he who knows does not speak. he who speaks does not know ~ zen proverb
I resolved this morning to stay away from the American presidential elections. I heard Sarah Palin's speech to the Republican Party Convention last night and I was quite depressed by how snide and negative it was, how cheap and obvious it was, how one-dimensional and cliched her characterisation of herself and her opponents was--and worse, how much her audience and the media seemed to relish it, all of it. Every carefully-worded sentence of mean-spirited, transparently fake, folksy bullshit that she uttered. This woman is Ronald Reagan dressed up as Loni Anderson in a "Barbie Goes to College" B-Movie from 1983, but if that's what people want, who am I to argue?
I don't understand them or their world. If anybody thinks that speech was anything other than an exercise in skilled manipulation of the electorate by invisible men dedicated to anything other than getting the party that serves their interests into government, again, and then getting rich--well,we speak different languages. I don't think I should be wasting my energy trying to convince them that they're wrong. If McCain and Palin are elected, black people will suffer, homosexuals will suffer, intellectuals will suffer, people of different religions will suffer, other countries will definitely suffer (unless they kiss America's posterior like England does); but that has always been the way when Republicans were elected to the White House. Mourning in America. What good does it do for me to suggest there might be a better way? Those who already know don't need telling, and those who voted Republican either don't care, or will never be convinced.
All it does, my intervening fruitlessly, is give me a headache and let loose anger to stalk through my breast like a panther, disturbing my meditation and my sleep.
Perhaps, by the same token, I should quit interfering in British politics as well. If I can do something constructive, something that will bring about actual change rather than just satisfy my own raving ego, which is really what I'm doing with the political commentaries on this blog, perhaps I should put my energy there; and spend the rest of my time pursuing understanding on the zazen cushion, or writing poetry.
12 comments:
You and I might have to agree to disagree. I cherish my opinions but I've never been able to convince anyone else of anything they didn't already feel swayed inside to believe. Like I've said before, neither of the candidates excite me. I am excited though to have a black man and a woman in the race. I choose to think that whatever the outcome, change is at hand. Be it good or bad, we'll all have to just wait and see.
Take a deep breath. It will be okay. I really enjoy this blog, by the way.
Lord knows england is a bastion of straight up politics.
On such a wide ranging medium as facebook, it's imperative that people like yourself comment on such affairs. Yes it's been said that nowadays with the massive industrial & firepower that is brandished, everyone in the world should elect the US president .
Such commentary from someone not directly related yet from a country with close ties to the US , would have something to say. Especially if that person is prepared to question his own country. Just my thoughts from Santiago, Chile.
It’s all too easy, perhaps, to look through a glass darkly…as long as you can do so from a safe distance.
Anonymous,
Well, I never suggested British politics was more honest than American politics. You only have to read the other posts here to see that. I feel I understand the British political process a little more, probably, and British voters too--being British I would--but I'm no more enamoured of what goes on here; nor do I think it's any more sophisticated, or whatever. Just different. Though with the creeping Americanisation of British culture the gap between us is narrowing.
All I was asking is, does anybody gain anything from me going on about something I don't understand and have no influence over anyway. I think probably not.
C.S.,
I look at everything, near and far, and have opinions, favourable and otherwise, about the furthest thing away from myself, and the person walking inside my own skin. I think the inference of some kind of intellectual cowardice based on what is written here is rather ill-thought-out and a bit lazy. But what do I know?
The reason everybody has an opinion on American politics is that America's influence, both for good and for bad, stretches deep into every corner of the world. America's president, in effect, becomes the world's president because of America's imperialism. But you would have found confrontations with the British political system, British culture, what happens on the street in front of my house AND confrontations with my own stupidity if you'd looked.
My question to myself, which provoked this post, was: why am I wasting my time getting wound up about something that is as alien to me as the American political process and who am I serving by exhibiting my alienation on this page.
Thomas,
Thank you for taking the time to consider what I was saying here properly and intelligently.
I will probably keep commenting on American AND British politics, since I've done it in various formats for 25 years now. Stopping would be hard. I do wonder what good it does, but maybe if I do some good somewhere else I won't have to feel guilty about satisfying my ego here, eh?
Kim,
Agreeing to differ is the most civilised thing adults can do, so let's do that!
You're probably right that some degree of change is occurring whatever the outcome of the election, though I think Hillary Clinton and the Democrats should take the credit for putting women at the near-centre of the political race in America this time. I don't think McCain would have chosen Palin as his running mate if he hadn't been hoping to poach disenfranchised Hillary supporters from the Democrats. I'm also not sure Palin represents much of an advance for womanhood, as she stands comfortably inside the historical male supremacist power structure, what with her hunting and her anti-abortion stance and all that "hockey mom" bullshit (I think it was that part of her speech that really made me want to throw up). If Hillary had made it into the White House men would REALLY have had to deal with an independent, intelligent, fully enfranchised feminist. But that may be why she DIDN'T make it.
I love your blog too, by the way.
Yes, I was a little embarrassed during the "Hockey Mom" moment. But they say, it's not how you begin but how you finish.
Bruce,
I could not possibly agree with you more...listening to her speech saddened, disgusted, angered and left me with a hopeless feeling that so many people could be taken in by this manipulation...it's not worth my peace of mind to follow it any more...
Maybe it would be better for all of us just to find your rock, Sharon, and sit down by the water centering our minds and bodies rather than buy into all the anger and intolerance that spreads through countries and districts and towns and streets and houses when these people start jockeying for power. Maybe we should just set what Ginsberg called "a surpassing example" of love and kindness and intelligence that will go out as a counterforce to all that destructive stuff. It's what you do unintentionally (I presume) all the time in your poetry and photographs.
Bruce.
thanks, Bruce, for the good words about my work. And it's not unintentional--I really believe in working to put beauty into a world that badly needs it. Sort of the hundredth monkey theory...
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