By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
When I was a kid the whole nation didn’t ping off of a news cycle like a pinball, flashing lights, ringing bells and ultimately dying away to await the next drop of the coins. A global disaster like Fukushima, for instance, would take center court, followed up by careful tracking of the radioactive flotsam that arrived recently in Alaska, along with aggressive handling of the continued cover-up of a nuclear accident worse than Chernobyl. Have you heard about Fukushima lately? Me, neither. Yesterday’s news.
Last year’s environmental disaster, the Gulf oil spill, has been in the news lately, but less because of the eyeless shrimp and sickly children of the region than because of charges filed against a BP scapegoat on the eve of its anniversary. How quickly we forget, when there’s always a new disaster on the horizon!
I grew up in a different time, of course. That was when newscasters wagered their good names on accuracy, not a pitch for ratings. That was when a political assessment from the lips of a Walter Cronkite or an Eric Sevareid mattered, and we never doubted its veracity. Now we are treated to truthiness and infotainment with panels of pundits holding forth, or — in the case of FOX News — cranky old ideologues shouting over one another, moderated by some young thing, in an unending loop of 24/7 chatter. This is insult to much of the nation’s intelligence, but for those who prefer to have someone else do their thinking for them, it’s as comfortable as old television reruns where Pa is still in charge at the Ponderosa, Archie still insults Meathead, and Lucy and Ricky still sleep in single beds. That an entire cross-section of our political spectrum takes pride in this choice of anti-intellectualism is both a sign of our times and a tragedy.
It’s a blessing that we live in a wired world, then, able to get to other news options, since the American press is little but for-profit obfuscation disguised as debate. And because it no longer challenges those in the spotlight, it too often serves as an active source of disinformation. (As I write this, John Boehner is on CNN, pounding the podium and yelping that the ‘War on Women’ was “entirely created by my colleagues across the aisle for political gain.” Pundits chatter, tit for tat, back and forth, furthering the preposterous meme that each side has equally radicalized — a stunningly false equivalency — to go at one another with dirty tricks. If anyone thinks politics is NOT performance art, they need to watch this clip, so absurdly calculated that it deserves a spit-take.)
I have a standing argument with my dear neighbor, Fishin’ Jim, about human nature. When I grouse and growl about our loss of civility, the growing abuse of the penal and legal systems, the bald-face lying of the political class, the mis-steps of our educational system, he tells me that it’s always been that way. I disagree. I cite the period after the Big War, fostered by the policies of FDR and furthered by the GI Bill and labor movement that gave us the broadest, most secure middle class we’d ever enjoyed. We came to expect that government provided for the common good, that political checks and balances offered an umbrella of safeguards against fraud and mischief that protected consumers, that the citizens of a strong, young nation were involved in the creation of a democratic social experiment destined to set new standards for the world. If it proved only a brief, bright spot in American history, at least it set a precedent for the generations to come.
And if that period was just an uneasy truce against the darker forces of patriarchy and plutocracy, then we were well served by having such an experience of stability and national confidence. Those young ones with the courage to march against the establishment in the 1960s were a product not only of a constitution that provided their right of dissent, but also an expectation that the nation would eventually respond to their numbers and vision. When we lost our icons — Jack, Martin, Bobby, Malcolm — we stumbled on our inability to hinder hatred. Our tattered idealism finally fell apart watching a retreating Dick Nixon flash a V for victory before stepping into a waiting chopper to whisk him out of harm’s way, and thanks to a bumbling Jerry Ford, away from accountability.
It was then that this next leg of the journey began to gel — the cynicism that replaced determination, the self-interest that trumped common interest and concern. And here’s where we went wrong: we knew we were letting go of our highest aspirations in favor of a pragmatism we chose to think of as maturity, but we didn’t foresee that “we” were the foot soldiers of government, propelling it forward in our own image. Aided and abetted by international captains of industry and ambitious political movers and shakers, we came to think of our philosophical exceptionalism as one of privilege and wealth alone and threw ourselves into the game of “getting.” We didn’t think too hard about that. With apology to our newest generations, we didn’t think too hard about anything in those days.
