The
Amazing Race: TV Shows vs. World Domination
17 February 2010By Jane Stillwater
I didn't get to watch The Amazing Race's big season
premiere on Valentines Day because I was off at
Berkeley's famous Freight and Salvage Coffee House
watching my old flame from the 1970s perform -- you
know, the one that I begged not to go to Nashville
because he would just get his heart broken by the
music industry but who went anyway and ended up
winning two Grammies? That one. But I taped The
Amazing Race while I was gone and will watch it later.
Here's my point: In The Amazing Race (the television
show), there are a bunch of couples who are racing
around the world to win a prize of one million
dollars. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE this show. But
don't you think that it does seem kind of trite
compared to America's other "Amazing Race" -- the one
with a prize of over TEN TRILLION dollars!
And who are the teams competing in the amazing race
for ten trillion dollars? First we have the
military-industrial complex's corporate lobbyists' "DC
Boys," racing to put U.S. military bases in every
country in the world. That race is going really well.
And why shouldn't it? The DC Boys are giving it their
all -- because the stakes in oil, consumers, natural
resources, cheap labor, etc. are far higher now than
they were than back in the day when just the measly
Roman Empire was looting the known world. MUCH higher.
According to journalist Nick Turse, "Counting the
remaining bases in Iraq -- as many as 50 are slated to
be operating after President Barack Obama’s August 31,
2010, deadline to remove all U.S. “combat troops” from
the country -- and those in Afghanistan, as well as
black sites like Al-Udeid, the total number of U.S.
bases overseas now must significantly exceed 1,000."
And doing even better than the DC Boys in the Amazing
Race for world domination, we have the down-and-dirty
"Globalization Guys". Whew. They are winning this race
bigtime, way ahead of even the no-holds-barred DC
Boys. A friend of mine just visited me the other day
and gave me a really good description of the GG team's
latest brilliant moves in the game. My friend had gone
to Cal back in the early 1980s. "After I graduated
from UCB," he told me over enchiladas at Picoso on
northside, "I went on to work in Silicone Valley.
Those were such exciting times back then. Creativity,
resources, ideas, money to work with, talent, drive --
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs? Those were amazing times back
then." I nodded and looked like I knew what he was
talking about. But frankly back then I couldn't even
dial up my modem without major help.
"And now Silicone Valley is dead," continued my
friend. "And this isn't just a slump either. It is
permanently and terminally moribund. Silicone Valley
will never recover. All of its creativity, capital and
talent have been sucked off to Asia and India. And the
dregs that are left? They have no ideas, no money and
no drive. I live and work in that area. I've seen it
all happening with my own eyes, Jane, and it's OVER
down there." Yikes!
PS: The Valentines Day show at the Freight was a huge
success, it was totally wonderful to see my old flame
again and I was totally glad that I went. And now it's
time to watch the tape of CBS's version of "The
Amazing Race". And guess what? The first leg of the
race takes place in Valparaiso! I was just there! And
I have the video to prove It! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2orPC3O7pU.
The next big surprise on this episode of the CBS
Amazing Race was that Jeff and Jordan from last
season's "Big Brother" were also competing. That's
gonna be really exciting. Oops, I'll have to watch the
end of the tape later. My granddaughter Mena just woke
up from a very long nap. Her dad took her to the
annual Valentines Day pillow fight over in San
Francisco last night -- with hundreds of people at
Embarcadero Plaza battling away at each other with
pillows. No wonder the sweet little child is worn out!
And now how are we gonna explain to Mena that "It's
not nice to hit" after seeing all that?
And speaking of not hitting, somebody also needs to
explain the "It's not nice to hit" principle to the DC
Boys and the Globalization Guys as well
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