An open mic (Update)
Most of us were not around at the end of the Civil War. Many families were not even here in America. We still bare the common burden as to how we react to the Black man.
While reading the diary of thereisnospoon, I got the impression the vibes we are getting are the same vibes that were prevalent during and after the Civil War. Perhaps Dr. Doris Kearns Goodwin could attest to the similarities and I do not think I am far off base. If there are similarities, it was during the Reconstruction Period this country was taken back generations, never to recover.
And now that I think of it, I have heard the New Deal started by Pres. FDR is also controversial to this day. Another example why America did not move forward as much as it could have. And now we have the Presidency of Obama wherein people digging in their heals are once again making efforts to retard our growth as a country. Is the Black man really white America‘s problem or just a convenient scapegoat?
At this time, most people would agree the retardation of our country is due in large part to the media but I do not know the driving forces behind the retardation of the New Deal and the Reconstruction Period. I do not know if this is as simple as saying people will be people and there is a common thread but I do believe there has to be one and one we have to intelligently address. As I said, perhaps Dr. Goodwin or Lerone “Forced Into Glory” Bennett could enlighten us where the land mines are.
Hitler thought he found the answer. Bush and Cheney thought they found the answer. The power structure in Darfur thinks they have the answer. Pres. Saakasvilli of Georgia thought he had the answer.
In my opinion, this diary by thereisnospoon, if written by a white person is what has gotten the controllers of this country so angry and desperate and if thereisnospoon is a Neo-con, they most surely have woes to deal with. Thereisnospoon’s diary is definitely not the kind of writing they want to see regardless how well written and insightful. Will the Obama administration and it followers put the lance through the golden ring for America? We’re trying! Will bringing broadband into the lives of the whole country be a good starter? I wonder as I wander....
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors, God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
It's Panic. Sheer Panic.
by thereisnospoon
Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 09:56:19 AM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/10/718478/-Its-Panic.-Sheer-Panic.
Excerpt:
And it would be right. The panic we are seeing from the GOP goes far beyond the shock of minority status. It is caused by a profound sense of powerlessness that comes not from a temporary electoral setback, but from a realization that previous methods of political survival have been rendered impossible.
And
The entire principle of Republican politics was predicated on the notion that an African-American man named Barack Hussein Obama could barely get a fair shake at catching a cab or getting an apartment, much less winning the presidency and a 60% approval rating. To some, the notion remains so impossible that it must have been the work of a massive shadow conspiracy.
The ascendancy of Barack Hussein Obama (and, to a lesser degree, Hillary Clinton) to the highest stations of political power in America represents, in a final sense, the rejection of that brand of politics by a majority of Americans.
And
Glenn Beck's wild fantasies of Communist insurrectionist threat are equivalent to those of the high school nerd who, unable or unwilling to deal with the world as it actually presents itself, retreats into fantasy games, swinging ethereal swords at the faceless orcs who have come to take the place of his ever-present bullies and tormentors in his own imagination. Such lashing out is, in its essence, the commonplace reaction of desperate individuals attempting boldly to escape a reality which they intellectually refuse to acknowledge.
(Update: This is from one of the comments to the post. In my opinion, the opening paragraph has a brilliant metaphor. Oh, how I love a good, tasteful and appropriate metaphor! )
It Ain't Over Yet (2+ / 0-)
There's a lot of fear, panic and loathing going on among the entitled white guy class of People Who Run Things - or think that they should - because all of their baseline assumptions have been overturned. It's a mixup as the would-be puppet masters pull on strings that are no longer attached to anything - and frightened puppets find themselves cut loose and on their own.
Except for one segment of this particular class. It's still not a bad time to be an uber rich Master of the Universe player in the financial world. Sure, some are getting symbolically thrown to the sharks, meaning they retreat to one of their gated homes with the money they've been sucking down for years.
For most of them though, they just have to adjust their public profiles and watch their statements while the government hacks on both sides who've taken their campaign contributions and the members of their own class who've taken a sabbatical to get their hands dirty in government for a brief time stay up nights worrying about the best ways to make sure they don't feel too much pain in the current economic clusterfuck they brought about.
Meanwhile, wealth may trickle down (Hah!) but 'sacrifice' is flooding up from the bottom as ordinary people watch their jobs go south, and workers are told they have to give back still more today... so they can keep giving back tomorrow.
In the last 40 years, I can't recall any time when it was ever the right time for regular people to get more for their labor. It's always been cut here, give back there, be charged more. And it doesn't stop when they retire either - how many pension funds workers paid into for years are evaporating? How many old people are looking for work in their 'golden' years?
When panic begins to spread to the Lords of Finance, then maybe the day of reckoning will be at hand. Till then, a lot of what is going on is sideshow, distraction and misdirection. The grownups aren't quite in charge yet. (home page here for those who want more on this last link.)
