“Helpless and hungry, lowly he lies, wrapped in the chill of midwinter…
born into poverty’s embrace…
Who is this who lives with the lowly, sharing their sorrows, knowing their hunger?
This is Christ, revealed to the world in the eyes of a child, a child of the poor…”
————————Scott Soper
I went to church last night, Christmas Eve, flipped through the hymnal and found this song. I memorized the key lyrics and the song’s composer ’cause it inspired yet another blog entry. It reminded me of what Christianity used to be, as I’d learned it anyhow, until recently. Christianity, as I understood it, was all about helping the poor and not striving for money or material things because those things are of this earth, physical, not spiritual, not eternal. As Christians, we are to strive to cultivate and enrich our spirit but certainly not our bank accounts. In fact, we should be ready to give away everything, including the shirt off of our backs, to help those in need. This, my friend, is the Christianity I grew up with.
Sayonara, peace and love. Christianity, like everything else in our society, has become mean.
(I’ve had trouble embedding the videos below, so I’ll just include the links for your viewing pleasure…)
What happened? Seems Christianity itself has become, in a sense, the anti-Christ, the very thing that attacks everything this Christ stood for: turning the other cheek, i.e., nonviolence, kindness, generosity, compassion, rejecting greed and materialism, embracing humility and poverty.
This new “Christianity” says that greed is good and that money and material things are given by God to His followers… Huh? Modern times!
Huh?
Read the Bible, people. The Christian Bible does not advocate the obtaining of money and material things. It does not. Does not. Does not.
Christ is born “a child of the poor.” He is born into poverty wrapped in nothing but the “midwinter chill.”
In fact, Jesus and his family–mother Mary, father Joseph–were homeless. There was no room at the inn, so they stayed in a stable where animals were kept. Hmm… Where were the trespassing laws to arrest these occupiers? How would you have treated this homeless family of three had you been alive to witness Jesus’s birth? Would you, like Bill O’Reilly and his anti-Christ wannabe/pseudo Christian friends, give help to the child but ignore the parents, treating them with scorn? Would you accuse Mary and Joseph of being lazy, irresponsible and not wanting to work? Why did they choose to have a child when they were so low on money? Shouldn’t they have put off marriage and children until their financial situation improved?
Yes, this child of the poor, this hungry, helpless, lowly, homeless child was none-other than Jesus Himself. The Messiah Himself, revealed to the world as a poor homeless child. I guess we’ll never know what great gifts an impoverished person might be able to offer if he were allowed to live up to his greatest potential. And I think this was Jesus’s biggest message of all. And I believe this is why he was killed. His very existence as a man who was not born into wealth, not the son of a king (by worldly standards) but who was being treated like a king and followed by a host of admirers, posed a huge threat to the wealthy and powerful who wanted the people to follow THEM, not this Jesus upstart.
“Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth…” Matthew 5:5
Hmm… What would Bill O’Reilly say? He’d probably say, “Get out of my stable, ya’ no-good crackheads. Get a job! You shouldn’t be havin’ kids if you can’t afford ’em!” Then he’d call the police, have Mary and Joseph put in jail and Jesus placed in a foster home. In fact, Bill O’Reilly and his pals would be the first to demand Jesus be sentenced to death for his rebellious ways.
Do you think Jesus and his family were lazy drug addicts who lacked intelligence or practiced poor planning, etc.? Some people ask, “What would Jesus do?” Now, I am asking you, my dear, darlin’ reader, what would you do if you encountered Jesus right here and now–long hair, sandals, poverty and all.
Because, as we all know, Jesus was poor. Someone even wrote a song about it…
Ever hold a ball in your hand then let it drop? What does it do?
It bounces.
And bounces.
It continues to bounce for a little while.
But if you just let it go and don’t give it any more assistance, the bounces will gradually get smaller and smaller, and fewer and farther in between. Eventually, the ball will stop bouncing altogether. It might roll around the floor for a bit till it stops or hits a wall and is forced to stop. But it won’t bounce again until you pick it up and drop it again. (That’s if you don’t intervene and just let the ball bounce on its own, of course.)
But if you drop it then keep tapping it with your hand, you can keep it bouncing, maybe even get it to bounce higher, higher and higher! That ball reacts to your touch and depending on how hard you touch it, it could touch the ceiling, it could rise so high! If you hit it hard enough, your energy might propel it out the window.
Even inanimate objects require some attention.
Do you ever find yourself getting angry at that lazy, dependent ball that can’t bounce on its own, that keeps needing your help to bounce?
“Hey you, get your own bounce!”
Yep, inanimate objects are lazy. They don’t want to work and often refuse to move unless prodded by a human to move. That’s right, you’ve heard/read it here first. Inanimate objects are codependent socialists! Why, some of them are outright communists. Think of the old-fashioned toilet that won’t flush itself, for example. The door that requires you to open and shut it. Or the road that doesn’t build itself, requiring a large group of human beings (collectivism!) to come together, cooperate and work as a team to build it. Yep, toilets, doors and roads are only some of the seemingly ordinary inanimate objects that support socialism. Don’t be fooled!
Sometimes even living creatures are commies. They may not talk about it, but it’s obvious from their behavior. What of the house plant that requires you to water it from time to time? Sure, if it were outdoors it might absorb water from the rain (still a form of mooching, if you ask me.) But there you are fostering dependency by keeping it in your house and taking responsibility for watering it. Why? If you were a truly self-sufficient American, truly devoted to ending communism and socialism around the world, truly patriotic and loyal to your country, you’d get rid of that houseplant (and any pets and children mooching off of you) immediately. Pick yourself up by your bootstraps and tell them to do the same! Show us how to do it by setting an example. As Chris Gardner wrote, “The calvary ain’t comin’!” Nope, no one’s coming to help you. You’ve got to do it all yourself because that’s what life is all about–self reliance!
So I urge you now to not be a hypocrite. Stop supporting the nanny state, codependency, communism and socialism. Stop helping others and, yes, that includes the houseplant. Keep it outdoors, let it soak up the sunlight and mooch off the rain water. Heck, it should just go out and get a bloody job already! What? “They’re not hiring house plants,” you say? Nonsense. Plants give off oxygen, dumbass. And everyone needs oxygen. Put those plants to work. Lots of people will pay for air. If you bring it, they’ll come.
Whew. Sorry for the rant. But honestly, I’m just so tired of the hypocrisy. We owe it to ourselves as Americans to be as selfish, egotistical and unhelpful to others as possible (again, that includes inanimate objects, pets, children, lovers, etc.)
…Otherwise…
(We need another drum roll, please. Oh wait. Dear, sweet, gentle reader, you’ll have to beat on those drums yourself. I certainly won’t do it for you. Beat those drums silly ’cause we need a drumroll! Or you can just imagine it. Can you hear the drum rolling in your head?)
