(no subject)
Fighting the Mannequin (Brotherhood as Mandated by the Masses)
Fall 2008
Nation is the averted eyes of strangers bound by a single title. The United States of America, as a people, feel connected because of the overlaying idea of brotherhood which has been exploited through speeches, songs, movies and fashion. We have been closed off in a society and have been almost preached at, so in a time of crisis we have to stick together. We aren’t true Americans unless we are ostracizing the other and singing Toby Keith. It’s half acceptable to be independent citizens until a crisis descends upon us. We at least have each other; we have a shoulder to cry on or an entity to have our national and private backs. We’ve been conditioned to just take what we’re given.
Brotherhood is broken up into two overarching categories for the state of a nation: Your everyday happenings, and the crisis mode. During everyday life citizens of a country are expected to have some sort of connection with other members of that society. Everyone works, relaxes and breathes within the same borders so why not feel like there is some common denominator? Being a free-thinking citizen becomes a bit more forgivable in a time when the nation appears to be on the up-rise. If a participating member is not wearing at least part of the flag on them somewhere, that’s okay during calm waters but as soon as the white caps start up that person better slap on a flag lapel pin and sing the pledge of allegiance. During crisis mode patriotism goes through the roof. We’re being attacked, so we band together and prove our strength. The lapel pin is the ticket into the club house, the ticket to be one of the jocks in this twisted high school version of politics.
It’s not just to prove ourselves. It’s part of the mentality that if a single is being threatened, a group is needed for protection. It’s easier to survive when there are more of you. It’s not a conscious thing for people to run and grab the nearest arm for support; in fact most people would like to tell you that they are strong individuals who don’t need back up. Having the fear of being over taken (on a grand physical scale and a small emotional scale) drives members of our society and other societies to band together and fight that common enemy.
Having that sense of identity helps people keep their feet on the ground and their head in the proverbial dirt. Like an ostrich, individuals acting as a community close their eyes when something bad is going to happen. We’d like to believe that we are members of a whole, so when something happens outside of our comfort zone, we use that primal need to belong as an excuse to attack the other. Blindly going with what feels right instead of thinking about the consequences of perhaps a lion coming and eating the ostrich with its head shoved in the dry dirt.
The stars and stripes have come to mean more than just a logo for “the free nation.” It’s something to rally under, a banner for freedom and a symbol for “…we’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way...” An outsider can hear our national pride being broadcasted on CNN, NBC, MTV, over the airwaves and phone lines. After September 11th there was a flag on every house, in every car window and on every t-shirt. Songs glorifying America were blasted through every speaker in the nation and screamed at the top of every lung. We’re America and we’re here to prove ourselves. If a member of this nation doesn’t believe that the flag actually stands for something, if they don’t believe we are one and we are proud, they don’t belong in the picture with us.
So why do most people, when walking down the street, refuse to make and maintain eye contact? Is it too personal? In this country of brotherhood, connections, commonalties and togetherness, the members are afraid of personal interaction. Being knocked from their seemingly self involved bubbles into the real world frightens someone who is deep down alone. Brotherhood is just a word. It doesn’t mean anything but an idea of comfort. Why when you wave at a stranger on the streets and smile they automatically think you need to be on medication? Why when a strange man approaches an old woman at a bus stop, she thinks he’s going to steal her purse? Why is strange the common factor in all these scenarios? As a community of brothers and sisters we should never get the feeling that someone is strange. If we are all connected then we should have nothing to worry about.
Nation is the bum in the corner of the café every day that the waitress kicks out time after time. He will sit there for hours on end taking up the booth, being snickered at from paying customers. The waitress knows he sleeps in the ally ways, and as many times as she kicks him out, she notices when his presence is absent. For as much brotherhood that is preached on news networks she won’t wrap her arm around the vagrant or help him out with a muffin or two. Brotherhood is simply a failsafe that preaches when everyone is against us, we have each other. Would it matter if this man saw his friends die? Would it matter if he defended the land that waitress calls home? Would it matter that because of him she has the option of working? Would it matter if this vagrant is a war veteran?
Individuals would like to see themselves as more than one in billions. But it’s not true. Individuals get lost in the masses, and I suppose it makes one feel a bit better to say they belong to a group, the protection and the comfort of knowing that there is something larger then them looking out.
There are true acts of brotherhood in this country of ours but they are few and far between. Most acts seem just that, an act. It’s the mentality that “this is what I’m supposed to do” versus “this is what I should do.” The people of this nation are taught to expect the worse and stand by each other, to unite against a common enemy and fight for our freedom. What happens when our freedom to think is being threatened by our own government? Then what do we, as citizens, do? Fight for what this country was founded on, fight for our government to do what it wants or fight for individuality? Citizens need to make their own decisions about what they think is worth fighting for. Citizens need to think for themselves and not accept blindly any words that come from a press conference at The White House.
The feeling that we all are together is just that, a feeling. In reality we have nothing more than the dirt we walk on, not the dirt we stick our heads in is our commonality. Brotherhood needs to be a citizen thing. Nation needs to be something shared by everyone, or no one. Nation is something that we all have in common, but we need to be okay with the fact that sometimes it’s the only thing we have in common. No matter the situation of our nation, I believe that we should all be okay with being one in billions. Let other nations worry about them selves, because until we can truly be one all the time there is no reason saying someone isn’t truly one of us. How can we say someone doesn’t belong if we don’t constantly know who we are? Who are we as a nation to decide who belongs or not? Who gets to decide who or what is part of our brotherhood?
