Every so often, a brave soul rises up from out of the ashes of a society that would threaten to swallow us whole. Unafraid to speak their mind, they spit those truths that they alone seem strong enough to own. Digging beneath the surface of what appears to be, they tread heavily down that path the rest of us fear to travel. Thefreeslave is such a soul, and we have much to learn from his words.
Yesterday, I quoted him here by posting a portion of a post that appeared on his blog. I sought to draw from his courage, but I am weak, and in the end, Reform or Revolution received the delete. Like some cowardly conformist, I hide behind this illusion of safety. I want so badly to believe that change will come from within, and yet I know that the time has come for a revolution. And so it is that I continue to churn out this watered down, pale faced version of what needs to be said.
Blogs to Explore
- A Slant Truth
- Automatic Preference
- Can't See the Forest
- Caught In the Stream
- Climate of Our Future
- Deep Thoughts
- Deregulated Thought
- Electronic Village
- Empathy
- Eric Stoller
- Frozen Truth
- Gazing Into the Abyss
- Goodness Graciousness
- I Am Inspired
- Kellementology
- Looking Beyond the Cracked Window
- Midlife: A Journey
- mnemosyne
- Mother Anarchy
- My View of "It"
- Nourishing Obscurity
- Ole Blue the Heretic
- Peace Garden
- People In the Sun
- plezWorld
- Professor Zero
- Rainbow Friends
- Sunrays and Saturdays
- The Absent Mind
- The Field Negro
- The Francis L. Holland Blog
- The Free Slave
- The Intimate Side of Capcity
- The Liberal Journal
- The Naked Soul
- The Rich House
- The Thoughts
- Thinking Girl
- Unsane and Safe
- Wonderland Or Not
- Word Up
- Write For Life
- Writer's Blog
- Writing Under a Pseudonym
- Yo-Yo Philosopher
- Zuky
Zeitgeist
13 comments:
I'm not big on Revolution before you can say you have done all you can.
I read the post over there and am going to comment here because I rarely care to get in to private conversations.
It is the actual delusion, the surest way for the people to take power is, and always has been to get their elected officials out of office, starting on a local level, yet no one votes locally - seventeen percent local voting is a coup. I don't believe it when people ramble on about revolution when they have done absolutely nothing in their life to affect change except talk about it.
They believe what they have been told and taught to the point of naivety. It doesn't work because it simple hasn't been done.
To say you believe the system is unchangeable is easy, just like Oprah said she was going to do her school in America but the kids were too hard, so she went somewhere easier.
I believe that education is the greatest threat to those in power, yes it is and if that be the case a candidate on any level whose platform and then action include a significant change in the education locally, statewide or nationally is one who should be chosen. And at the same time getting rid of those who are obstructive to this process by voting them out of office.
The people rarely wield their power en masse, just look at the paltry voting stats.
i agree with both of you. :)
Hiya Coop,
I agree, revolution should only ever be looked as a last resort scenario, but how do we know when and if we have done all that we can? It is not a tangible place that we can arrive at from a viewpoint of success, but rather a feeling that we would find ourselves reduced to when nothing ever works, nothing ever changes, and we feel completely helpless/powerless.
Yeah, I know what you mean, I feel the same way. I would never mention someones comment to another directly, unless, (as in this case) they excerpted their own comment and used it as the basis for a whole new post in and of itself.
I believe that part (if not all) of the problem are those who choose to run for office. Life long politicians are the bane of any would be democracy. They are all shades of the same nothing. They whore themselves out completely to the corporate agenda, because do to otherwise would either end their careers, or their lives. Corporations are the true representatives, we only ever elect their mouthpieces.
Maybe you're right, and what we need to do is rally 17%+ support for our grassroots candidates, but in the end, the economy is still the economy, and this culture is all about capitalism, and the classist agenda. I believe that the majority of those who call for a revolution are hoping for a radical redistribution of wealth and restructuring of class in America. The few that have advocated this publicly in the past have been killed for it. How many politicians in this years election do you believe are willing to die for their policies, and what they supposedly "believe" in?
