Quote:
Originally Posted by Ike Bana
Zeke is so deep and complicated that I don't want to get into trouble by even suggesting that I'm saying the same thing as Zeke...so I'll frame this as a question. Reckon I might be saying something similar to what Zeke is saying, when I say...
So I waltz in here and vent my guts out and piss on cons and Republicans for trashing the country. And every couple of years I head over to the local public school and vote for the lesser of two evils, the vote whoring Democrats. And every four years I go out and do some canvassing for the Democrat vote whore for President, and then cast my vote for him (or maybe her next time). So that's what I do.
So when I say "we", I mean "we." If I were remarkably better than 5 below, dj, and whell, I suspect I would be doing considerably more than that. Not sure what that would be, since it would probably require immersing myself more actively in the political system...it gives me the runs just considering it.
Or I could go back to my old radical behavior, giving comfort, support, and an occasional half-pound of righteous weed...if not money and direct active involvement to bomb-making revolutionaries like Billy Ayers and Bernie Ornstein. But I'm old and my knees hurt, and Billy and Bernie are busy being educators and latter day celebrities.
Or I could continue to work one person at a time in the treatment room which I do once in a while, but it finally got to be too frustrating and I mostly retired from it. Or I could lend my time and money to other stuff like joining and supporting organizations that fight poverty and pollution and such...which I do.
But clearly what I do isn't ever gonna be enough to change very much, in any very meaningful ways (outside of one on one once in a while). So I consider myself "we". And I suppose, in my own analysis, I'm measurably better than the 5 below's, dj's and whell's of this problematic nation...but not measurably enough to matter very much.
Apparently you think you are DQ. Good for you. I'd like to feel that way too. But I don't.
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I feel something different. I feel that unless the stars and planets all line up perfectly, I can beat my head on the brick wall of national policy until my brains run out my nose, and it won't make a particle of difference. Perhaps I should try, just on the off chance that I'll do it on the right day and the stars will be auspicious. In any case, I think my responsibility for the sins of America is 100%, multiplied by my chances of of making a difference, which is about .0000001, give or take a couple of zeros.
My level of involvement is similar to yours. Now you have me thinking about power and how to get it, but I probably won't get anywhere with it. The fact is, most people are ordinary, and I'm one of them.