.)?

Peace requires attention to detail and beauty, so the advocacy of creativity in modern problems related to war and terrorism require serious thought and draw in the interest of serious thinkers such as Shiva and Vishnu! What will this mean for the legacy of human imagination?

Consumerism isn't a formula for peace, but it certainly encourages lifestyle imagination. People simply like the convenience of finding tasty sandwiches at affordable prices at fast-food restaurants such as White Castle in America and Europe! Commerce an indeed be wed to politics and lifestyle without teetering on the errors of the past such as fascism and blind nationalism. That's what intrigued Shiva and Vishnu --- not sandwiches but currency!

Besides, there were plenty of attractive fashion-models who could make consumerism and capitalism feel more...human! That's what drew in the interest of the Hindu goddesses Kali, Lakshmi, and Saryaswati who just wanted to see Irish Catholics and British Protestants in Belfast (Northern Ireland) think more freely about the 'beauty' of lifestyle intelligence. Wasn't consumerism after all a form of sane vanity?

Movies, toys, robot-toys, fast-food, and entertainment itself is a kind of social medicine. Shiva and Vishnu wanted to see more talk about the healthy promotion of commerce and toys as arms of a new way of thinking promoting peace. They realized the Hindu goddesses were correct about linking consumerism/capitalism with lifestyle-politics and hoped to see more talk about the 'medicine' of imaginariums!