Having added my 1,000th post on this
blog this past Monday, what have I learned about the world? The inescapable
truth that nothing changes in this world. To be sure, the nature and utility of
the instruments that people use change from time to time, but human nature
doesn’t change. Everything that I have written here has been a variation of
certain themes and issues, repeated over and over again. Human nature may be forced
to adapt in a different way from time to time because of laws and changing
social mores, but as far as its prejudices are concerned, people essentially
remain the same.
Thus it is not hard to view
oneself as a “cynic” when observing the world at work. The ancient Greek
philosophy of Cynicism holds that what makes humans different from the mere
beast of the field and jungle is not the acquisition of material wealth or
popular appeal, but the life lived simple and free from the burden of greed,
arrogance and hypocrisy. The Cynic is “free” to improve his mind and body,
rather than to sate his animal wants and desires. Now, some people may believe
that your typical vagrant can be defined as a “cynic” by this definition, but
the average bum is motivated by pure and unadulterated indolence rather than by
any coherent moral and ethical philosophy.
The most famous character who
expounded this philosophy, Diogenes of Sinope, preached that the maintenance of
mind and body was the most important aspect of existence, and to live in
harmony with nature. But unlike a follower of the “transcendentalist”
philosophy, like Henry David Thoreau, the Greek cynics did not believe in retreating
from civilization and living a life of complete self-sufficiency. Oh no, the Cynic
wanted to live his street life in full
view of the public to shame and embarrass the purveyors of cupidity and
prejudice—even at the cost of being attacked and ridiculed. You didn’t need to have to fame
and wealth to “justify” your existence—just “live.” Of course, it is difficult
to “live” in the modern world by the ancient definition, especially without
money. These day, if you are caught practicing your philosophy too openly, you
are likely to spend time mulling over your lack of freedom from inside a jail
cell.
My family might believe that I
live the life according to the ancient ways, if they were of a philosophical
bent; being right-wing, they would call it something else. It is fair to say
that I was on the periphery of familial bonding, mainly because I was so
“different” than my siblings—in both appearance, personality and achievement.
While everyone else went on to a bright future, I was headed to the Army to
“straighten” myself out. When I left the Army, I went right back to school; I
wonder if it ever occurred to anyone back home that their parenting might have
been the “problem.” After all, instead of being dead or in jail, I not only
went to college, but graduated with honors. But that didn’t stop my mother from
making a quizzical remark to me when I mentioned an incident that I regarded as
racial in nature: “I wish I never let you be born.” I know that her meaning was
that she felt my life was difficult; but it didn’t relieve the sting of the
remark, or suggest a recognition of prejudice in herself.
But the fact is that back “home”
they think my writing is a gigantic waste of time, although they might be more
“sympathetic” and less discouraging if my political and social point of view
was more closely aligned with theirs; it certainly would not make the Northern
family look good in their eyes of their right-wing Southern friends if they knew
there was a “crazed” socialist in the family (which I am not, really). For my
part, any communication outside commonplace banalities has produced nothing but
grief and anger. I am not engaging in “indolent” behavior, as they may believe;
this has been hard work, taking-up practically all of my free time in thinking,
reading and composing. it certainly would not make the “Yankee” family look
good in their eyes of their right-wing Southern friends if they had a “crazed” socialist in the family
(which I am not, really)
However I live my life, I admit
that my writing reflects the other, modern definition of “cynicism,” which
Diogenes is also responsible for it. He is most famous—or infamous—for carrying
that lamp in broad daylight looking for, and failing to find, the “honest man.”
Thus comes what we now regard as the “philosophy” of cynicism: The belief that
people in general are motivated solely
by self-interest, more or less devoid of altruism or scruple. Of course,
everything is relative, and some people are less devoid of such principles as
others. But the reality is that even people who believe they are acting on
“principle” are in fact doing so for selfish reasons—if only to make themselves
“look good” before other people.
