Letters to the Editor
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Re: Martin Gifford, Happiness, vet friends
A number of war veteran friends have taught me a good deal about The World and How It Works, and what works to nudge positive change in that World.
The gun and the bullet and the bombing campaign are not usually successful against a non-vulnerable enemy, that is one which sees "loss" quite differently than we are accustomed to.
Storming around and behaving like thrashing, pitiless giants, as in the case of the Cyclops Bebop mentioned just gets you that single eye you see with put out by the persistent, clever midgets you believe are in your thrall, and that lesson -- coming from who knows how far back in ancient history -- has not been learned by Our Nation yet.
We are still the half-blind Cyclops storming around wildly.
That goes for a lot more than the National Foreign Policy. It's a lesson that can be scaled up and down as necessary. It's just as true on the local level as it is in International Affairs. The brutal giant, the bully, is always, eventually, undone.
Eventually the blustering nonentities who have seized our Government and are using it -- in our names -- for their own vile or insane purposes will falter, fail, and be removed.
Eventually. Inevitably. Quailing before them is an instinctive survival tactic, and we shouldn't be too quick, say my friends who have been through war, to condemn those who cringe before the bluster of the Cyclops as "cowards." That they may be. Absolutely. On the other hand, they may just not know what else to do, and not knowing what else to do, they fall back on their instinct. Which isn't necessarily, on the whole, a bad thing.
We try to find excuses for Our Dems and their Constant Caving (h/t k d laing for the notion), but we don't really need any, if we accept the fact that they are on instinct and they don't know what else to do. In fact, that's what they say is the case. They don't see any options but to Cave, and none of the clever ideas that get bandied about in the Blogosphere make sense to them. The idea of not bringing any war funding bill to the floor -- one of the most popular notions out there right now -- doesn't even register as a possibility with them. It's literally inconceivable to the Leadership and to most of the membership as well.
Hammering on them for their cowardice and bone stupidity is like being The Cyclops in their eyes. It doesn't get us any better results; in fact, it may make things much worse.
Yet accepting this situation without critical thinking -- as some Dem defenders of the current stasis would have us do -- is as useless and as likely to produce worse results.
What do you do?
Gifford gives a clue: you accept reality, but you also think through that reality differently, in a sense envisioning the goal you're after and following that vision, bringing along a lot of those folks operating on instinct through persuasion rather than bludgeons.
You reach out to those who are petrified, unable to act, and you help them find their way.
That's hard to do when they have so frustrated you and denied your help in the past. When they lash out at you and denounce you to the heavens. It's natural to just reject them out of hand, hang them all and be done with it. Except that, unless you make deeper changes than just the personalities involved, you'll have to keep those gallows busy in perpetuity. So long as there's a Cyclops on the loose, people are going to react instinctively, no matter who they are.
The goal? Release from the Cyclops' grip. Freedom from fear. A way forward. Wherever it may lead.
Lots of clever people out there, and some of them are in Congress right now. They are the ones we need to reach out to, make common cause with, move in concert with. As they are brought along, the others will join in.
No more bludgeons. Reach out to the ones who are reachable, and move forward.
Start with the Progressive Caucus and build from there. Build on our media allies, of which there are a growing number.
We may be a self-selected minority in the vast, eternal scheme of things, but we represent a majority, a growing majority in the land, and not just a domestic majority.
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Democrats "strength"
It's pretty sad when a propaganda "news" program such as Fox and an admitted dope addict,like Limbaugh can force democrats who swore to make a difference bow down to the administration.
What the hell are they afraid of?
Waterboarding?
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So...
So now that we know why they do it, what's next?
Give up?
Take to arms?
Start picketing their offices?
Start egging their cars and offices?
How does the people living in "the world's greatest democracy™" make their elected 'representatives' heel to their wishes?
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Ummm...
Bush redefined up as down and failure as success so now the democrats have redefined failure as success?
Ahh, the abuse of logic. But this government has been proven to torture people, why not logic.
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@Ondelette
Coming off last night's exchange, a footnote here to you on this thread (See! I'm picking up the lingo!), with thanks for the challenge as I was riffing with Sole Proprietor about the promise of grass roots, Internet journalism.
I have a gut feeling that this can happen with enough financial and editorial support.
It damn well should happen too. Time's-a-wastin'.
Locally-based Internet reporting could replace local radio news to some extent, which has been completely destroyed by deregulation. As I said, I'm still ham-handed in making this machine do tricks, but I quake when I realize you can do text, video, and sound, and transmit it to so many people in a flash.
Our back and forth about UMass, even allowing for my error and your slight confusion about the Spectator, only illustrates what reporters actually do when they're operating on the fly.
Good reporters check with each other in the field: on what was said, on who said it, with some stuff about why.
That's political reporting.
If you report on a fire or a car wreck, you first want to know whether anyone was killed or hurt, and if so, how many. The answer to that sort of inquiry determines how much time you spend on the story.
But you're always asking: Who? What? When? Where? Why?
Check the facts. Check them again. Check with a colleague who's interested in getting it right.
Get it right and then try to get it first.
In our exchange, realizing also that we might be making a sausage, there was a rush.
Fun, eh?