Because otherwise…
Otherwise, we’ll be advocating socialism. Or worse, communism. Or equally worse, collectivism. And we absolutely don’t want that! Look how well selfishness and greed have solved the problems of billions of people around the globe…people from places like…
like…
like…
Okay, I’ll think of a country in a moment, but they’re out there. The countries thriving and living strong due to selfishness and greed are out there, and, eventually, I’ll be able to name them. Aren’t you listening to conspiracy theorists these days? We’ve all got to turn into selfish so-and-so’s immediately before it’s too late. If someone (or some thing) in your life seems to need your help, don’t be fooled. Explain to them that their problems are all their own fault, that they need to clean up their attitude, and you are not going to lift a finger to help them by enabling their laziness. Listen, help someone and they won’t help themselves. Refuse to help someone and they’ll… well, maybe they’ll rob a store for the money or maybe they’ll break into a bank or check into a homeless shelter, or maybe they’ll die because they didn’t get the help they needed, or maybe they’ll sink into depression and start drinking, or maybe the stress will cause them to develop heart disease, multiple sclerosis or cancer, but at least you won’t be advocating ‘socialism’ by helping them because socialism is very, very dangerous. At least you won’t be assisting their laziness. Besides, in attempting to rob a bank, some poor slob might learn skills, including independence and initiative, that might make them more employable once they’re released from jail. (No, I’m not advocating criminal activity, robbery, or theft. I don’t work for corporate America or the government, so why would I advocate such behavior? I’m simply stating what employers, sadly, are seeking from potential employees.) Most employers today look for “money-motivated” types, so being able to risk all for money is in vogue. Socialism is, on the other hand, helping other people. That’s what the word means. Don’t let those dang “liberals” convince you otherwise. And if you do something stupid like help someone in need then find out they weren’t a very nice person in the first place, well…
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
And my memory travels back to a distant time when I was younger and had more faith in people. Perhaps now I’ve become more cynical and impatient. (Ya’ think? Though even in those days I was told I didn’t trust people enough, just to give you an idea of how far down the rabbit hole of mistrust and misanthropy I am right now.) Anyhow, I had moved to a new city and was looking for a new street. I got off the subway and looked around, but this small, suburban street was nowhere to be found. I asked a passerby about this elusive street. Do you know where XXX Street is? And I remember her answer to this day, as it will never leave my mind. It was just so typically American.
“I don’t like to encourage dependency!” she gruffly announced. Then she shoved a map in my face and told me to find the street myself. I looked at the map, dumbfounded. I didn’t know the area at all. In fact, it was the first time in my entire life I’d even been in that city, much less that neighborhood. I spent a few minutes searching the map, but I didn’t even know where I was located on the map much less the street I was searching for, so I didn’t even know where to look. I was very confused. After a few minutes of watching me look over the map, the woman became exasperated. “Oh!” She abruptly grabbed the map away from me. (It was her map, after all, and these days you can’t be too careful. Lots of map-theives out there looking for a handout, looking for someone to “help” them, the lazy bums…)
She then motioned toward the street with her hand. She knew exactly where it was but hadn’t wanted to tell me until now. She just didn’t have the patience for someone as “dependent” and “needy” as I was anymore. So she told me to turn right, head down that major street then turn right again and I’d see the small street I was looking for. She acted as though I was the dumbest person on earth and that I had a lot of nerve asking her for help. Why couldn’t I just pick myself up by my bootstraps and find the street myself?
I followed her instructions and found the street I was looking for. At the time, I was very young, so I didn’t judge the woman too much. I was puzzled by her resistance to just quickly direct me to the street. Honestly, it would have only taken a minute for her to just motion with her hand and say, “It’s just over there.” I was literally only a five-minute walk away from that street. So what exactly was the problem?
It seemed she felt strongly that she had to make a point that everyone should be independent and take care of herself without asking other people for help or directions. She felt she was perpetuating some sort of cycle of dependency by helping me find a street!
And yet if she had taken a simple moment out of her time (less than three minutes, really) to just send me in the right direction, I would have continued on my way and not taken up more of her (or my own) time. She prolonged the time it took for me to find my street by insisting I find it myself when I could not. She had knowledge but wouldn’t share it. (Nothing for free here in the USSA!)
Her resistance to helping me slowed everything down, impeded progress for both her and me. It took me longer to get to my destination and made the trip frustrating. If I hadn’t been able to find the street, I might have given up and just turned around and gone home. Simply put, it would have been much more efficient if she’d just pointed me in the right direction in the first place instead of wasting everyone’s time by attempting to make senseless argument about independence. So we’re not allowed as humans to get lost and ask for directions? That makes us lazy and dependent?
Sheesh.
Look, when we need help, we need it right away at the time it is needed AND we need the appropriate type of help. When other people resist us, judge us, assume we’re to blame, etc., that just creates a distraction that slows us down, sometimes discourages us altogether. This, my friend, is the reason why some people stay poor, remain on welfare, remain homeless, etc. Helping people empowers them, gives them the safety net they need so they can take the risk to jump out into the world and pursue their dreams. Attacking them for needing help when they actually need it just frustrates people, makes them feel helpless and hopeless and, quite often, causes them to give up.
Yes, sometimes we need help. Quite often, we need help. Almost always we need help from other people. And when we don’t get help when we need it and we can’t solve our problems without help, we can deteriorate, sink into depression, get overwhelmed and overburdened, develop health problems, behavioral problems, etc. (Poor people don’t live as long as rich people for this reason.)
That is what happens to poor people, to people who collect welfare for long periods of time, to homeless people, etc. No one wants to be poor or homeless. No one. People get stuck–not because they’re “dependent on handouts.” They get stuck because they aren’t getting the help they need when they need it. American “handouts” are half-assed, incomplete forms of shoving a map in a lost person’s face and telling a person to find the street herself.
Who’s helping the poor here in the USA? Who’s really helping the poor? No one. I’m telling you right now. NO ONE. When someone’s lost and you send them in the right direction, you’re not perpetuating dependency. You’re being a kind, decent human being. You’re allowing progress. Let that person continue on their journey while you continue on yours. When one needs help from the other, the other will be ready because we share this world. We have to share. Now, I’m not speaking to kindergarteners here, am I? We’re all adults, no? Didn’t your parents/teachers/surrounding adults teach you this when you were five? We have to share because as individuals we can’t do it all alone. It isn’t physically possible.
We’re all connected. We all depend on one another, always. That will never change. Should you choose to leave society and live alone on a deserted island, you’ll still be dependent on nature and the changes taking place within it. You’ll be interacting with storms, crops that refuse to grow, soil that needs to be left alone for a while, animals that are hungry and want your food–or perhaps you as their food. Sorry, but rugged selfishness doesn’t work. Never has. Never will. Being kind spreads more kindness. Someday, it will come back to you and you’ll find that someone somewhere is kind to you when you most needed it. It’s wonderful, really, to live in a world in which people are kind to each other. And we could have that world, even here in the USA.
BTW, a note about the above videos:
The first video was produced by a former lawyer and homeless woman who creates provocative and intriguing political commentary, and has continued to create these videos even while she was homeless. Amazing. Just because you aren’t making money doesn’t mean you aren’t contributing to society. This woman is a perfect example of that. Making videos takes a lot of work.
The second video impressed me because this priest exuded kindness and peace. What he said about us breaking down the walls between us was beautiful and poetic. He honestly means what he says. He honestly cares.
The last videos of the young college students made me cry. “I’ve got a pretty good life,” the young man begins (and the tears began to flow–from my eyes, of course, not his.) So often I lament the lack of empathy and compassion in our spiritually impoverished nation, then someone like this guy comes along who causes me to have faith in the human race again. (Well, for a moment…)
I wish we could support the above video makers. Turn off the TV set and watch videos like the above, movies made from the heart and soul by people who are passionate about something important. Frankly, I found the above videos more entertaining and enlightening than anything I could watch on TV. (But then again, I don’t watch TV anymore, so I guess I’m not all familiar with the *$%#* gobbledygook screening on the idiot box these days. “Junky off!” as my granddad used to say.)
We Americans, who think we are so much in control over everything (and everyone), cannot control time. We cannot stop it from catching up with us and we cannot prevent the consequences of our actions.
