April 2002

Why the postcard?
To make OBL ridiculous. Laugh at the boogie man etc.

Why a War on Beards?

1) It's a ridiculous concept; a spell that hopefully conjures up bizarre images.
For each person the war on beards will be different.
I really don't have anything against beards, except they catch food.

2) On a supremely superficial level, watching TV images of the war in Afghanistan I saw
the clean shaven (US and allies) vs. beards (the Taliban, riding around on donkeys but with
sophisticated weaponry under their skirts).
On the one hand I want to see those responsible for 9/11 and their supporters taken out of the gene pool.
On the other hand I don't want to see any more bloodshed. I watch a war on TV that seems so lopsided
and surreal (and strangely embarrassing with regular reports of casualties from accidents and friendly fire).
In my heart I feel that the human race is self-destructing. It's like the collective blood lust is driving
us to extinction.
I feel like I'm being pushed into a corner where I have to answer the question - kill or be killed?
It's a sick position to be in.
The war on beards is a kind of ridiculous safety switch for my head - it stops the overload of human
ugliness from becoming too much to bear.
It's an "evolution driver" - even though I think the world has been crapadized to the point of no return
I maintain an ounce of hope that somehow we will get through this and perhaps there could even be
a great leap forward.
But it might mean the extinction of certain behaviours. We have to decide 1) that we don't want to live
like this anymore, 2) how we do want to live, and 3) what we are prepared to do to make that our reality.
I know these questions probably won't be asked without a nuclear war prompt.

Why send the card to barbers?

They seemed to be logical recruits to a war on beards. The EBL picture reminds me of old barber shops
with out-dated photos of hairdos on the wall. I imagined how barbers might look at this card.
I also imagined conversations they might have with
clients about it (unless of course they just threw it away). Barbers are also a constant in a volatile world -
whatever happens, people need haircuts. Cutting someone's hair is one-on-one friendly human contact.

Why Florida?

1) Florida played a key role in the outcome of the last presidential election and the 9/11 hijackers lived there,
so the state has had some heat lately.

3) It's a place I've never been and I liked the idea of sending cards to strangers in a strange place.
I'm a relative stranger to the USA, having lived here just over a year. I had seen on a government website
a list of things to do/not to do in this post 9/11 world to maintain personal safety. One item was
"don't talk to strangers." I found this very depressing.
I don't want to live in a world where I can't communicate with strangers.
For me, sending cards to strangers is a life affirming act.

enough already