At one time in my life I was a social activist who was very much involved in local politics but once I got married and started a family it became impossible for me to juggle work, social activism, and family so I gradually dropped out of the social activist scene and have remained relatively quiet for the past 10 years or so. Despite my 10 year lack of social involvement this doesn’t mean I have not kept up with, nor no longer care about the state of affairs in the world today. While I may no longer march in the streets or go door to door campaigning for a particular candidate I do continue to have strong feelings and opinions about what is happening here and abroad. Here are a few of my thoughts and feelings about politics, foreign affairs, the economy, the state of education, and the culture in general.
General state of affairs: Before I began let me make a confession up front. I have a propensity to be pessimistic when it comes to talking about the culture, politics, etc. and acknowledge up front that a “dooms day scenario gene” exists in my biological make-up. In the past this has resulted in, lets just say, a “few” wrong predictions but while I am still prone to lean in that direction I will make an effort to keep the apocalyptic rantings and rhetoric to a minimum. Try I will but just remember that it’s very difficult if not impossible for a leopard to change it’s spots….
In the Revenge of the Sith there are a couple of scenes where master Yoda has a strong premonition that something very bad is happening. At one point in the movie he crouches over in obvious emotional and physical pain as the Jedi are being slaughtered throughout the galaxy and in the Jedi Temple. Well, this strong premonition that something very bad is happening pretty much sums up how I currently feel about the condition of our country’s soul. Of course I am no Jedi Master and I acknowledge that my biological “dooms day gene” may be working overtime, but, I also believe there is substantial evidence to at least suggest that we are in fact in the midst of some significant challenges on both the home front and abroad. During times of sudden or substantial cultural change and reform a lot of people are prone to feel anxious and a bit insecure, its only human nature, and I suppose only time will tell whether the current direction we are headed in will bear the kind of fruit our current leadership is promising. I am not as optimistic as the current powers that be and to be honest I feel more like our nation has entered the black gates of Mordor, or worse, perhaps we are “becoming” Mordor. Hope I am wrong but I have to call em as I feel em…..Also sense growing fear and angst in this great country of ours. Feel and sense it from a lot of different quarters, work, family, news, and general public. Grant that perhaps I indulge the “dark side” on my psychic too much but also acknowledge that my intuitive side may be trying to tell me something and have learned to at least give an ear to my intuition despite cultural bias and suspicion of this aspect of our nature.
9/11 and Iraq: At the root of America’s current angst and growing fear is 9/11 and the subsequent invasion of Iraq. Have a hard time feeling anything good is going to come out of our gaff in invading Iraq, at least in the short term. If democracy is established and freedom does in fact take hold in this part of the world I suspect it will be awhile after Bush has left office. At this point it doesn’t appear the insurgents/terrorists, or significant number of people in the region are interested or motivated to embrace our gift of freedom/democracy/capitalism anytime soon….and….if by some miracle the Iraqi’s do bring the Trojan horse that contains democracy and capitalism within the gates of Baghdad than I am afraid this may open Pandora’s box to future pre-eminent strikes elsewhere in the region or rest of the world. In other words, damned if it works, damned if it doesn’t work…As a Christian I feel like we have gotten to the point in our nation where we have totally forgotten, abandoned, or chosen to ignore both the Old Testament and New Testament warnings regarding war….”He who lives by the sword will die by the sword”…and…”don’t put your trust in horses and chariots”…This may sound overly simplistic to the ears of modern men and women but it makes a hell of a lot more sense to my ears than what I have heard from our current leadership. At best, Iraq is a democratic skeleton at this point with no flesh. Skeletons are interesting if you are watching Jason and the Argonauts but an Iraqi skeleton is no match for a group of people who seem hell bent on destroying any Army of Darkness they encounter. Iraq still has along way to go and I wish them well but as long as we continue to wield the sword in that part of the world it is hard for me to imagine things are going to improve anytime soon and I suspect that even Fox News isn’t going to be able to change the perception of the masses here at home. In fact, if the polls are in the ball park than Bush and company are beginning to lose the public relations war at home at well and that does not bode well for our Republic….
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Thanks for daring to bare your soul a bit on these hot button issues. As you know, I am also uneasy with the direction that our nation is heading and I put a lot of the burden of responsibility on the choices that our leaders (in government, media, religion and business) have made over the past several years. We do live in a democracy of sorts, so I'm willing to accept that "we the people" have to be held accountable for the condition of things as well. But in many cases, we are simply falling behind leaders that we are inclined to trust because they are tending to the big issues that we don't have as much ability to study or control as they presumably do.
