{"id":48953,"date":"2011-11-19T00:18:39","date_gmt":"2011-11-19T05:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=48953"},"modified":"2011-11-19T03:32:26","modified_gmt":"2011-11-19T08:32:26","slug":"keeping-them-awake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/by-judith-gayle-2\/keeping-them-awake\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Them Awake"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

As I contemplate my many blessings this year, what is probably least obvious to most people is the one thing I treasure most: our great discontent. I’ve waited for it to discomfort us. Nothing less would awaken us. Nothing else would shake us until our eyes popped open in disbelief. And nothing more will be required to make us understand that simmering in this hot-pot with all the other frogs is a choice. We can choose again. We can select anew.<\/p>\n

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When I was a young’un we had outdoor theatres — drive-ins — that, in California, were good to go all year round. Some increased their revenue by offering a 4-plex, placing their great screens in the classic medicine wheel configuration — north, south, east, west — with cars nestled in the middle, hoods pointed toward the movie they’d selected. Once settled in, it was simply a matter of mounting the squawk-box on the car window, running for the drinks and popcorn and waiting for sunset. Every so often I’d get bored with whatever we were watching, and flip around to view the other movies playing simultaneously. In those moments, I determined that lip-reading would be a rare and useful skill. Now, as reality shifts depending on which window we look out, I am reminded that the dialogue suffers when you can’t get a grip on it, leaving the story line up for grabs. Perhaps now we can make up our own ending, rewrite the script, like I did as a kid, looking out the back window of the family car. In fact, I’m pretty sure the script-writers have all lost control and the future is ours to create.<\/p>\n

For instance, I don’t follow sports, so I didn’t fall into deep depression upon hearing of the Penn State hysteria. Within a few days of the headlines, Bill Maher called bullshit on those who worried more about the fate of a ball team than the fate of sexually abused children. I still wonder how so many people could turn a blind eye to the suffering, the perfidy and the blatant illegality of this sad tale. More of Sandusky’s victims are coming forward as we speak, and I have to wonder how this man sees his reality. Campus security, the police and even the governor having knowledge of his behavior surely must have given him a sense that he was safe to continue raping children.<\/p>\n

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On the movie screen he was watching, he got to hide in the smoke and mirrors of hero worship, fan frenzy and the warrior dreams of sports tradition, all the while buggering the innocent. I bet that even now, caught with his pants around his ankles, he still hopes that this will all blow over and he’ll be allowed to retire from the public spotlight gracefully. Nobody warned him that the scripts have all been tossed, the contracts declared void. His protestation that all this was merely “horseplay” isn’t even worth a horse-laugh. His drama’s gone dark now. It’s tar and feathers time.<\/p>\n

Switching screens, there are only a handful of days remaining for the Congressional Super Committee to come to some agreement about debt. Charged with making 1.2 trillion dollars worth of deficit reduction, the cross-section of politicians selected for this “Gang of 12” is as diverse a set of officials as is represented in Congress. I suspect that paring this discussion down to a handful of partisans, as opposed to an entire Congress full, will make little difference in the end, but it has freed the congressional critters to attend more important business, like spending an entire day affirming that the nation does, indeed, trust in God and another declaring pizza a vegetable<\/a>. Regarding the latter, Jason Linkins, over at Huffington Post, said it best: “I have to imagine that this news instilled confusion in many Americans, as many Americans are (a) familiar with pizza, (b) familiar with vegetables and (c) sane.”<\/p>\n

While it’s a relief to know that “sane” is still an option, it’s evidently only one of several. For a moment there I thought trying to assassinate Obama because he was the anti-Christ seemed bat-shit-crazy, but considering our options, it more likely reflects the neurosis of a population unable to sort fact from fiction. Another fiction is that something vital to the nation will be decided by this select group of 12 politicians. John Kerry, dour on his best day, reported that the committee was working tirelessly, but he seemed to hold out little hope of compromise. Reaching no agreement will trigger draconian budget cuts that nobody wants, of course, indicating that we should all hold our breath over the dreadful possibilities. I suppose it would be cynical for me to suggest that — even leaving the Bush tax cuts and entitlements untouched — given our ability to cook the books with clever accounting, rearranging a trillion over ten years should be a cake walk.<\/p>\n

Ah, but no worries, fellow citizens. It will all turn out all right. Some last minute deal will be reached, the nation can stop holding its breath as one political party will momentarily count coup on the other and the curtains will close on this little drama. All eyes will then turn to another screen. There are so many to select from, aren’t there? There’s the newest crop of child molesters and the rise and fall of Republican presidential candidates, their sexual history oozing from closed closets. There’s the confirmed demise of Demi and Ashton’s marriage and speculation over the mysterious death of Natalie Wood in a tragic love triangle. Rapists and perverts and cheaters, oh my! News has become American theatre, as reflected in faux “reality shows.” All the drama without the price of a ticket and most of it scripted — until just lately.<\/p>\n