Now, to a point I can understand
the right-wing “perspective,” about people taking responsibility for their own
lives, living within one’s means, etc. But I don’t think that they really
understand anything about the world we live in, especially in the negative ways
they influence it. During the Roman Republic, citizen-farmers who also served
in the military were the backbone of Roman society. But that changed over time;
the Gracchus brothers tried to stem the tide of society being controlled by
wealthy landowners who displaced the independent farming class, but they were
murdered by mobs controlled by the patrician class. This was the forerunner of
the virtual slave serf system that dominated life in Europe until the 16th
century. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of displaced farmers ended up
in urban centers like Rome looking for and not finding employment; in order to
“control” them, Roman leaders supplied them free bread, corn and “games.” There
was obviously plenty of money to waste—just not in providing employment
opportunities. It’s no different in this country, where corporate paymasters
prefer to compensate right-wing blowhards of hate like Rush Limbaugh the
equivalent of 800 living wage jobs every year.
Despite my cynical outlook, I
looked at the backlog of topics to discuss that I had accumulated for the
coming New Year, and in doing so I was suddenly struck by a feeling of ennui.
After all, it occurred to me that I had discussed these very same issues
before, multiple times in fact. Here is a rundown of pointlessly, hopelessly
redundant recent events that I decided to shelve:
Gun violence
Another fatal shooting by police
near Ferguson, MO. The victim supposedly had a gun, but did not fire it. “Where
is the evidence” that he was threatening the officer, asked a black male
indignantly watching the television screen as the story unfolded with
demonstrators faced-off against police. While I am as disturbed as anyone by
the spate of recent deadly firearm incidents involving both police and
civilians, the fact must be faced that both sides are guilty and both share
blame in the escalation of tensions leading to lethal confrontations. The
credibility of self-styled victims and this this holier than thou attitude
doesn’t work for me, save in the most egregious cases. I see a lot of people using race as an excuse to exhibit rude or belligerent behavior, and it doesn't arouse any empathy in me.
Ever heard of the “content of
character” part? I have always thought that right-wingers use the term “out of
context,” and they have little themselves when it comes to acting as their
Christian “savior” would. But I see very little evidence to justify the notion
that the neighborhoods where these shootings have occurred do anything to
foster an atmosphere of “peace” or civility—and it starts with parents and
teachers, who have obviously fallen down on the job. Parents especially are as
likely to be “adult” versions of a dysfunctional culture, and teachers just
don’t care. On the other hand with law enforcement, this refusal to “police” the
“bad apples” with itchy trigger fingers makes their pretense of sainthood a
loathsome display of power and arrogance.
An “alternative” to “big government”
When Washington state voters in
2012 approved by a slim margin the establishment of “charter schools,” the
rationalization was that public schools had failed many students, and a “new”
teaching environment was needed to reach low-performing or underserved
students. I think some people may have voted for it because they were actually
under the impression that these schools would be “privatized” versions of
public schools, and thus run more “profitably.” More “productively” might have
been a better goal. That certainly has not been the case in the first Seattle
school of this nature, “First Class Scholars”—a feel good moniker if ever, intended
by idealists to serve developmentally-disabled and otherwise under-performing
students. One suspects that elsewhere certain parents who did not want their
children to “mingle” with the “others” see this as an alternative to “home
schooling.” I don’t know why this is “necessary”; after all, every time I see
something about high school sports coverage, I am “amazed” at how little school
integration has occurred since the 1950s—even in “liberal” Seattle.
Crime and punishment
Some people may recall the Jodi
Arias murder trial, thanks to CNN’s insufferable Nancy Grace and Jane
Velez-Mitchell. Arias was in fact
convicted of first-degree, premeditated murder, but the jury deadlocked on the
death sentence, and prosecutor Juan Martinez decided to opt for a sentencing
“retrial” which began in October. The murder itself was clearly the act of a
psychopath who believed she was “justified” in committing it, being a terribly “wronged
woman.” Arias has her share of supporters
who believe her story that she only acted after enduring physical abuse, even
though she had never intimated it before, and hadn’t seen Travis Alexander for
months and their relationship apparently over.
However, Arias wasn’t through
with him; she “enticed” him to see her again with “suggestive” images of her in
various sexual poses. While there was never any evidence introduced to back up
her abuse claim at trial, Arias knew it was her only defense strategy after
being caught despite careful planning to conceal her tracks. In her interviews
and trial behavior it is clear that she has a very elevated opinion of herself and
her as ability to manipulate the truth and people. But prosecutor Martinez
exposed lie after lie—including that of the outrageous testimony of the gender victim
advocate who was too partisan to see the truth even if it occurred right in
front of her. Perhaps the reality was
that Arias was this arrogant, conceited Latina who was ashamed of her heritage
and wanted to “elevate” herself socially by marrying an Anglo-Saxon male, and
to convince him to do so she turned herself into an unashamed strumpet. When
that didn’t ensnare him, all that was left for this psycho was bloody vengeance.