We think, for example, we can abuse our kids and that that will be okay because when they grow up and exhibit all sorts of psychiatric symptoms we’ll just take them to the doctor and have them medicated.
We think we can abuse our fellow Americans by outsourcing jobs to third-world countries then blaming people for not being able to find decent-paying jobs and not being able to pay their bills.
Or by blaming people for getting sick then depriving them of access to good health care.
We think we can abuse women, minorities and poor people by blaming them from suffering from discrimination and social injustice while we refuse to take responsibility for how we choose to treat others.
We don’t need to discriminate against women and people of color when hiring for certain jobs. We don’t need to pay our employees tiny wages. We don’t need to refuse to provide our employees with health insurance. We don’t need to charge unreasonably high rents to our tenants. We don’t need to charge unreasonably high prices for items we sell. But we choose too because that’s a higher profit, more money, for us. And that’s all we care about–US, right?
Us. We think we can pollute the environment and that will be okay because we can just use scientific knowledge and advanced technology to make it all go away when the s**t hits the f*n. (I mean, hey, there are other planets, right?) If we get sick from the processed food and the pollution in our air, food and water, we’ll just take some medication or have the body parts that are damaged inside us surgically removed. Heck, I’ve met people who have rods in their spine. Some people pick up radio signals, they have so much metal in them. Some people have pacemakers that help keep their heart beating no matter what. Lots of people have tumors removed, so does it matter if cell phones can cause tumors? Does your stomach hurt? Have it removed or surgically modified.
Does your heart bother you? What about your mind? Your conscience? Your soul? (Hmm… I suspect there are some things we can’t have removed or surgically modified, though I could be perfectly wrong. Am I?)
Oh yeah, we Americans can survive anything. But what’s more important is that we can do anything we want. And no one can do what we can. We’re just better than everyone else in the world, right? Greatest country in the world, right?
Ehem.
On this day, December 21st, 2012–doomsday or day of transformation, I wanted to share my own personal observations and predictions for the future (if there is one) of this country. Yes, I’m not so well-known. If I’m lucky, I’ll get 3-4 readers of my blog per day. (And some of them are mere paid trolls hired out to discourage us “liberals” from uttering dissenting voices on the web. Yep, we’re on to ya’, so don’t even bother.) That’s okay because I haven’t had the time or the desire to promote this blog, as, like most Americans, financial concerns “occupy” my mind most of the time, unfortunately. And in a sense, it doesn’t really matter. Famous media personalities such as Michael Moore, Naomi Wolf, Noam Chomsky and Amy Goodman have tried and continue to try to inform the American masses. Yet I continue to meet Americans who have never even heard of any of those people despite their collective decades of activism.
So there ya’ go.
A lot of people (quacks in my not-so-humble opinion) have been predicting a transformation on this day. A spiritual transformation. Suddenly human beings will no longer be human beings. We’ll suddenly stop hating, stop war-mongering, stop being selfish, greedy, etc. We’re going to transform into loving, spiritual, god-like creatures no longer capable of social injustice.
In other words, we’ll all cease to exist as humans.
But what is actually happening today in everyday America is exactly the opposite of that. We’re continuing to hear of layoffs, employees losing their jobs, companies outsourcing labor to third-world countries or downsizing (trying to get more work out of fewer people and for less pay) while we’re also hearing the propaganda–that the economy is getting better, that jobs are being “created,” that poor people are lazy and don’t want to work, that some people are creating their own problems by causing themselves to get sick then complaining they have no access to affordable health care, etc.
Yep, the propaganda machine is alive and well, and we will hear more of it. People will continue to lose their homes, their jobs, their friends and sometimes their families. Without a livelihood and with no hope for a better future, many people are finding themselves isolated in a society that values money over everything else. What, you don’t have a car? You don’t have a computer? You don’t have Internet access at home? You can’t afford to go to the concert? To eat dinner at au restaurant on the hill? Heaven forbid, you have no home? No job? Are you collecting public assistance? Horror of horrors! What kind of person are you?
A human person.
But that’s beside the point. Rather than a spiritual transformation that makes us kinder and more loving, I believe the opposite is happening and will continue to do so. The transformation we’re undergoing is making us less human–that is true, but not in the way the new-agers were expecting.
We are changing, transforming, into drones who care for nothing or no one, who follow orders mindlessly, who never even think of thinking for ourselves. We don’t even ask for permission. We just wait for our orders which we obey without question. Soon the human race (that of thinking, rational, compassionate and empathetic creatures, capable of creativity, imagination and sometimes questioning authority) will be one we might read of in history books or hear tale of from our grandparents–if such history is allowed to be told.
Yes, revolution is possible in some parts of the world. People who suffer for long periods of time are bound to develop some discontent and rebel. But, of course, a mass rebellion requires one thing that we wealthy/formerly wealthy Americans just don’t have: cooperation.
In order for people to rise up and vent their dissatisfaction with the social order of things, people need to be able to cooperate, to work together, to trust in each other, and yes, to help each other. Americans have been conditioned to believe that helping other people makes the people receiving the help lazy and dependent. How many times have we heard about the cycle of dependency, the “nanny state,” or heaven forbid, the dangers of “socialism?” Your next-door neighbor is just another dog in a dog-eat-dog society who’ll eat you if you don’t eat him/her first. So be glad they lost their house, their job, their car… That’s one more house, job, car, etc., for you!
We’ve become a nation of rugged individualists with each one of us thinking we are some sort of island or fortress that can stand against the world. Problem is, we can’t.
A society, by definition, is people, a group of people, working together, collaborating together, sharing and helping each other. A society is not a collection of selfish people who don’t like each other, are afraid of each other, are unable to trust each other or to make sacrifices for each other. No, what we have here in the US is not a society at all, and that is what is disturbing.
Because no matter how bad things get, no matter how many surveillance cameras spy on us, no matter how many stories we hear of political activists dying mysterious deaths or finding their careers ruined, we, the people, outnumber the wealthy elitists who’ve taken over our country. We, the people, ultimately prevail, and those in power are afraid of us. Yes, they are very much afraid. That is the reason, after all, for all the surveillance and the taking away of our civil liberties. Attempting to oppress millions of free people is dangerous indeed. But what if the people aren’t free? What if they all hate each other? Are afraid of each other? Can’t trust each other? Can’t cooperate or work on projects with each other? Can’t trust each other? Are completely dependent on authority figures to tell them how and what to think?
We the people could change this entire country in an instant. In fact, the entire world could change in an instant! (Yes, perhaps I could market this idea because I think I’ve just solved the world’s problems just now… Or have I, my dear naive, capitalist friend?)
And yet it is true. Painfully true! Everything could change in a heartbeat. All we have to do is change ourselves. Instead of “waiting for superman” to rescue us, protesting what other people are doing, complaining, crying, lamenting, etc., we just need to stop going along with it. That means becoming the peace, freedom, change or whatever we wish to see in the world. That means stop buying from large corporations. Stop supporting them. We know they are greedy for money and power. Let’s stop giving it to them.
We can stop watching television. We can recognize their propaganda and resist their fear mongering.
We can visit our friends and neighbors and start congregating in public places again. We can have barbecues and invite our neighbors over. We can stop stealing from and assaulting each other. We can start being kind and loving rather than judgmental and vindictive toward each other. We can welcome our differences, for they make us interesting, rather than attack each other and discriminate against each other for them. Men, women, rich people, poor people, red people, brown, black and yellow people, fat people, thin people, smart and not-so-smart people. We are a diverse humanity. Some can run faster, think faster, shoot faster, talk faster than others, but that’s what makes life interesting. Our weaknesses are also our strengths and vice versa. The one who moves slowly might have more patience for solving complex problems. The one who runs faster might have trouble stopping and listening to others and may be slow at understanding.
