Fearing Not I’ll Become My Enemy in the Instant I Preach

Tags

bigotry, extremism, Left, political rhetoric, racism, right wing

As usual Sherry’s recent posts have made me think. As a white man I feel embarrassed when I see the subtle and even overt racism that has recently been displayed on our political stage. The question isn’t, “Is there any racism or bigotry being displayed?” Or even how much. The question is how do people of intellect address it?

When I returned from Vietnam I had had my fill of violence and liked to describe myself as a pacifist. The problem with that was that I was angry for a whole variety of reasons. I forgive myself because I was young, in my early twenties; I did not understand that passivity and anger mix worse than oil and water. It took me several false starts to realize that it is impossible to defeat violence using violence as the weapon. No matter which combatant wins the contest, violence has the final victory. Further, it is equally impossible to hate hatred and hate mongers out of existence. Simple math tells us, add even a small amount of hate to hatred and you multiply the monster.

I am disappointed that all the news outlets prefer to report on the personal conflicts rather than the policy differences. I am fairly aware of the world, but have only a vague idea of how other countries handle health care. Most of what I do know has been filtered through the lenses of the right or the left. Why couldn’t one of the major networks spend some of the time they talked about who called who what, and tell us how Japan, Germany, England etc. etc. handle this issue. Wouldn’t we be better served and more informed if this approach was taken.

I understand the importance of an individual, who feels his position is moral, voicing his views to the majority. Silence in the face of oppression by the masses is being a coward. However, that is not our present situation. Last November we all cast our ballots and elected Obama as our president. Therefore I offer that the bigotry of the present is a small, albeit vocal, minority. At his peek in the 30’s Father Coughlin was able to reach as many as 40 million Americans, with his smears against Jews and FDR. Many many more than our current simpletons advise. Our nation survived Coughlin we will survive this. I don’t diminish the ugliness of the racism. I am only pondering a response.

I am a professional football fan. Better said, I am a Green Bay Packer fan. In the early seventies many times televised games would be interrupted by some idiot (clothed or not) running onto the field until he was finally captured by security. These single individuals were able to disrupt the entertainment of the many. When all of the networks agreed to quit showing the morons it ended. It seems we live in a country where some people are not satisfied being cretins, they want spectators. My suggestion then is simple, I refuse to be the audience to dimwits. I choose no longer to respond to the stupid signs or the stupider talking heads who encourage them. I will try to not even mention their names or organizations. They spend enough time and money promoting themselves, they do not need my assistance. If there is disagreement on policy I will answer, but if the discussion becomes ad hominem, I will return to the silence of our meadow. I will try to do this no matter if the personal attack come from either the left or the right.

I say “try” because it is a continuing hard lesson for me to accept that, “I’ll become my enemy in the instant that I preach.”

*My apologies to Bob Dylan for borrowing a line from his song “My Back Pages.”

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ‘neath heated brow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
“Rip down all hate,” I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.

Girls’ faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.

A self-ordained professor’s tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
“Equality,” I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.

In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I’d become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.

Copyright ©©1964; renewed 1992 Special Rider Music

　

Do the Words Matter?

Tags

Cairo, extremism, foreign policy, Fox News, Media, Obama, psychology, Sean Hannity, terrorism

Everyone knows that you don’t watch Foxy Newsless for news. You watch it for comedy, and to discover just how well your favorite politico is doing. (Hint: the more Foxy pundits are yelling your guy is destroying America, the more progress he’s making toward your goal.)

So I am confounded when I see polling that suggests that those who actually watch this pretend news channel are a decent cut above the average in intelligence, education and earnings. I just find that hard to understand.

I would be more inclined to think that regular Fox watchers are knuckle-dragging, drooling barely sentient grunters of a more simian persuasion, but it seems not to be the case. It’s one of those, in a universe the size of infinity, everything that could happen, does happen somewhere. Lucky us that the something is that Fox is actually watched by intelligent humans, and that the place is here.

