Thursday, August 30, 2007

LET FREEDOM RING



CITIZEN 1 SAYS: " It was Rodney King who, after being beaten half to death by the Los Angeles Police Department, said, 'Can't we all just - get along'? What is it about "race" that divides you so? Why did it take the ruling of the Supreme Court and an act of the Congress of the United States to force your society to abandon the belief that "a black man has no rights a white man is bound to respect"? (Scott v Sanford and The Civil Rights Act of 1964) I hate to bring up such an embarrassing subject but it bears observing. These social customs don't perish with the stroke of a pen."




"OK. NOW YOU say, 'Those days are gone by. We no longer live in a culture where the color of a person's skin determines how they survive. Racism is dead.' Talk is cheap! Last time I checked there remained glaring disparities between American whites and other races in the areas of income, education, housing, health care, imprisonment ratios, crime victimization, infant mortality, and others to numerous to mention. All this tells me - this is not true. Racism and classism still haunts us."







"WHAT HAS ACTUALLY happened is only the more hideous and physically brutal forms of racial hatred have retreated. Now - American society boasts of a new spirit of racial tolerance. RACIAL TOLERANCE! Is that victory over racial hatred? Tolerating the existence of someone of a different race, culture, or economic status isn't something to brag about or be proud of! Tolerance is not love. The absence of furious violence is not tolerance.




"The elite members of your society are content to practice a slow, non-violent torture of many of these domestic people groups. The denial of the basic human right to carve out ones own place in society has replaced the furious violence minority and poor people were once subjected to. Not long ago the upward movers in your society outnumbered the downward movers 9 to 1. Today, thanks to a little devise known as 'The Inherited Meritocracy", it's only 2.5 to 1. Rich people are leaving their money to their kids! A kid from poor parents can have good character, be smart, dedicated, and have a plan but today - it means very little. Furthermore the rich have made the imprisonment of the poor a commercial enterprise. Your society has succeeded in achieving the worlds largest prison population. 1 in every 134 Americans are in either in prison, on parole, or on probation. A whole new class of slaves is being created as your rich return to the comfort and security of feudalism.



"WHAT'S WEIRDER IS the unintended consequences of perpetuating such a culture. Adrift on two separate and unequal tectonic plates, the rich and the non-rich slide farther and farther from each other. Those on one side of the chasm view those on the other side in mysterious ways. They see only those attributes that validate their belief in what they think those "other" people are really like. Usually it's the most negative beliefs you have of each other. These false beliefs define your role and you find yourselves locked into a downward social spiral while the overall economic engines go chugging along. The price you pay is a lost generation. Your prescious children have become your worst domestic enemies because of the lies you've told them about their brothers and sisters. Everyone hates a liar.
THESE OPPOSING CATEGORIES of citizen interact in distressing ways. They confront each other until, over time, both sides become what they were struggling against. They convert themselves into opposites and the cycle begins again. Fifty years ago one could have anticipated the degree to which white kids would adopt the most negative attributes of the black culture. Today corporate oppressors are coming home to children who behave just like characatures of the people they seek to oppress. 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge.' The demonic ethics and practices they've released on the majority of society can't tell the difference between citizens they consider their niggers and their own children. Vulgarity, rampant commercialism, and sexual explicitness has the power to lure the children of one culture into the mire and then drag the oppressors children in behind them. No one really profits. The perpetuation of a false body image for commercial reward drives a young girl insane. The suicide rate for girls between 10 and 14 years old then shoots up 76%. The elitist's young, being rebellious by nature, find the best way to 'get back' at their parents is to mimic what the parent appears to despise the most. What better way to piss off an absent parent than to embrace the perceived ethics and lifestyle of the class most hated by their society? Spend time with your children. Be a role model and not someone to be dispised once the truth about how you got rich is known."


"THEN EVERY ONCE in a while - one slips through. People from the "dark" side of the divide who make it over to the other side. This one doesn't get across because he or she can run fast, jump high, dance, sing, hit a ball, tell a joke, or otherwise serve as a source of entertainment for the "superior" culture. This person's life has been processed like a wheel of cheese by the opposing culture and certified "acceptable". They are a social creature that's been cobbled together like a social Frankenstein monster. 'See.' They say. 'This is what you can be if you only work hard and act in a manner we find acceptable.'"