Once we understand that we realize that no one is really “weaker” or less important as everyone has something to offer to the world. We need the slower among us along with the quicker. Those we label as “weak” might have strengths we’ve ignored. An elderly relative wasting away in a nursing home has tremendous wisdom that is left untapped. Why? Why do we throw away people when we, the people, are all needed so very much? Everyone has inside him or her something great and wonderful, some special form of knowledge or experience that can heal someone else if only it were shared.
Yet we don’t share. We’ve forgotten how to share. And those who still know how to share are often prevented from doing so. We’ve forgotten how to appreciate and show gratitude to those who want to share by preventing them from contributing to our society. Remember, the person collecting the welfare check may not contribute by working at a regular “job” but contributes to society in many other ways. Raising one’s children properly, lending a kind hand to a neighbor, giving helpful advice to someone who’s lost, inviting someone who’s hungry or lonely over for dinner, being a good listener or just a good friend to another human being in need are only some of the ways in which everyone can contribute, regardless of employment status.
On a certain level, we used to know all this. I’m not saying/writing anything new here. But somehow we’ve lost our way. We’ve forgotten who we are as human beings. We’ve allowed a tiny minority of wealthy aristocrats to manipulate us into becoming like they are: greedy, selfish, egotistical, self-servingly ignorant–instead of giving and selfless, connected as a part of one race, the way we were meant to be as humans.
Why?
We’ll never be like them. Most of us will never become nearly as rich, as social mobility in the USA is not very common. Most Americans remain in roughly the same socioeconomic class within which they were born. But why do we want to be like them? They’re never happy, never satisfied. We hear them always complain about having to pay taxes. Poor babies–a simple tax return they don’t even fill out themselves (but that their accountants fill out for them) is enough to shatter their entire world. Inner turmoil sets in at the very thought of having to give anything to anyone else. They were born with money, they continue to make more money and yet they hoard their money. Most of it goes nowhere, just sits in bank accounts, trust funds, stocks, bonds, etc. Still they live in constant fear of losing even a mere penny of it. What a sad life they lead. They own several cars, houses, mansions, private planes, servants, etc., but they are never satisfied. It’s just never enough for them. Like the alcoholic who never has enough to drink, the greedy money-hoarder never has enough money and/or power over other people. And for what purpose? To what end? We will all die someday regardless. We can all get sick–rich and poor. We all have to use the bathroom. All of us vomit. All of us pee.
And when you’re alone in a hospital room vomiting nonstop, your makeup, your fancy hairdo, your diamonds and pearls won’t make you any better than human. They won’t save you from dying. In fact, the makeup will smudge, your hair will get messy and the jewelry might need to be removed during surgery. And people who have less money than you (who you think of as inferior) will see you undressed, unadorned–wrinkles, warts, farts, and all.
Sorry, wealthy elite, aristocrats, one-percenters, “illuminati,”reptile peeps, or whatever you prefer to be called, but you aren’t any better than the rest of us. You’re just as human, just as messy, sloppy, oily, smelly, and imperfect as the rest of us.
Except on the inside, you’re much, much uglier. Often you even lack a soul. When we try to see inside you, we see something dark and evil and sick, or we see nothing at all. It’s very frustrating really. And I truly pity the psychologist who tries this.
But physically, you’re just like the rest of us. Whether you like it or not.
Yet Americans want to be you. Americans think they can be you. Wow, you’ve sure done a great job of brainwashing Americans. And on a weird sort of level, I admire your ability to control the minds of so many people. Americans really think they can be rich someday, just like you. But what’s even worse, they want to be as cruel as you are too. Where does this come from, this need to be cruel, thoughtless, selfish and to show general disregard for others? Is it a result of anger? A need to feed the ego? If I’m cruel to you it shows how powerful I am? A sense that others haven’t been fair to us? Or is it just coming from our general disconnection from each other? Okay, I digress here.
Goofy comparison I suppose, but we’ve become a lot like the oppressed humans in the Ann Rice novel “Vittorio, the Vampire.” They are so afraid of the vampire conquerors that they forget that vampires have a weakness humans do not share. Vampires cannot go out in the light. When the light shines on them, they die. And everyday the sun rises. Yet we are afraid to expose them to the light. All we have to do is shine the light on them and they’ll burn out into oblivion.
But instead we continue to try to be like them, those vampires who’ve decimated what was once a great society. (Yes, I do think the US was once a great country that did have the ability to influence the rest of the world in a positive and democratic way.) But we’ve thrown that all away. Now our country sinks further into fascism.
We could change that, of course, in an instant. I could snap my fingers now–snap!–and make it all go away, but that would require we change ourselves, that we start loving each other and making sacrifices for each other again. We can stop supporting celebrities, CEOs and billionaires and start giving to each other. We can acquire some integrity and decide that a pair of sneakers aren’t worth $100, especially when manufactured by a corporation that put millions of Americans out of work by outsourcing labor to third-world-countries, hiring children to work like slaves for meager wages then stealing from its customers by charging $100 for a pair of sneakers that probably cost 50 cents to make. We can entertain each other instead of relying on corporate-controlled TV programs or radio stations that play the same songs over and over. Over. And over. Over. Again. (Before the advent of television and radio people played musical instruments for each other in their homes. People read books to each other. People drew, painted, composed poetry, etc.)
But I’m speaking into the wind. A wind that’s blowing in my face. (And it smells like the aftermath of a forest fire.)
Sadly, the American people just aren’t going to change anything. Perhaps there is hope for the rest of the world, but the hope is not here in the USA.
I predict for 2013 and beyond that there will be no revolt, no revolution in the US, because Americans can’t come together and work with each other on anything anymore. We’ve been fragmented, disconnected, disconcerted, discombobulated by fear, selfishness, greed, the human ego, and worship of the very wealthy, whom we’ve decided are better than us simply because they have more money. (Americans worship money, and so it is ironic that our country is losing just that very thing we “love” so much.)
Right now, many Americans are getting assistance from friends and relatives. College students, aged 22, are graduating with massive debt that sometimes amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars. But their parents and grandparents had better lives, so they often have the money to provide them assistance. A few decades from now, those students will be parents and grandparents themselves. They will not have social security or pensions. They will not have life savings, as all the money they’ve earned from working will have gone toward paying off the massive student loan and/or credit card debt.
So what then? What happens when the future generations of struggling Americans are faced with not only the lack of government safety nets but the lack of social safety nets as well? What happens when kids ask their parents for money only to find their parents ask them in return? ‘Have no money to lend you, son, ’cause I’m struggling myself. Sorry, grandkids, can’t celebrate Christmas this year.’
What happens when families lose their homes but their parents and grandparents are also homeless? There will be no sister, brother, mother, father, cousin, aunt or uncle to move in with. No living room floor to sleep on. No extra room in the basement or attic. No friend/relative to help you get a job at his company. No $1000 we can borrow from Grandma to help us catch up on the rent or mortgage. At the same time, we’ll continue to hear the propaganda: if you’re poor, it’s your own fault. Get a job! So our friends and acquaintances who are doing better than us won’t loan us the money, won’t put us up for a few weeks–or perhaps years!–while we search for a better job, a job that may not even exist–won’t help us to survive. No, more than likely they will shun us because everything they hear on the “news” tells them the economy is getting better, jobs are being created, and poor people are lazy and just choosing not to work. They won’t want to “enable” us and our “dependency” by helping us. Dear me, no! Jamais de la vie!
