The American system of democracy, or our representative republic, is not functioning as it was designed to function. A lot of Americans feel the pain of governmental dysfunction , but we do not all perceive the problem, or the solution, the same way. Just as a computer file can be corrupted, our system of government is corrupted and we cannot access the information we need. Something is terribly wrong , and in short order, we will see if it can be corrected or if we, as a nation, will become increasingly ensconced in more ignorance, greed, bigotry and hate.
Not only do we have deep, deep divisions in our country regarding race, but also religion, gay rights, a woman's right to choose, left vs right politically, and it appears lately, that those divisions are growing in opposition, and becoming more confrontational. Glen Beck held a rally in Washington, DC and brought up GOD, of all things. It was almost more than I could take, to see the man who has been so full of hate standing on hallowed ground invoking God sounding for all the world like an evangelical preacher. It was beyond ridiculous, it was unbelievable.
The most unbelievable part was that so many listen to him, adore him, believe him, and the most frightening of all, follow him. If this situation is not a concrete argument for strengthening the public education system in this country, and teaching our kids from a young age, about critical thinking, I don't know what is.
I watched in horror as the spectacle with Beck unfolded. In my mind's eye, I recalled dramatic pictures of Hitler. There was Beck, grandstanding with a venerable backdrop, professing to know the only one true way, declaring America would be reclaimed by the ones, who knew best, what it was to be as outlined in the Constitution. We swore it would never happen again, but our collective memory is suffering from age-related dementia, or a lack of education , just maybe it is a certain brain numbness brought about by the loss of a once great dream.
Some one, or some group, could well emerge and tell us all what to think, how to feel, what we can and cannot do in our private lives, how to behave, what we can and cannot believe, who we can and cannot marry, maybe even what we can and cannot eat. That group would be the same right wing fundamentalists, carrying the Bible in one hand , and the flag in the other.
When we the people stop dreaming the dream of freedom the nightmare of tyranny moves in.
Showing posts with label right wing politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label right wing politics. Show all posts
Monday, September 13, 2010
Friday, October 2, 2009
Why do so many want President Obama to fail?
I have never seen a time quite like this one, this year, this age, this generation. Since I was a child I knew about evil. How could I not? Bible-thumping fundamentalism was what I was expected to eat, sleep and breathe and that meant being always vigilent against evil. Looking back on it, the evil was simple. Thou shalt not lie, cheat or steal or thou wouldst get a whipping thou wilt not soon forget.
No matter how much you wanted to you didn't push your little brother into the outhouse pit or you'd visit that place too. You didn't fail to answer when called in for supper or you couldn't go outside to play the next day. Never admit to boredom or there would be so much wood to carry in, and water to haul, that when you finished there was no energy to complain. Whatever you did, you did not say out loud you didn't like some of the food or you'd go to bed hungry. Evil was simple and the wages of ignoring the rules were straightforward. We were raised as racists. The word nigger was the only word used to refer to black people. I have since come to believe that racism should be added to the original 7 deadly sins; it is the eighth deadly sin.
Our country is polarized by much hatred due to the evil of racism. Regardless of why some say they can't stand, or even hate, Obama the real reason is that he is African-American. Many whites consider black people inferior and they should not be in power positions over white people. Even though he is of mixed race he identifies with being black. Regardless of how intelligent he is, regardless of the degrees he has, regardless of the schools he attended he is still a black man and "ain't no nigger smartern no white man." The quote is from an aquaintence who made the statement when I told him I was voting for Obama. He and his ilk are avowed racists and they are proud of it. They identify with one another, group together based on their beliefs and they are not shy about expressing racist opinions.