With the end of regulations and oversight, of educational standards and journalistic integrity, and with an out-of-control military industrial complex, it’s no wonder that the population began to believe government to be lethargic and bloated, an ailing monster on an IV drip of tax flow, unable to cope with the simplest issues, and Republican presidents, opposed to governance, have spent thirty years doing everything in their power to prove it true. What we fail to understand on the right is that the American dream is as much about the benign leverage of federal power to do well by its citizens — providing for a thriving workforce, diverse citizenry and equal opportunity — as it is about owning a home, sending the kids to college and securing retirement.
What we all seem to ignore is that unfettered capitalism scavenges everything in sight, and after more than a decade of sucking the lifeblood out of a plundered globe, it has now turned its greedy eyes home, to finish off what’s left of its host. We have a dilemma. We can either throw up our hands and wait for the asteroid that’s coming to pound us into tomorrow [sic] or stand up against the mindless machinery that seeks to exploit us further. If we are to recreate the American dream as a sustainable, realistic vision for ourselves and our children, we can’t escape the fact that we will all — old and young — have to participate in the politics that ensure it.
If you’re under thirty, reading this, you will probably miss the poignancy of all we’ve lost in order to come to this turning point, and I don’t know how to give you a taste of that. You’ve come to expect a world of random violence, slippery business practice and stranger-danger. You’ve been raised up in confusion, schooled by opinion, distracted by clever PR and force-fed propaganda, and although that was also true of the generations proceeding yours, the dark distillation of a dysfunctional press abrogating its duty to the public is your karmic load. You are one of the Millennial generation — the ME generation — and frankly, it’s surprising how well you’re doing, given the particulars; but then, us old weed-pullers and way-showers have been waiting for you to show up and bring the future with you. According to Pew Research Center, you are upbeat, liberal and open to change — and considering all the anxiety and nonsense we’ve been through in recent years, all I can do is admire you and be grateful that you showed up just in the nick of time!
If we were destined to deal with the darker forces within ourselves, then all that’s happened in your lifetime has created the perfect Petri dish of bubbling ooze to get ‘er done. Family appears to be important to you, perhaps because many of you are from single-parent situations. And if you’re confused about relationships, I’ll admit that we haven’t done much to help you with that, reinforcing the wisdom that “Do as I say, not as I do” is a cosmic joke. Many of you have graduated from college, risking your future on big education costs, and now half of you can’t find work; we can’t do much to help with that either, except to make sure you’ve got a port in the storm. One out of eight of you is living with your folks. You respect your elders and admire their work ethic, thinking yours will not measure up: relax, you’re not there yet, you’ll get a chance. You’re less religious, more socially-networked and more ethnic and diverse than the other generations, and — best of all — you also seem to have a tad more compassion than those who came before you.
There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 50+ million members of the Millennial generation — age 18 to 29 — out there, and you are the most educated (likely because of failure to find jobs) and the most tolerant among the generations. You don’t have issues with race or gender, nor do you mistrust government; in fact — surprisingly — you have expectations that government will assist you. That is certainly the government the liberals would like to create for you, for all of us; that’s surely the government you must help us rebuild.
You supported Obama by big numbers, and, like many of us, you’re disappointed in how all that promise turned out. Take a moment to examine the virtual straitjacket this president, and this nation, have been wrapped in for the last few years. You appear, like Obama, to be cautious types, but fair. In the coming election, he will need every vote he can get to keep his presidency. And while young and old are disenchanted with the system, we can pretend that there is no difference between the political parties when it comes to the clout of big bucks, but it isn’t the left that is gleefully shoveling money and promises of more into the mouth of the corporate monolith. It isn’t the liberal party that wants to put school kids back into the workforce and throw Grandma off food stamps. And, if Romney is to be believed, it isn’t the Dems who want to start another war in the Mid-east, capitalizing on the traditional method to define a presidency and kick-start a flagging economy.
