This is more of a personal statement than one regarding political news or activism, so please don’t recommend.
The title of this diary is to a certain extent self-explanatory. That said, I’d like to elaborate. Perhaps in the process one might get an idea of why I might be drawn to this particular blog, at least for the time being.
Although I understand why some would desire mainstream respectability, I realized fairly early on in life that it wasn’t for me. My last experiment with respectability occurred when I was 15, and fairly quickly I realized that it was a mistake. Instead, I ended up something of a retro hippie in the early 1980s, and later a punk. While my peers were more interested in top-40 pop and tv, I was interested in philosophy. I stumbled upon pacifism in my teens, roughly about the time I stumbled on to anarchism. Although I don’t currently characterize myself as an anarchist, I find that much about anarchist philosophies attractive. Perhaps I will expand on that another time.
I am an academician who comes from families who until a generation ago sacrificed attaining high school educations to work on America’s farms or in America’s factories. Hence, I don’t quite come across like a lot of your mainstream college professors. Heck, I’m convinced that I pretty much got where I did by defying a lot of underestimation.
Although as an anglo male, I realize I am embedded in a certain set of assumptions situated in a historical and cultural framework, I’ve tried as best I can to see beyond that framework and explore other frameworks. In the process, I’ve come to gain an appreciation for what America’s indigenous peoples have to offer and what they’ve been through; what Zionism means to Palestinians; etc. I may not be able to see the world as others who are embedded in different backgrounds might, but I’ll come as close as I can. If you get the idea that I appreciate Enlightenment-era values and assumptions while at the same time appreciating the limitations of those assumptions and values, you are correct.
All of the above is hardly a recipe for producing someone who holds mainstream liberal ideas or opinions. Hence, I don’t easily fit in among those who have spent their lives thoroughly enmeshed in the mainstream.
I dwell in the shadows, in the margins of political life. I am not respectable enough to be one of life’s insiders, “front-pagers”, or movers and shakers. Nor do I really care to be. Rather, I will simply assert that I have a voice and that it will be heard.
Feel free if the spirit moves you.
there is another way.
Gain respectablility first, or at least, gain clout.
And then MOVE what is respectable in your direction.
This is what all successful politicians do. They don’t run their campaign on making large controversial changes, although they speak about them in code. But once in office, they are more bold.
Bush is attempting this, with limited success at the moment.
The opposite of this is to start out radical, and then smooth out the rough edges and get in line once you have some success.
Perhaps there is a third way as well.
Perhaps there is a third way as well.
How about just being who you are? Of course, if you’re into gaining power on a grand scale, that might not be the most effective strategy, unfortunately, but when it comes to respectability, honest (and I mean truly honest) people get my support.
As far as supporting politicians go, one often has to figure out who’s at least a little more honest than their opponent. There’s not enough wiggle room in there for my comfort these days ie. no holds barred, blatantly honest politicians who don’t succumb to other, more powerful and monied interests.
I’m rambling.
Yo Boo! I’m one of those cats who’s looking for that third way. I’m patient, persistent (some would say stubborn), and I try my best to keep an open mind.
In my case I have no desire to run for any office. I’m just an obscuroid scholar-activist who’s content with what I am doing. I suppose I got thinking a bit in reaction to some of the silliness from (insert name here) blog that occasionally spills over here.
Mainstream “respectability” to the extent that it comes at the sacrifice of one’s soul seems like a real drag. When I see that happening in a community, I get turned off (no worries, that isn’t happening here near as I can tell). Life’s too short.
The third way is to lurk, as you do, Dial; I grok you. I saw Howard Dean speak before the 2004 Bush installment. He said just voting isn’t enough. He said everyone must run for office. I like Howard Dean, but I disagree. And Booman, you advise involvement, but some of us aren’t cut out for it. Even if my past could stand scrutiny, I am a horrible public speaker, I couldn’t persuade five people in my own family to vote for me. I don’t argue well toe to toe. I am easily persuaded I am wrong–or at least that I need to think about a subject further. I get upset when I’m treated rudely in public (or in private) and as the people crowd in and get nastier, that happens these days five times before noon. As time passes, I find less and less reason to go out. I’m not agoraphobic, I’m just getting old, and I wasn’t trained–I wasn’t brought up in a family that prepared me to deal with quotidian passive violence. I envy people who are prepared. It’s a useful skill, being able to cut an adversary off at the knees.
