I'm just trying to be honest about my feelings and motivations.
I have a lot of respect for my friends' opinions, but I'm not going to pretend I always agree. If there's a gap between temperament and reason, guilt may be corrective. That's a basic heritage of the Christian West. Of course, Christians also used to preach "turn the other cheek", but that goes back to when it was a faith of the powerless. There is power in numbers, but it has a way of getting out of hand. The same sort of crowd psychology too often obtains, whether it's a peace march or a right wing rally. Rhetoric always outweighs narrative at these events. Before you know it, anyone who doesn't toe the party line is stigmatized. In such cases, the marginal position is corrective for society, but problematic for the individual. Power consolidates when everyone thinks the same way. I guess that's part of my vision of the eshcaton: everyone coming to the same realization; agreement so complete that it levels the distinction between collective and individual, bringing us all together as one. It's a scary passage at best, and pushing too hard for that agreement has often been disastrous. Still, I do believe that good can come from these efforts, though I find it easier to be optimistic in the long run than the short. There are also unintended consequences, beyond our abilities to sort out. The protests of the 60s/70s certainly helped end the Vietnam war, but they also had a lot to do with the ascendancy of the right in America, a consequence we're still living with. Not that I know how to plan based on the unknown.
As far as fun goes, I see resistance as a necessity, or an unpleasant passage we're obligated to go through. Maybe I see Life in the same way. If it's fun, it's because we make the best we can of the situation in which we find ourselves. I've learned a lot about enjoying life from the example of my friends, and I'm still listening.
It is hard to plan based on the unknown. That was one of the useful benifits of going to the demonstration on Sun. It served as a way to gather information. The press is so one sided. There was one point where the crowd was asked to read the pledge of resistance, it was just like being in church. It must have made alot of people uncomfortable, but most people had a chance to read it before the" group reading".
THE PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE
We believe that as people living
in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the injustices done
by our gov., in our names
Not in our name
will you wage "endless war"
there can be no more deaths
no more transfusions of blood for oil
Not in our name
will you invade countries
bomb civilians, kill more childern
letting history take it's course
over the graves of the nameless
Not in our name
will you erode the very freedoms
you have claimed to fight for
Not by our hands
will we supply weapons for
the annihilation of families
on foreign soil
Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us
Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples
or countries to be deemed evil
We pledge resistance
we pledge alliance with those who
have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the war or
for thier religion or ethnicity
We pledge to make common cause
with the people of the world to
bring about justice,
freedom and peace
Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seems reasonable. You have to start somewhere. A demonstration, after all, is a huge group of people, coming from many different places. How do you organize that? people are just formulating their oppinions as they go.
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I have a lot of respect for my friends' opinions, but I'm not going to pretend I always agree. If there's a gap between temperament and reason, guilt may be corrective. That's a basic heritage of the Christian West. Of course, Christians also used to preach "turn the other cheek", but that goes back to when it was a faith of the powerless. There is power in numbers, but it has a way of getting out of hand. The same sort of crowd psychology too often obtains, whether it's a peace march or a right wing rally. Rhetoric always outweighs narrative at these events. Before you know it, anyone who doesn't toe the party line is stigmatized. In such cases, the marginal position is corrective for society, but problematic for the individual. Power consolidates when everyone thinks the same way. I guess that's part of my vision of the eshcaton: everyone coming to the same realization; agreement so complete that it levels the distinction between collective and individual, bringing us all together as one. It's a scary passage at best, and pushing too hard for that agreement has often been disastrous. Still, I do believe that good can come from these efforts, though I find it easier to be optimistic in the long run than the short. There are also unintended consequences, beyond our abilities to sort out. The protests of the 60s/70s certainly helped end the Vietnam war, but they also had a lot to do with the ascendancy of the right in America, a consequence we're still living with. Not that I know how to plan based on the unknown.
As far as fun goes, I see resistance as a necessity, or an unpleasant passage we're obligated to go through. Maybe I see Life in the same way. If it's fun, it's because we make the best we can of the situation in which we find ourselves. I've learned a lot about enjoying life from the example of my friends, and I'm still listening.
- alex 10-08-2002 6:26 pm
It is hard to plan based on the unknown. That was one of the useful benifits of going to the demonstration on Sun. It served as a way to gather information. The press is so one sided. There was one point where the crowd was asked to read the pledge of resistance, it was just like being in church. It must have made alot of people uncomfortable, but most people had a chance to read it before the" group reading".
THE PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE
We believe that as people living
in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the injustices done
by our gov., in our names
Not in our name
will you wage "endless war"
there can be no more deaths
no more transfusions of blood for oil
Not in our name
will you invade countries
bomb civilians, kill more childern
letting history take it's course
over the graves of the nameless
Not in our name
will you erode the very freedoms
you have claimed to fight for
Not by our hands
will we supply weapons for
the annihilation of families
on foreign soil
Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us
Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples
or countries to be deemed evil
We pledge resistance
we pledge alliance with those who
have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the war or
for thier religion or ethnicity
We pledge to make common cause
with the people of the world to
bring about justice,
freedom and peace
Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seems reasonable. You have to start somewhere. A demonstration, after all, is a huge group of people, coming from many different places. How do you organize that? people are just formulating their oppinions as they go.
- sarah 10-08-2002 11:03 pm [add a comment]