Appropriation or Appropriate?

Last night, I saw a local, all-white (presumably) production of the 2001 theater adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days, the 1873 Jules Verne novel. I have to say that I did enjoy the play, and was very glad that I went. There were accents and imitations done of people from around the world, which caused some eyebrow raises, but the play does call on only 5 actors to play 42 characters. No matter how diverse a cast, this play will require imitation. Thankfully, no one darkened their skin for any role. 

The scenes in America were both the most amusing - think an Englishman, his French servant, and an East Indian woman encountering perfectly stereotypical white male archetypes from the 19th century - and most troubling. The latter started when the train that the three protagonists are riding is attacked by "the Apaches" and a shoot-out ensues. The Frenchman goes off to save the day with some acrobatics on the locomotive but is also kidnapped by these Apaches. Upon his rescue, he comes bounding onto stage in a giant feathered headdress.

My eyes grew wide with disappointment, but the story went on to tell how the Apaches wanted to make him their "chef" based on his acrobatics on the locomotive, which could be a justification for wearing such an important item.

There are just a few more problems:

• The tribe in the novel was the Sioux, not the Apache's. This speaks to carelessness for the diversity of Native Americans that is all to common.
• The novel is from the time the US was lying to and slaughtering Native Americans constantly. It's not going to paint a sympathetic portrait of Native Americans. This is unfortunate and perhaps unavoidable for the actual novel, but we're supposed to know better now. We shouldn't be perpetuating it.
• The mythology around Natives accepting white people as gods or their leaders does have a tiny bit of historical precedent, but it's old and tired. 

Could this scene have been made in a better way, in terms of writing or costuming? I do not follow the idea that "any representation" is better than none, primarily when that representation just reinforces harmful stereotypes that still pervade our culture. 

So, appropriation? In terms of costume design, in terms of the script, costume design being accurate to the script? I cannot say no. Appropriate, in light of the story? I cannot say yes. 

Socialism, Society, and America

I'm angry, I'm always angry unless there is something distracting happening to mask the anger. Today, the anger is about everyone's apparent glee about a Florida millionaire adopting a neighborhood with his riches and helping it out. I don't want to rain on the parade, but more than that, I've learned that raining on the parade subjects me to all kinds of anger from those who have yet to grasp the things I find to be self evident.

1. We are social beings and the only solution to our problems will be to work together.
2. America has been poisoned by decades of anti-Communist propaganda into thinking that any collective effort will lead to totalitarianism.
3. Individual efforts, while excellent for making dents in large problems, only go so far, and certainly not far enough.
4. Monied interests will always want to keep their money.

Ugh, I'm sure the list could go on longer and longer. I could get into how tribalism and racism are at the root of many of our struggles - sexism is there too, but it manifests slightly differently. People think Obama is getting crap because he's black, and yeah, that's happening, but he wouldn't have an easier time if he was white, because he's a Democrat. Anyone who thinks he would be riding high if he was white have forgotten the Clinton administration. And don't even talk to me about how the media would be treating him. Back in the 1990's, we were just starting the "both sides" rhetoric, and now it's so culturally ingrained that no one can even mention that one side might be wrong without adding useless equivocation. The nation has been gaslighted by reactionary monied interests for so long now that we no longer know right from wrong. Well, some of us anyway.

Sigh.

I know there are people out there who get it, and I'm actually somewhat hopeful, but damned if I'm not angry. Because these people who now get it were staying home in November 2010 when they could have prevented all this shit from happening in the first place. It was spring 2011 when people finally woke up, and by then it was too late. TOO LATE.

We got screwed with gerrymandered districts in 2012 because too many people didn't get it, too many people were convinced that their vote didn't matter, that nothing mattered, that because Obama couldn't make manna come down from heaven that it was "time to give the Republicans a chance". FUCK THAT! Republicans HAD their chance, they've had too many chances, and each one sucked, but you wouldn't know, because the people who should be telling you are living in the both-sides fallacy.

Then there are the people who were barely paying attention who all wonder "where it went wrong". They think that there was a time in America's past where we had it right, a time when we all cared about each other and things were great. Even intelligent, savvy people who have paid attention fall into this trap, but the truth is, the individualistic, screw everyone mentality is a CORE AMERICAN VALUE. Every single non-Native, not-descended-from-slaves person in this country came here to make it on their own. They left families, left towns, or left countries to "be free" from their old society. Then when they set up society on the east coast, some of them left to be even more "free" to go west and really live on their own. No, our past was not a socialist paradise, our past was a ruthless, cutthroat, dirty, dangerous, horrible hellhole that people somehow managed to survive long enough to have children in.

