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November 03, 2004
Wake Up Call!
About 10 minutes ago I finally snapped out of my shock.
I’m feeling more alive, more charged, and more determined than ever. Here's why.
We have the moral high ground.
We have merely lacked the capacity to express it. The other side cleverly duped enough people to think they have it when they really don't. And more than any other issue, that is why people vote. What the Republicans actually have is a strict-father version of Christian values rather than the nurturing-mother version of Christian values. The reason the conservative right has become so powerful is becuase they found a unifying message around their core value based on the strict-father model. We can do the same with the nurture-mother model.
Now for some good news. According to a statitician on NPR this afternoon, Christians with nurturing-mother values outnumber the "fire and brimstone" strict-father Christians 2 to 1! That fact alone should get you jazzed. That means if we starting taking back the morality word, values that are important to us like love, tolerance, humanitarian aid and community building will come back into the mainstream. Besides, since when do moral values go along with giving the idle rich all the money, a health care plan based on the idea of not caring for anyone's health, an energy plan co-authored by the House of Saud, and a strong presence as the world's most resented playground bully. And trust me corn-field America is about to get a taste of it's own elected medicine as Bush gets them poorer, more riddled in dept and sicker from environmental toxins and lack of basic health care, and starts sending their children to die iin questionable, immoral wars. Yes, the draft is coming, can’t you feel it?
As Joho just said here are some terms we need to take back, and we need to start right now, today:
Morality. Already I've heard a radio journalist talk about the "morality moms." You know what? We're as moral as the people who claim to have voted for Bush for moral reasons. What they really mean is that they voted for Bush for fundamentalist religious reasons. Let's call 'em "intolerant moms" instead. How do you like them apples?”Terrorist. A terrorist is someone who tries to achieve a political objective by engaging in heinous acts intended to terrify its victims. Osama is a terrorist. Most of the people fighting us in Iraq are not terrorists. If you don't like Iraqi insurgents — and who does? — then get yourself a different term because you're using "terrorist" simply to paper over the yawning lack of justification for launching this awful war.
Homeland. Can we please stop calling our country that? It's a term that only exists within the war context. And I'm sick of its unsubtle resonance with the Fatherland.Strength. When it comes to fighting terrorism, strength is overrated. You don't out-strong terrorists. You out-smart them. When Bush talks about a strong America, he often really means an America that doesn't listen to anyone else.
Sensitive. Cheney uses "sensitive" to mean "you're a pussy." In fact it means that you are occasionally influenced by reality. It can even mean that you recognize the inner lives of others. When you cease being sensitive, you are dead. Literally.
Resolute. Whenever Bush says "resolute," substitute the word "stupid." That's what he means: Not adapting to changes in a complex world. Real resolution — continuing to a goal despite the personal cost and sacrifice — is a word worth keeping.
Civility. I'm all in favor of civility. Real civility. I am not in favor of it when it means "Shut up and assume the position." When rights are being trampled (excuse me, I mean when we are trading off rights for increased security) and lives are being lost, keeping a civil tongue is treason against morality. (See first entry above.)
Democrat (adj.) Listen, schmucks, the adjectival form of "Democrat" is "Democratic," as in "the Democratic representative from Colorado." It is not "Democrat," even though the Republicans prefer that you use that term so, God forbid, you don't give anyone the impression that Democrats favor democracy. Either get this right or let's start talking about the "Republic representative from Louisiana."
And for fucking Pete's sake lets take the goddamn fucking flag back while were at it! I'm so tired of this phony patriotism bullshit! I've never been the flag waiving type, precisely because of qualities of the people who are. But lets change that. Lets re-define America and the flag in our terms! It's our fucking country too until you peel it out of our cold dead fingers. Under Bush the flag has been hijacked by a one-side obedience for that guy in the Whitehouse. Fuck that! I say we all go out right now and buy American flags and put them on our cars just as they do, EXCEPT for one thing:
On the flag it says, "56 million Americans said NO to Bush!"
Joho has these parting thoughts:
Find a line you care about.
Declare it.
Don't let them cross it.
Don't retreat from it.
Repeat for four years.