Fall 2008
Nation is the averted eyes of strangers bound by a single title. The United States of America, as a people, feel connected because of the overlaying idea of brotherhood which has been exploited through speeches, songs, movies and fashion. We have been closed off in a society and have been almost preached at, so in a time of crisis we have to stick together. We aren’t true Americans unless we are ostracizing the other and singing Toby Keith. It’s half acceptable to be independent citizens until a crisis descends upon us. We at least have each other; we have a shoulder to cry on or an entity to have our national and private backs. We’ve been conditioned to just take what we’re given.
Brotherhood is broken up into two overarching categories for the state of a nation: Your everyday happenings, and the crisis mode. During everyday life citizens of a country are expected to have some sort of connection with other members of that society. Everyone works, relaxes and breathes within the same borders so why not feel like there is some common denominator? Being a free-thinking citizen becomes a bit more forgivable in a time when the nation appears to be on the up-rise. If a participating member is not wearing at least part of the flag on them somewhere, that’s okay during calm waters but as soon as the white caps start up that person better slap on a flag lapel pin and sing the pledge of allegiance. During crisis mode patriotism goes through the roof. We’re being attacked, so we band together and prove our strength. The lapel pin is the ticket into the club house, the ticket to be one of the jocks in this twisted high school version of politics.
It’s not just to prove ourselves. It’s part of the mentality that if a single is being threatened, a group is needed for protection. It’s easier to survive when there are more of you. It’s not a conscious thing for people to run and grab the nearest arm for support; in fact most people would like to tell you that they are strong individuals who don’t need back up. Having the fear of being over taken (on a grand physical scale and a small emotional scale) drives members of our society and other societies to band together and fight that common enemy.
Having that sense of identity helps people keep their feet on the ground and their head in the proverbial dirt. Like an ostrich, individuals acting as a community close their eyes when something bad is going to happen. We’d like to believe that we are members of a whole, so when something happens outside of our comfort zone, we use that primal need to belong as an excuse to attack the other. Blindly going with what feels right instead of thinking about the consequences of perhaps a lion coming and eating the ostrich with its head shoved in the dry dirt.
The stars and stripes have come to mean more than just a logo for “the free nation.” It’s something to rally under, a banner for freedom and a symbol for “…we’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way...” An outsider can hear our national pride being broadcasted on CNN, NBC, MTV, over the airwaves and phone lines. After September 11th there was a flag on every house, in every car window and on every t-shirt. Songs glorifying America were blasted through every speaker in the nation and screamed at the top of every lung. We’re America and we’re here to prove ourselves. If a member of this nation doesn’t believe that the flag actually stands for something, if they don’t believe we are one and we are proud, they don’t belong in the picture with us.
So why do most people, when walking down the street, refuse to make and maintain eye contact? Is it too personal? In this country of brotherhood, connections, commonalties and togetherness, the members are afraid of personal interaction. Being knocked from their seemingly self involved bubbles into the real world frightens someone who is deep down alone. Brotherhood is just a word. It doesn’t mean anything but an idea of comfort. Why when you wave at a stranger on the streets and smile they automatically think you need to be on medication? Why when a strange man approaches an old woman at a bus stop, she thinks he’s going to steal her purse? Why is strange the common factor in all these scenarios? As a community of brothers and sisters we should never get the feeling that someone is strange. If we are all connected then we should have nothing to worry about.
Nation is the bum in the corner of the café every day that the waitress kicks out time after time. He will sit there for hours on end taking up the booth, being snickered at from paying customers. The waitress knows he sleeps in the ally ways, and as many times as she kicks him out, she notices when his presence is absent. For as much brotherhood that is preached on news networks she won’t wrap her arm around the vagrant or help him out with a muffin or two. Brotherhood is simply a failsafe that preaches when everyone is against us, we have each other. Would it matter if this man saw his friends die? Would it matter if he defended the land that waitress calls home? Would it matter that because of him she has the option of working? Would it matter if this vagrant is a war veteran?
Individuals would like to see themselves as more than one in billions. But it’s not true. Individuals get lost in the masses, and I suppose it makes one feel a bit better to say they belong to a group, the protection and the comfort of knowing that there is something larger then them looking out.
There are true acts of brotherhood in this country of ours but they are few and far between. Most acts seem just that, an act. It’s the mentality that “this is what I’m supposed to do” versus “this is what I should do.” The people of this nation are taught to expect the worse and stand by each other, to unite against a common enemy and fight for our freedom. What happens when our freedom to think is being threatened by our own government? Then what do we, as citizens, do? Fight for what this country was founded on, fight for our government to do what it wants or fight for individuality? Citizens need to make their own decisions about what they think is worth fighting for. Citizens need to think for themselves and not accept blindly any words that come from a press conference at The White House.
The feeling that we all are together is just that, a feeling. In reality we have nothing more than the dirt we walk on, not the dirt we stick our heads in is our commonality. Brotherhood needs to be a citizen thing. Nation needs to be something shared by everyone, or no one. Nation is something that we all have in common, but we need to be okay with the fact that sometimes it’s the only thing we have in common. No matter the situation of our nation, I believe that we should all be okay with being one in billions. Let other nations worry about them selves, because until we can truly be one all the time there is no reason saying someone isn’t truly one of us. How can we say someone doesn’t belong if we don’t constantly know who we are? Who are we as a nation to decide who belongs or not? Who gets to decide who or what is part of our brotherhood?