One Year Ago Today...

Well, today, we're gonna try something different. My primary focus will not be on one of my works of art, but rather, it will be an exploration of an issue that is currently taking a very bizarre, perilous direction. However, at the same time, there are many signs of hope cropping up in this country. This is about a tragic and all-too-familiar cycle playing out in our society. Now, however, there are things happening now that are subverting that, and now it seems like things actually can change in a meaningful way. I wrote (i.e. actually put pencil to paper) about this last year, and I will copy it closely here. I will make as few edits as I can, because I think that entry contained points that need to be heard here.

Anyway, as you probably know, last January 8, one year ago today (2011), Congressswoman Gabrielle Giffords was holding a saturday-morning rally out front of a Safeway in Tuscon. A crazed gunman fired at Giffords, shooting her in the head and seriously wounding her, and then he sprayed gunfire into the crowd. Six people were killed, and twenty more, including the Congresswoman, were wounded.

Among those killed were a Federal Judge, John Roll, and Christina Taylor Green, a 9-year-old girl born on September 11, 2001, and remembered by those who knew her as a bright and warm girl. That such a wholesome and promising life was cut so short made the tragedy all the more shocking and heartwrenching.

Because this was a Congresswoman that was shot, this had national political implications. When the news media learned of this, the arguing began. The right and the left reacted predictably. The liberals told the conservatives to curb the hateful and violent rhetoric. The conservatives said that it was really the liberals' fault and that they were taking away conservatives' free speech rights.

This photo is truly terrifying, isn't it? It's funny how little things about someone's picture, like his smirk, can really freak you out.

The perpetrator, Jared Lee Loughner, was a student who was not much older than me, interestingly enough. People said he was deranged, and claimed to hear voices. He wsa not overtly associated with any political movement, right or left. Why he chose to target this congresswoman is still largely obscure. His acquaintances claim that he listened to talk radio.

This leads to the central point of this writing. What was the main reason for this horrible event? The lack of civility in our discourse, say the mainstream media and political establishments. We're told that if we only toned down our heated rhetoric, then all our troubles will subside, and episodes like this one, and all the ones that preceded it,will be a bad memory. (I included two other examples of such episodes in the links provided)

My gut feelings collide on this question. While I am a pacifist at heart, and I believe in trying to heal conflicts, I also believe in the power and importance, of truth. This talk of being "civil" sounds to me like repression of the issue, denial, blissful ignorance. These never work as solutions, and often worsen the problem they were set up to solve. How can you "be civil" or "tone down your rhetoric" if something is seriously wrong, and the society you live in is being actively undermined by those who claim to lead it?

What this shooting has done, other than provide yet another instance of a mentally unstable young man venting his rage in a horrifically violent way, is to reveal just how much our national sociopolitical culture has corroded. In America today, there is this sense that those in power are there, not because of our consent, but because they were slated to be there by some invisible entity. It is as if they live in a different universe than the rest of us. They do not have to live by the same laws as us, and they are far removed from the hardships and penalties most of us have to face.

This sense has been mounting for a long time, and there are many reasons, some contradictory, that people cite this growing sentiment. People on both the right and the left feel collectively betrayed by their leaders. There is a growing sense that society will soon collapse and, given this urgency, people are looking for villains to fight and heroes to rally around. But as the situation gets more desperate, the tactics for creating this get more exaggerated and , yes, violent.

In sociology, a few years ago, I learned about the Soviet Union and the reasons it collapsed. The one that stuck with me was the feeling of illegitimacy that pervaded there in its final years. The Russians no longer believed their society was legitimate, since those running it consisted of the same cabal that had always been in charge. No one believed the propaganda they were told. Add to that a chronically weak economy, and a war machine that was bleeding the country dry, and the weakened Soviet Union easily collapsed. Of course, the Nazi Regime in Germany rose to power so quickly for the opposite reason.

But what does all this have to do with our political landscape, or the shooting in Tucson, Arizona? Well, these crises I just mentioned are things that won't be solved simply by "being civil." These feelings highlight a clear distinction between the "anointed ones" and the "others" when it comes to class.

If you're in the "anointed" class, the world is yours, and you get access to all the resources you need. If not, you better work hard, you better play by the rules we set for you. And don't even think of asking for any extra help staying afloat; that would be socialism, that would be class warfare.

Never mind that the government so reviled often works to keep afloat these titans of our economy, in the financial and energy sectors, especially. Look all around you. Look at where this country has gone. A small class of hedge fund managers, financial speculators, and energy barons, as well as military hardware designers, run a revolving-door corridor between the government and the "private sector." (Listen to this report on campaign contributions' effect on the Helath Care Reform campaign of 2009)

Legions of lobbyists nationwide ensure, with increasing frequency, that laws will favor these enterprises. When the economy goes into a nosedive,the first thing the government does is rush to save these structures, not the workers in the lower offices who are in danger of economic drowning. And there will be no real repercussions for them.

