(no subject)
This is just a reply to Mark, ifoughtinawar, but I thought it was important enough to put up here.
No I get exactly what you are saying. This whole thing is turning 180 degrees for Bush. (Un)fortunately, this isn't Vietnam and we have avoided a lot of casualties. For Americans it only matters if our own are dying out there. That's why so many "normal" Americans joined the civil rights / feminist / anti war circles, because they saw that so many Americans were dying for what was an absolutely useless cause. I think now they just view it as "as long as we aren't losing our guys, then bomb the hell out of them, who cares?" They don't know that innocent people are dying, they don't know that because all they see are images of Palestinian suicide bomb attacks which are media is excessively using to justify our presence. Now that India and Pakistan are on the verge of nuclear war because of shit we stirred up, maybe people will take notice, maybe they can pry themselves away from their microwaves, cell phones, and big screen tv's for just a minute and say "What the fuck is really going on?"
I've always stated that convenience is a vice. I actually have a mock "ad" I'm making for my zine with one of those old ads advertising the microwave with the words "What was the suicide rate before microwaves?" I really have no idea what the suicide rate was (I'll find out before I print it) but the point is to get people thinking. Not to stop using microwaves, but to think of how these things instrinsic within American culture contribute to / devalue life. Americans are so used to riding around in gas guzzling cars because it's easier. Because if you ride a bus you have to sit with OTHER people and riding a bike actually takes work. They don't know how rewarding both options are. They don't know the value of cooking your food over zapping it in a microwave and quite frankly, they aren't really allowed to. Our culture is always saying "look straight ahead and keep going, someday you'll get XXX (whatever "dream" the American culture has instilled in us) if you just keep moving. That's why fast food is so popular in America. It's a little more expensive sure, but it's fast and you don't have to do a thing. You don't have to miss the new episode of Friends.
I'm guilty of using convenience. Thanks to the internet I have found myself hardly ever writing letters or sending packages which really fucking sucks. I can just talk to my friends online while I'm talking to 5 other people and that really sucks. I use a car to get to a grocery store that's a 12 minute ride on my bike.
It's scary to think of American culture's lethargy, it's geared toward making as little work as possible for humans. It all started when we started planting more food than we needed. Suddenly one farmer says "Wow, I've got two extra fields that I've never used because one field provided my family and my neighbors with enough food, but now that I can trade food for goods, think of how much I can get if I plant in all three fields!" Then came the machines to be able to produce faster and produce more. Now we're spinning down this hill gaining this momentum and we can't stop to look behind us and see how we got here, examine it and see if it really IS the right way. To see that the destruction we're causing rolling down this hill might not be good and really isn't necessary for "advancement."
It really stresses one out but hey, I got my mom to admit that the CIA and FBI had something to do with 9/11. That's a start. I've got her mind ticking about why this large piece of pristine forestland has a for sale sign in front of it. She's the last person you would ever think to open her mind to these things.We have to live our lives by example. We can't force people to change, they have to make that decision for themselves and seeing positive role models for that is going to be the catalyst. We also have to realize the root causes of why environmental destruction, racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, classism, animal abuse, etc. etc. happen. You can't be hacking at branches you have to chop at the root, as the saying goes. We have to teach people that unregulated capitalism is destructive to humanity and there ARE other choices.
I think a really good starting place would be the peace marches that are going to be growing and growing because they will attract more diverse groups of people. I think that this could lead up to another 60 era's activism and to me, that's really exciting. Too many people are fed up with this bullshit government and now that this shit is hitting the fan the admirable little chimp is looking more and more like the unqualified asshole that he is. Seeing an army official denounce the president and risk expulsion is inspiring. I hope we see more and more of this dissidence. I hope it unifies the people more than the commodifying of the American flag ever could have.
<3
benny
No I get exactly what you are saying. This whole thing is turning 180 degrees for Bush. (Un)fortunately, this isn't Vietnam and we have avoided a lot of casualties. For Americans it only matters if our own are dying out there. That's why so many "normal" Americans joined the civil rights / feminist / anti war circles, because they saw that so many Americans were dying for what was an absolutely useless cause. I think now they just view it as "as long as we aren't losing our guys, then bomb the hell out of them, who cares?" They don't know that innocent people are dying, they don't know that because all they see are images of Palestinian suicide bomb attacks which are media is excessively using to justify our presence. Now that India and Pakistan are on the verge of nuclear war because of shit we stirred up, maybe people will take notice, maybe they can pry themselves away from their microwaves, cell phones, and big screen tv's for just a minute and say "What the fuck is really going on?"
I've always stated that convenience is a vice. I actually have a mock "ad" I'm making for my zine with one of those old ads advertising the microwave with the words "What was the suicide rate before microwaves?" I really have no idea what the suicide rate was (I'll find out before I print it) but the point is to get people thinking. Not to stop using microwaves, but to think of how these things instrinsic within American culture contribute to / devalue life. Americans are so used to riding around in gas guzzling cars because it's easier. Because if you ride a bus you have to sit with OTHER people and riding a bike actually takes work. They don't know how rewarding both options are. They don't know the value of cooking your food over zapping it in a microwave and quite frankly, they aren't really allowed to. Our culture is always saying "look straight ahead and keep going, someday you'll get XXX (whatever "dream" the American culture has instilled in us) if you just keep moving. That's why fast food is so popular in America. It's a little more expensive sure, but it's fast and you don't have to do a thing. You don't have to miss the new episode of Friends.
I'm guilty of using convenience. Thanks to the internet I have found myself hardly ever writing letters or sending packages which really fucking sucks. I can just talk to my friends online while I'm talking to 5 other people and that really sucks. I use a car to get to a grocery store that's a 12 minute ride on my bike.
It's scary to think of American culture's lethargy, it's geared toward making as little work as possible for humans. It all started when we started planting more food than we needed. Suddenly one farmer says "Wow, I've got two extra fields that I've never used because one field provided my family and my neighbors with enough food, but now that I can trade food for goods, think of how much I can get if I plant in all three fields!" Then came the machines to be able to produce faster and produce more. Now we're spinning down this hill gaining this momentum and we can't stop to look behind us and see how we got here, examine it and see if it really IS the right way. To see that the destruction we're causing rolling down this hill might not be good and really isn't necessary for "advancement."
It really stresses one out but hey, I got my mom to admit that the CIA and FBI had something to do with 9/11. That's a start. I've got her mind ticking about why this large piece of pristine forestland has a for sale sign in front of it. She's the last person you would ever think to open her mind to these things.We have to live our lives by example. We can't force people to change, they have to make that decision for themselves and seeing positive role models for that is going to be the catalyst. We also have to realize the root causes of why environmental destruction, racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, classism, animal abuse, etc. etc. happen. You can't be hacking at branches you have to chop at the root, as the saying goes. We have to teach people that unregulated capitalism is destructive to humanity and there ARE other choices.
I think a really good starting place would be the peace marches that are going to be growing and growing because they will attract more diverse groups of people. I think that this could lead up to another 60 era's activism and to me, that's really exciting. Too many people are fed up with this bullshit government and now that this shit is hitting the fan the admirable little chimp is looking more and more like the unqualified asshole that he is. Seeing an army official denounce the president and risk expulsion is inspiring. I hope we see more and more of this dissidence. I hope it unifies the people more than the commodifying of the American flag ever could have.
<3
benny