Paul, I absolutely agree. The biggest strength of the Republican party is their ability to manipulate language and media. they define all of the issues and have a unified front that holds to the agenda. Meanwhile the Democrats scramble around trying to put out fires, always defending against the Repubs. They run these milktoast centrist candidates because they think they have to be like Repubs in order to win. Imagine a Democratic candidate that actually came out and stood for true liberal progressive values! Imagine a party that stood together and fought for an agenda to defend the environment, health care, education, technology, abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, etc etc etc.
Posted by: lvx23 at November 3, 2004 05:46 PMI really, really, thought that there was an entry after this called Did Bush Steal the Election Again? that pointed out that states with E-Voting systems without a paper trail had a +5% margin for bush from the exit polls....what happened to it?
Posted by: anon at November 4, 2004 02:09 AMNew Map of North America
http://civicspacelabs.org/node/view/1210
Posted by: Dimitar Vesselinov at November 4, 2004 02:13 AMThe Godhead itself is corrupted. It thinks that the only way to lead the world is to rule it by power (the It is now a "He"). Now the change is coming (the "She" is preparing its come-back) and the Godhead is feeling this. And "He" does not understand what's happening so "He" answers by strengthening its grip on the world.
All what we see around us now is just a mirror of what's happening up in the heavens.
If you want deeper knowledge about this conflict, then read "Divine Invasion" by Philip K. Dick (the interplay between Emmanuel and Zina). That guy somehow managed to get into the core of this mystery and documented what has been revealed for him under the veil of science fiction.
Paul,
You are right. The Dems (and independent progressives) haven't articulated nearly as focused or compelling a message as have those on the right. And they've hijacked the language in ways that makes it harder to fight back without sounding like an elite sniveler. We have to take it back, define our terms, and be forceful in putting forth a vision.
We also need to build bridges where we can. For example, the Reps have made "government spending" translate as "government waste." There are lots of government programs I support though inefficiency, waste, pork, etc. are things I hate as much as the staunchest Bush supporter. Most people I talk to don't want to cut programs, they want to cut waste. If we redefine the debate we can have more people on our side.
Keep us the good work.
Posted by: IndieRant at November 4, 2004 04:43 PMThanks IndieRant and Cellux for the insightful comments and suggestions.
I think if anything they can divide the country, but now in it's wake our side is likely to become more united around OUR core values - finally!
Posted by: Paul at November 4, 2004 09:41 PMThis is a GREAT DAY for us.
Now that the Culture Wars have begun, we can officially Say what we Think, and Act for what we want: FREEDOM, Technology, REAL Democracy, Internationalism.
This is JUST THE BEGINNING for us.
Our aim is NOT 2008. Our aim is not even 2012. Our aim is not offices and recognitions. Our aim is CULTURE, the Pattern of Life. And we will WIN it.
The rest will follow on its own.
In 2040, we'll be looking back, and we'll say: THANK GOD that BUSH WON. If Bush hadn't won, we'd still be playing childish patty cake games, censoring ourselves, and letting the US continue to attack and dominate every other country in the world. But thanks to Bush, True Citizens hooked into the nascent Hive Democracy that connected every nook and cranny of the world; Every Human, and every Machine. Thanks to Bush, US citizens rallied to ask for help from outside the US, and thanks to Bush, they found it. Thanks to Bush, newspapers ceased to play faux objectivity, choosing arbitrary mid-points between two perspectives, and calling it "objective." Instead, thanks to Bush, what were called "Liberal reporters" actually fit the news into the larger puzzle, knowing that set and context were more important than disconnected happenings, cut for two audiences. Thanks to Bush, Free people the world over found clear vision, goals, and Voice over Internet Protocol.
Had Kerry been elected, it would have been "moderate" after "moderate" after "moderate," for at least another decade or so. Alternating between loud and obnoxious wars, and wars that went under the radar, but always- wars.
But we started then, and we started there. "The Day After," November 3nd, 2004.
It was Darth Vader, slaying Ben Kenobi.
The Nation body holding our spirit has been destroyed; our Spirit joins the Force of the pervasive Internet, which never decreases in power, though it starts small, like a little seed.
