Bloody Flag Blog

I attended a vigil for Tibet yesterday in Balboa Park. It was really sad to hear about the persecution of the Tibetans. It reminded me of the Tiananmen Square massacre. I was attending a residential high school at the time. It was so surreal to watch the television in the common room and see kids my own age facing down tanks and then go take exams. We were told back then that if we continued normal relations with China and granted China permanent most favorite nation status that free trade would bring liberty. This obviously hasn’t happened. If you want to get involved you can visit the International Campaign for Tibet site. You can also sign a petition here.

Imad Mughniyeh was assassinated today in Syria. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack made the following statements “The world is a better place without this man in it. He was a cold-blooded killer, a mass murderer and a terrorist responsible for countless innocent lives lost.” and, “One way or another, he was brought to justice.” We will never be able to win an intellectual argument against terrorism as long as we make the argument that means of accomplishing ends just don’t matter. We are essentially saying if you see a bad guy kill him in whatever manner is convenient, to hell with the rules. If this isn’t an incitement to terrorism, then I don’t know what is.

For example, Henry Kissinger appears to be a person of interests in relation to numerous terrorist killings in South America, and perhaps in the United States. Several countries have sought his testimony in regards to various crimes, but he, of course, has not been extradited. But if someone put a bomb in his car, they would be arresting him!?!? I mean either we are living in a world where we just kill guys we don’t like or we’re not. There is no middle ground. You simply can’t claim to be a nation of laws when it suits your fancy.

Whether the advice I received as regards graduate school consisted of the good, the bad or the ugly, that advice was always accompanied by the same caveat, a required understanding that student abuse at this level is deeply institutionalized. I was even warned by a respected acquaintance that my penchant for telling the truth could serve me no good in graduate school. I have listened as friends in graduate school described legally actionable conduct with little more than a verbal shrug. I try to comfort myself by saying that surely there must be graduate advisors out there who value personal honor, discipline, control, respect and the value of doing great work in their fields. Surely it must be so, but still I find myself afraid to open my eyes and look. A year ago I was so buttressed by that near certainty of purpose that comes from conviction. Graduate school lay in my future. And then zip turned to fizzle.

Though I have a degree, I do not have the requisite credit hours in the field of study I wish to pursue at the graduate level. In recognition of this, I have been taking classes to fill in the gaps in the necessary requirements. Looking around me now, through my own eyes as well as those of friends, I see that the slave-training begins early. I gladly acknowledge that there are many educators and educational administrators who adhere to rules of common decency and respect in regards to students. It would seem, however, that their respect stems more from personal value systems than those cultivated by institutional concerns. From all appearances there seems to be no immediate disdain for those employed in education who would assume that attending a school of study comes with the addendum that the student agrees that further education comes at the cost of accepting subhuman status while walking the halls.

There are many who would argue that the Constitutional protections of our United States are being stripped away by legislation and limp-wrist judges. But this is only the end game. The real game begins with stripping away any ideals of rights or freedoms from the hearts and minds of the citizens. I attend a school at which the student body president was elected in a process in which a mere three percent of the student population participated. I am sure some pins must have dropped at this absurdity, but the sound made was not in the general range of that heard by the human ear… apparently. Now that is one grim acceptance of student powerlessness.

Coming from a plantation society myself, I can not help but wonder whether this current state is some type of payback for those times when only the rich could afford to educate their young, and educators were just another variety of servant. Of course this would not be so much of a good plan in that it is sure to result in a return to that uneasy state of attempting to command respect simultaneous with bowing before the young master or mistress. Or maybe it is just the prevailing of the British attitude that one must continually press every advantage that is at work. Or maybe somewhere in the heart of some jungle, a mischievous fly whispered to a mosquito.

I wondered if enough of us shouted, “Hey, students have rights, and the Constitution does not dissolve at the threshold to the classroom,” whether we would make audible noise. Can we have respect, responsibility and duty of care instead Phds squawking and clawing like the young of some nitwit succubus. Let us bring down the curtain on this shameless cacophony. Let us have education be an arena of mutual respect, learning, unguarded curiosity, unrelenting discovery, passion for knowledge and study.

This begins with students asserting their membership in humanity, declaring their right to personhood, refusing to bow down to the  tyranny of inflated egos and deflated self-worth. Most school systems have an avenue of complaint. Use it when your rights are violated. Use it when your dignity is denied. Stand up for yourself even if no one will stand with you. Potmarks in ones estimation of self-worth is too high a price. What rights do you have? Find out. Let us start that dialogue. Share that knowledge with others. Demand more from your educational institution. Organize into student action groups. We can teach each other how to do it. I hope to find in myself this strength.