"No special skill, no standard attitude, no technology, and no organization - no matter how valuable - can safely replace thought itself."
by xaxnar on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 06:17:15 PM PDT
While reading the diary of thereisnospoon, I got the impression the vibes we are getting are the same vibes that were prevalent during and after the Civil War. Perhaps Dr. Doris Kearns Goodwin could attest to the similarities and I do not think I am far off base. If there are similarities, it was during the Reconstruction Period this country was taken back generations, never to recover.
And now that I think of it, I have heard the New Deal started by Pres. FDR is also controversial to this day. Another example why America did not move forward as much as it could have. And now we have the Presidency of Obama wherein people digging in their heals are once again making efforts to retard our growth as a country. Is the Black man really white America‘s problem or just a convenient scapegoat?
At this time, most people would agree the retardation of our country is due in large part to the media but I do not know the driving forces behind the retardation of the New Deal and the Reconstruction Period. I do not know if this is as simple as saying people will be people and there is a common thread but I do believe there has to be one and one we have to intelligently address. As I said, perhaps Dr. Goodwin or Lerone “Forced Into Glory” Bennett could enlighten us where the land mines are.
Hitler thought he found the answer. Bush and Cheney thought they found the answer. The power structure in Darfur thinks they have the answer. Pres. Saakasvilli of Georgia thought he had the answer.
In my opinion, this diary by thereisnospoon, if written by a white person is what has gotten the controllers of this country so angry and desperate and if thereisnospoon is a Neo-con, they most surely have woes to deal with. Thereisnospoon’s diary is definitely not the kind of writing they want to see regardless how well written and insightful. Will the Obama administration and it followers put the lance through the golden ring for America? We’re trying! Will bringing broadband into the lives of the whole country be a good starter? I wonder as I wander....
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors, God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
It's Panic. Sheer Panic.
by thereisnospoon
Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 09:56:19 AM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/10/718478/-Its-Panic.-Sheer-Panic.
Excerpt:
And it would be right. The panic we are seeing from the GOP goes far beyond the shock of minority status. It is caused by a profound sense of powerlessness that comes not from a temporary electoral setback, but from a realization that previous methods of political survival have been rendered impossible.
And
The entire principle of Republican politics was predicated on the notion that an African-American man named Barack Hussein Obama could barely get a fair shake at catching a cab or getting an apartment, much less winning the presidency and a 60% approval rating. To some, the notion remains so impossible that it must have been the work of a massive shadow conspiracy.
The ascendancy of Barack Hussein Obama (and, to a lesser degree, Hillary Clinton) to the highest stations of political power in America represents, in a final sense, the rejection of that brand of politics by a majority of Americans.
And
Glenn Beck's wild fantasies of Communist insurrectionist threat are equivalent to those of the high school nerd who, unable or unwilling to deal with the world as it actually presents itself, retreats into fantasy games, swinging ethereal swords at the faceless orcs who have come to take the place of his ever-present bullies and tormentors in his own imagination. Such lashing out is, in its essence, the commonplace reaction of desperate individuals attempting boldly to escape a reality which they intellectually refuse to acknowledge.
(Update: This is from one of the comments to the post. In my opinion, the opening paragraph has a brilliant metaphor. Oh, how I love a good, tasteful and appropriate metaphor! )
It Ain't Over Yet (2+ / 0-)
There's a lot of fear, panic and loathing going on among the entitled white guy class of People Who Run Things - or think that they should - because all of their baseline assumptions have been overturned. It's a mixup as the would-be puppet masters pull on strings that are no longer attached to anything - and frightened puppets find themselves cut loose and on their own.
Except for one segment of this particular class. It's still not a bad time to be an uber rich Master of the Universe player in the financial world. Sure, some are getting symbolically thrown to the sharks, meaning they retreat to one of their gated homes with the money they've been sucking down for years.
For most of them though, they just have to adjust their public profiles and watch their statements while the government hacks on both sides who've taken their campaign contributions and the members of their own class who've taken a sabbatical to get their hands dirty in government for a brief time stay up nights worrying about the best ways to make sure they don't feel too much pain in the current economic clusterfuck they brought about.
Meanwhile, wealth may trickle down (Hah!) but 'sacrifice' is flooding up from the bottom as ordinary people watch their jobs go south, and workers are told they have to give back still more today... so they can keep giving back tomorrow.
In the last 40 years, I can't recall any time when it was ever the right time for regular people to get more for their labor. It's always been cut here, give back there, be charged more. And it doesn't stop when they retire either - how many pension funds workers paid into for years are evaporating? How many old people are looking for work in their 'golden' years?
When panic begins to spread to the Lords of Finance, then maybe the day of reckoning will be at hand. Till then, a lot of what is going on is sideshow, distraction and misdirection. The grownups aren't quite in charge yet. (home page here for those who want more on this last link.)
"No special skill, no standard attitude, no technology, and no organization - no matter how valuable - can safely replace thought itself."
by xaxnar on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 06:17:15 PM PDT
posted by BB at 6:58 PM
0 comments