Even the period of time after WWII wasn't great if you weren't white or male, and even then, it still wasn't that great. It was a blip on the horrible history of our country, a random, uneven blip of sort-of okayness for some people that's gone now. We remember it as so great because the popular narrative of the time paints it that way, but millions of white men lived with untreated PTSD, raising kids with an iron fist, like their father did. Millions of women were frustrated and bored, full of resentment that they couldn't place. Millions of black people weren't much better off than they had ever been in this nation. Shit was bad, shits always been bad, and if we want to improve this shit, we have to get over the paranoia about working together. We have to literally go against every fucking thing that brought our ancestors, or ourselves, to this rock, and get over it. So I'm angry, angry about the bad rep socialism gets, angry about the failure of society, and angry about the reality of America.

The World is a Strange, Ugly, Horrible, Beautiful, Scary Place

I'm not sure what I can do now. There are so many things happening around me right now, so many horrible things going down and so many misconceptions right next to me that I'm lost. I have an opportunity to share the things I've learned with people who need to know them, but I'm suddenly afraid.

The conversations I have online and with my friends come from a place of mutual understanding. We take it as a given that all people are born with rights, with dignity and the possibility to succeed, but they are born into circumstances that might stop them before they start. The circumstances might stop them before they are even born. I know that I'm where I am because of the privilege of my skin and my place of birth, not just because I'm smart and work hard. I was allowed to be smart, and people noticed my work, and now they reward it. There are many more people like me that aren't where I am now.

I see the future and it looks like the past, but which past? I'm afraid of re-living dark days, afraid of shanty towns in my own country, people suffering needlessly. I'm within the top 10% of earners in this country, but I can barely imagine living on less at this point. How do the rest of us do it?

All my hopes are pinned on 2014 right now - Republicans are so far past the light that they think they can read in the dark. I've got money to shield me now, but it is little solace. I can't pretend the world is alright just because I am. I was raised a hell of a lot better than that.

Intolerant Vengeance

I am intolerant, I am angry, I have a thirst for vengeance. When a random person dies because someone has a Rambo complex, all of my compassion for the victims of our draconian criminal "justice" system goes out the door. When bloated, moronic thugs think that violence against protesters is warranted or even funny, I begin imagining the cruel things I'd like to do to them, and it is usually exactly what they are doing. I have no sympathy for Johannes Mehserle, though his show of remorse puts him above George Zimmerman. Both killed someone who did nothing to deserve it, who were trying to build successful lives, who were not threatening anyone.

I am disgusted by the Zimmerman defenders on Facebook today. Disgusted with their inability to grasp that no matter what Trayvon did in his life, he did not deserve to die. I am disgusted with their parroting of the uncorroborated story that Zimmerman told and changed over the ensuing months. To them, it is not good enough that a child is dead, that parents are mourning, and that the person that did it is free. I don't know what would be good enough for them. To me, they are without empathy, without compassion, without character. They will cry up and down that they are not racist, and that I am the one bringing race into the situation, but one cannot bring race into any situation in America, because it is already there.

Race and racism are inextricably intertwined, knotted, in the American story. Race and racism are the American story. You cannot tell the story of the early colonies without telling the story of the conflict between those with slaves and those without. You cannot explain the industrial revolution without examining the textile industry and it's roots in the cotton plantations of the south. Race is in everything we do in this country, it is present in every part of our society, and racism is a part of every single person here. It doesn't matter if you're white or not, it doesn't even matter if you have been a victim of racially based prejudice. If you are an American, it is not a question of "are you racist," but rather a question of "how racist are you?"

From that end, it is important to understand how we perceive race and how we act on it. If all you can do when you hear this is think "well, I have friends who are black, I can't be racist," I assure you that you most certainly are. If you never question your thoughts as you walk down the street and see black people walking towards you, you're probably crossing the street to avoid them. You're condescending to them at work and left wondering why they are getting testy with you. Like the addict who has to admit to the problem before being able to solve it, you have to see your own racism before you can consider rising above it.

I contemplated my own racism this week and it bothers me. I see names from certain cultures associated with projects at work that I would like to be doing and I become jealous and irritated. I assume they are in the position because they are cheaper labor, or because of something else, I don't know what. That bothers me and I am bothered by the bothering, and I'm not sure I will ever be able to control those thoughts. The important thing is that I am aware of them, and aware that they are unjustified and racist, and now I can see if my behavior changes because of them.