You bum! Why don’t you get a job?!
That’s what we’ll hear. Until they lose their jobs. Then they’ll understand. But of course, we won’t be able to help them ’cause they weren’t there to help us so… Oh yeah, it’s a lot like that famous poem, a poem that haunts me frequently these days as I watch Americans get meaner and meaner toward each other: “when they came for the communists, I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist…”
Oh yeah, history repeating itself. Again. What else is new?
I guess what is new here in the US is fascism. Don’t think we’ve experienced it before. So it’s almost impossible to get the average American to recognize the obvious symptoms of it. (I’m sure if we traveled to Europe and talked with people about fascism, most would agree that that is something to be concerned about. But Americans seem to think we’re immune only because it hasn’t happened here…yet. A young country, we forget that it has just taken time for fascism to catch up with us, that there is a Hitler in every country, everywhere in the world just waiting for the right, fertile environment to let him grow into the great dictator he intends to be.)
So yes, we will continue to deteriorate. Ignorance is bliss, but only temporarily. Many people will suffer here in the US. As we’re unable to cooperate with and trust each other, Americans will not come together and revolt but will instead begin attacking each other, and the country will implode. We’ll kill ourselves really. When people lose their jobs and cannot find another means of supporting themselves they will have to find some other way of feeding themselves and their children. If they can’t do it legally, they’ll do it illegally. If there is no friend, relative or anyone to help them, to show them kindness, they will learn that it is a dog-eat-dog society and each one of us must fend for him or herself. That means, I can’t care about you because, after all, you don’t care about me. If I am hungry, painfully hungry, and I need to eat, I know that you won’t feed me. You’ll judge me. You’ll attack me for being hungry. You’ll accuse me of being some sort of lazy bum because I don’t have a job. There is no government assistance for me and no one in my life to help me. So what am I going to do?
For most people the answer will be crime or violence. People will be forced to steal their food, to break into each other’s homes, to hack each other’s computers, to steal credit card numbers, or to somehow find a way to survive outside of the normally acceptable means of earning a living (as those normal means–i.e., jobs–have been taken away.) We’ll be able to trust each other less and less, become even more disconnected and fearful, and this will result in more policing, more military force being used against us as the American people become increasing violent and dangerous to each other. And the more threatening we are to each other, the less threatening we’ll be to the wealthy elite who’ve created this mess in the first place. Of course, that’s exactly how they’ve planned it. (Yes, I’m a conspiracy theorist on this one, babe.)
Now, I’m running out of time. Aren’t we all? Perhaps I’ll have time later to edit and to elaborate.
But what I’ll say now (to the air blowing back at my words) is this: the future is bleak in the US. It is too late to turn things around.
But…
if you really are a diehard activist who refuses to give up then please, take a look at the power and strength of community: Bringing people together, getting people to work together and to help each other again, to feel connected with each other again. If we the people could start loving each other…if we could trust each other…then, yes, a revolution would be possible.
That is why the US government dislikes the hippie Rainbow gatherings so much. People coming together and loving each other is too reminiscent of the 60s movement–a worldwide movement in which people began disobeying authority (heavens to Betsy!) People were empowered, united, and striving for peace, kindness and love. (Or at least they claimed to be.)
My, how times have changed. In these days, when peaceful, loving people are seen as ‘weak’ while aggressive, violent people are seen as ‘strong,’ political activists would have a difficult time changing the mindset of the average American, but I, for one, would love to see the effort made.
How sad this country has lost its way. The US was supposed to be the Land of Opportunity, a place where anyone could pursue one’s dreams, not have to throw away one’s talents & gifts to conform to what someone else decides is a “practical” major & spend their lives toiling away at jobs they hate and for little money. Quality of life was supposed to be better here–unlike the third world where poor people are expected to do whatever it takes, right or wrong, to earn enough to get by.
The reality is there are perhaps billions of people all over the world that are incredibly talented but will never live up to their full potential, never be able to contribute, never be the best they could be because they live in extreme poverty. The child starving in an African desert will never know she was built to be a ballet dancer, may not even know what ballet is. Another child is struggling in a housing complex in the Bronx. He has the intellect and personality type that would make him a gifted scientist. But he is surrounded by gangs and drug dealers, so that is where his future lies.
There’s a saying: “If you think education is expensive, consider the price of ignorance.” We are paying that price now. It would greatly help this country if more Americans studied the liberal arts–particularly history, sociology, political science, and psychology. I guarantee you, Americans wouldn’t have gone along with the surveillance, the destruction of our civil liberties, the dismantling of our Constitution, the outsourcing of our jobs to third-world-countries, etc., if they’d were well-educated in the above subjects. Study some history and sociology and learn about how peoples all over the world and all throughout time have lost their freedom the way Americans are now losing it due to their own ignorance. It’s amazing how history repeats itself when nobody listens.
I suppose this is why the following is also true: disdain for the arts is one of the early warning signs of fascism.
It’s just so much easier to oppress the “money-motivated” Accounting majors. They don’t have lofty ideals of making the world a better place. They simply think about themselves, their money and their potential to make more money, so of course they can be easily manipulated. Americans have made a decision to reward thugs without ideals, compassion or love for their fellow human beings.
Whew, that last blog was a mangled mess of verbiage: words tossed together and plopped haphazardly onto a blog like some sort of twisted verbal salad, or like the mishmash on your daddy’s supper plate. “It’s all goin’ in the same stomach,” he used to say as you watched in awe…
Eating that mess is one thing. But having to read it? Well, sorry. Might just go ahead and delete it till I have time to rewrite the darn thing.
I promise you, I wasn’t drunk when I wrote it, nor was I insane. I was, however, mad. Mad as heck… But that’s a given. Just look at this blog’s title. But ya’ know…
“…the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow, roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars, and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop, and everyone goes, “Awww!” –Jack Kerouac (No one would write anything like that today and become successful, and that’s fodder for a future blog. He died in 1969, just as freedom as we knew it was on its slow, demoralized way out.)
Anyhow, the previous blog entry does need some serious editing, and perhaps one day I’ll get to it. But, as you’ve probably noticed, the time to edit just isn’t there. (The time to do just about anything that we aren’t paid for isn’t there for most of us overworked and underpaid Americans these days, is it? Leisure time is virtually nonexistent for most of us these days. And frankly, I think that’s a part of the plan–no leisure time to think, to blog, to write, to ponder the mysteries of the universe or just to hone our typing skills. Certainly, there’s little time for political action, involvement or protest. Everything we do spend time on needs to bring us back some money, or else it just isn’t worth anything, as far as our falling society is concerned (and as far as our landlords, mortgage bankers, bosses, social service workers, bill collectors, politicians and next-door neighbors are concerned.)
Perhaps what we need is a blessing. Which brings me to this latest blog entry. Is there a God? And would He, could He, please bless us, America? If there were a God, a Higher Power, a force of all that is good, a universal Creator, would he, could he (or she?!) bless the USA?
Uh, no. Apparently not. And the answer, my friends, comes from a surprising source: Bobcat Goldthwait. A friend of mine once said that she never met a comedian who was not some sort of genius. Goldthwait seems to prove the point. This oddball comedian has come out of the closet, as it were, to reveal the genius behind the weirdness. Who knew?