Racial divide
A few weeks ago, the New York Times published a story on how
minority and white female students received widely disparate punishments for
similar school infractions. In one case, a black female and white female
student were caught marking a restroom wall with graffiti. The white girl’s parents
paid a fine and she walked away without further punishment; the black girl’s
parents couldn’t pay the fine, so she was suspended from school. Isn’t that
just the way the world works?
I overheard someone say that people who don't "make it" in this life should blame it on their own "decisions." That is certainly true to an extent, but are not people's lives also influenced by the decisions that other people make about them? Are not those the decisions that really count?
Gender politics
The Seattle Times, despite being reduced to a shoe-string budget,
charges the outrageous sum of $1 for a daily edition that is maybe a half-dozen
broadsheets at best, and still employs a crime reporter who I won’t name but
has the initials SJG, who I can tell you from personal experience is one of
those “gender advocacy” journalists with zero sense of objectivity. Recently
SJG wrote a story about how police were focusing their anti-prostitution
campaign on “johns,” because prostitutes were their “victims” in the world’s
oldest “trade.” I emailed SJG, commenting on the many bald-faced partisan
mendacities in the story, and her general lack of credibility as an “objective”
journalist. SJG did have the good sense not to respond this time, because her obsessive
misandry makes for informative—and perhaps “entertaining”—reading.
The problem, of course, is that extreme
gender partisans like SJG “inadvertently” reduce women to mindless morons—whining,
moaning and complaining automatons. They exist for no other purpose but to
serve the “feeling good about feeling bad” narrative of certain people. More
recently the Times intrepid
correspondent covered the “International Day to End Violence Against Sex
Workers,” which apparently was an undesired addition to satisfy outraged “victim”
advocates at an event sponsored by the “adult industry” to “change the
narrative” and “battle the stigma” associated with sex work by the media and
the gender mythmakers. I suspect that many in the sex industry believe the “violence”
against them is more likely to be the work of law enforcement and
self-righteous media paladins, rather than their paying “customers.” Of course,
SJG couldn’t help herself but to throw in a few zingers from fringe
participants who claimed they were “forced” into sex work, and my overall
impression was that it is easy being “objective” when you don’t believe in the
narrative.
I saw this public service commercial on television, where several Law & Order actors from the "special victims" episodes did the method acting thing, crying silent tears, enjoining the viewer to "start the conversation" about domestic violence. The hypocrisy was just too much for me. Yes, we do need to start a conversation about domestic violence beyond the usual mythology; what needs to be in the "conversation" is women being made accountable for their actions in the perpetuation of intimate partner violence. On the local radio we hear that domestic violence “transcends” every segment of society—except, of course, gender. It is an advertisement for a “full service” victim shelter, in need of funding. Of course, if a male calls about abuse, he’ll just be sent back for more because he had the audacity to imply hypocrisy.
Yes, there are males who "naturally" seek to vent their frustrations out on an intimate partner and other men; but in the vast majority of the cases, women as much as men need to be held accountable for violent behavior--particularly in the instigation of it, as seen in the Ray Rice incident. Until then, any "conversation" will be a political fraud.
I saw this public service commercial on television, where several Law & Order actors from the "special victims" episodes did the method acting thing, crying silent tears, enjoining the viewer to "start the conversation" about domestic violence. The hypocrisy was just too much for me. Yes, we do need to start a conversation about domestic violence beyond the usual mythology; what needs to be in the "conversation" is women being made accountable for their actions in the perpetuation of intimate partner violence. On the local radio we hear that domestic violence “transcends” every segment of society—except, of course, gender. It is an advertisement for a “full service” victim shelter, in need of funding. Of course, if a male calls about abuse, he’ll just be sent back for more because he had the audacity to imply hypocrisy.