I’m hopeful about your future, you young ones, just as I’m hopeful about mine. Before this extraordinary year of 2012 finishes, I expect to see major changes in the way people look at this culture, this nation, this world. I don’t know how that will happen. I know how it COULD happen: if we all got a good, clear look at the inner machination of the shadow government. If the truth about 9-11 came crawling out of the can of worms, the details so obvious that nobody could look away, every one of us would have to deal with the kind of manipulations that marked not just your generation’s ability to trust the future, but everyone’s. If the messy, nasty truth of much of the American military footprint showed itself so evident that not one of us could continue to approve its darker dealings, if the inner sanctum of the moneyed class was suddenly exposed to the millions who manage their lives on the crumbs of the social contract, everything would look different in a flash.
Yes, surprises, and not just from whistleblowers but from an unexpected organic explosion of the information glut, some cosmic exposé that can’t be sidestepped no matter how hard we try. That would change the world. All of us, together — the Boomers, the occasional open-minded Pluto in Cancer folk (sometimes called the Silent Generation,) the Gen-X-ers and you — we’ve got our work in front of us. Maybe you can teach us how to let go of our cynicism, and we’ll teach you how to put fire in your belly for the kind of balanced nation we remember. Perhaps together, we will usher in justice, compassion and a new beginning. Here, at the end of an era, we find ourselves together — and that, kiddo, is what “family” is all about!
Fascinating post-post (!), dear Jude. Will re-read it with the attention ii deserves as soon as I have time (worker’s holiday today in my neck of the woods, but not for moi!). So glad you enjoyed the pieces, and loved your observation on your shocking realization about skin colour. Amis’s experience of what it must feel like to suffer racial prejudice because of the colour of your skin is amazing (and terrible), isn’t it? And this is just wonderful “we are always making choices. The one we are most often faced with is to bitch and moan, self-define and judge others … or stop and listen to our Higher Angels”. I’m working hard on this right now, and your words help so much. Thank you. xxx
ok i hear you. and word to your mother! i realized on my own that the three things we don’t talk about socially are sex, politics and religion and that our three biggest problems are the same. i do my best to make sure all know and remember as well. thanks Judith.
First, tomorrow’s May Day — Common Dreams has some nice graphics and a YouTube of Pete Seeger, genuine freedom-fighting populist icon. Plan something wonderful!
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2012/04/30
Next, ahhhh yes, the pony in the horseshit! That’s how I think of myself, be, mucking out the stall to find the hairy little bugger I KNOW is in here — and occasionally it feels as though the shit stacks up even more quickly than I can scoop it out. I’ll admit that I think about putting down the pitchfork from time to time, lately for sure. I s’pose some would think I’d finally come to my senses and accepted the truth about How Fucked We Are.
But I have a short list of “absolutes” and one is that we are always making choices. The one we are most often faced with is to bitch and moan, self-define and judge others … or stop and listen to our Higher Angels. The first has produced our current information overwhelm: reinforced our polarity and cynicism, creating us as unwilling to extend compassion or civility. The other has the capacity to change the world. So, according to those voices whispering in my ear, I suspect you’ll find me right here, leaning on my pitchfork, looking for hooves.
Oh wow, Huffy, I SOOO enjoyed the link and the other two articles. I too would like a marshmallow [but I’m not prepared to sit on it!] I particularly appreciated the Amis piece. I was in a long-term relationship with a black man, in the descriptive sense of the word. I remember waking up one morning, noticing the sunlight streaming in on my blonde-self next to his dark one and thinking my very-pale skin color was the least attractive thing about me. Shocking how the world can suddenly turn upside down with such an insight, creating clarity — and that’s exactly what we should all be seeking, eh?
The Big Three: sex, religion and politics; these are to be avoided at all social gatherings. That was the rule my late Mother — the Leo-rising Libra, who made entertaining an art form — insisted upon. I, on the other hand, was anti-establishment from the git-go, and learned how to side-step, avoid or chuck-under-the-chin whatever rules were meant to limit me or opinions that attempted to define me. And since I didn’t follow Mom’s advice about the Big Three … throwing my Sagittarius at it all … I discovered the forewarned pitfalls by jumping into them. Sometimes thrilling, sometimes painful, often discouraging.
