January 7, 2008
by Volt and Electra Penn

Most people think of a chain-reaction as a room full of mousetraps and ping-pong balls, ala Walt Disney version in 1955. That cartoon tried to explain how atoms split, cars pile up in fog and the life cycle of lemmings, but when dealing with cause and effect in human terms we also have to take in the area of 'sensitive dependence on initial conditions'. Put that another way---- The Butterfly Effect.

Sometimes, after the assassination of an important royal or a high ranking politician, events can spiral out of control that if not checked can erupt into full-blown chaos. What if 'Benazir Bhutto's butterfly effect' was the first mousetrap to pop in an all-out chain-reaction of one-ups-man-ship?

It was almost 100 years ago that a prime example of this very same scenario played out. Although Einstein's e=mc2 had not been field tested, the murder of a little-known archduke managed to go nuclear and influence history for more than 50 years.

THEN: It was in 1914 that the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was shot to death in Sarajevo, a Middle European country inhabited by swarthy looking men, most needing their eyebrows plucked and mustaches trimmed.

NOW: In 2007, Benazir Bhutto was wacked in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, a Middle Asian country occupied by stocky, rag-wrapped men with black wooly worms attached to justify their stiff upper lips. 

THEN: The evening of Ferdinand's assassination, every street corner was occupied by a rock-throwing killer clutching matches and a short-fused hand grenade. Before the actual killing, the murder's top dog barked encouragement and promises that once the archduke is dead everyone involved would be immortalized in song and dance.

NOW: Brain washed terrorists wear sticks of dynamite hung on bungee cords that support pockets filled with nails and ball bearings. On the morning of Bhutto's murder all would-be merchants dressed for death, quietly filed through the mosque's door to receive a blessing before blowing open their own personal gates to heaven.

THEN: Archduke Ferdinand was killed, not only because he represented an oppressive autocratic government, but because he backed the status quo and was quoted as declaring, '.Its God will, the peasants be damned'.

NOW: One opinion says Benazir Bhutto was murdered because she represented truth in government and a chance for democracy to flourish. To others, Bhutto was still part of a feudalistic ruling party. The fact remains she was coupled with the unstoppable corruption in her own political family. It's no wonder her return to Pakistan led to a crisis in the radical Islam already in place. As one man directly linked to her killing said, '..it is as Allah directs, death to traitors'.

THEN: The archduke's death produced an electric charge that surged through the masses of Middle Europe. Nation states became electrified with this abundance of negative energy, which overwhelmed the meek positive forces, setting up a series of unfortunate events in Austria-Hungary and Serbia, which culminated in the outbreak of WWI. 

NOW: In the days following Bhutto's demise, that same divisiveness now runs through Pakistan. With little hope of finding a common grounding rod, it's electrifying street mobs and putting a charge in sacrificial lambs ready to throw themselves at the gods of suicide. Pakistan is a tiny place begging to pop its top - it remains to be seen if the rest of the world pops along with it.

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THEN: During WWI none of the countries involved owned a thermonuclear device. The killing was done hand-to-hand, trench-to-trench and eyeball to eyeball. Hundreds of thousands died, but the outcome was not apocalyptic.

NOW: Not only Pakistan, but North Korea, Israel, America, Russia, and God-only-knows who else owns a 21st century version of 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man', and there's no telling what jimmy-finger hovers on the button. Where does it say Armageddon has to start in Jerusalem or a hovel-like stable in Rawalpindi or the Big Apple?

THEN: After 20 million died, Armistice Day was declared in 1918. This grand gesture, the politicians declared, would put an end to 'the war to end all wars'. To the relief of those involved in the 'war racket', peace in Europe was short lived, and the human war affliction that knows no cure was left to deal with economic inflation, the Great Depression and greedy governments which ultimately led to WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

NOW: Whenever, whoever, however and wherever the next Great War starts, it won't be the End of the World. It will be a time of monumental change, but because survival of the fittest is hardwired into every living creature there could be a lot of us left sifting rubble.

THEN: Militant rulers of the six great powers (Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Italy) were engaged in a self-reinforcing cycle of military preparedness not unlike the arms race between the U.S. and Russia the last half of the 20th century.

NOW: The present day neocons (chicken-hawk rulers disguised as Dr. Strangeloves) spend trillions on our Military Industrial's Complex because nuclear annihilation makes for sexual stimulation. Why else would they put the squeeze on other countries while fondling a bomb and their gonads at the same time? 

To list a complete account of future modifications and variations after a world at total war has exhausted itself would be too lengthy for these few pages. In the event this worse case scenario becomes the worst of all possible worlds, here are a few thoughts on our unforeseeable future. 

1.      As Charles Darwin noted, nature is fond of radical change because that's when increased and beneficial mutations occur.

2.      Nature hates a vacuum, so if the present day political/economical/cultural systems implode, whatever fills their gaps may not be better than what we've got, but they'll be different.

3.      Every living thing, when bombarded with radioactive particles, will either die or survive; hence Evolution in one form or another continues unabated in its march to fulfill its ultimate destiny. Our only hope would be that after every living brain absorbs enough of those isotopes, the positive combining with the negative will produce a new grey matter to spark universal acceptance of man's differences - but don't hold your breath on that one.

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Have Penn they'll listen. Volt Penn writes speeches for Progressive Populists and reasoned arguments for those on the left of center. He has also written speeches for anybody who has read his work. You can reach Volt Penn through his artist friend, b.b.kemp, at bbkemp@bbkemp.com

Volt/Electra Penn copyright 2007

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