What does the death of Benazir Bhutto have to do with high weirdness?
If you don’t know much about the 23 enigma, I suggest referring to the work of Robert Anton Wilson.
Bypass the terrible movie released last year about it. If you happen across the German film, 23, which is based upon the true story of a guy Wilson later wrote about in Cosmic Trigger II, I’d recommend viewing that.
I make no claims about the 23 thing. However, I did find it odd that yesterday morning when I woke up to find out about the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, MSNBC kept replaying video of her entering the armored car that would be attacked only shortly after. And the video they kept replaying zoomed in on the license plate number of that vehicle for long enough for me to wonder, then to notice.
The death car’s license plate read: BF7772
And 7+7+7+2= 23.
They (whoever “They” are) say the number 23 has a way of showing up at very significant junctures of history, moments of change or transition, for example. Or moments of chaos. Others (whoever “others” are) say it’s just a matter of the mind entraining to patterns one has already assumed to be there, the self-fulfilling magic of selective attention/ perceptual bias.
Maybe.
Maybe it’s neither of those things. Maybe it’s both.
Maybe it’s nothing.
Just something I noticed. I’m making no claims.
Incidentally, if anyone happened to tape any of that footage from MSNBC yesterday morning of that license plate, post it up somewhere and let me know about it. It seems the mass-media here and abroad has already switched to footage of chaos and street riots and I’m having a hell of a time finding anything other than the new chaos footage online. The best I’ve been able to do is find this CNN footage on youtube. You can only make out the license plate number for a split second:
Whatever the case, there seems to be a new martyred leader in Pakistan. How her image and memory will be used to serve the interests of various parties both in Pakistan and here in the U.S. (and not just presidential candidates, either) is up in the air. But they’re already trying to take advantage, the mass-media included.
So far, no one’s claimed responsibility for Bhutto’s death. We’ll see if any conveniently-placed videotape shows up in the next few days and weeks to rejigger the collective memory. Not saying whatever we end up hearing won’t at least be partially true…
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UPDATE: Musharraf’s government is already blaming “Al Qaeda” for Bhutto’s death. Meanwhile, Bhutto’s political party dismisses those government claims. Meanwhile, an e-mail from October has surfaced in which Bhutto states that “If anything happens to me, make sure fir is filed against Musharraf.”
***
What it all means, I don’t know. Just keep your eyes open and don’t get distracted by bright lights and sound bites.
23.
Good one Cadeveo. Not sure what to think about it all yet, timing, etc, and what it all means in the great scheme of things but it’s sure curious – and of course tragic. Always looking for the odd note about such things, as we all strive to connect the dots in this crazy puzzle.
I am hpeful that everyone who supported Bhutto in Pakistan will turn against Al Queada across the border of Pakistan and India in the Muslim world!
I’m not convinced that when governments blame stuff on “Al Qaeda” that it is actually “Al Qaeda” behind the action. “Al Qaeda,” it seems to me, is as much a convenient “brand” utilized by ruling powers in government to deflect from their own misdeed; and Musharaff and his administration do not strike me as trustworthy. Bhutto named people within his own government that she saw as threats to her personal well-being. That doesn’t disclude “Al Qaeda” as the final culprit (whatever and whoever we mean by “Al Qaeda”–and it seems that keeps changing); it just means I’m abstaining from quick conclusions right now, especially at a time when shifty characters are pushing that we make them.
Check minutes 6:10–6:15 where Bhutto describes a man named Omar Sheik as the man who killed Osama Bin Ladin. That alone would get you killed.
I tend to agree. Can’t go changing the official story on things, now can we?
http://cadeveo.wordpress.com/2007/09/08/the-many-non-deaths-of-osama-bin-laden/
Here’s an interesting aside: listen very carefully and you’ll realise:
Bhutto = Amidala…
?
heh, I absent-mindedly reduce numbers all the time now.
What got me interested in it was Buckminster Fuller’s chapter in Synergetics:
http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s12/toc12.html