Tired
Too late a night, up too early. Got us out for our exercise, chored around the house. Perfect evening for a short walk.
Got to an essay in the Penn Warren reader entitled, "Segregation - The Inner Conflict in the South," published in 1956. Mr. Penn Warren traveled all over the South, interviewing people representing all different views of the issue, black and white. Fifty years ago this was, and he reported about the concerns of the whites, how they feared "the power state," meaning the Federal government's ruling, which wasn't THEIR law. On the men who told him that they thought the desegregation law was a "precedent for government by sociology, not law." One man, a lawyer, told Penn Warren,"We'll elect our own President. Our organization isn't just Southern. We're going national. Plenty of people in Chicago and other places feel like we do. And afraid of a big central government, too. We'll elect our own President and see how Chief Justice Warren's decision comes out." They've sure as hell gotten part of that accomplished, and are fixin' to lynch the rest of our bits of decency right now. Fifty years since Penn Warren wrote about this, and we're being dragged back into an antebellum atmosphere.
And reading about yet another bunch of twisted justification of the Iraq debacle from Condi Rice, wherein she compared this enormous fuckup in Iraq to the American Civil War, it was beyond irony to think how much she sounded like the good ole boys in the South. Uncle Tommin' it to the utmost. She's a poster child for "separate but equal."
After reading this piece, I had a sense of how the people in the South feared change, just as people everywhere in this country did and still do. They kept tying it to some kind of, to me, irrational need to honor their grandpappies, but even without a Civil War to cling to for tradition, many Americans are as fearful of changes as any group of Middle Eastern people. The world's changing rapidly, and it's frightening to have to keep figuring out who the predators are, how to keep apace or try to moderate the pace.
The predators to watch are denned up in D.C. Not in a cave in Pakistan. If you pay attention to their howls, you can tell what's coming. And they'll eat their own if they have to.
Got to an essay in the Penn Warren reader entitled, "Segregation - The Inner Conflict in the South," published in 1956. Mr. Penn Warren traveled all over the South, interviewing people representing all different views of the issue, black and white. Fifty years ago this was, and he reported about the concerns of the whites, how they feared "the power state," meaning the Federal government's ruling, which wasn't THEIR law. On the men who told him that they thought the desegregation law was a "precedent for government by sociology, not law." One man, a lawyer, told Penn Warren,"We'll elect our own President. Our organization isn't just Southern. We're going national. Plenty of people in Chicago and other places feel like we do. And afraid of a big central government, too. We'll elect our own President and see how Chief Justice Warren's decision comes out." They've sure as hell gotten part of that accomplished, and are fixin' to lynch the rest of our bits of decency right now. Fifty years since Penn Warren wrote about this, and we're being dragged back into an antebellum atmosphere.
And reading about yet another bunch of twisted justification of the Iraq debacle from Condi Rice, wherein she compared this enormous fuckup in Iraq to the American Civil War, it was beyond irony to think how much she sounded like the good ole boys in the South. Uncle Tommin' it to the utmost. She's a poster child for "separate but equal."
After reading this piece, I had a sense of how the people in the South feared change, just as people everywhere in this country did and still do. They kept tying it to some kind of, to me, irrational need to honor their grandpappies, but even without a Civil War to cling to for tradition, many Americans are as fearful of changes as any group of Middle Eastern people. The world's changing rapidly, and it's frightening to have to keep figuring out who the predators are, how to keep apace or try to moderate the pace.
The predators to watch are denned up in D.C. Not in a cave in Pakistan. If you pay attention to their howls, you can tell what's coming. And they'll eat their own if they have to.
posted by isabelita at 4:37 PM
4 Comments:
I can't understand the times we're living in anymore. I try to make sense of it and just can't. I've never seen our government so incompetent, mean-spirited, and lethal. They are a scary bunch, and what's worse is that there are people who consider themselves educated, who blog, who have a voice, but who actually defend the bullshit that comes out this administration's collective mouth. I feel like we are living in a socio-plitical civil war right now. Fear and power monger onservatives have declared war on liberals (and have for several years) all under the guise of protecting our country from terrorists, while really preventing it from being a truly democratic society. I am numb.
Yes, Robin. It simply makes no sense. This lot has children and grandchildren, and they're not all fundamentalist idiots who believe in the Rapture or Armageddon. They will not be immune to what they're unleashing. Because, frankly, if "terrorists" don't get to them in their gated communities, or wherever they think they'll be safe, there will be plenty of angry US citizens who will want to storm their gates. Not to mention nuclear fallout, chemical poisons, or just plain old polluted exhausted air.
Recalling long talks I used to have with my dad years ago, when he'd tell me that everything's always been going to hell in a handbasket, that they wondered if the world was ending during the Deptression, and even more so during WWII, I think: I feel we are seeing a combination of those two looming ahead like some kind of enormous tidal wave.
Well, being numb might be a way to fend off overwhelming terror, not from fanatics, but from within...
I don't know what to say to offer relief.
Isa,
YOu are on fire here. I love these two bits:"She's a poster child for "separate but equal.""
And "The predators to watch are denned up in D.C. Not in a cave in Pakistan. If you pay attention to their howls, you can tell what's coming. And they'll eat their own if they have to."
I'm linking up.
Came here via a recommend from Windspike...and wow! Great rant and everything the truth wrapped in a neat package. I personally (for years) have though the world was heading for revolution...sliding into it...and I don't mean the guillotine kind. I don't see how we can avoid it...but we sure should try. But we'll have to wait for the Dub to get off his throne.
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