Intersectionality, all is one
I totally neglected the blog on Thursday and Friday. It happens. I did run Thursday. Then I got out again today just before the rain started. So there was news from the US. Someone erected a nude statue of Drumpf, which I’m torn on. I mean it’s funny on a juvenile level. At the same time it has no place in politics. I get it, he’s a giant, rude piece of crap, and he’s been very personally nasty to many people, and he should absolutely be ridiculed and berated for that. His thoughts and words are unacceptable in any society that wants to call itself civilized. But, that should come after the politics are over, this should happen when he moves on from his losing campaign and tries to leverage this into his next project. That’s when you ruin him for all the horribly personal attacks he’s made.
That brought me to my next thought on the road. I know a lot of people. They post a lot of political stuff, in one way or another. No matter what, whether they are correct assertions or not, they all share one thing in common, no matter what the subject is; There is a major dissatisfaction with modern life and the current socio-economic system. I get why some people are drawn to a fool like Drumpf. They hear part of what he says, or they honestly think that White Nationalism is a good idea. They want things to change, and he says things in a way they want it to change. Now, I don’t agree with any of the changes he wants to make, but I understand the draw. And I’ve come to the conclusion that supporting him, even if you don’t understand or accept the underlying racism, the White Nationalism, the bigotry and hatred of his message, that you still need to be held accountable for it. But here’s the thing, no politician is going to change the system alone. Bernie wasn’t going to change it alone, Obama couldn’t change it alone.
I’ve talked about how you need to get the people voted in that agree with you up and down, locally, provincially, nationally. They can set the framework for you to change the system. If we have politicians voting to ban rainwater collection, vegetable gardens in your yard, community solar projects, and stuff like that, then no nothing will change. If you keep voting in people that will uphold the status quo, then you won’t be able to make any changes. President Obama wanted to help change and then was stuck with a Congress completely resistant to change. We didn’t show up to help, so he just did the same old thing, because that’s all he could do. You have to do the work.
But it starts at home. Not just about electing politicians. You want the system to change, find all the ways you can change it. I talk about that all the time. Change your attitude about things, grow a garden if you can, it takes work, but it makes change. It’s all hard work and it’s all connected. Start with the changes you can make. Once you have made it that far, get together with the people you’ve found and see what you can do from there. But you have to expect and accept that they’ve had different experiences and may have slightly different ideas. The trick is to recognize the common goal, and that’s what you strive for, and then you let the rest be. The thing is we’re all in this together, but we never really recognize that.
I see so many people who don’t seem to get that. Look we are all in this together. There’s no escaping it. Straight, gay, bisexual, transgender, european, african, asian, south american, native, pacific islander, aboriginal, indian,whatever. All those different classifications give people different experiences, some good, some bad. Anyone who profits from creating bad experiences for others needs to accept, apologize, and change that situation. It’s not about the aggrieved “getting over it”, it’s about the person profiting from the pain changing their ways. The best apology is changed behavior. People have to accept that. It’s not about the person victimized not feeling like they’re been victimized, it’s about the person who acted to victimize, not doing it anymore.
Case in point, and then I will end for today, the Central Park 5. Their lives were ruined on a false conviction, and at the spearhead of that conviction was a man who loves to blame others, and look down on those he deems “lesser” because he, and his chosen few, are “winners” and he will make you a “winner” too. “They take from you” and he’ll “give it back”. This is not a message of inclusiveness. This is not a message of togetherness. This is a reactionary monster hell bent on hoarding everything it can for itself. This monster has never apologized to these men for what he did. In fact he turned around and attacked the fact that the State of New York settled with them over the wrongful conviction. He doesn’t change his behavior, even when he does say he’s sorry, which he does only sparingly.
If we are to change, this is not the way to do it. Selfishness and greed is what have gotten us to the point where we are. More selfishness and greed is only a ticket to more of the same for society. Socially, economically, morally things will remain exactly as they are, or get worse if we ramp up the selfishness and greed and blaming of others. Things will only change when we accept all differences and work within ourselves for change. So anyone that tells you building a wall, murdering people, keeping people out, or anything else like that is going to solve the problems, and it’s easy and simple and you can just sit back and relax and they’ll take care of it, they’re full of shit. All is one, it’s all part of the same problem, and we all have work to do if we want it to change. That is all I got today, hope you could follow along.
Don’t paint us the perfect picture,
We have visions of our own,
Don’t give us the safe interpretation,
We want, we want to know the truth.
We’re not down to die, and be this typecast culture
We’re not down to die, and be the faceless soldiers
Don’t sell us the perfect image
We’ll struggle to find ourselves
We want the unpopular challenge
We want, we want to test our intellect,
Test our intellect.
We have learned this devotion
We are programmed, conditioned
Senseless, senseless emotions
We’ve lost our desire to think alone,
To think alone,
To think alone,
We’re not down to die, and be this typecast culture
We’re not down to die, and be the faceless soliders
We’re not down.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
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