(photo taken on election day 2008, after the original post on 9/11/08. This is by the corner of Ashland and Division in Chicago)
I will admit it: 8 years ago, and after the long Clinton and Grunge years that were the Nineties, little did I care about the upcoming 2000 elections. Nothing to be proud of, naturally, but at the time and at the tender age (tender age?) of 19, nothing to be alarmed about. And let’s face it: I couldn’t even vote, and I still can’t, not in this country anyway.
One day, early that semester, a fellow classmate claims that “If Bush wins, I am moving to Italy.” My initial reaction is to take it as a joke. My second is “well, she’s exaggerating a bit; I’m sure she’d wait and see what would come of it.” As it turns out, however, she was’t joking, and she didn’t wait one bit. A few months after Bush’s, um… “victory,” she’s on her way to the Mediterranean, and It didn’t take long for me to begin to understand.
When shit hit the fan, seven years ago today, and when the Bush agenda could (and did) finally take full swing, I developed a theory: that within the next 10 to 15 years, the American demographics would change dramatically. That Americans would be hit by a severe case of identity crisis and that a large chunk of them would move en-masse out of the country, leaving behind them those who live by the words “If you’re not with us, you’re with the terrorists,” thus turning the USA into a country the world would soon have to confront and to keep it from going berserk on it.
The mass exodus in my “vision” did not happen. Well, not yet. The Bush administration may have calmed down a bit (just a bit) in the past couple years (which, in itself, is frightening and very disconcerting). But something is happening, AGAIN, this election year, and it’s irking me to the core of my being, to the point of catching myself thinking “If McCain and Palin win, I am moving out of here.” Not so much because I think McCain is a hypocrite to himself or that Palin frightens the living crap out of me, and not because they would both screw America (and the world) over even further. That’s not special. This time what really gets to me is not the politicians, it’s not even the men “behind the curtain” and influence groups: it’s the people.
This became clear long before Palin (who apparently, and after a lifetime of strengthening the patriarchal system, is now all about fighting sexism) joined the party. Long before Hillary made a fool out of herself and had her supporters blame it on the “sexist media”. As I said: it’s not the politicians. The politicians are only an outlet for people’s misguided opinions. What I take issue with is the people’s near lack of ability to challenge those opinions, think critically for themselves and take rational action.
Some would argue, justifiably, that the people are being stifled from all sides and are literally trained to be passive, distracted, deprived of any ability to think critically and – to make sure they stay that way – treated as separate entities (black white christian muslim rich poor etc…) to keep them focused on their own differences. They would argue that such setbacks are usually courtesy of your government and the mainstream media, and that the two organizations, often time, seem to be one and the same. And I do agree to a certain level with this stance. That being said, however, and for the sake of my argument today, I will dismiss such a claim as, well, passive, detached, acquiescent and pretty much emanating from the same mindset as the victims they portray. One would think that a strategy employed by governments for centuries – if not millennia – to control their subjects (divide and conquer) would somehow make a dent in human consciousness, causing us to learn our lesson and not be fooled again. One would think.
Now we’re down to hoping…
Let’s be clear on one thing: people who vote for someone just because they remind them of themselves (be it on the basis of gender, social class, or gun collection) and believe them when they claim that “they’re just like them” (George Bush used that line extensively…) should revolt us just as much as those who stand outside picketing peacefully against war, then return to their 4 bedroom homes, 2 cars and their precious paychecks and insurance bills. That fear of challenging the status quo – the fear that jumping outside of your comfort zone will spell the end of the world – is precisely what angers me, ESPECIALLY when that very fear is hidden behind a veil of confrontation, defensiveness and aggression . Fear is one thing, and one thing only: loss of trust in oneself and abandonment of all the strength and power (physical yes, but mainly mental) that each one of us HAS otherwise. Fear of ANYTHING cancels out all of your ability to get MAD; and if someone doesn’t get mad sometime soon, you can kiss your sweet democracy goodbye because, frankly, it already is on its way out, and something tells me you already know that.
If you think the rest of the world sees Americans as idiots, wait till we fuck this thing up.
