style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>Posted February 27, 2003
Analysis By Richard Cowan

As I watch the seemingly inexhaustible torrent
of prohibitionist propaganda I am reminded of the Greek myth about Hercules and
the stables of King Augeas.

The term “Augean stables” means a huge mess,
because King Augeas had a vast number of cattle, which were herded into the
stables every night, but no one cleaned up after them. (Governments always
expect other people to do their dirty work.)

style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>As a consequence, the stables overflowed with
what the Greeks called “drug education.”
See

href=”http://www.marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/prohibitionist_internet_strategy.htm”>The
Prohibitionist Internet Strategy:
www.we-can-lie-louder-than-you-can-tell-the-truth.con
Analysis By Richard Cowan

style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>As in Hercules’ time, the government provides
the fodder at one end, and the other end –the Greeks called it the “media” –
produce the desired product.

It stank to high heaven, but it seemed
impossible to do anything about it.

Most people said it was beneath their dignity
even to think about it, although that did not stop them from writing about it.
They said that the only reason that it stank was because some people complained
about the smell. If everyone who lived near the stables would just stop
breathing, it wouldn’t be a problem.

However, as part of a plea bargain, Hercules
was given the task of cleaning the stables, but he had to do it all in only one
day. Clearly not even he could shovel that fast, and I know just how he must
have felt.

Being a superhero, Hercules managed the feat,
and the way he did it gives me hope. He diverted a couple of rivers to flow
through the stables and flushed them out.

Meanwhile back in the real world, what does
this have to do with the war on us? What are the “rivers” that we can divert?

One clue actually comes from the myth. When
King Augeas refused to pay Hercules, as he had promised he would, the king’s
son told the truth, and was exiled for doing so. (He was sent to a place the
Greeks called DEAland, which he said reminded him of his father’s stables.)

In fact, young people are getting fed up with
the lies that are being told to them –
supposedly to protect them.

See

href=”http://www.marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/how_the_war_on_marijuana_to_save.htm”>How
the War On Marijuana To Save The Children
Has Become A War On the Children To Save Marijuana Prohibition

style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>College newspapers are running editorials
attacking the prohibitionist propaganda campaign. At the last
href=”http://www.norml.org/”>NORML conference, everyone was very encouraged
by the intelligence and drive demonstrated by the students who were there.
There are more and more NORML chapters on campuses, and the
href=”http://www.ssdp.org/”>Students for a Sensible Drug Policy is now on
dozens of campuses.

style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>The next point of leverage from there should be
the journalism schools. Any journalism school that isn’t teaching its students
to question the most omnipresent government propaganda, is not teaching
journalism but trade journal writing, and journalism students are being
cheated.

See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=627″>We Have Reality
Entertainment, So What About Some Reality News? Public Distrust And The
Reality/Media Credibility Gap.
and

href=”http://www.marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/how_marijuana_prohibition_corrup.htm”>How
Marijuana Prohibition Corrupts All Of Our Institutions
– Medicine, Law Enforcement, Journalism
And How That Corruption Sustains Prohibitionism

style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>
There is another group that is finally showing signs of awareness, religious
leaders.
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=610″>Religious Leaders Finally
Beginning To Organize Opposition To The Drug War, “A Mutiny for Mercy,” But For
Christians There May Be A More Compelling Reason Than They Realize.

style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>It is not a matter of “politics,” but of
morality that they must address. The churches have played a key role in the
anti-slavery and civil rights movements. They cannot remain silent any longer
about the war on the young and the old.
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=189″>The Theory and Practice of
Chaos – Analysis By Richard Cowan

style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>Finally, it should be obvious that the Internet
is the key to all of this. It is clear that the conventional media have failed the
people, so the answer is that we must become the media.

style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>While we have a new technology, this is very
similar to the Samizdat self-publication in the Soviet Union. It also happened
500 years ago when the printing press circumvented the Church’s control over
The Book. However, the immediacy of the Internet makes it more than just a
means of communication, it is a community.
See

href=”http://www.marijuananews.com/australia_new_zealand_sweden.htm”>Australia,
New Zealand, Sweden, The International Prohibitionist Counterattack,
and How We Can Use The Internet
and
An
Interview With Gary Webb Shows The Importance of The Internet And The
Alternative Press
and

href=”http://www.marijuananews.com/internet_is_our_weapon_anti.htm”>The
Internet Is Our Weapon:
Anti-Prohibitionists “lack the power of the prohibitionists, but
make up for it in scholarship.”

style=’color:red;mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>What I am describing here is a
strategy based on the assumption that we, the anti-prohibitionist movement,
cannot shovel our way out of the Augean Stables of prohibition. We must divert
the attention of other powerful forces in our society to address something that
is as much their problem as it is ours.

style=’mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>At the very least, we must recognize that no
mythical hero is going to do it for us, and remember something else that the
Greeks said that was definitely not a myth:

style=’color:red;mso-ansi-language:EN-US’>Eternal vigilance is the price of
liberty.

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