Condelleza Rice is such an example. Some oppressed people tend to embrace their oppressors as a way out of the negative forces being directed at them. As in the days of the Harlem Renaissance, the key question becomes: "Do we create our own unique cultural attributes or do we embrace the higher cultural attributes of the white people who oppress us?" These people opt for the latter. The price paid for this inclusivity is reflected in the personal lives of these ultra-special individuals. Zora Hurston died in poverty and was buried in an unmarked grave. Phillys Wheatley died in poverty surviving the majority of her own children. Many of these people get eaten alive. They people pay a tremendous price for being able to rub shoulders with the elite and powerful. They are brothers and sisters who have been seduced and end up being exploited and pimped just like the majority of their brethren whom they've abandoned for a "better life"." Poor Condi. She could have been somebody.








"THE PROBLEM'S AT the root. Every culture, every religion, every organized body of like minded people has something about it's history it doesn't want anyone to know. It appears your society is no different. If you judged the founding fathers by today's social standards you'd have to lock them up. They were murderers. They were social deviants. They divided families for money and raped women and children. What do you expect to come out of that root? What kind of fruit must such a plant produce? You can't start a Republic by enslaving a whole body of people and expect to develop into a model for the world to follow."







"LOOK AT IT! Upon marriage George Washington's wife suffered a "civil death" and all of her money became his. While appearing to be the shining example of leadership for a new nation he was really a moral degenerate. Somehow these founding fathers got it into their heads that they could take an entire race of people and treat them less than human. That seed still lives on. And as long as it does; none of us are truly free."








"Love is the answer. Being in relationship is the hardest thing any of us can do. Showing love and kindness to others requires that we see the image of God within each man. You can't hate when you look into your fellow humans eyes and see the love of God reflected back at you. See God in all men everywhere."

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

AS THE WORLD TURNS

PEOPLE BELIEVE WHAT they think in their own mind is true. Let them find someone who agrees with them and you have a movement. That original thought grows like a crystal and shines through the eager eyes of its adherents. It becomes social custom. People codify these customs and beliefs into law and impose them upon themselves and others, shaping the dynamics of human behavior. A culture is created. What if that original thought that someone thought was true turned out to be a lie? What happens then? Instead of people getting free; they become enslaved. The social fabric starts to fray and individual dreams fly away. Without their dreams, the people perish. The people look around for someone to blame for the condition of their world. They blame government. They blame some cabal operating behind a curtain. They blame each other. They nurture the lie they've become comfortable with but the truth is they've gotten what they deserve. Delusional thinking. People need to be careful what they think is true. There is truth out there but it's not always what we think in our own minds. We desperately need to find it. (Hint: The truth is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.)



CITIZEN 1 has had his moments of doubt and pain. Not long after his creation he had to admit he needed help. I recommended a shrink who works primarily with cartoon characters; Dr. Shazam. His techniques are somewhat unorthodox but he gets results.



"HE'S A REBEL AND HE NEVER EVER DOES WHAT HE SHOULD... JUST BECAUSE HE DOESN'T DO WHAT EVERYBODY ELSE DOES. THAT'S NO REASON WHY I CAN'T GIVE HIM ALL MY LOVE!"

IN MY CARTOONS he gets to meet fascinating people from every walk of life. Where else could he rub shoulders with the rich and powerful? Still, he has this crazy notion that he can find a way to self determination. In his quest he only reveals the futility of trying to be a free spirit in the GREAT SOCIETY.


HE EVEN GETS TO PONTIFICATE



Like any good creator, I make the life I give him better than the one he can live on his own. When he's not under control he tends to drift off to places that can only mean trouble. Keeping him in line can be a chore.
It amazes me that with all he has to cope with - sometimes he's still got something to say.


Wednesday, August 1, 2007

MEET THE STAR: CITIZEN 1

I DON'T KNOW where I was before I was created any more than you do. All I know is I was trapped in a cartoon with a woman who was trying to tell me how right she was and how wrong I was. And we just kept going around and around. I'd tell her she needed to settle down and she'd tell me I'm the one in need of settling down. My Creator left me trapped in that hellish condition for almost ten years. It was not the right thing to do.

I HAD A moment of clarity when began to realize I was being minipulated. There were times when my consciousness would suddenly have a startlingly different focus. Sometimes I could feel eyes on me and I wanted to know where they came from. Eventually I came to realize that someone or something was using me to express some kind of message. Over the last few years I've come to realize that this is what my life is. I live, thrive, and survive at the whim and caprice of this creator who made me. I've come close to accepting what I am but I yearn for something more. In a word - I want to be free. Thank goodness for this blog. Now, at least, I have my voice. Now, you can hear me!!