OUR FUTURE is Technology, Democracy, Internationalization. OUR FUTURE is Freedom; Not just in the US, not just in Europe, not just in Africa, not just in China. Our FUTURE is Global Freedom. Now, we are All Connected. And we're just getting started- our technology is so incredibly primitive now. Language still seperates us, but even that barrier is falling under the foot of Technology.
The Old Democrats were storiless, had no imagination to fill the void. It was filled by the Old Republicans instead. But now, we build our own stories, and connect them together.
Our story is Technology, Singularity, Solidarity, Democracy, Robotics, Sex, and Freedom. We control Hollywood, we make the Imagination to Move. We have the Anarchists, the Libertarians, the Fire. We control Technology, we make electrons to move. We have the Women. We have the Internet. We have Wikipedia, we have Education. We will be the Sexiest, the most Educated, the most Moral.
We will be Rumsfield's Networked Soldiers, working against him.
We will be Borg, inclusive. When someone wants a ticket out of the Ignorance zone, we will fish them out with wireless line. We will be self-reliant, and help others. We are already the fiscally sound.
Our Aim is the Pattern of Life, and WE WILL WIN.
Posted by: Lion Kimbro at November 4, 2004 10:00 PM:-)
Where I live (Hungary), we have two main parties (FIDESZ and MSZP). FIDESZ - the right wing - could be matched to Bush (although their leader is much brighter than Bush and they are not so much into Christian fundamentalism). The other side, MSZP (Socialist Party) could be probably matched to Kerry.
FIDESZ won the elections in 1998 (this was their first victory - they are a relatively young party). In four years, they introduced a totally different kind of government than we were accustomed to before. This new kind of approach could be called "world-domination" (in our case it was actually just country-domination :-). They had very strong views about how to reform life, they took an extreme position in a lot of questions. They were definitely extremists, compared to what we had before (not counting the governments of the Communist era).
In spite of a lot of visible changes FIDESZ brought in the life of society, despite their very successful propaganda ("dare to be great!"), in 2002, our people voted for MSZP. I found this decision very interesting. The leader of MSZP - compared to the leader of FIDESZ, Viktor Orban - is a total zero, with no human content, value, anything. This guy is just an empty shell, moved from the background by interest groups. He doesn't have a smell or taste, if I can say so.
But exactly this void, this inhuman, colorless quality was the reason - I think - why people chose him over Viktor Orban and FIDESZ. People were afraid, that if they choose somebody who has something tangible to say and do, then this somebody could easily jeopardize their life, their accomplishments, their dreams, whatever those might be. That by blind arrogance and religious hocus-pocus, they will lead the country into mind states which are very difficult to handle (I would say they would lead the country to dark psychedelic mind states and our society doesn't feel it's ready to face the depths).
So now we are back in gray. MSZP rules, everything goes along as it always had, nothing happens really, it's just plain boring. Bureaucracy, paperwork, tenders, etc. Nothing lively, nothing which could really cheer us up and let us believe that our leaders are actually human beings. (And on the other hand, nothing to be really afraid of. Everything is back to "normal".) But in this colorless, odourless normalcy, there is nothing which could give us a feeling of faith in our country (this was the main thing that FIDESZ tried to give to the people - faith and hope).
This is an interesting paradox. It seems that if we give power to MSZP, then life will sort of "happen", but it will be colorless, lifeless, void of any real human value. These values can only appear when the dynamics are there, if there are two forces standing against each other, if the polarities are alive and working. The same as in electricity: the current can flow only as long there is voltage difference between two poles. But going into the extremes on the other hand has the danger of going too far.
How I see the situation in the USA now is something along these lines. If your people had choosen Kerry, God could not have completed its plan on time. You world would be too dull then, the currents wouldn't be strong enough to accomplish what has to be accomplished. You had to choose Bush, because that's the way the extremes can become really clearly defined. This is necessary to put things straight. There will be no answer to the paradox until the choices humanity has to make are clearly seen, without doubt.
Actually, I see the history of human history as an attempt to define the question we have to answer now. Without a well-formulated question, there is no answer. If we don't see what we decide about, there is no decision. Things have to clear up, and the best clearing house is the purgatory which is born in the fight of the two sides, Good and Evil in the human soul and society.
But from here, where I stay, I wouldn't dare to decide which side is Good and which side is Evil.
Most likely all the players are just tools in the hands of God.