One More Opinion

Courage through the Darkness:

Those four words in the title come much easier to the page than they do to the heart. I understand it and fully realize how important it is to remain steadfast through this dark and difficult time, but that does not mean it comes into the fiber of my being with ease.

We have been made to feel afraid intentionally; afraid for our jobs, afraid for our health care, afraid for our safety, afraid for our children. Our media has filled the airwaves and print with scary stories about enemies behind every tree, waiting to victimize us or our children the moment we let our guard down. Like a rabid animal, our media has turned on the people. As in Germany in the 1930's, our media has become the tool of the corporations and a government bent on destruction and world domination. (There were many economic factors driving WWII.)

The very people who should be working to make us feel better are working to make us feel worse; more angry, more afraid, more controllable.

Courage does not come easily to me. It never has. So I need to take the news in small doses, sometimes filtered by my friends through their blogs or by the alternative media in analysis, as long as I'm not subjecting myself to the daily stream of verbal violence that passes itself off as news. I don't respond well to verbal violence, but then, I'm not sure anyone does. It helps a little to use the web because I can decide if the headline is something I wish to read, but it's a poor excuse for a media filter. In many ways it's the opposite. Reading and listening to news that originates outside this country can be an improvement, depending upon the country.

I need support to stay in balance, and I get in trouble when I abandon those tools and let myself get caught up in the daily stream of insanity. Eventually I have to go back and pick those tools up once again, kicking myself for putting them down – again. But when I take those tools in hand and use them I come back into balance, I can focus on what is important. I remember what I'm supposed to do and where I need to effectively place my energy.

I feel there are many positive priorities for progressive people in America, people who see above the partisanship, the bickering and the fear-mongering. Many people in the Live Journal community and some other very talented bloggers are writing about them now, and I'll keep throwing in my two cents. (Would you expect anything else?)

One is starting a new conversation about how we feel and what our perception is around things like world peace and security, the economy, health care, the environment, politics, justice, space exploration, human relationships, technology, race. We need to start these conversations from a quiet, reasonable and open-minded place – start by listening to the other person, then asking questions to clarify how they feel and what they see.

I've seen people who can be soft-spoken regardless of the circumstances. I've always admired them. A person could scream at them and they would never raise their voice, never lose their temper. It's an amazing ability and it's needed now more than ever.

We need to start discussions on that footing, with a strong emphasis on keeping the conversation civil and hearing all viewpoints present. If we can do that we can really get a sense of where change is needed most and the most effective way to bring about said change. Listen to people's concerns and desires, find out what they think, and as important, why they think that way. We need to go beyond the sound-bite, to really hear.

Because people want to be heard. They always have. And times seemed better when we were listening, when we engaged in civil discourse. And sometimes, after they vent their spleen, we get to the real conversation, the one we wanted to have in the first place. Once they've been heard they become ready to listen in return.

Is this easy? Not by a long shot. But it is necessary. If we don't dismiss and/or discount them they cannot do the same to us, and if they refuse to engage beyond hostile rhetoric we can honestly say we tried and return to the group of rational people we have brought together. After a while that group becomes the tipping point, then a majority.

When Abbott Labs raised the price of an anti-AIDS drug by 400%, the activist group I belonged to at the time got doctors to sign on to a letter denouncing the price increase, and started a boycott of all Abbott products. The doctors agreed to not see Abbott drug reps when they came to their offices. When those reps had to go back to the corporate offices and tell their bosses the doctors would not see them, the price gouging stopped.

It started at the 2004 Retrovirus Conference and within two weeks over 400 doctors had signed on. Within a month it became 1000 doctors as they spread the word through their peer networks. It was amazing. Because a few smart people presented a rational and well thought-out argument, and had a simple and effective plan, the boycott grew so fast it caused an implosion inside one of America's largest and most powerful companies.

I watched this event take place first-hand, and the doctors were not impressed by the impassioned pleas of the patients being affected by the hike. They were impressed by the activists with their well-thought out and well-reasoned proposition. Logic and reason carried the day. And this was in 2004, not 1974. Fourteen years after Reagan soured public discourse they overcame those obstacles like an Olympic sprinter over the posts on the track.

There was another time the drug companies issued a thinly-veiled threat they would just stop making the drugs. In answer we said; "Fine with us! The universities and non-profit foundations will do the lion's share of the cutting edge research and we'll just start non-profit companies to produce the medications Americans need. And with all the money we've saved from not paying out fat checks to shareholders and executives we'll accelerate drug development and offer medications at a price everyone can afford."

They backed down so quickly it was almost laughable. The lack of rancor and positive focus on solutions overcame problems that might never have been solved through conflict. We also taught guys who thought they had all the power that, in truth, they didn't have the power at all. We had the power.

Because we do. The reason they keep us afraid is because they fear us. They know we have the power anytime we wish to take it. We've done it many times in our relatively short history as a nation. They keep us afraid to control us and to keep us from claiming our power on an ongoing basis. When the Bush-Cheny-Rumsfeld-Trent-Warner bunch finally lose power and we discover all the terrible things they did in our name, behind our backs – we will probably take the power back and keep control for decades as we clean up their mess.

They know this and it's the one thing that keeps them up at night. They don't lose any sleep over the kids getting shot or having their limbs blown off in Iraq and Afghanistan. They certainly don't lose any sleep over the thousands of brown-skinned people they have killed. The only thing they fear is losing their control over us, of us reclaiming our power.

Let's make their fear a reality.

We are at a pivotal and dangerous time right now. People are tired of being made to feel afraid, tired of five years of mindless terror. They are at the snapping point. We need to be careful and avoid conflict where possible so we are not the catalyst for their snap. I fear the consequences of this snapping point, even though it needs to happen. Because we need to get to the place that happens after the snap.

When we do get to that point, when people are no longer running on mindless terror and anger, we can truly begin the healing process. I think there will be a backlash against the media and politicians who have fed us this steady diet of fear, and my hope is those people will get what they deserve. When this happens the Bush Administration and Radical Right will lose their control over us and we will take back our power.

There are people in Washington who have said that, when Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld lose control, people are going to prison. I hope this happens, not purely out of vengeance, but also because we need a return to justice. (I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a desire for retribution for all the terrible things they have done.) We need those people to go to prison, to be tried for crimes against humanity and the American people. We need to restore our democracy.

It will happen. As long as we keep our eyes on the ball, remain focused, and engage our fellow citizens in dialogue that is free of mindless hatred and fear. If we keep our courage we will emerge from this terrible darkness.