Yes, there are males who "naturally" seek to vent their frustrations out on an intimate partner and other men; but in the vast majority of the cases, women as much as men need to be held accountable for violent behavior--particularly in the instigation of it, as seen in the Ray Rice incident. Until then, any "conversation" will be a political fraud.
The irony is that while we are
constantly bombarded with messages and images of women as equal (or better)
than men, they still seemingly cannot function without a thriving “victim”
industry. And the irony of that is the fact that the success of women in this
society is as much a function of societal factors as it is for men. While women
(or at least their “advocates” and the media) like to name call anyone who
points out the hypocrisies in their myths, it is definitely my experience that
white women have just as much capacity for bigotry and discrimination in order
to maintain their “status” and “class” in the social structure—thus being
victimizers as well as “victims.”
Deliberately “unsolved” crime?
Remember the disappearance of Sky
Metalwala three years ago? Think that case has been solved yet? Most observers believe that his mother, Julia
Biryukova, knows exactly where he is—either with relatives back in Russia, or
somewhere below the ground. She claimed that she left the two-year-old in a car
after it supposedly ran of gas, and was walking to a gas station. She also
claimed that she was taking him to a hospital because he was sick; she would
leave a sick practically a toddler alone in a car for at least an hour?
It turned out that Biryukova had
just ended a contentious custody hearing with her ex-husband in which she
reneged on a custody agreement. Police found that there was more than enough
fuel in her car to reach a gas station a mile away, and it was also learned
that the boy had not been seen by neighbors for weeks before the disappearance.
It was also noted that while Biryukova displayed their daughter prominently on
her social media accounts, there was very little indication that she had
another child. It was also learned that she had a habit of leaving the boy
alone in the house for hours at a time. The boy may have been frisked away by
her Russian relations, but case remains open, and while Bellevue police have
not ruled out the possibility of homicide—which is why Biryukova was not
charged with child endangerment, because he may not have been in the car to
begin with—neither have they shown much interest in solving the case, and
Biryukova acts as if she isn’t worried at all.
Incivility
There are just some things you
are expected to do in order to maintain civility in everyday life. It should
come “natural” to people in this country to walk on the right side of a
pedestrian thoroughfare, so that people do not impede another’s way. But quite
frequently you encounter those who are either thoughtless or are naturally
rude. Of course, someone might say that no one “owns” the sidewalk, but it is
just good manners.
On the other hand, we live in an
increasingly service-based economy, and the quality of that service is
obviously diminishing. In some places, non-paying vagrants get better “service”
than paying customers, apparently because they are not “bothering” the
employees. You would think, of course, that although there is symbiotic
relationship between seller and buyer, but the seller who is in competition
with other sellers for the customer’s dollar sometimes acts as if one’s money
isn’t as good as another’s. You can’t complain about rude service, of course, because
you will be the one accused of being a “troublemaker.”
One can people be thinking? I was
waiting for a Metro bus on a Saturday that was supposed to leave the Convention
Center at 2:08 pm. The bus was parked in the area where it usually drops off
people, except farther behind so that you could see the front of the bus from
where we were standing at the stop location. At 2:10 the driver emerged from somewhere
and re-entered the bus. Was he leaving now? No, the bus didn’t move at all. I
suspected that driver was getting a kick out of watching the reactions of
people wondering where the bus was. At 2:13 the bus started moving forward—now
is it coming? Perhaps not—it’s moving forward because a Sound Transit bus was
pulling up behind it. But wait, he moved up only about ten feet and stopped.
But no, he has to move forward again because the ST bus is not pulling around
him as expected.
Perhaps he was hoping he could
skip his scheduled route altogether for a longer break; Metro allows this? It
must, because this is not uncommon—even during rush hour peak during the week.
I watch the bus being forced to move forward by the other bus; is the driver
going to make the turn or not? The bus moved forward uncertainly, as if the
driver isn’t sure if he can park the bus and resume his extended break. But
finally he feels he has no choice but to make the turn into the passenger
pick-up lane. It is 2:15, seven minutes late. He doesn’t even stop at the designated
stop point, making people walk back toward the bus. When we enter the bus he
has this self-satisfied smirk on his face. And the media complains about how
“tough” bus drivers have it.
