Sainte-Nitouche

In the Beirut of my teenage years there were a few daring girls who secretly dated at a time when relationships with guys were considered a strict societal taboo. While most of us knew what they were up to, they went about pretending to be the little angels that they were not. We called them Sainte- Nitouche – the Untouchable Saint, or, in other words: the goody-goodies.

As time went by, and as we all grew up, there were more and more women having more and more secretive trysts with men, while conducting themselves in society as Sainte-Nitouche. That nomenclature evolved over the years to encompass not only illicit affairs, but also corrupt politicians and individuals who went around pretending to be holier-than-thou when most people were aware of their lies, hypocrisy and corruption.

The latest American elections, and everything political that has been going on in this country since that fateful 9/11 day specifically, took me back to that description of hypocritical shenanigans. What then could be a more perfect description for the United States than Sainte-Nitouche?! Here we are – and have been for long – rampaging and warring all around the world, dictating our conditions, ordering countries around, upturning governments, assassinating people who do not comply and doing anything and everything towards enforcing our objectives at the expense of uprooting, maiming and killing innocent humans, as well as stifling the political aspirations and the human and civil rights of the overwhelming numbers of innocent civilians whom we choose to ignore and to trample upon. In tandem with our efforts (and aside from the corrupt local politicians across the planet who are under our control) Israel and the United Kingdom are our main supporters, followed by our second tier of surrogates: France, Germany and Italy after which the rest of our proxies follow. To date, we are winning! For who can stand up to military might such as we can muster?

Much the same as the illicit affairs and the corrupt politicians and individuals in Beirut, the militarily powerful aggressor governments of the US, UK and Israel – that really dangerous Axis of Evil in our chaotic world today – are going about pretending to be what many people on the planet now realize is a huge charade! How very comically tragic! The people of the Middle East especially, are most aware of this farce. With their long memories and after having lived through colonialism, occupations, wars, civil strife, uprooting, maiming, killings, repressive regimes and corruption they know that their real stories and the honest truth are not making their way to the Western public. They know that most of the foreign reporters who write about them and their situations are the very arms and informers of their occupiers, invaders and torturers. Hence, their so-called reporting is always skewed and biased, and so it follows, that the majority of people in the West are kept intentionally ignorant of what the Sainte-Nitouche nations of the world are really inflicting on innocent humans. How truly unfair and unjust!

As another example, one has to simply sit in front of the corporate Idiot Tube for a day, surfing from one corrupt, untrustworthy mainstream news channel to another to see for themselves how the nauseating and shameless so-called journalists and reporters are conducting themselves; the lies they spew; the utter sensationalism, superficiality and gossip they seem so serious about; the inane talking points that they parrot – I mean, how humiliating is that by itself – while pretending to be smart analysts and unbiased news imparters! Most are so puffed up; so full of themselves; such empty gas bags who never even humbly admit that they were ever wrong about anything, all this, while not even pretending to be anything but pure, honest Sainte-Nitouche! How utterly despicable and quite laughable, really!

It is not in the interest, it seems, of our elected officials, or their mainstream news servants, to expose the repressive practices that our government has been continuously applying, the rolling back and chipping away of our civil and human rights, and the extension of the aggressive and domineering policies we are applying internationally onto our own citizens, many of whom are fully aware that this is going on but unable to reverse the tide as yet. In that, our own citizens are treated no different from the multi and myriad humans that we call “backward,” “uncivilized,” and “undemocratic” all across the world where our unabashed neo-colonialism strides. They are looking on helplessly, and with rising internalized anger! For how long do people’s frustrations, whether in the US or internationally, remain pent up and smothered? It simply cannot be sustainable. Indeed, all indications are pointing to the fact that there is a world wide uprising in the works; an anti-establishment furor that is gaining more traction slowly and that is being written about by a vibrant alternative press with daring journalists, thorough investigative reporting and honest writing that poses such a shining contrast to the hypocrites in the mainstream media. Will the establishment governments alter their defunct systems and draconian measures in order to accommodate the clamoring, frustrated and angry citizens? What will it really take after all, to practice real and honest Peace, Equality, Justice, Human, Legal and Civil Rights? It can be easily done if there is a will. Is there? It’s not looking that promising at the moment though, is it?

Nevertheless, and despite their parading around as Sainte-Nitouche, the aggressor governments, as well as the avaricious multi-national corporations of the world have become too obviously undemocratic and self-serving, too greedy and corrupt to the core. They can pretend to be Sainte-Nitouche, but many are too aware of the fact that they really are not! No, their methods are not sustainable. There is no Sainte-Nitouche who can remain so for long. Not in these transparent days especially!