As Real and Raw as Real and Raw can Be : the Empire is ‘skeptical’
The five-second epistemology of skeptical of an offer that was never an offer.
The headline. Trump is skeptical regarding Iran’s recent offer to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran did not make an offer. Iran legislated a toll. The toll is on the books. The toll is being collected. The toll is in rials. The toll is denominated by tonnage and origin port. The toll has a parliamentary record. The toll has a clearing mechanism in Omani draft.
The toll is not an offer. The toll is the new operating condition.
The empire calls the toll an offer because the empire needs the home audience to read the situation as a negotiation. Negotiations have offers. Negotiations have counteroffers. Negotiations have a moment where the strong party considers the weak party’s request and decides whether to be generous. The empire is staging the moment. President ALL CAPS is performing the consideration. The man is being skeptical. Skeptical is the verb of someone who has the option to say yes or no.
The man does not have the option. The toll is being paid. The empire’s own shipping companies are paying. The empire’s own insurers are writing the policies for the paying. The empire is the customer. The customer cannot decline the bill. The customer can only be skeptical about the bill. Skeptical of an offer that was never an offer.
The offer was the toll. The toll was the announcement. The announcement was the new arrangement. The new arrangement does not require the empire’s signature.
The empire is being asked to sign anyway because signing is what the empire does. The empire signs treaties. The empire’s role in the world is the signing. If the empire does not sign, the empire’s role is over. So the empire stages a negotiation it is not in. The empire is skeptical of the offer it imagined Iran made because Iran did not make an offer and the empire needs an offer to be skeptical of so the empire can perform the skepticism so the empire can perform the role so the empire can stay in the room. The room is empty.
The room has been empty since Day 1. Iran is not in the room. Iran is at the toll booth. The toll booth is open. The empire is in the room being skeptical. Karoline Leavitt said the bottom line. Open Strait plus enriched uranium handover. Two demands. The Strait is open the way Iran says it is open. The Strait is not open the way the empire wants it open. The empire’s open is free. Iran’s open is paid. The empire wants the price below the price. The price is the price. The price is being paid. The bottom line is the line below the floor. Iran is on the floor. The empire is below the floor demanding things from above the floor.
The negotiator is dead. The man who closes deals has not closed a deal in fifty-nine days. The man cannot accept the toll because accepting names the toll. The man cannot reject the toll because rejecting requires stopping the toll. The man can only be skeptical.
- Skeptical is what is left when accepting and rejecting are both unavailable.
- Skeptical is the verb of paralysis dressed in the costume of choice. The cosmic joke.
- The empire is skeptical of an offer Iran never made.
- The empire is skeptical of a deal that is already done.
- The empire is skeptical of a price the empire is already paying.
The skepticism is the only product the empire still ships. The skepticism is shipped from a podium to a wire to a headline to a home audience that needs to believe the empire is choosing. The empire is not choosing. The empire is paying. The skepticism is the receipt.
Day 59. Skeptical of an offer that was never an offer. The toll is on the books. The empire is paying. The negotiator is dead. The man is skeptical.