Speaking of Oprah, I saw the other day when I was flipping through channels that she was talking about compact fluorescent light bulbs, as if they were some amazing new invention. That is so fifteen years ago it makes my brain bleed to think about how long it takes the "haves" to openly support the sort of philosophies that have been espoused by the "have-nots" for decades.
You're totally right. Voter turn-out sucks!
Betmo,
Heheh, diplomatic approach! ^^
It will certainly be the economy until we get rid of a corporate owned government. It happened under our noses, so to speak, although I take little blame for it at age 22.
There is no utopia.
Who votes the life long politician in to office?
Historically change comes from within and works it's way out, the people of any given municipality,or state do have power to change things and that change would instigate national change.
As we have seen time and time again by the wars we have begun in the name of democracy in other parts of the world total revolution
rarely works.
However, voting or not voting en masse is a revolution, it has not occurred in this country.
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off topic
I meant your feed, not mine Dave.
I start school next week - end of this week technically, and want to be able to read blogs via a reader. This will allow me to read more, and comment later at night when I am home.
Cooper,
Your argument is blaming the victim. "If we'd only do more/vote more..."
In the 1960's, some of our most brilliant black activists sought to organize their communities, register their communties. What happened to them?
They were beaten, shot, jailed, made political prisoners, went into exile involuntarily. The killings of black activists - who were seeking to gain power for black people within the system - sent a very strong to us: you aren't Americans, you are niggers and you will be kept in your place.
Florida 2000/Ohio 2004: those percentages you quoted for turnout are not accurate in that they don't bear in mind the thousands of people illegally removed from voter rolls, made to stand in line for up 5 or more hours, given shoddy voting equipment.
The trickery that is arrayed against black folks and others contributes to the "culture of futility" that Chomsky describes; he discusses how the corporate types, in cahoots with the government, deliberately foster futility in the masses of people so that they won't want participate.
So, folks are dumbed down, but even when they are motivated and turn out, all kinds of chicanery including electronic-paperless voting is used to disenfranchised.
But we need to work harder within the system? A system that sells crack to its people in order to create "democracy" in Nicaragua; tha kills Iraqis in order to get rid of weapons of mass destruction that don't exist?!
What we need to work harder at is seeing the world as it is.
I just don't understand people.
Coop,
Which of the current candidates have NOT spent their entire adult lives in the political arena? I read something just the other day that pointed out that there are individual corporations bigger than the U.S. government.
The thing is, most arguments for reform are predicated on the existence of a democracy, and a confidence that the people can accomplish change from within. But what happens to that theory if we remove the democracy? Is this a democracy anymore? If I was pressed to answer yes or no, I'd have to go with no. The reasoning is because of the massive level of conformity to the system necessary for our representatives to even attempt to run for office. No conformity, no funding. You have to play the game to win it, but then, you're playing the game. It's a catch-22.
If there was a different system, one that resembled that of ancient Greece, there might be more people that wanted to get involved. But when it's only ever more of the same, the apathy runs deep. At that point, the only ones participating in the system, are the ones who believe in it, or believe it can be changed from within.
What I don't understand is, if only 15% turn out to vote, how can it be that we do not rip the system? Are we so placated that an 80%+ majority would rather things continue down this path?
***
Coop, I'll double check my feed settings and make sure it's at full. Thanks for the clary!
I'm popping into this conversation a bit late, but here's a quick two cents from personal experience.
I helped manage a grassroots campaign for City Council last year here in Chicago, and I can tell you that it's very difficult if not near impossible to affect change via traditional electoral options. The system has been in place long enough to know well how to shut off the avenues to real change, and many "grassroots" organizations have been misdirected or outright coopted by those in power at every level of government.
Of course, that's a "bi