After awhile I realized that when I was arguing for my “rightness” I was pretty much talking to myself — and everyone holding forth with their own debate points was busy talking to themselves as well. That’s a tricky thing to recognize, and when we do, our asuredness begins to fall apart as we seek the gray-and-nuanced center, where truth is often neutral and/or complicated; how difficult it is to get our attention off of ourselves and out into a wider arena. But widening our scope is required if we are to be so wise as to appreciate, or so rash as to castigate, one another; and most definitely if we are to learn from the past in creating the future.
So, gently then, let me suggest that some of you are not reading what I wrote very closely; nor are you really talking to me. You need to go a little wider in your thought process because I do not write about my personal relationship with sex, religion or politics except by occasional vignette and you are assigning a good deal of meaning to what I’ve said without my having said it. Assuming, so they say, makes an ass of you and me. They say correctly and I don’t wish to leave it that way.
Nothing I wrote “idealized” the period between 1945 and 1980 nor do I consider myself “dewy eyed” about it. I do, however, have an experience of what that was as opposed to what the Reagan-through-Dubya period produced. There is a palpable difference between the two periods; between the wealth distribution, the educational standards, the world-view of the Supreme Court and the power of the labor unions to protect the working person then, as opposed to now. A big difference as well in WHO peopled government and WHY. Palpable.
Neither am I underestimating any generations ability to understand the world; I am mourning the fact that the period of growth and stability I knew, and found much in to appreciate, is one they DID NOT know. We came closer in those years to achieving the REAL American dream — not stuff and plenty, but dignity and awakening and opportunity — than we have since. The standard of living for the vast middle increased to the point where our numbers gave many of us hope that not just the middle but EVERYONE would eventually have “enough” of what they needed to thrive. Perhaps an idealized hope, but dewy eyed?
I REMEMBER riding in the back of the bus with my friends because they couldn’t ride in the front. I REMEMBER the panic of those who secured dangerous, illegal and unmentionable abortions in flop houses and dirty hotel rooms. I REMEMBER the smell of tear gas and running from bellowing, baton-wielding cops in riot gear. I REMEMBER families torn apart because their children were listening to a Muse the older generation either wouldn’t or couldn’t embrace, one that asked for the sacrifice of their innocence in the name of equality, humanity and love.
I REMEMBER Joe McCarthy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-moyers/watch-rep-allen-west-and_b_1464222.html
I remember all that was wrong in those days — but I’m not about to forget all that was right, either, our growth in social consciousness and populist passions soon to be attacked as un-American by Reagan and chipped away for decades until now, when we discuss income inequality on cable news we must first assure those listening that we don’t mean to suggest there is anything wrong with being obscenely wealthy, like Romney; nothing at all wrong with an improbable level of riches, lest we insult some happy capitalist that is banking in the Caymans or discourage some poor bastard on welfare that just spent his last two-bucks on a Lotto ticket. The working class has not been given a real pay raise in almost 40 years, but we’re reduced to groveling before an all-encompassing worship of wealth lest we offend those few who have it.
Tell me the last 30 years hasn’t thrown our self-respect, self-worth down a black hole. I refuse to let that be a “memory hole.”
Anyway, as far as being offensive goes, Mom was correct — talking [writing] about sex, politics and religion is always going to offend someone, making the conversation scratchy and the party more lively if less sedate. But — you know — maybe that’s what mid-wife’ry is all about. There’s sure to be some screaming along the way.
Thanks for playing this weekend, dearhearts. It’s always, always just grist for the mill.
Amazing commentary, per your usual flair and brilliance! Very interesting comments that follow. I am amazed to be alive in these times. If we boomers wanted to break out (as many of us did) our revolutionary, evolutionary urges are about to be slaked. In ways we could never have imagined.
“I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go ’round…”
The wheels are about to fly off the axles in all directions.