But the Zimmerman defenders will not do this. They will swear up and down that they are not racist in the least for this reason or another. They will pedantically bring up the idiotic notion that because Zimmerman wasn't completely white, that he somehow can't be racist. Then tell you that Zimmerman had a "right" to "defend himself" while ignoring the fact that he initiated the conflict in the first place. They can't be bothered to think that maybe Martin should have the same ability to defend himself from a stranger following him. The next step is to ask why the kid didn't call 911, to which I wonder if it is good enough that the boy paid for that mistake with his life.

Mehserle got away with murder, but he had remorse. I have enough reason to believe that he will be haunted by his actions for the rest of his life, but I have no reason to think Zimmerman is anything but pleased with what happened. He strikes me as a sociopath that I can't even bear to look at. He projected his own sociopathy onto a random person walking down the street. A person that fit a profile, one that he probably doesn't realize was racist, and just as the BART cops escalated the situation at Fruitvale because of their own unexamined racial anxieties, Zimmerman pursued an honor student coming back from a store with snacks. He didn't bother to talk to him and ask what he was up to; he followed him like a stalker, ensuring that the boy would be afraid and on the defensive.

My anger at this Zimmerman is overwhelming. The things I wish on him are best left unrecorded. That I am open about that is probably ammunition to the Zimmerman defenders - "hey, look, she just wants to see bad things happen to him, she's bad" - but I don't care. I'm human and I have human anger about the death of a promising 17-year-old boy. I'm angry about all of the promising young men who are cut down, and I'm angry at all of the young people who live in environments that don't allow them to be promising, like mine allowed me. I have this thirst for vengeance, and an intolerance for those who would not sympathize.

Cut Down All My Good Times, I Know Right from Wrong

I remember all the concern about the debt when Clinton got into office. I was a pre-teen, so I didn't know much about recent history, but I saw all kinds of numbers and pressure on Democrats to cut spending. John Stossel was always calling out government excesses on 20/20, and it shocked me. Then, there was a budget surplus in 2000, but I didn't care because I was a kid hypnotized by the "both sides are the same" rhetoric of the Green Party. They had their points, and my state went for Gore, but I won't make that mistake again.

Suddenly, the debt didn't matter. Then there was spending and spending and spending. Dick Cheney said that deficits didn't matter. I learned more about the Clinton years. I learned that the Republicans just became anti-Clinton, even for legislation that they supported during the Bush 1 presidency.

Then Obama was president, and like clockwork, all of the Clinton era crap came back. The national debt mattered and Republicans were lock-step obstructionists. I have no illusions that Republicans have the nation's best interests at heart because I've seen their real behavior. I've fancied myself a Republican, I've been a radical leftist, and now I'm in the center - ready to face real problems and create solutions where everyone benefits. I know that this means rejecting the Republican party and I'm not ashamed. History played out in front of my now 31-year-old eyes, and I paid attention.

One Hundred Fifty Years Ago, Today

Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in the territories held by Confederates are now free. This enables those slaves to enlist in the Union Army, and changes the war from a battle to preserve the Union to a struggle to end slavery.

The Library of Congress has this to say:

In an effort to placate the slave-holding border states, Lincoln resisted the demands of radical Republicans for complete abolition. Yet some Union generals, such as General B. F. Butler, declared slaves escaping to their lines "contraband of war," not to be returned to their masters. Other generals decreed that the slaves of men rebelling against the Union were to be considered free. Congress, too, had been moving toward abolition. In 1861, Congress had passed an act stating that all slaves employed against the Union were to be considered free. In 1862, another act stated that all slaves of men who supported the Confederacy were to be considered free. Lincoln, aware of the public's growing support of abolition, issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring that all slaves in areas still in rebellion were, in the eyes of the federal government, free.

The This Day in the Civil War site comments that an American president could only do this when states were seceding and there was a war on.

But history is so dry and unemotional. The real deal is that today is the sesquicentennial of the Federal Government's decision that slavery was wrong for the Union. 150 years ago, roughly five generations in the past, is not so long, when you start to think about it. The election of 2012 should also show us how tied to history we all are too. All of the descendants of those aristocratic, dumb-as-rocks slave owners, still using nepotism and charm to worm their ways into positions of power.

But that is unfair - really unfair, in the sense that some of those people could be very intelligent, and kind. Some of those people could have an understanding of all things and all people, but the slithering ways of cultural memory and not wanting to make waves, especially when things are going well... Well, no one should be so naive as to believe that the legacy of slavery ended with the end of the institution. No one should be so naive as to believe that racism went away with the Civil Rights Act. No one should be so naive to believe that the Cold Civil War is not still happening.

