NOVEMBER 22, 2002. Colombian pop superstar, Shakira, struck a blow for world peace Wednesday night at her sold out Madison Square Garden concert.
While the cross-over sensation sang, in Spanish, the acid lyrics of her song “Octavo Día” (Eighth Day), an intentionally crummy video showing puppets of Saddam Hussein and George Bush playing chess was projected on a giant screen.
As chess game and music got increasingly frantic, the Hussein and Bush puppets replaced the chessmen with weapons and oil wells.
In the high-decibel, guitar wailing end, the puppets lost control of the game and the puppeteer was revealed as the Grim Reaper.
“Bite the neck of hatred” was the last message on the screen at the end of the concert. A clear and stylish message.
“[The video depicts] an empire on the brink of collapse from its own excess, decadence and corruption.” – Kanye West
Reference to the Sword Of Damocles
Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so that Damocles could taste first hand that fortune. In the evening a banquet was held where Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. Only at the end of the meal did he look up and notice a sharpened sword hanging directly above his head by a single horse-hair. Immediately, he lost all taste for the fine foods and beautiful companions and asked leave of the tyrant, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate
The Sword of Damocles is frequently used in allusion to this tale, epitomizing the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power
Reference To The Age Of Aquarius
The Age of Aquarius:
“A man will meet you carrying an earthen pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he goes in” (Luke 22:10; Mark 14:13.) The gospel described the beginning of the Aquarian Age (the one that bears the pitcher of water) as follows: “And then the man who bears the pitcher will walk across an arc of heaven. The sign and signet of the Son of man stands forth in the eastern sky. The wise will then lift up their heads and know that the redemption of the earth is near” (157.29,30.) And the accompanying footnote (within the French edition; our translation) explained: “From the beginning of this age, i.e. from this moment on, more and more people will try to understand the spirit of the Gospel instead of merely following its text. ” (Dan Costian (Ph.D), Bible Enlightened, 1995, p. 254-61).