Ooops, thanks Huffy, I’ve been like this for days now. It’s like having Mercury retrograde conjunct Neptune; I keep missing the main points but fascinated with the asides! Marty’s story was equally delightful and pithy, if a little more poignant in tone. Now, back to read the 3rd article at your link. Most appreciated!
be
My pleasure, dearest Be! It is, isn’t it? If you look at the bottom left of the page, you’ll also find the pieces by Martin Amis and E L Doctorow (they’re a little more grim…). xxx
Huffy,
Delightful story. . thanks for the link!
be
The closing lines of the piece by Martin Amis (see link): “Is it possible, in 2012, to confess to the pursuit and murder of an unarmed white 17-year-old without automatically getting arrested? Ease my troubled mind, and tell me yes”.
Fantastic piece, dear Jude. Thought many would be interested in this (from NYT): “Writers of the World: Looking at America:From April 30 to May 6, 100 writers from 25 countries will be in New York for a festival sponsored by the PEN American Center”. Here’s the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/hello-martians-this-is-america.html?_r=1&ref=sunday
Thanks for the link, Carrie. That was the first time I had heard of GenJones, Had heard of the Xers. I find it very interesting to see entire generations embodying their own particular “soul”-which is just another pointer toward the outer planet influence, huh?
(((((everyone of us, whatever the Gen)))))
Great piece Judith! I would ask that my generation be separate from the Boomers because we are not quite like them. I am talking about Generation Jones, delineated by Jonathan Pontell and defined here:
“Social Commentator Jonathan Pontell coined the term “Generation Jones”. Some of its connotations:
It embodies the idea of a large anonymous generation
It was this generation—as teens in the 1970’s—which nationally popularized the slang term “jonesin’” (meaning a craving or yearning)… which has turned out to be a core personality trait of this generation of huge expectations left unfulfilled
Between the personality extremes of the Boomers’ idealism and the Xers’ cynicism lies the more balanced mainstream “Jones” quality…”
http://www.generationjones.com/
Katie –
Thank you for the link to this article, although I could have done without the stupid anti-“Zionist” comment some idiot posted at the end (it never ceases to amaze me how some people find a way to blame absolutely everything on the Jews).
Re Obama, I realized we’d been duped as soon as he made his cabinet appointments four years ago. I was horrified. I felt I had no choice but to take a wait & see attitude, but everything I’ve seen has only confirmed my initial suspicions. I don’t understand how people can continue making excuses for him.
I agree with Fishin’ Jim that the lack of civility and abuse of the legal/penal system has always been there. Your idealized version of the post-War period only covers white people (thought I think the poor & marginalized whites of that time might disagree with you as well). If you expect the post-War period to the the shining example, then you are expecting all people of color to lose their civil rights. As a person of color, I find violence, discrimination, and false arrest based solely on the color of a person’s skin is NOT a sign of a civilized society. I guess when bad stuff happens to “other” people, it’s easy to ignore.
thought the same but also thought Heinrich could be Hank, and my friend just told me he also went by Chuck or Hank so there ya go. thanks for the utoob!
I think someone may be taking liberties since he was born Heinrich Charles Bukowski. From what I’ve read, he published under the name “Charles Bukowski”. Great quote, by the way.
wow, thanks Mimi! it’s totally being sold as a poster listing it as “poem by Hank”. good to know and funny you mention Bukowski, my friend just sent me this quote this morning;
“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”
~ Charles Bukowski
cheers!
Hi Stormilarue! The poem you listed is called “The Laughing Heart” and it’s by Charles Bukowski. About a year ago it was used (brilliantly, I think) in a Levi’s ad. Here’s the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnNblizjuEk
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
as a person who has many wise young friends under 30, i wouldn’t underestimate their sense of poignancy and understanding of the world today. i know it was done to my generation (X) as well and while many of us have grown up embracing a similar cynicism at the expense of their youthful intensity and critical passion, i also know there are still many of us who haven’t because i am one of them.
