draft nineteen - The Expatriate, Pt. 3, Notes Before the Road
the evolution in my thinking between those late days in 2001 and today, in these last months of 2004. at the time, (and today, actually), i was (am) living in new york city. i physically experienced the destruction at the time. we all felt the emotional reality, and those of us close tasted the foul air, touched the ashes, grew nauseous breathing air from 14th street on down. you could smell the char and flesh as north as 87th street, at the least. i was completely shaken. all i really wanted to do was strike back, to kill, to defend, to protect my people. i considered joining the marines, as i'm sure many did at the time.
even beyond our own borders, there was a solidarity with America, who all felt was unjustly hit. it was a collective feeling on a huge scale (let's recall the headline "we are all americans now"), and after reading much and observing much since then, i feel the administration took advantage of our instinctive feeling to further their own agenda, one that did not, and does not, by any stretch of the imagination, benefit The People.
we are being ruled by a group of men who feel they do not operate in a "reality-based" environment or paradigm; that we do not follow rules anymore. such thinking is "September Ten Thinking." for now, we are Empire. we make our own rules with what we do. (this is all taken from actual press conferences, reliable articles, and government documents.) these behaviors of America become the New Rules; those are the new standard by which Wrong and Right are judged. i'm not making this up. they do not hide this. America is big enough now that we can shrug off the cumbersome mantle of diplomacy. we don't ask, we do. and what does this mean? how can we convey this in a pithy and accurate phrase? try this one: Might Makes Right.
does it scare you that this is the world? can you feel it in your bones? do you see where they are going? how do you feel about living in such a day when someone might consider reality a "paradigm"? and that being in touch with reality was...wrong? welcome to the rabbit hole.
we don't want to live afraid. too often, we turn away from the truth because we fear the implication. but there is an antidote. we don't have to be afraid, and we don't have to offer our allegiance. we do not have to stand with our country. (if you do; if you are behind how we act and feel proud of America right now, then fine. feel no need to read further.)
if you do not believe in what our country stands for today; if it truly causes dissonance in you, then what? what to do? is it right to continue to support such an economy? if we do continue to live here, do we offer our complicity in our government's deeds?
when Thoreau disagreed with the idea of the Slave Trade, he stopped paying taxes. he went to jail for refusal to pay taxes. he refused to support the actions he was against. is there a middle ground? can you disagree with your government and still finance it? what does that say about me, if that is my choice?
should we seriously consider leaving this country? how about somewhere warmer, somewhere slower? somewhere the quality of live is not devoured by the rush for material success and the climb up the ladder to IKEAville? how about somewhere there are not metal detectors in schools? how about some place near the ocean? or how about somewhere the government is not committing mass crimes against its own people and other countries? is that possible? is there such a land?
regardless of whether or not i can find a utopia, is there somewhere better? somewhere i would not rage against, shamed by my citizenship?
i am not sure i want to lend my hand here much longer. i'm not sure i want to be part of the empire. for i want to be sure that when we all go down, i'm not on the side of the oppressor. i do not want his house to shelter me at night.
even beyond our own borders, there was a solidarity with America, who all felt was unjustly hit. it was a collective feeling on a huge scale (let's recall the headline "we are all americans now"), and after reading much and observing much since then, i feel the administration took advantage of our instinctive feeling to further their own agenda, one that did not, and does not, by any stretch of the imagination, benefit The People.
we are being ruled by a group of men who feel they do not operate in a "reality-based" environment or paradigm; that we do not follow rules anymore. such thinking is "September Ten Thinking." for now, we are Empire. we make our own rules with what we do. (this is all taken from actual press conferences, reliable articles, and government documents.) these behaviors of America become the New Rules; those are the new standard by which Wrong and Right are judged. i'm not making this up. they do not hide this. America is big enough now that we can shrug off the cumbersome mantle of diplomacy. we don't ask, we do. and what does this mean? how can we convey this in a pithy and accurate phrase? try this one: Might Makes Right.
does it scare you that this is the world? can you feel it in your bones? do you see where they are going? how do you feel about living in such a day when someone might consider reality a "paradigm"? and that being in touch with reality was...wrong? welcome to the rabbit hole.
we don't want to live afraid. too often, we turn away from the truth because we fear the implication. but there is an antidote. we don't have to be afraid, and we don't have to offer our allegiance. we do not have to stand with our country. (if you do; if you are behind how we act and feel proud of America right now, then fine. feel no need to read further.)
if you do not believe in what our country stands for today; if it truly causes dissonance in you, then what? what to do? is it right to continue to support such an economy? if we do continue to live here, do we offer our complicity in our government's deeds?
when Thoreau disagreed with the idea of the Slave Trade, he stopped paying taxes. he went to jail for refusal to pay taxes. he refused to support the actions he was against. is there a middle ground? can you disagree with your government and still finance it? what does that say about me, if that is my choice?
should we seriously consider leaving this country? how about somewhere warmer, somewhere slower? somewhere the quality of live is not devoured by the rush for material success and the climb up the ladder to IKEAville? how about somewhere there are not metal detectors in schools? how about some place near the ocean? or how about somewhere the government is not committing mass crimes against its own people and other countries? is that possible? is there such a land?
regardless of whether or not i can find a utopia, is there somewhere better? somewhere i would not rage against, shamed by my citizenship?
i am not sure i want to lend my hand here much longer. i'm not sure i want to be part of the empire. for i want to be sure that when we all go down, i'm not on the side of the oppressor. i do not want his house to shelter me at night.