A society of superficial classifications
I’m asked what country I’m from
by someone who obviously isn’t from this one. “Cleveland,” I say. Temporarily
befuddled, I think he is surprised to learn that I was born in this country,
even though I don’t speak or understand a foreign language. Someone who speaks
poor English tells me something that sounds like “Put in tub,” when he actually
means “Put on top,” and I’m the one who doesn’t “understand” English. People
then ask me what “nationality” I am. I say “American.” They frown upon this,
because whatever “you are” is what defines your “place” in society.
But what does it matter what I
say? I learned long ago that you are what people “see” you as—and if you are my
presumed “ethnicity,” that usually means inspiring a negative response. I can
see it the blue eyes of this person sitting next me on the bus, burning with
hatred, his hands shaking with rage that someone like me has the nerve to sit
next to him. I think he’d strangle me right on the spot if he thought he could
get away with it. The reason why we have laws is because of people like this
bigot. I don’t wonder what he is thinking, because I know. But I ask him
anyways, telling him I want to write it down for the edification of the world;
but he just threatens me with violence. Bullies don’t want to be exposed for
the cowards they are. They just hogtie an inebriated man to their pick-up
truck, and drag him along a road until he is decapitated. Such was the fate of
a black man, James Byrd, by a couple of neo-Nazi types in Jasper, Texas.
World of illusion
Since I received a Safeway gift
card for Christmas, I decided I might as well use it at the store located at
the corner of Meeker and Washington in Kent. This is the store that I mentioned
in a post where when I walked into the place, someone on the intercom said “Skittles
Alert”—an obvious reference to the Trayvon Martin story. That clued me into the
“politics” of the place. I saw white, black and Asian employees in place—but not
one single Hispanic. It don’t know if this is a corporate decision to employ
only “real” Americans, or the policy of this particular store. But one thing I
do know is that what these people don’t seem to understand is that you only
have to be racist against one group to be a racist.
A material world run amok
I see so much of other people’s “junk”
going through a recycle warehouse every
day, most of it stuff that Goodwill and other sellers of used items can’t sell
and have to make room for the next haul. Much of it really is “junk” and of
questionable utility, although quite a bit of it, especially clothing, are
still of worth something to those without. A lot of this stuff is going to
Third World locales, or so they say. I’d say 99 percent of the books are well
past their expiration date; the most “represented” authors of junk books are
Danielle Steele and Nora Roberts. However, Steele’s books actually look like
they’ve been “read”; Roberts’ books tend to look like they’re in mint
condition—including the back cover image of the author, always with a smug
smirk and dressed in the same boring black pantsuit. What a bore. I don’t know
if people who don’t speak or read English would find any “enlightenment” with
owning these tomes (let alone reading them), but being made of paper, they are
an excellent source of fuel for cooking and heating, which probably is the best
use for most of them anyways.
This crazy world
Russian president Vladimir Putin has
officially declared the restart of the Cold War, claiming that NATO is Russia’s
principle “enemy.” Putin has no one to blame for the distrust the West has for
his motives but his own mega-maniacal self; rather than seeking to incorporate
Russia into a pan-European conglomeration with common goals, he has set out to
reconstitute the Soviet Empire, with himself as nothing less than supreme
dictator (perhaps even “Czar”). This couldn’t be more evident than by his
recent invitation to his fellow North Korea’s nutjob despot, who has allowed
the march of time pass him by, too; perhaps “supreme leader” Kim Jong-Un
imagines himself as Genghis Khan, or Attila the Hun. Any way, he is still a nut
who apparently regards former NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman as his “ideal” American.
But then again, in this country Rodman is also regarded as something of a
“nut.”
More political partisan BS on the horizon
Those who voted in a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate probably have this ridiculous notion that things will "change" in Washington, DC. Republicans are promising "action" on health care reform; well not "action" exactly, but more indication that these unethical and immoral morons are playing on the bigotry of their constituency who think that it is only "lazy" people who can't afford standard health insurance. Decent individual insurance--if you can get it--can cost $500 a month, and if your employer doesn't have a plan, then that could be half your take home pay if you're in the $10-$12-an-hour pay scale. Let's face it: The same thing that has happened since the Republicans took control of the House in 2010 is going to happen for the next two years from Congress--a lot of nothing. Paying them is the biggest waste of taxpayer money.
