What Rough Beast Slouches Towards Bethlehem?

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Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

W.B. Yeats.



If all was lost, if these days were never to be ours, if he had been trapped in a world of work and responsibility, that was the reason, that was the cause. He was never meant for this life. Different avenues, different paths, had passed us by. The ghost whales surfacing mysteriously in the fabric of things, the carination, the mysterious throb, the ghostly spray as they surfaced. He could see the surface of the ground rippling away in front of him. It was forlorn, an aching melancholy that had been his heart, and now was lost.

He didn't know any more what was the purpose of things. He was surprised to reach this point, at this age, when his crowded younger days had been so vivid, packed with incident, astonishing coincidences which crowded in. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. The problem is you loaded up all the good times at the beginning of your life, someone said. And now you're declining. Mankind was hierarchical, and in the days of mass hysteria, when nothing in public life was real, he could only shake his head at the massive belief systems: the extreme male bashing style of feminism, domestic violence, global warming. Couldn't anyone poke up their hand and say: excuse me miss....

What was really happening was an entirely different story. Mankind had multiplied to such a point that only origination, causality, the beginning of things, the Buddhist complexity of things, could begin to explain what was happening. Trash, sleazy, pointless, mindless, tacky trash had taken over the entire public culture. The songs belted out, I want to touch you here, I want to touch you there. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay said the f word 80 times in a single episode of Hell's Kitchen or whatever it's called, setting a new Australian record.

And we all thought: this is OK, we're so sophisticated. What he couldn't understand was how quickly it had deteriorated, why no one put their hand up, why no one belled the cat. All the while the ground rippled away in front of him, the ghost whales keening towards the horizon, the shadow of things, the strange passings, the awful consequences, the melancholy hurrah, their hands waving as they left, the quiet decency of old soldiers, the memories of another time, the spirits who had lived here quietly, their own decency pervading the culture.

There was a sad, all knowing farewell. They hadn't wanted to leave. Their round, almost Buddhist faces, had seen too much, had been too savagely dislocated. It wasn't as if they had put up a fight. They weren't that kind of being. But the little family on the horizon, grasping their meagre belongings, were sad to leave this plane. They were abandoning it to more demonic forces, and were worried about what would happen to their charges, the people, the families, they had lived amongst for so long.

He thought he saw a tear, he certainly saw their sad little moon faces as they gathered for one last look. In their own passive, secretive little ways they had tried to warn people, to influence the minds of those who could influence others. But the writings, the notes of warning, the learned tomes decrying the flight of reason, none of them had held up against the vivid tide of evil, of sharpness, of lewd sexuality and a crass, abysmally crass culture.

It was the technology that changed everything, the cheap thrills, the televisions which now occupied every lounge room, the block buster movies that sold to millions, the all pervading influence of trash. It was impossible for these frail creatures to fight against forms of communication and mass dissemination which had taken over the planet; the studios of sleaze where the most mindless, all-pervading garbage could be so easily manufactured and disseminated.

They looked back, their final look. He could almost see them smile, a crinkle in their ancient, wise eyes. He lifted a hand and waved, a strange man on a crowded planet. He cold see the police heading towards him already, trying to control his thoughts. Be careful, they said. We're here if you really need us. But we can't live here anymore. He waved, and went back to staring at the ground. There was no escape from this concrete world, not for him. I wish I could go with you, he said. You will, one day, they said, just not now. Be good, do good, try and sound a warning, although no one will listen; try and document what will happen here, as a warning to future races. And then they were gone.



THE BIGGER STORY:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/21/2281591.htm?section=justin

One year after the Howard government's intervention into remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory was launched, former federal Indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough says the initiative should be extended beyond the Territory's borders.

He says places such as the APY lands in South Australia need Federal Government measures such as welfare quarantining and child health checks are needed to eradicate what he calls the "poison" of child sexual abuse.

"I sense that in the APY lands, that you have an opportunity here to do what people want to do and that is to change directions fundamentally and they need the help of Government," he told ABC1's Lateline.

Mr Brough says he has met with communities in remote South Australia who support Federal assistance to assess how welfare is being spent.

"I can tell you now from the people that I spoke to yesterday who live in the communities, there's still too many drugs, too much alcohol coming in and still too much abuse," he said.

This week a Northern Territory estimates committee heard that there has actually been no increase in the overall number of referrals to child protection authorities and no charges have been laid.

http://news.theage.com.au/national/work-needed-before-more-intervention-20080621-2ucp.html

Attempting similar intervention to the Northern Territory in another state will be a mistake unless the federal government learns how to better communicate with indigenous people, Aboriginal advocate Pat Anderson says.

On Friday the chairwoman of the NT intervention taskforce Sue Gordon said it had done its job.

A year ago former prime minister John Howard and his indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough launched the move in 73 remote indigenous communities to stop child sexual abuse and improve health and safety.

"It's achieved what it set out to do," Dr Gordon told ABC radio.

But Ms Anderson, who co-authored the report, Little Children Are Sacred, says the federal government must refine its manner of communication before a similar intervention is attempted anywhere else in Australia.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23898640-2,00.html

HUNDREDS of cases of criminal conduct and neglect allegedly perpetrated in indigenous communities have been handed to police and welfare agencies as a result of intelligence work by the Australian Crime Commission.

Based on intelligence gathered from 177 communities, indigenous children as young as seven are actively using marijuana and having sex, while there is widespread evidence of child sexual abuse.

The commission's National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Taskforce revealed yesterday that 340 reports of alleged criminal conduct and neglect of young children had been sent to law enforcement and partner agencies for further action.

ACC chief executive officer Alastair Milroy expressed concern that while marijuana had been prevalent in indigenous communities, there was evidence that heroin, speed and ecstasy was now being used.

"We are starting to see signs of amphetamine-type stimulants such as speed and ecstasy and heroin being available," he said.

"If these types of stimulants are used by Aboriginals, they are not conditioned to this as some of the white community are, and it will be devastating.