Meanwhile, the National Security State ensures, again, with increasing frequency, that the "other" classes, me, and probably you, too, aren't doing anything suspicious, especially that we are not dissenting against this in any way, in speech or action (see here for just one example).

Then, when someone's frustration boils over, the media is all too ready to provide a scapegoat. The Right media is more explicit about this; they blame the lower classes, other political wings, religions, homosexuals, even other races, although this last part is mostly implied blame. The Left is more clear about what is actually going on, but it is incomplete in its view of the solutions. Its ranks have become fractured, more interested in positioning themselves than the truth and the common good. And then there's the neoliberal wing, which calls for "civility" (also think "bipartisanship").

Usually these calls surface when said rage bolis over, and a catastrophic episode like the one in Tucson unfolds. When this division is at risk of being discovered, called into question, this is when the media and politicians call for civility. Do you see how these things work to cover up this reality?

But, as I said before, it is in my nature to see such bitter conflicts healed. Paul Jay of the Real News, a Canadian Independent news channel, covered this episode a few days after the shooting with as much depth and accuracy as anyone in the media. The report he did on it is at the top of this post. That is why the content of this post follows his lead so closely.

Now, the one thing I would like you to take away from it, and the primary reason I put it on the post, is this, the point at the end that he made is one that few other media did. We might create a civility that, rather than papering over this ugly reality, shines a light more effectively, and intensely, on it. This would cunteract the interests of those in the media, who are there to find the diversion, or catastrophe, of the week. They're in entertainment, so it's their job to find a bad guy, sell a fight, and then a happy ending. They give us the points and the "code words" (freedom, liberty, equality, what have you), and then tell us which parts of the issue to think about, and how to think about it.

This new civility could break down the traditional battle lines of political grouping, race, religion,or even class. The new question may be, are you working for the good of the country, or are you only there for your own good? This will harness the people's distress towards the ungodly alliance of "Big Government" and the top industrial and wealthy class. Then we would no longer be calling each other "racists," "bigots" and all the rest, but with truth, realize that we are all in the same boat out here. We're all flawed people. And, with the light of honesty, those prejudices can be seen, and addressed.

We would not simply have to choose the neoconservative wing of the top classes, or the neoliberal one. The world will see which entities are really "of, by, for the people" and which were set up by this state-corporate axis. The shadowy, rich enterprises which seem to have preordained our leaders, much like a WWF wrestling match, could then find theri grip slipping.

Addressing the causes of this episode itself, it is long past time to do something about the easy availability of such dangerous firearms, even sans background check. There need to be better, more efficient ways to detect, and head off, mental disorders that could turn deadly to others and the host.

A few months ago, I was in a restaurant down in Orange County, with my Dad, and a random lady started shouting about nothing in particular. The waitress told us, in what I thought was an oddly cheery and cavalier way, that she was homeless and schizophrenic, and that she often yelled at and hit customers with a cane. The police even knew her well, by name.

I thought, Will this be the new normal? Where homeless drifters yell at, and assault, random passersby? I hope this isn't what we will see more of. Not just so that Christina Taylor Green and the other five didn't die for no reason, but so that there won't have to be a mounting tally of Christina Taylor Greens before we decide to address these systemic issues. Then we can get just oen step closer to that world I, and maybe you, dream of.

Well, what do you think? Is it worth doing these entries that focus on writing and observations, rather than my artworks? Now, this is based on something I wrote down, as an essay to myself, so I consider it part of my artistic repertoire. I will focus on the artistic and creative projects I design in this blog, but these long, essay-type posts will serve to get my thoughts out, and go after tough subjects, large and small, in a way that invites you and I to bond, rather than divide, us. I hope they will get you thinking in a different way.

This is political, but it is different than most political-themed blog posts you are likely to find. This blog will touch on political, religious and societal themes, but it will take a different approach. In my previous political explorations, I sought to solve the problems of the world. I still hope to have a part in doing that, but now I am just offering insights as I believe they should be said.

My aim is not to solve all the problems. Instead, I humbly aim to shift what is possible. When you shift what is possible, you make room for all kinds of uniting of you with me, with people in this world, with the world itself. That is a large plank of what my artistic works are about, and that is what I hope to begin on this blog. What about you? Do you think there's something to what I am saying? Let me know on the comment box below, and don't forget to follow this blog. I cannot say this enough times. See ya soon and keep wondering, folks!