I think I got off the subject of your diary, Dial, probably because I just had a bad experience at Home Depot an hour ago. (How many retail outlets can I boycott before I lack the basic necessities for urban life?) I guess the point I wanted to make to you was that I didn’t see anything in your diary–any description of your politics–that was very much farther left than most of the lefty stuff I read on the internet. And the point I wanted to make to everybody else is that the neocons seem to be spinning faster over this Plame thing than they ever have before and that they’re all going to walk away from having committed treason, and I’m really depressed about it. I need a pint of Haagen Dazs.
There are many like you here, and in America. In our diversity is our strength. No need to feel marginalized because you don’t fit the mold of American professional life, religious life, political life, cultural life, or anything else. It’s a big country with room for all despite what you might hear – those calling for uniformity have an interest in that outcome.
If you have a voice and are willing to share it, that’s not being on the margins or in the shadows; in a representative government our leaders need to hear our voices to do their jobs correctly. They are dependent on us, answerable to us – or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be, and I have hope that it’s not too late to wrench things back in that direction, or I’d be making a run for the border – and not to Taco Bell.
I’m the resident Lorax around here, with a philosophy somewhere between deep ecology and Taoism. I know I’m certainly not mainstream, even around here, but I’m certainly not planning to shut up anytime soon. At least I’m not a curmudgeon… LOL
So, speak up please – the philosophical ecosystem of our pond is strengthened by the biodiversity of opinion and ideas! How can we know if any idea is worthwhile if it is never proposed, let alone challenged? We look forward to hearing from you! 😀
I know how you feel, I think. I’ve been wondering for a few years now — how many millions of Americans are outside of the mythical mainstream? I suspect the mainstream is quickly shrinking down to a trickle.
The American mainstream has never had a worse reputation in this world.
I dwell in the shadows, in the margins of political life. I am not respectable enough to be one of life’s insiders, “front-pagers”, or movers and shakers. Nor do I really care to be. Rather, I will simply assert that I have a voice and that it will be heard.
Back in my late teens, I wrote a poem titled “I am night”. I’ve always had a darker side because I’ve struggled with depression most of my life. I’ve never felt that I was maintream anything – because I haven’t been. Part of me relishes in that, but part of me has not. That’s a large part of the reason my passion in life has been social justice and why I so strongly fight for the minority opinion to be heard. Who speaks for those who can’t be heard?
Ironically, I think you’ll find that many liberals feel like misfits and that is, perhaps, because many have been on the receiving end of what so-called mainstream, status quo culture has dealt us in life. Either that or they’re part of that status quo that has been awakened. So, I suppose if there is one place I do belong, it is on the left.
This isn’t about respectability for me. It never has been. This is about being who I am – and believe me, accepting that doesn’t come easy sometimes – and then just sharing it with others. If they don’t like it, oh well. I can take the lessons learned and move on, but I will not assimilate.
I’m glad you wrote this diary and I think it should be recommended because I think that words such as yours that force us to look at ourselves are very important to understanding how we all relate to each other. No one’s special. Everyone’s special. Aren’t most of us in the shadows?
I think we’re grooving on very similar vibes.
I also dabble in poetry (I very occasionally still get to give a reading – those opportunities are few and far between), and much of that writing is “dark” perhaps owing to my own lifelong struggle with depression (thankfully I have more good days than bad).
Thanks for your words. 🙂
I should have asked you if it’s ok to recommend it, since you asked us not to. Sorry, I’m a rebel, but I’ll unrecommend if you want me to!
No worries…I’m enough of a rebel at heart to where I appreciate what you did. 🙂