Truth and the Other J.C.
This whole Jimmy Carter thing has weighed heavily on my mind the last few days. I'm having trouble understanding how speaking the truth can somehow make a person less in the eyes of society. This seems to be the case regardless if the person speaking this truth is a notable person or just a mechanic down on the corner of Main and First. Maybe it is just a southern thing, but maybe it is not...but my view is the only perspective I have.
I guess this whole thing is just more fuel for our religious (slash) political commandos. They can't let the tank run dry, else risk being stranded out there in no man's land with no gas! I suppose the reality is, the human race has a very long row to hoe before they can get past all of this. It is just that I was hoping we could have at least seen a hot coal by now...maybe not a hot blaze...but at least an ember which would offer us a little hope of fire. Maybe this JC thing will be a spark...perhaps it will create enough animosity between our religitical machine heads to supply the wind to spread the blaze. We could have a nice roaring fire before you know it! However that is very doubtful. The whitehouse has already distanced itself from the issue...the racial issue I have heard referred to as a political minefield. I am sure it will be downplayed by the media with hopes the entire suicidal fiasco will disappear from the radar screens.
After all, it is health care we need to be focusing on right now, and this is just another distraction from our goals. Although I can not help but wonder how the hell we can expect any significant changes in corporate/government policy if we choose to ignore the problem society has with the most basic of human rights? Yes, I think health care is very important, and I believe it should be a civil right...not a privilege. We have yet to really establish our other civil and political rights which the people have had to fight for...our freedom of expression; our equality before the law; or our economic, social and cultural rights...including the right to participate in culture, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education. Now we have health care on the table, and it is a tough one. All civil rights are tough, and we have proven that even though we can change the laws, we have a much harder time enforcing them.
Social truths about injustices always seem to create plenty of friction. A society, which works hard to maintain a certain way of life, does not like giving up it's power by admitting it is wrong. Yes, social laws which promote justice and equality can change for sure, as we have seen through history. There is one problem we have as a society though...we the people never stop, sit down, talk, and figure out how to change our hearts. I think we all need a little anarchy in our hearts, otherwise it never changes. Society will try to convince you that anarchy is chaos...it is evil, and should be avoided else it will drag us into the depths of destruction. Bull shit...it is our only hope of salvaging this social patchwork quilt covering our little planet. Who knows, you may already be an anarchist and you did not even realize!
Before I get really windy, I think I will defer to another who does not have any problem speaking the truth. Just another Scots-Irish codger who can be honest to a fault, which probably makes him less a person somehow! Reading back on this piece, Howling in the Belly of the Confederacy, it's easy to see, even though we have changed presidents, the power structures have not changed one iota that I can see since Joe wrote this almost six years ago. The same structures are in place, and the people remain powerless and subervient to these unjust structures which promote exclusivism while advocating a desire for justice.
Yeah, we live in a new south now, one with equal rights guaranteed by the law...as long as your rights do not interfere with those who interpret these laws! As Joe says, "It's the newest "New South" ladies and gentlemen, much like the old one, but with three more layers of lawyers and realtors. Free market capitalism, Dixie fried."
I guess this whole thing is just more fuel for our religious (slash) political commandos. They can't let the tank run dry, else risk being stranded out there in no man's land with no gas! I suppose the reality is, the human race has a very long row to hoe before they can get past all of this. It is just that I was hoping we could have at least seen a hot coal by now...maybe not a hot blaze...but at least an ember which would offer us a little hope of fire. Maybe this JC thing will be a spark...perhaps it will create enough animosity between our religitical machine heads to supply the wind to spread the blaze. We could have a nice roaring fire before you know it! However that is very doubtful. The whitehouse has already distanced itself from the issue...the racial issue I have heard referred to as a political minefield. I am sure it will be downplayed by the media with hopes the entire suicidal fiasco will disappear from the radar screens.
After all, it is health care we need to be focusing on right now, and this is just another distraction from our goals. Although I can not help but wonder how the hell we can expect any significant changes in corporate/government policy if we choose to ignore the problem society has with the most basic of human rights? Yes, I think health care is very important, and I believe it should be a civil right...not a privilege. We have yet to really establish our other civil and political rights which the people have had to fight for...our freedom of expression; our equality before the law; or our economic, social and cultural rights...including the right to participate in culture, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education. Now we have health care on the table, and it is a tough one. All civil rights are tough, and we have proven that even though we can change the laws, we have a much harder time enforcing them.
Social truths about injustices always seem to create plenty of friction. A society, which works hard to maintain a certain way of life, does not like giving up it's power by admitting it is wrong. Yes, social laws which promote justice and equality can change for sure, as we have seen through history. There is one problem we have as a society though...we the people never stop, sit down, talk, and figure out how to change our hearts. I think we all need a little anarchy in our hearts, otherwise it never changes. Society will try to convince you that anarchy is chaos...it is evil, and should be avoided else it will drag us into the depths of destruction. Bull shit...it is our only hope of salvaging this social patchwork quilt covering our little planet. Who knows, you may already be an anarchist and you did not even realize!
Before I get really windy, I think I will defer to another who does not have any problem speaking the truth. Just another Scots-Irish codger who can be honest to a fault, which probably makes him less a person somehow! Reading back on this piece, Howling in the Belly of the Confederacy, it's easy to see, even though we have changed presidents, the power structures have not changed one iota that I can see since Joe wrote this almost six years ago. The same structures are in place, and the people remain powerless and subervient to these unjust structures which promote exclusivism while advocating a desire for justice.
But something new and more ominous is afoot down here. Something that scares even a hardened tobacco-stained old toad like me -- a clammy, repressive chill. One that not only dampens all political conversation not Pro-Bush, but can even cost you your job in a small town like this one. I'm serious. When I invite like-minded people for cocktails, the atmosphere is distinctly that of a "safehouse," as the few local liberals all but whisper their opinions and eye one another, judging just how safe it is to speak one's mind. It's spooky, so spooky almost none of us is willing to admit it.
Yeah, we live in a new south now, one with equal rights guaranteed by the law...as long as your rights do not interfere with those who interpret these laws! As Joe says, "It's the newest "New South" ladies and gentlemen, much like the old one, but with three more layers of lawyers and realtors. Free market capitalism, Dixie fried."
posted by atuuschaaw at 6:04 AM
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