Yet we are. Somehow, history became "back then" in America, and completely separate from what is happening now. My hypothesis, my gut feeling, based on my study of history and cultural memory is that the Second World War had a severing effect in the United States. The mobilization of the United States was awesome in several ways. Many look at it as a good thing, but there has always been a contingent who saw it as overreach. When peacetime came, and the excesses of truly overreaching governments were clear to Americans, this contingent drew parallels between the United States Federal Government and Stalin or Mao. It was idiotic, of course, but after a while, a generation of new people, born just after the war, began to come of age. Being in the majority, they were catered to in many ways. Their ideas were seen as "edgy" when they may have just been anti-social, or stupid. They did see a lot of problems in the established ways of doing things, so they shook them up. But instead of understanding the historical aspects of the current problems, they got a single victory, like Roe v. Wade, and then thought everything would be solved.

Then of course, in their childhood, Americans forgot how much of a problem Republican administrations created for the economic well-being of the country, and elected a moderate one. So all those kids grew up with a positive, but inaccurate view of actual Republican ideology. Naive, ignorant, children, in the majority. I am encouraged by the fact that their children and grandchildren, with more of an appreciation for the past, are growing up and getting voices. And there is the internet. It is a lot harder to push a rewritten version of history when the internet is there, and people know how to use it.

Past is prologue. Past is always the prologue, and reading it will answer all of your questions. One hundred fifty years ago, today, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the seceded states were free.

One Hundred Fifty Years Ago, Today

Robert E. Lee decisively wins the Battle of Fredericksburg, but you wouldn't know from the This Day in the Civil War site.

[The] Army of the Potomac under Gen. Burnside suffers a costly defeat at Fredericksburg in Virginia with a loss of 12,653 men after 14 frontal assaults on well entrenched Rebels on Marye's Heights. "We might as well have tried to take hell," a Union soldier remarks. Confederate losses are 5,309. "It is well that war is so terrible - we should grow too fond of it," states Lee during the fighting.

- from The History Place

Of course, slave owners and other southern whites should already be used to carnage, what with all the times they beat up the people they "owned". Then again, the "gentile" people farmed that work out to the sociopaths, so they never had to see it.

One Hundred Fifty Years Ago, Today

This letter was written. A man also wrote this letter to his wife.

And this blog gives me a day by day account: http://www.civilwarinteractive.com

Soaring

I felt this incredible sensation when I came home from my vacation in August, like our society is on a great precipice. We could go crashing down, or take off, and soar. There are so many people out there, creating amazing art, and doing wonderful things. So many more people are seeing through the lies, through the bullsh*t than ever before.

There is a lot of talk about the generations, and it seems as if we have been preparing for the boomers to retire for a long time now. Only a few of them are retiring, right now, since it was their idiotic economic policies that drove the stock market up, then left it in the ditch. They also seem content on dismantling the social safety net that their parents toiled for, but only for part of their generation, and those that came afterwards.

This generation, my generation, once dubbed Generation Y, and now lumped in with millenials, grew up after all the generational fervor that the boomers went though. We noticed how they spit on their parents' traditions, and how their parents blamed them for everything wrong in their world, then sent them off to war.

We heard about how the greatest minds of their generation were destroyed by madness, only to be held down, ourselves, by the minds that were left over. We endured the same criticisms about our music that they endured about theirs, yet we didn't turn around and spurn the Rolling Stones or Motown. In fact, many of us own more vinyl now than they maybe ever did.

The boomers taught us, provided for us, gave us everything they never had, and when we grew up, we actually were grateful. Sad, however, that so few of them are noticing. The people my age seem to be respectful of their elders, and excited to hear all of the stories. I may roll my eyes when a man in his 60's speaks wistfully of the old Haight-Ashbury days, but that is only because I've heard it all before. The 20-somethings listening to him are indeed interested, and really do want to know more.

The Class of 2000 have families now, and I see them when I go for walks. They are outside, at the playground, with their kids. They are walking through the grocery store, picking out vegetables for dinner. But I also see them in other places, struggling in low-paying jobs, and using drugs to escape their turmoil. They are shying away from jobs with large organizations, because they don't want to give up their freedoms, and don't like the idea of stifling their creativity.

They may take a low-level job for the health insurance, but they will only do the minimum, because their heart isn't in it. Meanwhile, the person that wants that job is stuck in another job, for that same health insurance. Give them health insurance that isn't related to a job - ensure their guaranteed health care, no matter what they do - and the qualified but uninterested will quit, making way for the questionably qualified, but eager people, who are actually interested in doing that job. Then watch as the newly freed people fill up those abandoned storefronts. Imagine a downtown district that gets cleaned every day, creative shops, bustling eateries, and friendly neighbors.

We are on a great precipice this year. We can either go down the deep end, spurring anger, and riots, or we can stop this fighting, stop resisting reality, talk to our neighbors, jump off this cliff, and soar.

