The Continental Colours
( Size: 39.75" x 48" Oils )
Subjects in the painting:
In December 1775 when Washington mustered the Continental Army at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, a flag known as the Continental Colours was hoisted.
This was a flag of thirteen red and white stripes, with the British Union Jack in
the canton. The thirteen stripes stood for the colonies, and the canton (or Union)
for the British connection.
In 2003 the British and the United States governments once again reunited under one
standard, a partnership to fight the war on terror and the eradication of those countries
with weapons of mass destruction.
E.W.Powell 12/2003. Painting completed 2003.
Complexity comment:
The one dimensional thinking central to the demonisation of Saddam (it's all his fault!), the
dubious links to terrorism, several hidden vested interests and the 'missing' "weapons of mass destruction" make a mockery of the linear characterization of this irrelevant 'war'. Knock-on effects are inherent in any actions taken within a nonlinear complex system and those related to this particular subject were obvious in advance to many of the spectators (hence the many protests by thinking people worldwide). Ignoring all values except your own is a fine way to generate a coevolutionary disaster, expecially when a distaste for truth and a determination 'to get your own way' (at any cost) leads to the 'facts' (including the values of all the other parties) being conveniently ignored or distorted.
Bully-boy short-termism, in human systems, is in itself a form of terrorism...
Page Version 1.0 December 2003