This fact, and perforce, I am required to accept it as probably true, seems lost on the subject matter, Fox that is. They seem to operate upon the assumption that their “audience” is so low-brow that they depend on Foxy to give them all their news. This would cut against the clear assumption that intelligent people don’t limit themselves to any one source of information, but acquire their knowledge and opinions by sifting through a larger data base.

Perhaps in that I am wrong. Perhaps there are different ways of defining intelligence. You know what I mean. You and I know people, and perhaps we are one our self, who is good at test taking, but not able to much translate that stuff into real life situations. We’re practically dumb if you get my drift. So perhaps our high IQ Foxers actually don’t bother to taste the waters of journalism elsewhere.

That would explain at least why Fox operates in the fashion it does. For it does speak in glaring contradiction of truth a lot of the time, and make wild allegations that anybody, liberal or conservative realize for the utter clap trap it truly is.

Case in point.

President Obama gave a major speech in Cairo the other day. I didn’t read it in it’s entirety, but I saw a rather large chunk of it as it was being given, and later on the news.

As the Contrarian says, this man continues to set the bar to a new height with each successive speech. The GOP quickly gave up trying to attack his speech giving abilities and now try to turn it into a liability, claiming we should be somewhat nervous about a man who has this kind of skilled oratory. Shades of dictatorship? perhaps?

Anyway, Foxy has just been in a tizzy for months now. Sean is chewing his nails to the quick, because frankly nothing works. Talk about your Teflon Ronnie Reagan. This is another step up the ladder.

Fox can no sooner exclaim that the economy is being destroyed by the socialist/now fascist Obama, than the stock market climbs another fifty points. The Contrarian points out that their so-called economic experts are expounding on how “the market is going to tumble, you can be sure, they don’t like this kind of ___________ (whatever Obama has done now), all the while the crawl is reporting that the market has gained 75 more points during this discourse.

So Fox is finding no firm ground here at home, and is forced to turn its sights on foreign policy. It drives them crazy that Obama is well liked around the globe by the people at large. They excuse this of course, and make it sound kind of sinister that they do. Somehow, it expresses Obama’s true colors that he’s not really “one of us.”

So the brilliant minds at the No News is Us station, poured over the contents of the Cairo speech, and lo and behold they found the “smoking gun.” Hold on now, seat belt on, oxygen mask at the ready. . . .you ready now? Obama did not use the word terrorism or terrorist ONCE in the entire speech!!!!

There ya go folks. You can see the tiger now without his stripes. He’s a card carrying Commie pinko Muslim that Fox always knew he was. He was there suckin up to his people, declaring as Sean Hannity said, that Merika was a Muslim country! Holy holy holy shit!

What Foxy didn’t mention was that:

• President Obama condemned the 9/11 attacks and declared that it was unacceptable to attack innocents, people who had done nothing to anyone
• He declared the Holocaust a fact, and said that anyone who denied it was a liar and without a historical leg to stand on.
• He made a case for democracy
• He urged women’s rights be pursued
• He spoke against extremism and called on the world to reject it.

That is in a nutshell what he said. He didn’t use the world terrorism or terrorist, but substituted the word extremism and extremist.

In this he changed the dialog and I think for the better. After all, terrorism means “the use of violence against civilians to effect political, religious or ideological ends.” It focuses on the element of fear. It engenders that emotion in the hearts of it’s listeners.

Extremism on the other hand is the use of violence or extreme measures to effect those ends. It doesn’t evoke the same kind of emotion. And I submit it places the focus more squarely on where it belongs–on the people who hold these views and espouse these methods.

Many in the business of security claim that we can never win a war on terror from a military stand point. We can’t secure our ports and other points of entry. This is a police matter which must be focused on individuals. Terrorism focuses us on security. Extremism focuses us on people.

This of course is always and forever will be lost on Fox. They aren’t journalists. They seek no truth, only political advantage. I think Obama did it exactly right. What do you think?