Tuesday, July 05, 2005
I propose an antidote to the "Star Culture" of Hollywood, the Pentagon, Madonna, and Mariah and all the rest. I propose that Journalists should report the activities of people like the rest of us as if they were important: they are.
Who makes the world go ‘round? Mothers. Women with no time to become “educated,” whose savvy and fortitude spin the hours of each day with a power stronger than a million nuclear bombs.
Who is more “sexy,” some 20-something year old with a million bucks propelling her breasts into the info-sphere, or a woman whose efforts have raised several children and created individuals whose work and integrity contribute to the everyday functioning of the world… the boys and girls who become nurses and mechanics, teachers and doctors, mathemeticians and taxi-drivers? Who defines “sexy?”
If journalists would stop echoing the dominant presupposition that “sexy” equals an escape from the responsibilities and achievements of common people, perhaps common people would have an elevated opinion of themselves and therefore expect more for themselves than to be relegated to the bottom of the heap. We should all expect more than to be considered eligible to become “collateral damage."<b>
"Renunciation is the only form of action that is not degrading."
Anathemas and Admirations
E.M. Cioran
This quote has stuck with me ever since I found it somewhere over 20 years ago. I looked up the words "Renunciation" and "Degrading" and found that it is logically absolute: To accept a thing is to change the nature of the thing that does the accepting, thus inherantly "debasing" it.
What does that have to do with Empowerment?
It boils down to the idea behind Boycott, but is more profound than that. It means that in order to maintain integrity, one must eschew things offered and forced upon oneself. It means taking responsibility for what you “want.” It means choosing to be without and not thinking of that as a “sacrifice...”
It is a spiritual thing, a more than ideological reason not to buy Coke, or Gasoline, or take work from Nuclear Waste producing industries. The reward for adopting this philosophical attitude is more than a political gain—it is to realize one’s power by refusing to accept debasement.
The power that is held currently by the WalMarts and GW Bushes and Bin Ladens of the world depends completely on all of us acceeding to their offerings… if more of us would learn to be happy without the tempting goodies they offer and not be scared by the threatening risks they direct at us, their power would diminish. A new space would open: the space in which love, justice and peace could flourish.
Accept conflict instead of conficting with it. People love to hate each other. Most living creatures assert some form of proprietary control over territory and resources. Most creatures are less than totally open to freely sharing and accepting incursions into this private space.
Peace theorists usually begin with the premise that we must all behave as “one.”
But for centuries, human societies have existed that incorporate ritualized violence into their cultures. The “warfare” practiced on the North American Plains was nothing like the savagery that Europeans brought with them… instead of simply “counting coup,” modern warfare is characterized by its absolutism and aim to exterminate.
Perhaps Cosmic Harmony includes accepatance of the common Human trait of maintaining a healthy dislike of one’s neighbors.
Hold a regular series of larger and larger "Continental House-Warming Parties."
The idea is this: In my experience as a resident of the Northern Western Hemisphere, it has become painfully obvious that people here know very little about one another. In this environment of ignorance, great opportunities for the persistance of racism and hate flourish.
Why don’t we intiate a series of Parties beginning at local then moving to regional and contiental scale? These parties would be held as potlucks, with committees formed from the broadest possible range of participants. Music, food and cutoms from all walks of life, a Continental Mixer where we can begin to get to know one another.