Senator John Edwards has withdrawn from the presidential race. He had run as the Vice Presidential nominee with Senator John Kerry in the previous presidential election. They were defeated by President Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney. During that campaign, Edwards sounded populist themes which would become much more prominent in his recent run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Edwards was considered the most liberal of the viable candidates, though Dennis Kucinich had more liberal views, most notably advocating a single-payer health care system. Edwards’ decision to run as a progressive is consistent with the rise of the more progressive wing of the Democratic party which has occurred during the Bush years following the defeats of moderate candidates Kerry and former Vice President Al Gore.

Though Edwards seemed to adroitly predict the mood of the Democratic party during the current nomination process, his candidacy was hindered by a number of factors. Both Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama have run campaigns promoting policies that are not as progressive as those of Edwards, but that are substantially more progressive than those pursued by the administration of former President Bill Clinton.

Further, he suffered from being a white male in a competition with the prospect of the first African American nominee from a major party and the first such nomination of a woman. His candidacy was met with disapproval by many pundits who complained that his campaign was to confrontational for a country that, in their judgment, has become too partisan.

Despite his strong pro-union rhetoric, he faced strong competition for union support from Clinton, who benefited from a superior organization and ties to unions dating back to the presidency of her husband. former President Bill Clinton. Also, the lack of a win in either a primary or a caucus made Edwards campaign seem somewhat quixotic.

Though the impact of his withdrawal remains to be seen, some trends are evident already. Firstly, it is clear that the Democratic party will nominate an establishment figure. Hillary Clinton, despite running to the left of ex-President Clinton, still represents the interest of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the moderate to conservative group that rose to prominence in the Democratic party with the election of Bill Clinton. Members of the Kennedy family, including daughter of President John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, and her uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy, have endorsed Obama. This endorsement is notable because the Kennedy family has represented the more liberal part of the Democratic party, and Obama is arguably the most conservative candidate for the nomination as he was the only candidate against individual mandates in his plan for universal health care.

Edwards’ departure from the race could presage a movement to the right by both Obama and Clinton. Both candidates seemed to propose more liberal polices only in response to Edward’s proposals. The remaining candidates may want to start positioning themselves to attract independent and conservative voters in the general election.

John McCain has won the Florida Republican Presidential primary. Former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, is expected to endorse McCain. The Republican race is now considered to be a two man contest between John McCain and former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. The competition between the two men has become more pointed as tonight’s primary approached.

Neither man has been able to unite the party so far. McCain has been a stalwart conservative for many years. But, he has raised suspicions in Republican party for worrying about intolerance in Christian right movement, supporting campaign finance reform, and for opposing Bushes tax cuts. Recently he has embraced the recently deceased Jerry Falwell, Sr. and claimed that he voted against the Bush tax cuts for the lone reason that they were not offset by spending cuts.

McCain was a war hero in the Vietnam war. He was captured by the enemy and was tortured for years by them. As I explain in the post Bloody Flag: Our Gratitude, but Not our Endorsement I think that the very real possibility that McCain suffered mental damage during this episode makes him to risky a pick for President and Commander and Chief.

Mitt Romney has two major problems in gaining the Republican nomination. He was governor of Massachusetts a liberal state were he governed to the left of the mainstream Republican party. He is also a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints which many conservative Christians view as a heresy. During the end of his governorship Mitt Romney was able to appeal to conservatives in the party by staunchly opposing the Massachusetts’ Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same sex marriages.

Governor Romney tried to counter suspicion of his religious beliefs by making a speech in which he argued that his faith led him the same conservative values as more traditional Christians. He claimed that conservative followers of religion should unite against Americans with secular beliefs.

The former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee hoped to use his conservative record and the fact that he had been Baptist minister to energize the Christian conservatives. But he was opposed by fiscal conservatives who viewed him as to liberal on financial issues. In the South Carolina primary he made the following statement “In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the pole, that’s what we’d do.” This statement did seem odd given his strong opposition to sodomy. However, this vulgar appeal to supporters of the Confederate Flag was not enough to secure a victory. He no longer is considered to be a viable candidate, but he is considered a likely choice for Vice President.

The Democratic Primary for President in Florida was not seriously contested because the party stripped the state of its delegates for moving the primary forward. Senator Clinton gained the most voters.

The main thing this current election season in the United States has me thinking is that the People do not appear ready for Freedom. I know it has been said, but as long as we are content with this appearance of democracy, and as long as we are ambivalent about the ownership of power, there is little hope for drive toward freedom. Squabbles at the party level are almost meaningless, and I always feel like an outsider in such discussions, even when I share the views of some of the others participating. I do believe some level of participation, even in a near meaningless operation of politics, to be important because participation is an essential element in the drive for freedom. I believe the best route for me at this stage is some level of devotion to particular causes. There appears to be enough slack in the arena of particular causes to travel from A to C, to include the work done by Amnesty International, various environmental groups, various groups for relative equality, and the like.

