California's fire and water situation — a lesson in metaphor

© 2021 Peter Free

 

19 August 2021

 

 

Lots of fire-clobbered California people are homeless

 

And this week, many more residents in fire-affected areas have been ordered to evacuate.

 

At the same time, 'authorities' told many evacuees that firefighters will not be able to save their homes. The fires are too ferocious.

 

 

In a suitable metaphor . . .

 

. . . which poetically defines Government's generally predatory uselessness these days — authorities have also told mandatorily evacuating homeowners (according to our local television news) to turn off their fire sprinkler systems.

 

Firefighters, we are told, will need that sprinkler water somewhere else. While these sprinkler folks' own homes burn down.

 

That's a twisted reward for people, who were perspicacious enough to install the fire-suppressing sprinklers in the first place.

 

Kind'a like most of our federal taxes going to the enormous US War Machine's benefit, despite our personal moral objections.

 

 

Yes . . .

 

I know that the water turn-off makes sense in the 'broad picture'. Water pressure, water supply and all that.

 

My point is that the Big Picture — as it is defined by Government and the Great American Plutocracy that buys governance — does not include the allegedly 'ordinary' people, who populate the Big Picture's breadth and depth.

 

 

The moral? — Government largely created the fire and water situation . . .

 

. . . in this state (and others) via its virtually complete inattention.

 

And now, Government tells fire-endangered Californians not to stay behind to try to avoid losing everything and having to live on the streets.

 

(Life is precious. Evidently, its future is not.)

 

And be sure, 'authorities' insist, to shut down your expensively installed fire-sprinkler systems. Government needs their water somewhere else. All that unburned, centuries built up, unremediated undergrowth, you know.

 

Sound typical?

 

If you are curious about how this arguably callous incompetence (and whom it benefits) works — watch Chris Hedges explain what happens to empires, like the American one, when they begin collapsing.

 

See:

 

 

Democracy at Work, Economic Update: The Declining Empire with Chris Hedges, YouTube (31 August 2020)

 

 

A shorter clip from the same video is here:

 

 

andrewnef, Chris Hedges & Richard Wolff — America's obvious decline, YouTube (14 August 2021)

 

 

Enjoy your tattered tarp on the sidewalk.

 

You may need to fight to gain the sidewalk space, as well as the tarp, but that's life, ain't it?

 

And don't forget to pay your taxes.

 

We know where you are.