Once again, Jon Stewart provides a little bit of brilliance. Insightful. Enlightening. And of course, funny:
An Energy-Independent Future - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 6/16/2010 - Video Clip | Comedy Central
And I cannot resist sharing some choice quotes from it:
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me eight times...am I a %#$@ing idiot?"
"%$&! it, let's just use oil....I will not allow the dinosaurs to have died in vain."
"WE ARE AN UNSTOPPABLE OIL-DEPENDENCY BREAKING MACHINE! Unfortunately, that machine runs on oil."
The only think lacking is an answer to the question: how do we get out of this "sad, somewhat Groundhog-Dayish saga"?
For the American Dream to be fulfilled, for our country to know economic health and success -- not to mention (possibly, hopefully) freedom from entangling wars in oil-rich regions of the globe, and for the future health of our Earth -- it is clear we need to end our oil dependence. However, it is also clear that the rhetoric from both sides of our political partisans has not been matched by real action. The fact that it has gone on so long forces us to ask: why? For one thing, it must go beyond the issues or idosyncracies of any one Presidential Administration, or one decade. Our political system is broken when it cannot accomplish those tasks which we agree are necessary for our own prosperity, nay, survival. Our democracy is dysfunctional. Fixing it is the key to moving forward on this issue (and many others....but that is a discussion for another time).
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
There are some people who feel and know the power of the American Dream: immigrants
A friend posted this to facebook recently and I'm so glad I took the time to watch it.
30 Days: Immigration on Vimeo
Morgan Spurlock has done some good work, but never has one touched my like this one, or caused me to reflect so much.
It brought a few things to mind, and now into words.
First, that there is something beyond our impersonal principles and politics, our theoretical polemics and postulates, our lofty ideas about how we think the world works or our often black and white view of how things should be. For these things can be so far removed from the reality of the world and the truth of our existence. Beyond them, there is something that can contain so much more truth, and holds greater importance: that is, our relationships with people, what we learn from the interaction with others, the understanding we gain from human experience, the connection we have as we look someone in the eye and really listen and realize who they are.
To paraphrase Frank, the central character in this excellent short program: "you can cling to political ideas, but an idea does not laugh, an idea does not cry, an idea doesn't have memories....an idea is not a human being." This is a story of human beings. And it is well worth watching.
Second, this program reminds me of the power of the American Dream. Frank has a powerful idea of what American is, and what it should be. Armida has her own idea of what she whats to accomplish in life; it is something deeply tied to the American Dream. It is interesting -- and shouldn't be surprising -- that people who have risked so much, tied so much of themselves and their hopes for a better life to this country, would have a particularly strong idea of what the American Dream is. It brings to mind how this country has been shaped by immigrants, and an immigrant spirit, one which has created and defined that American Dream. And these people in this program, give the American Dream life, a reality that goes beyond that idea to something deep in the human spirit.
30 Days: Immigration on Vimeo
Morgan Spurlock has done some good work, but never has one touched my like this one, or caused me to reflect so much.
It brought a few things to mind, and now into words.
First, that there is something beyond our impersonal principles and politics, our theoretical polemics and postulates, our lofty ideas about how we think the world works or our often black and white view of how things should be. For these things can be so far removed from the reality of the world and the truth of our existence. Beyond them, there is something that can contain so much more truth, and holds greater importance: that is, our relationships with people, what we learn from the interaction with others, the understanding we gain from human experience, the connection we have as we look someone in the eye and really listen and realize who they are.
To paraphrase Frank, the central character in this excellent short program: "you can cling to political ideas, but an idea does not laugh, an idea does not cry, an idea doesn't have memories....an idea is not a human being." This is a story of human beings. And it is well worth watching.
Second, this program reminds me of the power of the American Dream. Frank has a powerful idea of what American is, and what it should be. Armida has her own idea of what she whats to accomplish in life; it is something deeply tied to the American Dream. It is interesting -- and shouldn't be surprising -- that people who have risked so much, tied so much of themselves and their hopes for a better life to this country, would have a particularly strong idea of what the American Dream is. It brings to mind how this country has been shaped by immigrants, and an immigrant spirit, one which has created and defined that American Dream. And these people in this program, give the American Dream life, a reality that goes beyond that idea to something deep in the human spirit.
