History Repeating

Ok.. so my dad and I have been having a little dialog over blogging and such. It’s taken an interesting turn and he brings up some good points. I got his permission to post his words, so here for all of you is some of it.

I will get you up to speed. He and I were talking about how the government at large is curtailing our civil liberties and people in America don’t really seem to be doing anything about it.. People of my age group and his alike..

So we pick it up where I am telling him that people shouldn’t be afraid to speak out in dissent against the government or about things that aren’t clear cut and along "safe discussion" lines:

Me:

fuck them.. This would be a persons personal opinion on matters. People have to stop being afraid.. as long as they are doing stuff legally, who cares what their personal views are? We as a country have to stop being afraid of the government.. really.

Him:

You are 1,000% correct. Do you think that people will ever get back to challenging our government? How do young people think?

Me:

Personally I don't think there is any hope of making things better. As an individual I count on organizations to help put up the fight. But, the biggest contender is the media and until they decide to put up their dukes and fight, we're all fucked. As far as the young people, I can't say, but for the 20-40 year old literate bracket you can see what we think by reading the blogs.. We're all pissed but pretty much feel helpless, like the reverse of the finger in the dyke problem.. We know there's no hope but we keep trying anyway.. I try and post about this stuff once and a while but I'm not sure how much I'm changing..

Him:

There is all of this energy out there on blogs, etc. If only there was a way to "Harness" it! Maybe a convention? I don't know. But I do know this. 200 people concentrated in one place with one objective IS NEWS. And if they were to get together physically and have a message, then it would get out and a movement would be started!

The Vietnam war ended because of young people on campuses throughout America saying NO to the draft! In the beginning it was "a bunch of liberal way out HIPPIES on drugs" (that's how they were portrayed) but in a few years it became a "Movement" that changed history! We have no more draft in America because of that and we, before the R's, we very reluctant to get involved in wars that really didn't concern our own National Security.

Now people have forgotten Vietnam, etc. So History repeats itself. Only this time the people in power, Bush and Rove and Cheney, et al, are much smarter than the Nixon thieves ever were. So they have manipulated us much better. They control the Press better and what's more important, they control all of Law Enforcement and BOTH houses of Congress so dissent and investigations are smothered. The only way to change this is to change one of the Houses in Congress or the President. But the new President has to be ballsy and go after these evil dooers. Not try and make a deal with them!

Me:

and the reason there is no convention is that all the bloggers have all different viewpoints and it would be a waste if there was no crystallized message.. look at the protest movement (which is the closest thing to a movement we have in America).. at the RNC here there were a ton of them right? When they surveyed them, all of them had different reasons for being there.. not very useful except in saying "we're pissed at the status quo"...

Him:

Well at least that is one Unifying Issue! Maybe there are other "common issues" that are mainstream or close to that that they could agree upon. Then they might be willing to compromise on some things in order to come together on the larger issues!!! That is the secret of "political" power! Or they could unite AGAINST one enemy. The old Arab parable is: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"!!!!

Me:

who knows what's going to happen.. I'm doing my part.. I'm at least saying publicly how I feel.. and I donate to causes I support.. and I vote the way I want.. what more can I do personally? I guess we just need everyone to do the same and then perhaps change will occur.. maybe it's just general apathy? Maybe we are at the point in "A Brave New World" where we all take the soma at night and be happy.. Maybe our soma is pop-culture in it's entirety.. maybe American Idol is really the answer...

end discussion.. begin Jerry Springer moment of thought

So, he has a point.. we can complain all we want but are we actually doing anything? I wonder that a lot. I believe that humans have the power to manifest reality just by our thoughts and a group thinking the same way can move mountains. The key, I think, is that we have to figure out what we want to change. At the moment for a lot of us, it’s the president and his people, but I’m not sure we are as pissed about them in particular as we are at the entire state of America as a whole. Personally I’m more pissed at the fact that there is such a divide across our nation, the red state blue state thing is really real. As a population, America is truly divided on hundreds of issues. I think that as a people we all agree that we can make it better here so maybe that’s a starting point. I don’t know what the answer is. I wonder who or what is going to be the catalyst for change here in this country. For now, I’m off.. talk to you in a week or so.. have a great weekend!