More political partisan BS on the horizon
Those who voted in a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate probably have this ridiculous notion that things will "change" in Washington, DC. Republicans are promising "action" on health care reform; well not "action" exactly, but more indication that these unethical and immoral morons are playing on the bigotry of their constituency who think that it is only "lazy" people who can't afford standard health insurance. Decent individual insurance--if you can get it--can cost $500 a month, and if your employer doesn't have a plan, then that could be half your take home pay if you're in the $10-$12-an-hour pay scale. Let's face it: The same thing that has happened since the Republicans took control of the House in 2010 is going to happen for the next two years from Congress--a lot of nothing. Paying them is the biggest waste of taxpayer money.
To hell in a hand basket
We are told by the media and
right-wing politicians that the country is in a bad way, but since when hasn’t
it? The “strength” of the late former president Richard Nixon was said to be
foreign affairs, yet his domestic policy was “suspect” in retrospect. The
principle foreign policy “triumph” of Nixon and his chief foreign policy
adviser, Henry Kissinger, has proved to be a very mixed “blessing” at best. The
idea of opening up relations with China was for American businesses an opportunity
to take advantage of its huge market. That market is even bigger now; the
problem is that China’s market remains largely closed to U.S. businesses. In
fact the opposite of what was intended has occurred: Rather than insuring
American jobs, Chinese-made goods have flooded American markets, and have
displaced many millions of domestic jobs (particularly manufacturing) in this
country.
In 1974, a Canadian journalist
named Gordon Sinclair wrote this editorial that was later a Top-40 hit in the
U.S., a rare spoken-word “song” in front of a background of “patriotic” music:
The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and
British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West
Germany. It has declined there by forty-one percent since 1971. And this
Canadian thinks it's time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous
and possibly the least appreciated people in all the Earth.
As long as sixty years ago when I first started to read newspapers I
read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtze; who rushed in with men and money to help? The
Americans did. They have helped control
floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today the rich bottom
land of the Mississippi is under water, and no foreign land has sent a dollar
to help.
Germany, Japan and to a lesser extent Britain and Italy were lifted out
of the debris of war by the Americans, who poured in billions of dollars and
forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even
the interest on it's remaining debts to the United States. When the Franc was
in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and
the reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was
there, I saw it.
When distant cities are hit by earthquake, it is the United States that
hurries in to help. Managua, Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, fifty-nine American
communities have been flattened by tornadoes, nobody has helped. The Marshall
Plan, the Truman Policy all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into
discouraged countries; now newspapers in those countries are writing about the
decadent war mongering Americans.
I'd like to just see one of those countries that is gloating over the
erosion of the United States dollar build it's own airplanes. Come on, let's
hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing
jumbo jet? The Lockheed Tri-star or the Douglas-10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all
international lines except Russia, fly American planes?
Why does no other land on Earth even consider putting a man or a woman
on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk
about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American
technocracy, and you will find men on the moon. Not once, but several times,
and safely home again.
You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the
store window for everybody to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued
and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them—unless they are
breaking Canadian laws—are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to
spend here.
When the Americans get out of this bind—as they will—who could blame
them if they said “The hell with the
rest of the world. Let someone else buy the Israel bonds. Let someone else build or repair foreign
dams, or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes. When
the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it
was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New
York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose; both are still
broke.
I can name you five thousand times when the Americans raced to the help
of other people in trouble; can you name me even one time when someone else
raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even
during the San Francisco earthquake. Our
neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who's damned tired of
hearing them kicked around.
They will come out of this thing with their flag high and when they do,
they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their
present troubles. I hope Canada is not
one of these, but there are many smug self-righteous Canadians.
Hooray for America and national
chauvinism; this country is never in short supply of that, and it didn’t take a
Canadian to remind us. Obviously the particulars here are a bit out of date,
but the sentiments are not. As you can see, nothing has “changed.” Republicans
and right-wing extremists talk about the “end of America” and blame it on
Barack Obama. It’s odd, but they still seem to talk about the “future” as if it
is a given. But it is the same as it always has been. Perhaps the only
difference is that we are too focused on the “wrong” problems now, political
and social. Whatever the case, I have learned all I need to learn, and it is
time to move on to other projects.
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