"Great Men" - Yeah, right!!

It’s interesting how we decide someone is a “Great Man.” William H. Rehnquist is recently dead, and there’s no shortage of copy depicting him as an intelligent, educated man who demonstrated efficiency, good humor and absolute impartiality – one headline says, “CHIEF JUSTICE LEFT LARGE IMPRINT ON COURT.” Yet he was always determined to screw the people: choosing to champion state support of superstition in public schools, restrictions on affirmative action, and urine tests for students – Rehnquist, the great man, believed high school kids should both be ALLOWED to pray and FORCED to piss in a bottle. Yes sir! A “Great Man” resting in peace – at last.

Consider Ronald Reagan, the Great Man. His admirers are working overtime to get SOMETHING named after him in EVERY county in the US of A! For a long time they were pushing the Gipper’s face for inclusion on Mt. Rushmore.

Although Alzheimer’s probably had a grip on Ronnie BEFORE he left office, he never WAS as dim as “W” is now, but he was certainly no bright bulb either. Breaking unions, playing up to racists, creating tremendous deficits that could be used as an excuse to cut the safety net, mouthing platitudes against “The Evil Empire”; Ronnie was no “Great Man” of the people. He WAS, though, a “Great Man” of the people who own this country.

And there you have it, the two major criterion for designation as “a Great Man.”

One must first “leave a large imprint,” and – secondly – that imprint must serve the ruling class, the few at the top who pull the strings to benefit themselves at the expense of the people.

“History” is overrun with “Great Men”: All the wealthy “Great Men” who led our “revolution” against England (sending “little men” out to die to improve the Great Men’s position in the economy, even though if the war were to prove successful, the little men would not be allowed to vote); The “Great” Carnegie’s and Morgan’s and all the Robber Barons who connived and bullied and killed to steal what they wanted – they are all revered today – Great Men all – BECAUSE they “left a large imprint” and were OF the ruling class, benefiting themselves and lesser elites by the abuse of the people.

Cecil Rhodes is a great man too. Bill Clinton and many others benefited from a Rhodes scholarship. Cecil was a cunning and heartless man, but since he succeeded and made a lot of money, it doesn’t matter how many people’s deaths he caused or how much pain and degradation he caused – he’s a Great Man! Sure, some of the folks who died to please Cecil Rhodes were white and of Dutch descent, but most were just Africans.

Then, there’s J. Edgar Hoover, a closet homosexual who dressed up in women’s clothes and kept his male lover nearby as his assistant for years and who relentlessly persecuted other homosexuals who didn’t measure up to his reactionary political standards. This Great Man is STILL a Great Man, with D.C. buildings emblazoned by his name, even though the reactionary ruling class pretends to hate gays in order to “chum” ignorant fundamentalists. Hoover left a large imprint AND he served the ruling class; a Great Man if there ever was one.

Finally, have you ever wondered why historical novels are about knights, princes, and kings instead of serfs? Have you ever wondered why the Holy Bible says so little about women? Have you ever wondered why the press reports that New Orleans blacks are looting but New Orleans whites are “finding food”? Have you ever wondered why we need to cut taxes for the wealthy while increasing penalties for poor people who go bankrupt? Have you ever wondered why it’s good to increase profits by eliminating jobs? Have you ever wondered why it’s wiser to hobble the benefits of Social Security and Medicare than to proportionally tax the wealthy?

Well, not to worry. The “Great Men” have it under control. Poor people, women, people of color, common laborers, old people, and the afflicted are NOT “Great”; they are the little people who live to serve their betters; the more they can sacrifice, the better. And, besides, they’re used to it; no big deal. Just ask Barbara Bush; she’ll tell you just how good all of us unwashed, underprivileged losers have it! Shit! Some of us get to live in a famous stadium in Texas!!!!

- Uke Man

Dunkle's Digest: If Hitler had WON the war and now controlled the world, he would be a "Great Man" too!