To wit:
“My name is Frank, but that’s not important. The important question is, ‘Who are you?’ America has become a cruel and vicious place. We reward the shallowest, dumbest, the meanest and the loudest. We no longer have any common sense of decency, no sense of shame. There’s no right and wrong. The worst qualities in people are looked up to and celebrated. Lying and spreading fear are fine, as long as you make money doing it. We’ve become a nation of slogan-saying, vile-spewing hate mongers. We’ve lost our kindness. We’ve lost our soul.
What have we become? We take the weakest in our society and we hold them up to be ridiculed, laughed at for our sport and entertainment, laughed at to the point where they would literally rather kill themselves than live with us anymore…”
And with that said, Frank goes on a killing spree, slaughtering all the rude, discourteous, ugly Americans he can find. Oh yeah. He’s a nice guy who does something that’s very much not nice, i.e., killing people who aren’t nice. So his dissatisfaction with the way things are corrupts him. He becomes, in a sense, meaner than the mean people he destroys. But perhaps he’s not really killing them for being mean. Perhaps it’s the stupidity, the dumbed-downedness that really irritates him. In that sense, he is triumphant. He succeeds in killing off some of the dumbest and most irritating people in our society–reality show stars, spoiled, rich brats, etc.
I admit, I didn’t enjoy the violence or the blood and gore but I think it was fitting nevertheless.
In fact, it is ingenious: a movie about the decline of American culture that uses violence, blood and gore to make its statement, thus reeling in the ugly Americans who thrive on such titillation who will want to see this film but who probably won’t recognize themselves in it.
Actor Joel Murray nailed the role of the soft-spoken, polite, mild-mannered everyman, Frank, so well that I nearly cried when he beseeched his neighbor to please move his car. (The neighbor repeatedly blocks Frank’s car.) Far from apologetic, the neighbor replies using what has become commonplace American “logic” these days: “it’s your own fault if you’re a victim of my selfishness and greed.”
“You blocked yourself in, bro'” he says to Frank. Meanwhile, the neighbor’s wife is overheard in the background saying, “Tell him to park his car away from us.”
Frank is already late for work. He likes to park his car in front of his apartment. Finally, the neighbor reluctantly walks toward his car with the intention of moving it but he takes his time, looking over his car to see if there are any scratches on it before moving it out of Frank’s way. He’s also careful to reprimand Frank with, “Dude, you need to leave yourself more room.” An American flag proudly displays in the man’s front window, just above the a/c and a bumper sticker remembering 911 is on the back of his car. He’s patriotic, proud of his country and the mean-spirited selfishness and greed that have become so much a part of it.
There is, however, some brilliant, thought-provoking dialogue here (Bobcat Goldthwait wrote this?), and that makes me think this movie could never possibly become a hit in the US, though it may develop a loyal cult following. As the film itself suggests, Americans don’t like intellectual discourse. They/We prefer cheap titillation. Instant gratification. Or whatever brings in a buck. Violence, explicit sex, blood and gore, yes. But thought-provoking dialogue? Where’s the remote? Next!
“It’s not nice to laugh at someone who’s not all there. It’s the same type of freak show distraction that comes along every time a mighty empire starts collapsing. I’m done, really. Everything is so cruel now. I just want it all to stop…”
“Nobody talks about anything anymore. They just regurgitate everything they see on TV or hear on the radio, or watch on the web. When was the last time you had a real conversation with someone without somebody texting or looking at a screen or monitor over your head? You know, a conversation about something that wasn’t celebrities, gossips, sports or pop politics? Somethin’ important or somethin’ personal?…”
“Oh I get it, and I am offended, not because I got a problem with bitter, predictable, whiny, millionaire disc jockeys complaining about celebrities or how tough their life is, while I live in an apartment with paper-thin walls next to a couple of Neanderthals who, instead of a baby, decided to give birth to some kind of nocturnal civil defense air raid siren that goes off every f—‘in night like it’s Pearl Harbor. I’m not offended that they act like it’s my responsibility to protect their rights to pick on the weak like pack animals or that we’re supposed to support their freedom of speech when they don’t give a f— about yours or mine.”
Frank is speaking to his coworker who completely misses the intriguing points just raised. Fancying himself as the intellectual know-it-all, the coworker responds to Frank: “So you’re against freedom of speech now? It’s in the Bill of Rights, man.”
Frank patiently takes a moment to restrain himself then begins with:
“I would defend their freedom of speech, if I thought it was in jeopardy. I would defend their freedom of speech to tell uninspired, bigoted, blow job, gay-bashing, racist and rape jokes all under the guise of being edgy, but that’s not the edge. That’s what sells. They couldn’t possibly pander any harder or be more commercially mainstream because this is the ‘Oh no, you didn’t say that!’ generation where a shocking comment has more wit than the truth.
No one has any shame anymore, and we’re supposed to celebrate it. I saw a woman throw a used tampon at another woman last night on network television—a network that bills itself as ‘today’s woman’s channel.’ Kids beat each other blind and post it on youtube. I mean, do you remember when eating rats and maggots on Survivor was shocking? It all seems so quaint now. I’m sure the girls from Two Girls, One cup are gonna have their own dating show on VH1 any day now. I mean, why have a civilization anymore if we are no longer interested in being civilized?”
Oh yes, indeed. Why have a civilization anymore when we are no longer interested (or perhaps capable of) being civilized?
Indeed. Indeed. I would say the only dispute I’d have with the film’s statement would surround the scene in which Frank loses his job. A receptionist of his employer accuses Frank of possible sexual harassment. (He’d bought her flowers then sent them to her house. She hadn’t given him her address.) I appreciate the moral statement behind the scene. Yes, we as a society are too paranoid. Yes, we need to be more friendly, more loving and forgiving toward one another. Yes, we need to be free to connect with each other again and not be so afraid of others who are trying to connect with us.
Yes, yes, yes!
However…
Sexual harassment is a reality that many women experience. (I wish more men had empathy for women!) I can point to specific situations in my own life when certain men have made the workplace uncomfortable for those of us they found attractive but were unwilling to reciprocate. Basically, if you’re not interested in sleeping with them, some of those guys get vindictive. They’re bullies essentially, and they expect to get what they want. Or else. It’s one more glass ceiling women hit in the workplace. Sleep with that guy! Or at least respond favorably to his advances. Or else.
But as usual, I have my own take on everything I see. Yep, this is why I have no money. I think for myself. I express my own personal opinions. I think outside the box. And, sadly, I live in the USSA, er, the USSR, uh, I mean, the USA. And American society doesn’t like that sort of thing, especially when the thinking comes from us ladies.
No, no, no!
Are you with me, women? If you’re a woman and others think you’re “pretty” or (heavens to Betsy!) “sexy,” some men expect you to be available to them. If you don’t play the role of sex object (using your bod, ala Anna Nicole); if you insist on keeping those clothes on and developing your intellect and/or talent rather than keeping the focus on your, uh, endowments, then you’ll hit that glass ceiling so fast you won’t even know it hit you. (And ouch! That really hurts!) This is especially true if you try to get men to see you as a person and show no interest whatsoever in ever, EVER sleeping with or being fondled by them.
Point is, the receptionist at Frank’s place of work had reason to be a bit standoffish and concerned. Women do deal with stalkers, unfortunately, and violence against women is a reality and a part of our society’s problem.
