What if we have it all wrong? What if we are struggling in quicksand when all we have to do is float? What if we are pulling against Chinese handcuffs when all we have to do is relax?
I’ve noticed that both the RW and the LW are saying much the same things about the media. What if we are both right and wrong. The media is neither RW nor LW but something else entirely. We have all worried about the conglomerates owning the media for good reason. So we acknowledge to the RWs and to ourselves the media is not what it should be. We acknowledge that the funding wars have not produced the country we hoped.
More on the flip:
I’ve noticed that regardless of the money I’ve funneled to various causes I am still stuck with the same issues year after year – fear of losing choice in reproductive issues, fear of losing the safety nets, fear of more government intrusion into my private life and less true government work regulating and protecting us from corporate abuses. Seemingly nothing has worked. On the other side the RW are also frustrated. People can get abortions, they are told over and over about the liberal efforts to take over the rearing of their children, etc etc. They too have contributed to various efforts and seemingly nothing has worked.
What has worked very well is that we are so divided – almost 50 – 50, that scrutiny over what the government really IS doing has not happened. Consequently Bush and his ilk have raided the treasury without a combined alarm in the country at large. The RW think he is working for them. We know he isn’t working for us. There are rumbles from the RW regarding the judgeships and Bush placates them throwing a few bones their way while still raiding the treasury. How can we change this scenario? How can we alert the RW and LW that we must move together to save what is left of our treasury and our country? The media won’t do it. We could do billboards perhaps, radio ads perhaps.
One thing is sure – we cannot continue going down the same road. We cannot support the various causes that do not really take us to an end game. We cannot even support the dem party if it cannot take us out of this spiraling madness.
Any ideas?
You gave us a lot to consider here, and I will have to say a lot for me to agree with. I remember during the civil rights days, the protesters were taught not to physically resist, but to allow their bodies to go limp. If you have ever tried to pick up or move a totally limp body, you know it seems twice as difficult and even feels heavier than one that is resisting. An analogy anyway.
So in my silly mind, I was wondering, if wearing snowshoes would help if you are crossing quicksand. . .you know, more even distribution of weight? And there is that old axiom that struggling when in quicksand only makes you sink deeper. . .Oh dear. . .I think I need help here. . . I may be stuck in Metaphor land. . .Analogy City. . .Oh, well. . .
I think the less we energetically struggle, the more clearly we are able to see the picture in front of us. And I’m with you that neither side seems to be serving my interests in a very open, real or clear way.
Thanks Gliter. . .and nice to see you posting over here.
It’s funny what metaphors occur to people. I like the quicksand one… it definitely fits.
This is something that I’ve been thinking a lot about off and on over the past few months… only my metaphor has been the Blob. It feeds off fear and our own energy, and the more you fight it, the bigger it gets. If you stop fighting it directly, and work smarter instead, it grows smaller and weaker and lets you go. Friend of mine I was explaining this to said there was a Zen principle of defeating something by not resisting that applied to that, but I’ve forgotten his exact words.
My thoughts have been… not to give up the fight on the various issues… but to put them all under a huge, awe inspiring umbrella… an overarching theme such as came to be identified with the various civil rights movements and other justice and equality movements.
All people love stories, and as far as I know, all cultures tell them. America, especially, was built on stories and myths and Big Things. I think that’s what we need more of… Big Things to talk about.. ideals, instead of (or rather, in addition to) policy. Kerry had sort of the right idea with his “Let America be America Again”, but was rather drowned out and outmaneuvered, especially by the media.
Which is another reason why we need people, individuals in their own communities, fired up and hopeful and positive in bringing the idea of the Big Things to their neighbors and local coffee shops, etc.
But, first, we need the Big Thing(s).