Nubuat "Helter Skelter" Charles Manson, Barack Obama, dan Indonesia

Setelah Barack Obama diambil sumpahnya pada 20 Januari 2009 yang lalu – dan sumpahnya diulangi karena ada kesalahan “kecil” pada keesokan harinya – Amerika Serikat secara resmi membuka lembar sejarah baru: memiliki presiden keturunan Afro-Amerika yang pertama.

Sebagai orang luar, kita mungkin tidak begitu mampu menyelami perasaan atau emosi campur-aduk yang sudah pasti dialami oleh banyak warga negara Paman Sam tersebut. Bayangkan, salah satu negara yang cukup “rasis” di dunia, ternyata terbukti dapat melampaui penghalang atau batu sandungan yang selama ini menghantui kehidupan bermasyarakat di sana: warna kulit. Rasisme berdasarkan warna kulit memang hanya merupakan salah satu bentuk rasisme – juga termasuk salah satu saja di Amerika – di samping hal-hal lain. Namun, rasisme jenis ini terbukti yang sukar punah dan “paling betah” bercokol di dalam benak manusia, entah di Amerika Serikat maupun bukan.

Gerakan Ku Klux Klan adalah salah satu bentuk kelompok atau kegiatan rasis yang cukup lama bertahan dan juga cukup terkenal di Amerika Serikat. Di samping gerakan tersebut, masih banyak gerakan-gerakan yang lain. (Bagi yang ingin mengetahui lebih jauh tentang rasisme di Amerika Serikat, klik di sini

Semua gerakan tersebut – walaupun dapat dikategorikan sebagai “anti-kulit hitam” – memiliki latar belakang ideologi yang cukup beragam: dari yang hanya sekadar anti-kulit hitam sampai yang “meramalkan” kebangkitan kaum kulit hitam.

Ketika Obama selesai membacakan sumpahnya, saya teringat dengan salah satu film yang pernah saya tonton beberapa tahun sebelumnya: “Helter Skelter” (2004). Film ini dibuat berdasarkan suatu buku yang ditulis oleh Vincent Bugliosi, seorang jaksa. Bugliosi adalah jaksa yang mengajukan kasus yang sangat terkenal. Kasus Helter Skelter, atau Kasus Pembunuhan Tate-LaBianca, atau Kasus Charles Manson

Charles Manson barangkali seorang psikopat. Ia banyak mengambil bahan-bahan bagi “nubuat gila”-nya dari lagu-lagu the Beatles dan Alkitab. Dari judul lagu Beatles yang terkenal, “Helter Skelter” (album White Album), dan digabungkan dari berbagai ayat dalam Alkitab (terutama Kitab Wahyu), Manson meramalkan kedatangan suatu perang antar-ras, ras kulit hitam dan ras kulit putih. (Bagi yang ingin mengetahui lebih jauh mengenai “nubuat Helter Skelter”, silakan klik di sini

Manson menyuruh para pengikutnya untuk membunuh Sharon Tate (yang sedang mengandung) beserta seisi rumahnya dan juga membunuh pasangan LaBianca – semuanya berdasarkan suatu nubuat: nubuat Helter Skelter. Garis besar nubuat yang dilihat oleh Charles Manson adalah sekitar kebangkitan ras kulit hitam di atas kulit putih. Kulit hitam akan menjadi kekuatan yang menindas kulit putih. Pembunuhan yang mereka lakukan menjadi semacam suatu “pertanda” bahwa perang antar-ras tersebut akan dimulai (atau lebih tepat: pembunuhan itulah yang memicu perang tersebut).

Bugliosi awalnya kesulitan mencari motif Charles Manson dan kawan-kawannya. Berdasarkan temuan polisi, sama sekali sulit untuk menentukan siapa yang menjadi dalang pembunuhan Sharon Tate dan pasangan LaBianca. Khusus untuk kasus Sharon Tate, polisi sempat mencurigai seorang centeng rumah Tate dan juga akhirnya sempat mencurigai Roman Polanski, suami Sharon sendiri.

Namun, dari hasil “pengakuan” salah seorang mantan pengikut Manson, Bugliosi baru tahu bahwa Manson – di samping sebagai seorang pemimpin kelompok hippies – juga berperan sebagai seorang “nabi” bagi kelompok tersebut. Sebagai “nabi”, ia banyak mencomot dan menafsirkan lirik lagu Beatles dan ayat-ayat Alkitab (terutama Kitab Wahyu). Hasil comotan dan tafsiran tersebut berujung pada nubuat perang antar-ras tadi. Dari situlah, Bugliosi memperoleh motif — jika tidak, Bugliosi sama sekali tidak punya kasus apa-apa. (Bagi yang ingin mengetahui Charles Manson dan kasus pembunuhan Tate-LaBianca, silakan klik di sini

Itu terjadi pada tahun 1969. Bagaimana sekarang? Entah apa komentar Manson ketika memandang seorang presiden “kulit hitam” yang kini “menduduki” White House. Apakah Barack Obama merepresentasikan suatu supremasi kulit hitam terhadap kulit putih? Barangkali, dalam pikiran Manson, memang demikian. Tidak masuk akal bagi orang seperti Manson bahwa ada seorang kulit hitam bisa menjadi presiden dari sebuah negara yang mayoritas penduduknya kulit putih – seperti Amerika Serikat.