There is another group who is racist and they know it is wrong, but nonetheless they have racist feelings and can't seem to overcome them. Recently, I was at a high school band fundraiser and the people next to me had a table with baked goods. They happened to be black and I asked them how they felt about Obama being elected President of the United States. They looked at one another as if to ponder whether they should answer or what they should say. Seems there was a fear that he may be assasinated because of the extreme level of racist feelings. As the conversation turned to racism one of the women said she had a friend whose best friend could not stand black people(emphasis hers) and that she and her friend could not do things together because of the other friend's racism. I asked the woman if she had told her friend how it hurt her and she said they had discussed it several times. The woman who was racist did not know why she felt the way she did but she did not want to be round black people at all.
I have another friend who has an intense dislike for 'slanty eyed people,' read Asians. She does not recall any instance, in which she was involved, that would cause her to feel as she does. They give her the 'creeps' and she has no particular reason to feel this way. A lot of white people do not know why they feel the way they do toward outwardly different others. Other races have the same feelings toward whites and may not have a particular reason for those feelings either. Ambiguous feelings are rooted deep in our childhood experiences through verbal , and non-verbal means.
Racism is inculcated into us as children, and once a part of our pattern of thinking and feeling, it is extremely hard to overcome without constant mindfulness to the futilty and wrongheadedness of bigotry. That so many celebrate the apparent losses of President Obama and continually wish for his failure is the personification of the evil of racism. It is a pathetic footnote to American history which will not be undone in the lives of people currently living. Until there is one race, not divided by skin color, we will experience the cold winds of hate based on skin color.
No matter how much you wanted to you didn't push your little brother into the outhouse pit or you'd visit that place too. You didn't fail to answer when called in for supper or you couldn't go outside to play the next day. Never admit to boredom or there would be so much wood to carry in, and water to haul, that when you finished there was no energy to complain. Whatever you did, you did not say out loud you didn't like some of the food or you'd go to bed hungry. Evil was simple and the wages of ignoring the rules were straightforward. We were raised as racists. The word nigger was the only word used to refer to black people. I have since come to believe that racism should be added to the original 7 deadly sins; it is the eighth deadly sin.
Our country is polarized by much hatred due to the evil of racism. Regardless of why some say they can't stand, or even hate, Obama the real reason is that he is African-American. Many whites consider black people inferior and they should not be in power positions over white people. Even though he is of mixed race he identifies with being black. Regardless of how intelligent he is, regardless of the degrees he has, regardless of the schools he attended he is still a black man and "ain't no nigger smartern no white man." The quote is from an aquaintence who made the statement when I told him I was voting for Obama. He and his ilk are avowed racists and they are proud of it. They identify with one another, group together based on their beliefs and they are not shy about expressing racist opinions.
There is another group who is racist and they know it is wrong, but nonetheless they have racist feelings and can't seem to overcome them. Recently, I was at a high school band fundraiser and the people next to me had a table with baked goods. They happened to be black and I asked them how they felt about Obama being elected President of the United States. They looked at one another as if to ponder whether they should answer or what they should say. Seems there was a fear that he may be assasinated because of the extreme level of racist feelings. As the conversation turned to racism one of the women said she had a friend whose best friend could not stand black people(emphasis hers) and that she and her friend could not do things together because of the other friend's racism. I asked the woman if she had told her friend how it hurt her and she said they had discussed it several times. The woman who was racist did not know why she felt the way she did but she did not want to be round black people at all.
I have another friend who has an intense dislike for 'slanty eyed people,' read Asians. She does not recall any instance, in which she was involved, that would cause her to feel as she does. They give her the 'creeps' and she has no particular reason to feel this way. A lot of white people do not know why they feel the way they do toward outwardly different others. Other races have the same feelings toward whites and may not have a particular reason for those feelings either. Ambiguous feelings are rooted deep in our childhood experiences through verbal , and non-verbal means.
Racism is inculcated into us as children, and once a part of our pattern of thinking and feeling, it is extremely hard to overcome without constant mindfulness to the futilty and wrongheadedness of bigotry. That so many celebrate the apparent losses of President Obama and continually wish for his failure is the personification of the evil of racism. It is a pathetic footnote to American history which will not be undone in the lives of people currently living. Until there is one race, not divided by skin color, we will experience the cold winds of hate based on skin color.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Judicial Activist?