A lot of the party-politics commentators, in the US at least, don’t even try anymore. It is all fluff and flatulence, cotton candy farts. Most of the People seem glued to one side or the other and/or they are completely apathetic. I don’t know where to look for others like me, the “sticky ones”. We’re the ones who aren’t completely unglued, but we fail to find impassioned understanding or purpose in national politics. For a long time, I think I was not okay with being a sticky one. My most likely group of friends appear to be tightly glued, and their conversations take a form within which I find myself unable to comment. It is not that the conversations lack fascinating, engaging, interesting and informative commentary (better than anything on TV); they just seem to originate from a place I’ve never visited.

Many have warned that the political system is broken. It is not time for a change. It is time to trash the whole damned thing. Freedom, Equality, Justice are all in trouble. It is indeed time to wave the bloody flag, now. When the bloody flag is waved too late, you get the French Revolution. The French Revolution was perhaps the last significant step toward freedom, yes, but at what costs? It is time for One World, One People, One Heart. When those stories appear showing how this world leader is related to that one, and that one to the other one; it is not some quirky coincidence. It is the status quo for practically all of written history, and this status quo is the enemy of freedom. I am not saying the leaders themselves are the enemy. The problem is that the leaders are more glued to each other than they are to the People. I will never understand why people feel the need to go around saying, “I hate Bush.” If your focus is on hating Bush, then you have bought the ticket to the magic show, folks.

Many of the learned claim that agriculture was the start of the problem. They hark back to the past, exclaiming that are hunting and gathering ancestors did not have the social woes of today. Everyone was fed and there was relative equality. Agriculture, ownership of land and animals, and the need to maintain control are the parents of the present starvation, inequality, and war. Maybe it is my ignorance showing, but I disagree. Ownership is irrelevant without Power. Our present woes are not only the result of, but the natural evolution of hunting and gathering culture, a culture of isolation, zero dissent, in which the solution to problem folk was to either murder or exile them. To call such a culture egalitarian is facetious. They were all slaves to an invisible lord. Ownership of power belonged to the culture and not the people. The people were enslave by the norms to which they were enculturated. Slavery, by definition, excludes labels such as “egalitarian.” Hunting and gathering culture could not evolve into peaceful larger populations because it engendered a mindset that expected simple, quick and permanent solutions to problems. There was little violence, yes, but that violence was murder, and it was the standard answer to noncooperation or inability to cooperate for generations of humans. People from that type of culture are not going to “play well with others.” In that type of culture, only the people you know have the capacity of good. The others are almost always evil and untrustworthy (incubate fascist nationalism?). When the mainstays of conflict resolution are murder and exile, what hope is there of dealing with larger populations, juxtaposition of differing populations, ample food supply, more babies, and the conflicts that arise from those things? None. The development of agriculture provided the landscape for the illumination of the defective psychology of hunting and gathering culture. Isolation combined with lack of dissent is not peace, and it certainly is not freedom. I think they call it, um, fascism. Let us see – intolerance of individualism, complete subservience of individuality to the invisible Culture Lord, a black and white world, death and exile as punishment. Yep, I think they call that F-A-S-C-I-S-M. Humbug to the whole learned, shallow-minded lot. Shenanigans! Shenanigans!

I welcome my true birth as a Sticky one. I embrace the flexibility of stickiness. I embrace conflict negotiation, acceptance of individualism, and an end to cultural enslavement whether by normative standards or dictator. I understand that true peace results from personal control multiplied. I embrace spiritedness and calm reflection. I want more than a magical mirror of freedom. I want more than trains that run on time. I want more than a belly that does not know hunger. I want FREEDOM, the other F-word. Power to People and all that Jazz. I say I want an Evolution. I say I want to STICK. Stay Truly Individual, Conscious, & Kind. Do it; do it; do it; do it, now.

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Body Ritual of the Nacirema by
Horace Miner

Horace Miner’s article reminds us of the difficulty many have of examining the practices of their own culture. One person’s normal is another’s exotic. Rituals are often of particular interests as examples of exotic behavior. Miner avoided religious ritual and went about describing typical American behaviors that the average American probably does not view as ritual. On the subject of religion, however, I remember someone’s commentary that Christianity had cannibalism as an important component as the adherents regularly consumed both the body and blood of the one they worshiped. I don’t remember the article or the author offhand, but the article’s purpose was similar to that of Miner’s. In writing about the Nacerima, Minor notes, “The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease.”