Right now though, there seems to be a lot of built in dishonesty and excuse-making, and I am disheartened to see how consistently the Bush presidency has exemplified this kind of behavior. They set a standard that too many people follow. It's always "someone else's fault." The official accounts are spun to minimize problems and maximize the party line. I will make something of a blanket statement here and speculate that much of this tendency has to do with the hyper-defensiveness that comes along with the package of dogmatic absolutist belief-styles favored by Bush and the current conservative movement in general. There are a lot of people who have invested major hopes in affirming certain doctrines and speculations as unquestionable absolute truth, and they get unhinged when those "truths" are called into question. This results in a deteriorartion of their abilities to be self-critical or even very reflective, and rather than proceed cautiously or reverse course from time to time, they plow ahead as if trying to force reality to fit their preferential views.
Well that's a long comment. Maybe I should post it on my own blog! :o)
Hi Dave,
I couldn't agree more with your blanket statement and speculations. Once you get locked into seeing things a particular way and are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are right than I am convinced one is literally unable to see or consider any other perspective and naturally one becomes defensive when challenged. It's just a simple case of cause and effect. This approach isn't a problem per se if you are in fact right or issues like war weren't so complex...but...war and other national issues of importance seem from my perspective to be more complex and ethically ambiguous than many of our leaders would like us to believe. Its the nature of the beast...My biggest fear at this point is that the president is just going to continue to "plow ahead as if trying to force reality to fit his preferential views" and drag us, the country, and the world along and create so much instabiltiy that people will become even more susceptible to the radical utopian proposals from the various religious and political powers that be both here and abroad God...I hope I am wrong but history tells us that when people become desperate they are more likely to turn to desperate measures to find peace and some kind of stability....
Thanks Bill for sharing your heart on these issues. Seems our countrymen are prone to either doomsday views or blind optimism. I'm beginning to wonder if things just aren't as good or bad as they appear at any one time.
I have moved in my views considerably over the last year and I'm sure it's all due to the fact that I sit under professors in a Catholic liberal, laregly democrat university.
I have much more understanding of and disgust with the structure of capitalism and how it devours everything in its path. Yet I bought a pair of shorts for my son at Walmart last night (after swearing off that store). Ugh. Failure to live up to ideals seems to be genetic.
I am tired of feeling powerless and defeated all at once. Living in empire is like living without self-control. I have no control so I yield to the impulses...
Not sure where this is going, but I wanted you to know that I can share your concerns if I let myself go there.
Julie writes:
Seems our countrymen are prone to either doomsday views or blind optimism. I'm beginning to wonder if things just aren't as good or bad as they appear at any one time.
Bilbo: Hi Julie. Hope my ponderings don't get you too bummed out before you head off for vacation. It's a real struggle for me to not to succumb to the "dark side" at times especially when things aren't going well at work or on the home front. I am generally aware of how our emotional state effects our outlook on life and how we interpret what is happening around us but doing something about it is another matter.
Julie:
I have much more understanding of and disgust with the structure of capitalism and how it devours everything in its path. Yet I bought a pair of shorts for my son at Walmart last night (after swearing off that store). Ugh. Failure to live up to ideals seems to be genetic.
Bilbo: Structural change does not come easy. Generally either the structure collaspes on itself, ala, the Great Depression or the people rise up in mass and demand change, ala, Fall of Communism/Civil Rights Movement/Vietnam War Protests, etc. Individual change is important but I believe it is going to take alot more than you or I choosing to stop shopping at Wal-mart to make a significant difference.
Julie:
I am tired of feeling powerless and defeated all at once. Living in empire is like living without self-control. I have no control so I yield to the impulses...
Bilbo: I suspect your feelings of powerless are aggravated by the fact that you have also been in transition from a religious subculture that provided you with well defined boundaries on numerous fronts that gave you and a sense of control and thus security. I suspect as you gradually make your way out of the wilderness you will find that you have more control than you think or currently feel. Just trying my hand at being optimistic.
Julie:
Not sure where this is going, but I wanted you to know that I can share your concerns if I let myself go there.
Bilbo: I am not sure where where any of this is going either but at the moment I am just trying to live in the moment, be honest with how I feel, and believe and let the chips fall where they will.
Post a Comment