There is such racial angst against President Obama out here in the real world, methinks that if the second coming of Jesus were to happen, and if Obama nominated Jesus Christ to the Supreme Court, he would be reviled, ridiculed, dissed for lack of creds and vilified by the right-wing-nuts. Nobody who is nominated by Obama is going to be recognized for anything positive in their personal or professional lives by the hate-obsessed right wingers. In other words some of us have not come very far, picture the inquisition.
I was raised as a ' fundamentalist' but thank God, I got over it. The Jesus I perceived as a child in Sunday School was the ultimate activist. Its not that this is what I was taught, it is that I came to my own conclusions, even as a child. Jesus could not stand injustice and stood up to it at every opportunity. He was reviled, ridiculed, and dissed for the lack of credentials whenever he confronted what was then, right wing ideologues. Jesus was not some namby-pamby who let anyone attach labels to what he stood for and what he did not stand for. His message of love, forgiveness, tolerance and openness was lost on those very souls he sought to heal and those very fundamentalists crucified him.
The right-wing-nuts have been with us always, just as we are taught the poor are with you always, there are those who have always opposed the way others live their lives. It is not sufficient for the oppressors to live their own lives and let others live theirs even when the lifestyles never encounter. Oppressors want to tell everyone how to, live and believe, in the intolerant ways they espouse and, if one does not comply, one is vilified publicly and given less than full human status.
All of this to say that Sotomayor, probably the most qualified and credentialed an individual of any sex , or any race, that is likely to qualify for nomination to the Supreme Court, is inevitably going to run into some high caliber opposition for no reason other than sexual and racial intolerance on the part of those who just cannot stand her achievements as a Latino woman. Instead of celebrating Sotomayor as the remarkable human being she is, they are nit-picking every little thing in her background and extracting words out of context in a vain and small attempt to diminish her as a nominee. How pathetic they are. How myopic not to acknowledge that she personifies the American Dream. They are afraid of the strength that can rise up, persevere against insurmountable odds, inspiring awe in a public she has not even met and, worst of all, absent any real issues in her past, it is dangerous for the right wing zealots to try to destroy her. In the attempt to destroy her person hood they will further destroy themselves.
I was raised as a ' fundamentalist' but thank God, I got over it. The Jesus I perceived as a child in Sunday School was the ultimate activist. Its not that this is what I was taught, it is that I came to my own conclusions, even as a child. Jesus could not stand injustice and stood up to it at every opportunity. He was reviled, ridiculed, and dissed for the lack of credentials whenever he confronted what was then, right wing ideologues. Jesus was not some namby-pamby who let anyone attach labels to what he stood for and what he did not stand for. His message of love, forgiveness, tolerance and openness was lost on those very souls he sought to heal and those very fundamentalists crucified him.
The right-wing-nuts have been with us always, just as we are taught the poor are with you always, there are those who have always opposed the way others live their lives. It is not sufficient for the oppressors to live their own lives and let others live theirs even when the lifestyles never encounter. Oppressors want to tell everyone how to, live and believe, in the intolerant ways they espouse and, if one does not comply, one is vilified publicly and given less than full human status.
All of this to say that Sotomayor, probably the most qualified and credentialed an individual of any sex , or any race, that is likely to qualify for nomination to the Supreme Court, is inevitably going to run into some high caliber opposition for no reason other than sexual and racial intolerance on the part of those who just cannot stand her achievements as a Latino woman. Instead of celebrating Sotomayor as the remarkable human being she is, they are nit-picking every little thing in her background and extracting words out of context in a vain and small attempt to diminish her as a nominee. How pathetic they are. How myopic not to acknowledge that she personifies the American Dream. They are afraid of the strength that can rise up, persevere against insurmountable odds, inspiring awe in a public she has not even met and, worst of all, absent any real issues in her past, it is dangerous for the right wing zealots to try to destroy her. In the attempt to destroy her person hood they will further destroy themselves.
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