But the ruthless reaction of Frank’s boss doesn’t make sense. No one talks anything over. There’s no diplomacy nor due process for Frank. He is accused of something and then he’s out–just like that. His coworkers seem happy that he’s being taken away. Dog-eat-doggedness and unhealthy competition is common in most offices these days. Americans have learned to compete with each other, to fight with each other, to fear each other, while at the same time displaying that flag and that ‘Remember 911’ bumper sticker as though the meanness we show each other is somehow negated by those superficial attempts at being a whole, cohesive society of people who truly love and support one another.
Well, I didn’t intend on writing a movie review, but here it is. Great film (except for the violence, though I understand why it is there. Americans won’t go to see it unless there’s plenty of violence.) Well-written. Great dialogue. Intriguing. Glad I got to see it. Maybe you will too?
And here’s hoping Goldthwait will continue to be successful in this country, in spite of his pesky habit of thinking. Perhaps he needs therapy? Ah, but don’t we all…
“god bless america” (lowercase?) was written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait and presented by Darko Entertainment in association with Jerkschool Productions.
I don’t know what is happening within other Occupies across the US and the world, but in my town there have been ego clashes, fighting, people being “kicked out” or just discouraged from participating. Many people who support the Occupiers’ alleged goals have felt unwelcome and have chosen not to get involved, as the environment has become so negative. Some have branched off and started their own Occupy. This has angered the original Occupiers who are now arguing back and forth, primarily via the Internet, about whose movement is better. Seriously, people? Do you expect to be taken seriously?
To be fair, the winter season does factor in on this somewhat. As the weather gets stormy, cold and unpleasant, we’ve seen fewer activists and more people who just have no choice but to camp out at Occupy. They join, not necessarily because they want to make the world a better place, but because they are seeking a safe place where they can remain homeless. (I’m not criticizing the homeless either. This entire blog is written from the point of view of a formerly homeless and currently financially struggling working class person–and a real, bonafide 99 percenter!) But I think the point of camping out in front of government buildings was to address the government with our grievances, not to solicit free food donations from the community. Sadly, our government isn’t listening to us. Writing/calling Congress doesn’t seem to make a difference, but if we camp out in tents in front of their offices…well, how can they ignore us then? That was, I think, the original point. But now the encampment in my town has turned into something else, something ugly, something I can’t support. A sort of “group think” has set in as campers versus those who don’t camp, original protestors vs. newbies, meeting attendees vs. those who don’t have time to attend, and men who want to dominate versus women who feel disenfranchised vs. women who don’t feel that other women should complain about sexism compete with each other as to who and what this supposedly democratic movement is about!
And time and time again, I’ve approached this Occupy and seen an increase in people gathering for the free food and tent setting. (I’m a democratic-socialist type, not a conservative Republican, mind you, yet I can’t help but see the lack of desire to give back to one’s community.) When I engage them in political discourse, they know nothing or very little and seem rather unconcerned about current events or changing the system. (But we need donations, please!) Pointing out these and other problems, i.e., that the organization appears to be white-male dominated in a region with a large African-American community, causes people to be censored, yes, censored! And this Occupy even voted at a General Assembly to block certain people from expressing certain opinions they deem “harmful” on their web site. And would-be Occupiers are chastised or threatened with the possibility of being disassociated from Occupy should they “harm” the movement by pointing out problems within it.
It’s a sad, sorry thing to admit to, but I’ve been treated with more warmth and welcome by activist groups with whom I’ve strongly disagreed. Yep, I’m talking about activists not supportive of my political beliefs but who were friendly and welcoming. They understand the importance of speaking with people who disagree on many things but might be able to rally toward a common cause for the greater good.
(By the way, one such “common cause” can be the move to eliminate corporate funding of our politicians. Many activists, Tea Party and Occupy alike could agree on that one. We aren’t going to agree on everything, but we can agree to disagree on some issues then move on to the more important topics at hand. Occupy, are you listening?)
Ah, the irony. This blog was set up to critique corporate America, Wall Street tycoons, the greedy and selfish oppressors. Who would have thought that those protesting those evils would take on the very characteristics they claimed to denigrate? Who knew? Never, ever in a million years did I expect to find myself criticizing a group such as Occupy. And, in fact, I’m not criticizing the overall movement. I am criticizing an Occupy that happens to exist in my hometown.
Many people have branched off and started their own occupy and are choosing to disassociate themselves with the egomaniacs who’ve decided to command occupy. And it’s become an odd sort of competition. (Reminds me of an old Monty Python sketch of the philosophers’ soccer match. Kant and Nietzsche vs. Plato and Socrates; the Germans vs. the Greeks.) Which smart, thoughtful person who wants to make the world a better place can run faster? Can kick the ball harder?
Who’s the best activist? Will the activist who runs the fastest to the finish line please stand up? Sad really. Because I’m not interested in competing. I’m not seeking the limelight as an activist. This may be difficult to believe, but I dislike politics. I don’t want to wield power over the people, but I do want to see power to the people–as long as the people are taking on that tremendous responsibility by reading about history, reading the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and taking their role as co-governors of their country seriously. But to the extent people shirk responsibility, refuse to be educated, refuse to read and study and learn and think for themselves; to the extent that the people choose to just sit back lazily and vote for others to just make decisions for them because they don’t feel like taking the time to think carefully about or study the issues or get involved themselves, then we the people simply aren’t competent or qualified for the job. And that, my friends, is the common argument against democracy. People vote against their own interests. People vote for corrupt dictators. People, “we” the people, can be just as corrupt, just as greedy and selfish as corporate America and politicians.
And that is what I learned from the Occupy in my city. Cronyism, nepotism, corruption, censorship, sexism, racism, etc.–it’s all there at Occupy. When some of us protested on behalf of a member who was kicked out, we were censored. Yep, our comments, were removed.
Ah well. This bag lady has been cynical and jaded from the beginning. (So that’s why she’s mad!) As much as she’d hoped, she couldn’t believe that true change was possible in a country that has embraced corrupt, crony politics for so long. After all, Americans voted for Reagan then Bush. Where was Occupy then? Reagan made a HUGE cut in affordable housing for the poor. Why weren’t Americans upset about that? He spread propaganda that poor people were to blame for their situation, that this was the land of opportunity, so if you weren’t rich there truly was something wrong with you. Americans didn’t say a word on that, except to thank Reagan for being one of our “greatest” presidents. Yep, many Americans love that guy, to this day.
Did Americans really need to wait until they lost their own jobs, their homes, and their dreams before they could care about others less fortunate? If so, then that is a serious character flaw in us as a people that needs to be addressed. We voted against social safety nets to help the poor get back on their feet because we blamed the poor (and because we ourselves weren’t poor.) They choose to be poor, after all. But then when we lose our own jobs and find it impossible to replace them with new ones, how will we pay the rent? How will we pay for groceries?
Now there is no one to speak for us. We allowed education to become outrageously expensive so that only the rich can go to college. No more going back to school to learn a marketable skill. Education is off the table. We allowed unlimited freedom for large, multinational businesses to outsource labor, tax-free to third-world countries because we insist on maintaining a “free marketplace.” For them. But not for us. If I want to sell my hand-made jewelry on a public sidewalk, I’m forbidden.
Point is, we the people allowed this corruption to be fruitful and multiply. Why? We watched silently as others suffered and swallowed the kool-aid that it’s their own fault anyway. Until now. Until we find ourselves suffering from our own mean-spirited policies.
And that takes us back to Occupy, doesn’t it? The question is, are the Occupiers truly seeking social change or are they just using the movement to achieve their own selfish goals?
