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Strategies & Market Trends : Winter in the Great White North -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcos who wrote (4409)	4/2/2003 4:12:24 AM
From: LeonardSlye	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8273

"How to Read Donald Duck" This was the title of a part of a communications course I once took that comes the closest to explaining the way that certain Americans see the rest of the world as anything else I've ever read, even in Innes or Mcluhan. I wish that I still had a copy or could even remember the author's name but the message stuck with me. It's not even restricted to the Americans, of course, they just happen to be the current Imperialistic power. They will naturally be replaced somewhere in the future just as others have been in the past. It should be China's turn soon, they are a few hundred years overdue, after all fair is fair. Then the Chinese will become the Ducks. Remember how Scrooge McDuck would often get the boys together to go out to exploit some nation or another of sleepy peasants and often get them to work against each other to the benefit of the Ducks? These people never got mad because of their exploitation. It was their status quo, they'd got used to it. They knew without question that they were inferior as a species, it was something about the way their ears hung down or something or maybe it was their noses, they could never be Ducks or ever even hope to pass for one, they would be immediately found out. They treated the Duck Family like visiting Royalty and even brought their friends to them to be exploited without knowing the true intentions of the Ducks. Scrooge usually owned about half the country and had them working on some finca or other that he had going there. He was the boss and they and he knew it. They were generationally indebted to him, just like in the real world. They knew that they could never get ahead and could only feed their families with his help in the way of employment. He had them completely convinced of this, they would never attempt to do anything on their own. He was "Daddy Warbucks" without pants and without the war, his was an economic victory. Government officials also presented no problem. Nobody wanted to upset the Ducks for economic reasons although their people were being horribly exploited by their not doing so and the exploitation would continue. Outright theft by force of precious (often religious or cultural) goods was also the norm in the Ducks' relations with the citizens of the exploited nation if treachery and deceit did not work. Often the soldiers in these countries would simply lay down their arms and prostrate themselves in the sand in the face of superior weaponry. The Duck exploiters felt totally free to destroy whatever was necessary to steal the treasures from the people of the unfortunate nations leaving them standing stupidly and ineffectually watching the Ducks' superior airpower carry the Ducks to safety while carrying away what had once been so precious to these backward people. The Ducks' always had a good laugh at their expense. After pulling one of their heists, they would then usually have to flee to get all of the loot back to the airplane and the money bin so that Scrooge could enjoy adding a bit more to his hoard. In avaricious glee he would roll around on his money and gold and religious and cultural icons while expressing his superiority. He had to do this at least once a day to know why he was doing what he was doing, it was his raison d'être and he could become very sick, or even die, if he didn't do it regularly. The Ducks would always lord themselves over those whom they exploited and make fun of their inferiority and strange, laughable customs. Even the Ducklings, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, would be a part of the exploitation...everybody got a share of the fun and profit. And Donald, of course, was always a total jerk. Emailing these little would be ducklings at I Hub now that they have shown their true feathers would have little consequence...talking to them on any level, as Ronald Dumbsfeld too often says would be "not particularly helpful". Besides, they won't be able to pass for ducks for long, there is always something about the shape of the ears or something that will give them away. The hegemonic relationship goes too deep for them to be able to see the problem. It is like Condaleeza Rice sending an order to her little duckling up here to tell us how "disappointed" she/they/the ducks are with us Canadians and to make economic threats because we will not do everything they say. This is just the way things are done from the Duck point of view. Sure, there are a lot of Americans who are not ducks, there are some in my family. The Ducks though, are the group that needs the goods and services of these other regular folks inhabitants of their land to pamper them and to have someone close to look down on without leaving the shaky security of the money bin. Occasionally, the real-life Ducks will also require the deaths of their sons and daughters and their chickens and dolphins but not many really take offence, they are hollered down by the other duck servers; it's their status quo, they've got used to it and they know they will never pass for Ducks, it's something about the shape of their ears or something. Besides, there seems to be a certain strange visceral pride that comes with serving the Ducks. I don't speak Duck or serve them and I never will. That is not my perception of the status quo and I will never fall in line with theirs. But, speaking of serving the ducks, I did enjoy a wonderful duck a l'orange last weekend. Happy Trails, Lenny