Reading Miner, I was bemused by the thought of dryers as head ovens. I can’t believe he didn’t mention the high walking sticks attached to the footware of women as these are often the source of the continual rant that, “one must suffer for beauty,” or some such. Thinking in general of Miner’s statements that the Nacirema find the body ugly in its natural state, I’m reminded of Leo Buscaglia. I remember flipping through channels and stopping on some seventies-looking production with a bearded man talking about just this subject. I particularly remember his advice to get to know your own smell if only briefly, to stop with the soaps and the deodorants and smell yourself for god’s sake. It’s probably difficult for today’s average American that the whole world isn’t obsessed with such things. Many of us have heard Americans (and others) complain about the smell on French public transport during the summer time. One of my first love interests was a boy from India, and I remember his commentary that in his village people didn’t really notice such things as body order or bad breath so much. He did adjust to the American way of doing things once here, except for the unfashionable seventies dress and glowing appreciation of disco.

I found Miner’s use of exotic terminology enlightening. The idea of required gifts as opposed to the exchange of money for medical services was particularly sweet, as I believe gifts for such services as opposed to money may sound more off-putting. Medicine men, Mouth men, Listeners, and Herbalists certainly conjour different images than doctor, dentist, psychologist and pharmacist. Oh, the head dresses, strange makeup, spicy hot breezes, and continual beat of some invisible tribal drum excite and cause fear. And how exotic that a whole culture practices S&M and show no shame in visiting special practitioner of that art or, in other words, Americans go to the dentist expecting pain and oftentimes they get it.

And how could I not be put in mind of the magical Japanese toilets, fairly accurately depicted in an episode of The Simpsons, when Miner speaks of the ritualized excretory functions and the use of the excreted matter to help discern illness. The Japanese have toilets that keep track of the makeup of one’s excrement in order to warn of possible medical conditions. The scales that keep track of body fat measurements and such seem elementary by comparison. These toilets do all kinds of things. I don’t remember the list, but I do remember the feeling of fascination.

New York Times Endorses John McCain

I firmly believe certain things that should immediately disqualify a candidate from being President. The President of the United States has the ability to destroy the world through a number of means. Our nuclear arsenal is sufficient to end all human life on the planet in a matter of minutes. We also have developed research in biological warfare, for defenses purposes only (wink, wink), several other means of destroying all human life, or at least some rather large portion there of, in a matter of weeks. We also have the means to destroy a large proportion if not all the agricultural products of the world which would, of course, result in huge famines. And, these are only the things that we know about.

The mental stability of a candidate for President must be of primary importance in determining his or her fitness for office. This is why the New York Times erred in endorsing John McCain for the Republican nomination. The reality is John McCain was tortured for years in Vietnam. I am not saying that he is some Manchurian Candidate who will bring back communism from the grave. But the entire point of torture, is not to glean information that will save the world before the commercial break, but rather to degrade the mind to make it more pliable. Given that his captors had years to accomplish this goal, it is safe to assume that they made some headway.

John McCain is known for his quick temper. He is already the oldest of the Presidential candidates, and therefore he is also in danger of the assaults old age make upon the mind. Though he has performed well as Senator and as a presidential candidate, his very military training may be hiding mental damage that could be very dangerous in a critical situation. I worked in a residential hotel for seniors. I saw several veterans go from being so sharp and polished you felt they could report to duty in an instant, to raving mad lunatics wearing their underwear on their heads in a matter of hours. When you talk to veterans from World War II they can recount the horrors of battle as though it were yesterday. We must always remember the sacrifice these men make for us isn’t about a day but a lifetime. We owe McCain our gratitude, but the Presidency is something we mustn’t thank him with.

Stanley Fish, apparently not content with the absurdity of his first exposition on the Humanities, seems determined, in memory of Sir Edmond Hillary’s ascent of Mount Everest, to ascend to a peak of ridiculousnesses never before attained by man.

He hoped to clarify his original argument by stating that he did not find great works of literature worthless, but that he did find the analysis of them worthless. What is so different about the humanities than other areas of study? Imagine saying that while technology is useful, basic science is useless. One would be laughed out thinking society.

The humanities play a larger role in our lives than at any other time since hunting and gathering societies. More and more, technology and manufacturing are only used as a means of conveying content. While the auto industry is slowly dying in the United States, the movie studios and software companies are bringing in the hard currency that our nation so needs. The last century was the century of technology changing the minds of humanity. Though this century will still see gains in technology, it will be our stories that change the nature of technology.

Just like every other pursuit, training in the basics creates breakthroughs. America has been the leader in creating new intellectual properties. If we follow Fish’s advice we won’t be for long.

If you favour things like war or a low tax, low service economy, you should admit that there will be negative consequences to that policy unless, of course, you’re Bill O’Reily. Despite O’Reily’s claim to operate in the “No-spin Zone,” he refuses to admit that the failure to provide needed services to those scarred by war, may, and in fact does, result in large numbers of veterans who live the hellish existence of homelessness. Don’t let him get away with it. Sign the this open letter http://www.billwaswrong.com
to let Mr. O’Reily know we are watching while he fibs.