Considering that the Occupiers claim to represent 99% of the people, who are they to “kick out” people who are non-violent and who are trying to support what they claim to be fighting for? Who are they to censor their members and to intimidate them out of speaking?
Now here it is, the moment you haven’t been waiting for, my grievance, as published and viewed by at least four people so far. I had to publish it on a web site that opposes the Occupy movement, a web site I wouldn’t have even known existed if it weren’t for the attempts Occupy made to censor the opinions of several of us who disagreed with decisions made by a clique at Occupy who gathered a small number of people, labeled it a General Assembly and made decisions without the consent of the majority of us involved in the movement…
An open letter to Occupy (the one that practices censorship and exclusivity.) Yep, I know some of you are gonna read this… :
I’d just like to say that I think it is very interesting indeed that people like myself who were once your strongest supporters are now having to go on other web sites like this one, or perhaps meet with other activists not affiliated with Occupy Buffalo, because we are unable to get our voices heard at Occupy Buffalo. Are you trying to drive us over to the other side? No wonder the police/government aren’t harassing you and have agreed to let you stay in the square–you yourselves are doing so much damage to the Occupy movement that they don’t need to take you down. In fact, they love seeing you there as you are proving the negative stereotypes of Occupy to be true.
Like the US govt, you disallow dissent and refuse to allow opinions w/which you disagree. And so, like the US government, you are now facing rebellion from the people within your own organization. Do you not see the irony?
This is true even in the business world. When managers start to see their strongest employees quitting or getting fired, that is a warning sign that a business is failing.
You are, as they say, “shooting yourselves in the foot.” If you really cared about the issues, making things better for the 99%, etc., you’d want to include 99% of people in your community. Once you start accusing people of “harming” your organization by expressing opinions you don’t like, you lose credibility. Your Facebook site is not a privately-owned site, as you suggest, but a site that represents an organization that proclaims to be publicly owned, i.e., 99% “owned.”
I’ve been reading about the 60s and, ironically, that movement failed for the same reason. Women were disenfranchised by the “progressives” and hippies who claimed they wanted to form a more democratic society! Seriously, read about it. It’s in the history books. That’s how the women’s movement started. Women branched off and started their own movement. Then the 60s movement became more and more about a bunch of spoiled rich kids, “limousine liberals,” who’d never faced social injustice but claimed to be against it. The poor and working class had no place in that movement–just as women and other groups were displaced.
When people are criticizing you and branching off to start their own movement, that should be a clue that you need to take a closer look at your group and ask yourself the question: What can we do for our community so that people will see the value in our work? How can we show people that we are doing good work for our community? Instead, the Occupy in my town has chosen the same fascist, ruthless tactics corporate America uses time and time again: prevent people we don’t agree with from speaking, keep out dissent, but let’s keep asking the community to support us and give to us. Sorry, people, but it doesn’t work that way. Remember JFK’s famous words? “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” We as a society need to learn to give, to stop asking others to give to us but to focus on what we can give to others.
Well, actually, it’s not so simple. I can’t reduce this concept to a sound byte. Sorry, TV watchers. But this is a complex idea and will need to be explained in two blog-writing sessions. I have to go to “work” myself this morning, so I’ll just begin this blog here then continue it later on tonight or tomorrow…
I’ve had yet just another fellow American tell me that safety nets, such as welfare, encourage laziness, that there’s no incentive to work when someone is given everything he/she needs by the government.
Ehem.
This was a very nice person, so I was able to explain my point of view, though not very well, I think, because it is complex. How do I explain a concept that a semester of college work could perhaps barely explain? (Yes, I do think there should be Poverty Studies courses in college. The neo-cons are against this sort of thing. They dislike the liberal arts in general–contains the word “liberal” after all.) But the liberal arts teach us to think about each other, about why we’re all really here on this earth, about morality, about ethics, social responsibility and social injustice. Right now, especially right now, we need to be thinking about those things. For all their talk about “Christian values,” the neo-cons are anti-morality. Their only concern is themselves, their money, their material things, and, yes, their taxes. They don’t like taxes!
Personally, I don’t like poverty and despair. I don’t like human suffering. That to me is a much more serious problem than paying taxes.
But there ya’ go. I’m not a neo-con, neo-liberal, Republic-con, or whatever they call themselves these days.
(Disclaimer: if you’re a Republican, rest assured that I don’t want to hate you. In fact, I’m trying real hard not to hate you. I know that only a few of you are addicted to money, greed, selfishness and mean-spirited, rugged individualism. Most of you just don’t have an understanding of what is really happening in this country. You’ve been misinformed or uninformed. Without an understanding of how governments and societies are formed and have been formed throughout history, how can you learn of what is happening in today’s world? So you turn on that TV set–some call it an “idiot box”–and just hope for the best. Sadly, you make the mistake of turning on Fox News. Naively, you trust the misinformation you’re given as “fair and balanced.” And, being uneducated in history, sociology, and human psychology, how would you know enough to do any different?)
So there.
When people say that poor people are lazy and don’t want to work, that safety nets just enable them to not work what they are really saying is that poor people are inferior to rich people and that poor people should not have the right to pursue their own happiness but that only rich people should have that right.
Case in point:
Why is no one attacking rich people for being lazy and not wanting to work? There are many people who were born into wealthy families who do not have to work. Yes, that’s right, they have nothing to do, nothing that they have to do. They don’t have to work because their families are so rich that they can literally live off of their parents’ money and never, ever work a day in their lives. Some of them become very apathetic and bored. They begin spending their money on drugs and alcohol in a desperate attempt to alleviate the tedium by creating some obstacles for themselves. (Poor people drink to forget about the obstacles. The mega-rich drink to create them. Go figure.)
Yet we don’t attack the lazy and irresponsible rich. Why? Because they worked for it, you say? No, I’m talking about people who were born with money, who never worked for it. (I need to repeat myself here and will continue to repeat myself over and over again on these blogs because, sadly, one must repeat one’s self in order to get heard amongst the chaos and shouting in this attention-deficit-disordered, fast-paced age. So I’ll try to make this simple and repeat myself enough times so that, I hope, some people will “get it.”
Point is this: if we value hard work so much (and I’m curious about that too) why do we not attack wealthy people who are lazy and don’t want to work?
(Sadly, I must work and not at what I love to do or am good at. Perhaps one day I’ll earn a living from writing these blogs or from writing in general. However, now I must go to work at a dead-end, low-paying job that will cause me to become homeless again soon because that is the only kind of work I’ve been able to obtain in this Land of Opportunity, the USSA.) So I’ll continue this thought later…
Okay, I’m just going to add this thought before I go. Here’s what I would do if I were collecting welfare and food stamps, if I didn’t have to “work” at a regular job. I’d spend my days working on my writing, writing more blogs, practicing my guitar, making my videos. Yep, I’d be working at the things I do best. Maybe I’d be able to make a positive contribution to society. Maybe I’d be the next Michael Moore and make films that enlighten, educate, that make other people think differently about their society. Oh, I guess that explains why some wealthy, powerful people don’t want people like me to really “work.” They want us to work at low-paying, dead-end jobs that support corporate America. They just don’t want us to work at anything that will better ourselves and our community. And often those are the jobs for which we don’t get paid in money. No one pays me to write these blogs, to make my videos, to produce my music. No one pays me. Not a penny. I don’t even get donations. Perhaps I should solicit for them. But right now I want to be able to speak my mind while I still have the right to do so. Soon the government will send in agents to arrest people like me, to shut us down for good. I already have reason to believe that I’m on some sort of terrorist-wanted list.
Written
on December 21, 2012