Why unplug? What ever happened to responsibility?

by Situationist

Posted to Poetry and Politics on 2003-06-13 11:51:00

Parent message is 467657
In case you havent noticed, the world isnt exactly in the sort of condition where one has the luxury of “unplugging”. The fact of the matter is that as American citizens, as Americans, we are some of the most powerful people in the WORLD. Why? Because we have the ability to effect the policy and governance of the most powerful nation in the world…the same nation that has lobbied so shamelessly to exempt itself from international reprieve for atrocities it and its allies have been documented to have committed. Witness the US action in Iraq, in Afghanistan, the support it has lent to Columbian paramilitary groups in Plan Columbia.

Whether I like it or not, this is being done in MY name…MINE…and the one way people can affect change is to acknowledge their privilige and entitlement…I AM priviliged as a white middle class American…its what I do with that privilige that will hopefully set me apart from other people…and thats more than political…its spiritual, maybe even religious. Its about responsibility, about ownership, about feeling connected to the rest of the world, and to nature…its about being able to look another human being in the eyes, face to face and see the humanity in them, even when you’ve been told “Yr better than they are”…I can effect change, you can effect change, EVERYONE can…I’m not partisan on this issue either…if you feel REALLY strongly about conservative politics, dont talk it, do it. I can respect the decision to act…but to “unplug”, to do nothing, to dwell in some idle absolute…some haze of metaphysical chicanery…well, starving children in Africa don’t give a damn about the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, an Amazonian subsistence farming community doesnt give two shits about my favorite Kerouac novel…those are pleasures, luxuries, and relaxations I afford myself…yes, and I’ll take a rest when I feel as if I can…but right now, I can’t…I’m too outraged, too passionate, and too damn stubborn. I’m not saying yr wrong Oz…hell, maybe yr right…but to paraphrase Ralph Nader (whom i’m not really a huge fan off, but i liked this saying)…I’d rather turn onto politics now, before it turns on me…

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