Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Stopping the Disconnect:
Stopping the Disconnect:
Phillip T. Alden
June 13, 2006
When we look at the so-called “war on drugs,” the prison system, public health, the denial of the vote to two million black Americans, drug use and addiction, education and bias – we have to stop pretending that all these things are not connected, they don’t affect us directly.
It’s a comfortable fantasy, but it’s also a destructive fantasy. When we countenance the “war on drugs,” when we let Choice Point manipulate the voting system, when we let HIV, HCV and MRSA run rampant through our prison system – it has a direct effect upon our lives.
Everything is connected. The people who read my journal don’t need me to draw them a map between these things.
The point is identifying the destructive nature of the fantasy. When we pretend our lives our insular and we are not affected by what happens outside our neighborhood, we acquiesce to destruction of the world at large. The homeless in America and the victims of genocide in Darfur are our business, our responsibility.
It’s not enough to simply donate some money and tell ourselves the problem is solved. As the most powerful democracy in the world we have a responsibility to drive the social agenda, to give our politicians their marching orders. We all need to lead, not abdicate.
There is a lot of negativity that comes from the Radical Right, and even rank-and-file Republicans, but at least they are taking part in the Democracy. I have lost count of the so-called “progressives” who love to complain about the injustice of our political system and they don’t even vote! (Not that voting fulfills one’s responsibility.) You can complain endlessly about George W. Bush – but if you don’t vote, you don’t write letters, you don’t march, you don’t volunteer your time – you give him tacit approval to do all the terrible things he does.
Silence means Approval.
You may not like it but that doesn’t stop it from being true. There is something truly pathetic in there being a larger percentage of people who “voted” on the last American Idol than voted in the last twenty elections. Those of you who do nothing are giving tacit approval to the Bush Administration. Your inaction has consequences.
My personal feeling is, if you don’t choose to participate in our democracy, you really have no right to complain. And complaining adds nothing to the situation. It’s just hot air and pointless negativity. Your personal fantasy is killing people.
Sadly, I’m preaching to the choir for the most part. Most people in the “blogo-sphere” participate in the democracy. But in case you don’t I urge you to start now.
And when you decide our country is as important as American Idol you must let compassion be your guiding principle. When you look at the homeless, the drug addicted, the abused – keep “there but for the grace of god go I” in mind. Because behind those problems those people are Americans just like us. If they had our advantages they would likely do as well as we do on a general basis.
Compassion is the only thing that will save human beings. Without compassion we are no more than another animal species. Compassion is what separates us from the lower orders. Every decision we make we must ask: “What if it were me?”
So if you were homeless and mentally ill and you turned to drugs in desperation, would you want to be thrown into prison for committing no other crime than being sick?
You want others to have compassion for you, right?
Your compassion is directly connected to other’s compassion for you.
Stopping the Disconnect:
Phillip T. Alden
June 13, 2006
When we look at the so-called “war on drugs,” the prison system, public health, the denial of the vote to two million black Americans, drug use and addiction, education and bias – we have to stop pretending that all these things are not connected, they don’t affect us directly.
It’s a comfortable fantasy, but it’s also a destructive fantasy. When we countenance the “war on drugs,” when we let Choice Point manipulate the voting system, when we let HIV, HCV and MRSA run rampant through our prison system – it has a direct effect upon our lives.
Everything is connected. The people who read my journal don’t need me to draw them a map between these things.
The point is identifying the destructive nature of the fantasy. When we pretend our lives our insular and we are not affected by what happens outside our neighborhood, we acquiesce to destruction of the world at large. The homeless in America and the victims of genocide in Darfur are our business, our responsibility.
It’s not enough to simply donate some money and tell ourselves the problem is solved. As the most powerful democracy in the world we have a responsibility to drive the social agenda, to give our politicians their marching orders. We all need to lead, not abdicate.
There is a lot of negativity that comes from the Radical Right, and even rank-and-file Republicans, but at least they are taking part in the Democracy. I have lost count of the so-called “progressives” who love to complain about the injustice of our political system and they don’t even vote! (Not that voting fulfills one’s responsibility.) You can complain endlessly about George W. Bush – but if you don’t vote, you don’t write letters, you don’t march, you don’t volunteer your time – you give him tacit approval to do all the terrible things he does.
Silence means Approval.
You may not like it but that doesn’t stop it from being true. There is something truly pathetic in there being a larger percentage of people who “voted” on the last American Idol than voted in the last twenty elections. Those of you who do nothing are giving tacit approval to the Bush Administration. Your inaction has consequences.
My personal feeling is, if you don’t choose to participate in our democracy, you really have no right to complain. And complaining adds nothing to the situation. It’s just hot air and pointless negativity. Your personal fantasy is killing people.
Sadly, I’m preaching to the choir for the most part. Most people in the “blogo-sphere” participate in the democracy. But in case you don’t I urge you to start now.
And when you decide our country is as important as American Idol you must let compassion be your guiding principle. When you look at the homeless, the drug addicted, the abused – keep “there but for the grace of god go I” in mind. Because behind those problems those people are Americans just like us. If they had our advantages they would likely do as well as we do on a general basis.
Compassion is the only thing that will save human beings. Without compassion we are no more than another animal species. Compassion is what separates us from the lower orders. Every decision we make we must ask: “What if it were me?”
So if you were homeless and mentally ill and you turned to drugs in desperation, would you want to be thrown into prison for committing no other crime than being sick?
You want others to have compassion for you, right?
Your compassion is directly connected to other’s compassion for you.
# posted by Phillip T. Alden @ 1:24 PM 