one of my bestest sistars sent me this video yesterday by someone who inspired me in my youth with his music, politics and poetry;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNgrxgmcwck
hung out with another young sistar (she’s 25) on fire last night and had a similar conversation about why it seems that as we get older we’re expected to settle in ways -in love, with work, our ideology, etc.. i had an uncle tell me at my 30th birthday party how essentially “cute” it was i was still so fired up at that age, how he’d voted for McGovern once too, basically making the case that i would also “settle down” eventually as if it was some sort of hideously natural regressive progression. he’s now fairly far right and we don’t talk much needless to say, because i think the idea is sad and fucking ludicrous and i want no part of it. what’s the point of living if the parts of me that make me feel the most alive are dead?
she also gave me a poster last night with the following on it;
your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank
submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the
darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you
chances.
know them, take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death
in life,
sometimes.
and the more often you
learn to do it,
the more light there will
be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have
it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in
you.
(poem by Hank)
Native Americans have a certain way of disciplining their children: they turn their back to them and ignore them. After enough time has passed and the child has felt what it is like to be ‘left out of the group’, the child understands the lesson and usually corrects and makes amends for the behavior. The adults are AWARE of the ‘bad’ behavior, but do not focus on it and give it energy. They also do not direct shame or anger toward the child.
When someone is presented with the Truth:
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.
Mahatma Gandhi
People will go through the stages of grief: Shock, Denial, Anger, Grief then Acceptance. Be careful not to get stuck in any stages of the process.
Perhaps the truth will set us free, but we must first extricate ourselves from dewy-eyed remembrances of things past…that bind…and blind us to problems and potentialities of present and future. Neither Mighty Mouse nor Superman will save the day.
Maybe people should have questioned the veracity of Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid who often did not tell it like it was, but read from pre-authorized scripts. “CBS was unquestionably the CIA’s most valuable broadcast asset,” Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein wrote in an October 1977 Rolling Stone article articulating what had become public knowledge.
Perhaps Cronkite’s “And that’s the way it is” was one of those carefully-calibrated hypnotic mantras that bliss people’s brainwaves out into Nirvana where all is right with the world. Like Obama’s “Hope and Change”. And that is the problem. “Barack the Magic Negro,” a riff on Peter, Paul and Mary’ s iconic “Puff The Magic Dragon”–first performed on Rush Limbaugh’s show–deftly touched on it.
And now “Why Obama is the More Effective Evil,” a presentation made by Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford at the Left Forum, Pace University, NYC, March 17, hurls a silver stake through the Magic’s heart. “Not only is Obama not given proper credit for out-eviling George Bush domestically and internationally,” states the introduction, “but the First Black President is awarded positive grades for his intentions versus the presumed intentions of the Republicans. As the author says, this ‘is is psycho-babble, not analysis. No real Left would engage in it.'”
“He has put both Wall Street and U.S. imperial power on new and more aggressive tracks–just as he hired himself out to do.”
Are We the People Our Parents Warned Us Against?
http://blackagendareport.com/content/why-barack-obama-more-effective-evil
It’s kinda like waiting for a baby to be born isn’t it? We (way-showers, etc.) feel it, sense it, even see it growing occasionally. In our hearts and minds we plan for it’s perfect little life. Yet, all around there are potential threats that maybe it won’t come to full term, or that if it does, it will be handicapped in some way. Maybe we won’t be able to provide it such a perfect little life after all. It is hard to stay positive all the time unless,. . . unless we continue to re-focus on the positive after we suffer a scare, or if we let the doom-sayers get a foothold in our psyches. That’s why we need the shapers of the future to remind us that there is a process to growing; that when something appears to be setback it is in reality only a new challenge that takes us to an even greater threshold. The expected arrival of new life is still on track; we might just need a little extra effort to see it through.
So you probably don’t think of yourself as a mid-wife Jude, but even though we all share in the labor, it is you and the likes of you who keep us focused on what joy awaits us if we stay focused on that joy and not the ominous threats to it. I’m thinking the old punchline “there’s gotta be a pony in here somewhere” would be a cool bumper sticker for these times. Thanks for all the heart and soul you share with us each Saturday missy!
be
Absolutely, incredibly awesome Judith!! The Truth shall set us free and it is on it’s way.