Now there’s real drama out there, if we want to get out of our heads and put our bodies on the line. Having grown accustomed to apathy and lethargy from the American public, many of us find the last two months of fledgling revolution downright inspiring. The rout of Zuccotti park, the subsequent legal challenges, judges sympathetic — or not — all played into the kind of street theatre that’s keeping the movement in the public eye. Planet Waves readers are aware of the particulars, so I won’t belabor the point. And I’m sure it doesn’t feel like theatre to those who are getting bashed, sprayed, detained and bullied, but I would remind them that all the world’s a stage and they’ve put themselves in the center of it. This is a screen worth watching, a script that is writing itself. I suspect that eventually, the movie will be called “Rule of Law: 2012.”<\/p>\n

Like many of those on the political left, populist heroine and senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren has declared her commonality with the #occupy movement. A lawyer and Harvard professor, Warren advised that protesters stay within the limits of the law. But — among other references here that should be credited to the Bard — there’s the rub! Writing for TruthDig, Bill Blum explains why the weakened protections<\/a> of the First Amendment won’t do the job any more:<\/p>\n

Given the sorry state of the law and the unfortunate direction of the courts, it should come as no surprise that the Occupiers lost the legal battle to keep their Zuccotti encampment. It wasn\u2019t wrong to turn to the courts. Litigation has been and always will be a basic component of any movement for progressive social change. But popular mythology (as regards First Amendment protections) aside, it\u2019s seldom the leading component and rarely a substitute for the long, hard slog of collective political action that has been Occupy\u2019s hallmark.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do make time to read the entire article. It’s an excellent overview of how the rule of law has turned into a collection of loopholes that authority can use to justify its every action. Read into it a bit and you’ll also consider it a heads-up that the legal arena is the place where much of the drama will be taking place in the coming months. Previews of coming attractions are already in the news: the Supremes have agreed<\/a> to take on the legality of the Affordable Health Care Act and will issue their rulings just as 2012 election season comes to frenzy. But since we’re tone deaf to the dialogue that the script writers gave us, perhaps now we’ll write a new ending to this story. Perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at the Supremes and the authority they presume to wield.<\/p>\n

The righties are already demanding that Elena Kagan recuse herself, due to her involvement in health care when she was Obama’s Solicitor General. I would like to think the Lefties would not miss the opportunity to make a similar fuss about Scalia and Thomas, who — on the very day the Nine agreed to take the case — were honored at a dinner sponsored by Pfizer Pharmaceutical and the law firm that will argue the case before the high court. Thomas, of course, is married to a woman deeply involved in attacking Obama’s presidency and this particular legislation, her mission funded by Charles and David Koch. Sam Alito, meanwhile, is a dyed-in-the-wool Federalist with a very narrow agenda, much like that of Chief Justice Roberts, who never met a corporation he didn’t favor over the rights of the individual citizen. It is safe to assume that NONE of those Justices will be recusing themselves as they ponder the fate of American health care.<\/p>\n

That’s the makings of a first class drama, don’t ya think? Maybe even a squeaker, as Justice Kennedy, the swing vote, is torn between whatever conflicting emotions a man in the middle suffers. And instead of the same old predictable plot line, perhaps we’ll write this one differently. Perhaps there will be public outcry that these judges have no ethical rules<\/a> to follow, that just as Greenspan assumed the bankers would self-police, the nation has made the same assumptions about the high court and been regularly disappointed. Not that we have heard about that in the news, of course. FreePress.net sites the arrest of 26 journalists during the past two months of #occupy, even as mainstream media has kept mum. The banks, the courts, the congress, the news rooms? All need to be occupied. All need to be rewritten, rescripted. The old, violent models of authority need scrapping. Could we superimpose ethical behavior over a system marked by injustice? Could it be — in our movie — that love and compassion are even more powerful than money and privilege?<\/p>\n

Yes, this year I’m thankful that so many of us are finally able to SEE what we’re looking at. And if the Bard was right — if the men and women of the world are merely players on the stage of life — then it’s up to us to define our role. How do we want this to look? Who will we stand up to be? When our grand-kids ask what part we played in the Great Turning, what will we tell them? Me? I want to be like 84-year old Dorli Rainey, pepper-sprayed during a police incident. If we need somebody to model our attitude on, listen to Dorli<\/a>. When Keith Olbermann asked her how she was, her replay? “I’m feeling great,” she said. “I’m so energized! It’s amazing what a little pepper spray will do for you.” Her rationale for occupying Seattle? “… somebody’s got to keep them awake.”<\/p>\n

Somebody’s got to. You, me. All of us, awakening and looking around, suddenly aware that we can watch this old movie or write a new one, feet on the ground, hearts engaged. The old plot lines? Predictable. So this year, as we celebrate where we’ve been by honoring our arrival on these shores — even if not all of those first occupiers had the best of intentions — let’s remember to be especially thankful for where we’re going. Let’s show some gratitude for how quickly the energy has shaped a change of attitude and dialogue. Let’s offer gratitude that ushering in a new era isn’t history we’ll eventually read about. Instead, we’re writing the future, scripting and casting, imagining and dreaming it into form ourselves. This Thanksgiving, let’s celebrate the power of our collective intent to recreate our world in peace and love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves As I contemplate my many blessings this year, what is probably least obvious to most people is the one thing I treasure most: our great discontent. I’ve waited for it to discomfort us. Nothing less would awaken us. Nothing else would shake us until our eyes popped open in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1744],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}