Manson boleh berpendapat bahwa nubuat “Helter Skelter”-nya sudah atau hampir digenapi. Itu Charles Manson, seorang yang mungkin agak psikopat. Namun, bagaimana dengan kita yang “lebih normal” daripada Manson? Apakah kita punya fobia semacam itu atau malah mengidap psikopat yang sama? Kalau iya, berarti kita boleh menjadi pengikut Charles Manson (hehehehe….).

Tapi, tidak. Saya berharap, kita tidak rasis, tidak juga psikopat atau menderita sejenis fobia tertentu. Jadi, satu-satunya ketidaksukaan atau ketidaksetujuan yang masuk akal terhadap terpilihnya Barack Obama adalah ketidaksetujuan berdasarkan “alasan politis” tertentu, seperti misalnya: Obama ternyata pro-choice (bahkan mungkin pro-abortionist). Untuk bagian ini, saya benar-benar kontra-Obama. Tapi, ini sebatas alasan politis atau moral yang konkret, bukan warna kulit atau hal lainnya yang tidak relevan.

Lalu, bagaimana di Indonesia? Apakah orang Indonesia menderita semacam rasisme atau fobia tertentu – katakanlah terhadap salah satu ras/suku tertentu? Tentu, sangat disayangkan memang. Sama seperti Manson – semoga tidak separah dia – sikap rasis atau fobia semacam itu memang tampaknya sangat masuk akal, yaitu sejenis akal yang menciptakan tembok-tembok yang menutupi seseorang dari dunia luar. Di dalam tembok – di dalam dunia bentukannya sendiri itu – semuanya tampak masuk akal. Kebencian atau ketidaksukaan berdasarkan SARA (Suku, Agama, Ras dan Antargolongan) menjadi sesuatu yang sangat rasional dan justru mutlak diperlukan. Diperlukan? Ya, diperlukan untuk memapankan dunia fiktif hasil ciptaannya sendiri. Orang semacam ini bukannya tidak mau “sembuh”. Problem mereka adalah bahwa mereka tidak tahu bahwa mereka sebenarnya sedang “sakit”.

Tidak heran jika Manson dan para pengikutnya yang ditahan atas kasus pembunuhan Tate-LaBianca tersebut beberapa kali mengalami penolakan atas permohonan pembebasan bersyarat. Barangkali, mereka yang menolak berpendapat: orang seperti mereka tidak mungkin sembuh, karena toh nyatanya mereka sendiri tidak merasa sakit.

Suara pukulan gendang yang meramaikan Tahun Baru Imlek kemarin membuat kita sadar bahwa masyarakat Indonesia sebenarnya tidak serasis seperti golongan Ku Klux Klan atau sefobia seperti Charles Manson. Masyarakat Indonesia – syukurlah – sudah agak terbiasa dengan fenomena perbedaan dan relasi antar-suku, ras, dan agama. Ini cukup melegakan.

Namun begitu, isu-isu sensitif terkait pemilihan umum sering mengemuka. Dulu, menjelang pemilu demokratis pertama pasca-tumbangnya Orde Baru – yaitu pemilu tahun 1999 – isu SARA dan gender sempat merebak terkait dengan munculnya salah satu partai dan calon presiden dari partai tersebut. Walaupun mereka yang menyebarkan kebencian terkait SARA dan gender tersebut belum termasuk dalam kalangan “Mansonmaniac” – apalasi sampai melahirkan “nubuat Helter Skelter” – namun tak ayal, hal itu membuat kita sedikit tersadar bahwa masyarakat di sini masih sensitif dengan hal-hal tersebut. Rasisme atas nama SARA dan gender masih seperti “bara dalam sekam”, yang sewaktu-waktu dalam melumat dan membakar struktur sosial yang sudah bagus dibangun oleh para pendiri republik ini. Begitu juga dengan kasus-kasus pembakaran tempat ibadah dan konflik horisontal di berbagai daerah seperti Maluku, Kalimantan, dan sebagainya.

Kita sadar bahwa tidak semua anggota masyarakat Indonesia seterbuka dan setoleran seperti warga kulit putih yang dengan rela dan sadar memilih Barack Obama sebagai pemimpin mereka. Mungkin, untuk mencapai masyarakat yang 100% toleran, kita masih membutuhkan banyak waktu. Dan untuk itu, masih banyak pekerjaan rumah yang harus diselesaikan.

Namun, sambil mengerjakan pekerjaan rumah, tentu kita tidak dilarang untuk mendengarkan lagu “Helter Skelter” dari The Beatles:

When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide

Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride

Till I get to the bottom and I see you again.

Do you, don't you want me to love you

I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you

Tell me tell me tell me come on tell me the answer

You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer.

Helter skelter helter skelter

Helter skelter.

Text of Obama's Speech for His Inauguration as 44th President

My fellow citizens,

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence— the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

Sumber: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28751183/