Monday, September 20, 2010
The Decade: What Have We Wrought?
The following chart, in stark terms, reveals to us what we have wrought during the last decade:
In Iraq, Still A Relative – And Deadly – Universe | CommonDreams.org
Nine years after 9/11, and nearing the end of this decade, this causes me to reflect. What began (at least from the point of view of most Americans) with 19 hijackers and 3000 victims, has escalated to hundreds of thousands of combatants and approaching a million innocent lives lost. (I take note -- a fact absent from the chart -- that a majority of those lives lost have been as a direct result of American military action, and not from that of al-Qaeda, terrorists, insurgents, etc). The response was ostensibly directed at exacting revenge against the director of the attacks, along with his organization, allies, and sympathizers. This number, mostly unacknowledged, certainly encompassed a relatively small number of individuals. This response soon exploded into massive military invasions costing billions in dollars. A response exacted upon peoples having nothing to do with the perpetrators of the attack on 9/11, other than possibly sharing a religious affiliation, perhaps a language, or maybe living in the neighborhood. And it continues on, despite rhetoric proclaiming otherwise.
What does this mean? What have we learned? What are the long-term consequences for our country? For our budget deficit, for how we are viewed around the world, or for the very soul of America? For the American Dream? Unfortunately, while what it means for us is inestimable, I fear we have not learned much. Or, at least, we have not learned the right lessons, beyond the aching hearts of the families of lost service members, and the lost hopes of those at home who suffer while our tax dollars are spent on death and destruction abroad. Beyond that, we rarely seem to think about these ongoing wars anymore, let alone discuss them, and would much rather forget about them. But the body counts and budget woes will not allow us to do that completely.
History is unfortunately littered with the carcasses and lost souls of civilizations who wasted themselves on military misadventures (as well as materialistic excess), at the expense of their economic and spiritual health. I hope that we can avoid that fate, and find our way again. I believe that path and inspiration comes may come with a change focus upon our American Dream.
In Iraq, Still A Relative – And Deadly – Universe | CommonDreams.org
Nine years after 9/11, and nearing the end of this decade, this causes me to reflect. What began (at least from the point of view of most Americans) with 19 hijackers and 3000 victims, has escalated to hundreds of thousands of combatants and approaching a million innocent lives lost. (I take note -- a fact absent from the chart -- that a majority of those lives lost have been as a direct result of American military action, and not from that of al-Qaeda, terrorists, insurgents, etc). The response was ostensibly directed at exacting revenge against the director of the attacks, along with his organization, allies, and sympathizers. This number, mostly unacknowledged, certainly encompassed a relatively small number of individuals. This response soon exploded into massive military invasions costing billions in dollars. A response exacted upon peoples having nothing to do with the perpetrators of the attack on 9/11, other than possibly sharing a religious affiliation, perhaps a language, or maybe living in the neighborhood. And it continues on, despite rhetoric proclaiming otherwise.
What does this mean? What have we learned? What are the long-term consequences for our country? For our budget deficit, for how we are viewed around the world, or for the very soul of America? For the American Dream? Unfortunately, while what it means for us is inestimable, I fear we have not learned much. Or, at least, we have not learned the right lessons, beyond the aching hearts of the families of lost service members, and the lost hopes of those at home who suffer while our tax dollars are spent on death and destruction abroad. Beyond that, we rarely seem to think about these ongoing wars anymore, let alone discuss them, and would much rather forget about them. But the body counts and budget woes will not allow us to do that completely.
History is unfortunately littered with the carcasses and lost souls of civilizations who wasted themselves on military misadventures (as well as materialistic excess), at the expense of their economic and spiritual health. I hope that we can avoid that fate, and find our way again. I believe that path and inspiration comes may come with a change focus upon our American Dream.
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