Activism is where postmodernism and deconstruction meet a dead end. Activism requires meaning, not free-play. Ideology requires definition. It works from assumptions. Now is the time to deconstruct the opposition's beliefs, not your own.
Read that however you will. All this has happened before. Remember how it turned out?
Just be careful, I say. Don't let the morons have the mic. In every crowd and assembly I see, a few people speak and the rest listen and cheer. Leaders and followers. The same old paradigm with new voices. Not everyone gets a microphone except on social media, but getting to speak doesn't mean anyone is listening.
Some do not wish to speak. They are not good at it, they are shy. They are only there to swell the crowd.
These are emotional times. Emotions rule. Have you ever made decisions based on emotion?
I've met some of the Chicago 7. If you are not savvy, there were riots in Chicago in '68. These became the icons of that event. They stood for an ideal. We "all" believed in it.
Beyond the ideal, however. . . .
We are all "grotesques." Out of all the "truths," we choose one or two to call our own. They are beautiful but incomplete and in some beautiful way, we are transformed by them. . . and deformed.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident."
What was it that Marx said?
CNN is now invoking God. Trump brandishes a Bible.
All God's People.
Have they read the Bible? How does it turn out?
I drank lot of tea yesterday. I did some breathing. Baby steps. When I was racing sailboats with a crew including Olympians, I was told, "Quiet your mind. When the sails are flapping and waves are crashing and everything seems chaotic, keep you mind quiet."
There are a lot of slogans, a lot of shouting, flash bang, gas, and rubber bullets. Real bullets, too.
Rockets bursting in air.
"Quiet your mind."
Everybody wants to know the ending. Everybody wants to know how it turns out.
* * *
After I wrote this, I went back to bed. When I got up and turned on the computer, I found this. Just saying.
I know how you like the old News Reels.
ReplyDeleteHere is one by Leaky Reekingdoll
Tridrumpf Des Willes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fp_vPJRPWs
ReplyDeleteOh that c.c.
Oh this Pollen. I have been struck with severe seasonal afflictions.
Yes there is more than the pollen - but let's not go there.
I started taking a Claritin at night - and forgot last night - and couldn't leave the divan for almost 5 hours after rising only for a cup of coffee this morning. A cool compress on my eyes - if only there was someone here to read to me while I was in repose and attempting some sense of recovery. T used to read to me. It was so nice. Nicer than listening to strangers reading - but it was a balm nonetheless. <----
Anyway the afternoon turned into a bit of an adventure.
I needed to procure more pollen pills so I set out for a drive to the pharmacy. I got to the Hyannis Rotary and noticed two young girls - holding signs. One girl was balancing a third sign on her knee and as I rounded the rotary to exit toward the medicinal outlet - something came over me. I made a definitive but unexpected turn into an empty parking lot - donned my face mask and walked across the pollen covered grass to the Girls. I introduced myself and said "hand me that sign." And I stood with them - fist raised for over an hour and half. As cars sped through the rotary - honking and smiling and giving the thumbs up and the power fist back to us.
Well one guy did yell "shoot them all." But I'm better at knowing where people stand. He wasn't trying to cover up his ugly truth. The middle fingers - I found a curious response.
They were so delightful these two. It was simply impossible not to get swept up in their gorgeous - new - yet powerful passion and Hope. They had just completed their first year of college. One at Keane State University in NH and the other at University of Vermont. Political Science for one and Environmental Science for the other.
When a woman gave us the finger - Cait said "we aren't holding up any political signs here - we are holding up signs about justice for George - why would someone give a "FU" to that notion? But she smiled and said "look how angry she is - about what we are doing - how sad."
I became euphoric - amidst the itchy eyes and throat and all over horribleness of my body's weakness to fight off the Yellow Dust.
Of course standing there holding the sign won't make a difference - except to the three of us - and the seemingly hundreds of people that honked and shared the
- whatever they felt - in our freedom to protest.
I got to preach a little too - "Please, I know Biden is not your choice but please - VOTE. He is simply Joe the Bromo-Seltzer - he expires in 4 Years once our stomachs are somewhat settled - and then we march again." Cait said "I was not going to vote - I was so disappointed that it was Biden. I wanted Mayor Pete or Yang." And Jana said " I told her a no vote was a vote for Trump and changed her mind." *Keeping Fingers Crossed*
It was a simple yet powerful outward expression of deep and strong inward turmoil that was/is bottled up. They took my number to alert me of future protests. And I received a lovely message thanking ME - and "hoping to see me at some protests in the future."
Standing there with the "yout" of 'Murica - still hopeful - still believing in the Dream - I took and took and took everything they didn't even know they were "giving me." It tasted like a sweet, sweet tonic.
May your night be full of the quiet and soothing kind of peace.
Love,
Your Faithful Reader & Impromptu Protestor
ReplyDeleteOh recipe wise - I made a Rice Pudding with my leftover jasmine rice. Made with coconut milk and including the zest of an orange. Quite nuanced - I cut the sugar by half and it is still a delicious bit of sweet.
All is turmoil. Take solace where you can.
ReplyDelete