What a World

The liberal blogosphere was awash this weekend with mentions of a gathering of conservatives at something called the Values Voter Summit. It seems that the evangelicals have a hard time being led by a Mormon, and many are saying some that Romney isn't *gasp* a Christian! Which is a bad thing to not be in the universe of the VVS.

Romney reacted to the accusations, which included calling Mormonism a "cult", which this statement:

Our government should respect religious values, not silence them. We will always pledge our allegiance to a nation under God. Our values ennoble the citizen, and strengthen the nation. We should remember that decency and civility are values too. One of the speakers who will follow me today, has crossed that line. Poisonous language does not advance our cause. It has never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind. The blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate. The task before us is to focus on the conservative beliefs and the values that unite us - let no agenda, narrow our vision or drive us apart.

This statement reminded me that the world of the VVS and the world that conservatives claim to want is quite a horrible place. Instead of discussing world issues and determining ways to deal with them, conservatives are playing identity politics based on who believes which version of the sky daddy story. I cannot think of a more worthless way to spend time, unless your goal is to solidify the conformity of your own group, in part by driving out those who do not conform. But if the Republicans want religious purity in their leaders, then that is their prerogative. The do have many examples from history that they can use for this, like Stalin, Mao, and I think the Catholics called theirs The Inquisition.

I find the last line in that statement pretty amusing in that Romney thinks that anything he says will make any difference at the VVS. Everyone knows that VVS people base their decisions on a nebulous concept of values, rather than on anything objective. They will not be swayed to accept Romney's Mormonism just because he says a few words. These are people who will still not accept that Barack Obama was born in the US, even after he presented the document they had been demanding all along.

But I want to get back to Romney's statement, because there is an awful lot of crazy in there:

Our government should respect religious values, not silence them. We will always pledge our allegiance to a nation under God.

You might, but I prefer to follow the advice of the gentlemen that founded the country. I make no pledges and prefer to keep this god concept out of government.

Our values ennoble the citizen, and strengthen the nation.

So long as that citizen is white and male, or respects the supremacy of the white and male citizens. And if by strengthen, you mean to send all money to the military instead of education and infrastructure.

We should remember that decency and civility are values too.

Yes, they are values too, gold star for Mitt!

One of the speakers who will follow me today, has crossed that line. Poisonous language does not advance our cause.

I don’t like poisonous language either, but have you really looked at your cause, Mitt?

It has never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind.

Well, not changed a mind for the better, at least. I should commend Mitt for getting the first part of that statement right.

The blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate.

This is an especially confusing statement. What are the “blessings of faith,” anyway? What extra good could come from believing in an ancient mythology despite all of the evidence that said ancient mythology is as mistaken as the rest of them? The only blessing I can think of - that doesn’t have an analog in a non-faith-based life - is the comfort in thinking that dead people are in heaven and/or one is going to heaven after death. Still, I don’t know how that “blessing” necessarily is followed by any responsibility.

But if we follow that logic further, that would mean that only faith can inspire people to be civil and have respectful debates. That is an interesting statement, since there are many people with no faith to speak of who can conduct themselves civilly and participate in respectful debate. Romney’s logic would conclude that, without faith, they have no responsibility to have civil and respectful debate, yet they do not routinely call others cruel names or throw chairs at debates. It would seem that the responsibility to be civil and respecful might not come from faith at all.

The task before us is to focus on the conservative beliefs and the values that unite us - let no agenda, narrow our vision or drive us apart.

At least, let no agenda narrow our vision any further - we don’t tolerate Muslims, gays, independent women, poor people, government workers (unless they’re in a high enough position of power), unemployed people, hippies, hipsters, anyone not Christian, and anyone under 55 who wants single-payer Medicare when they retire (and not a pathetic voucher to give to some corporation).

For how bad all of this is, I am still laughing. The Republicans are clearly self-destructing, and I think fewer Americans will be voting this year on the premise that “I voted D last time, maybe now I’ll give R a shot”. Those people couldn’t tell that the R’s made the mess in the first place, but maybe now they can see that the R’s are full of crap.

Imagine That You Were Born 50 Years Earlier Than You Really Were

It is 1961, and you've just heard about those people riding the bus through Alabama to test segregation laws. You heard that one bus was set on fire, and the riders on the other were beaten up, severely. You get wind of students and others going down to Alabama to continue the ride to New Orleans. You have the free time... So, my question is,

Would you get on that bus?

Huh

I found this link buried in my drafts, from two years ago.

Queen's bloomers sell for £4,500

Heydays of the Adirondacks

by M. DeSormo

Mother's in the kitchen
Washing out the jugs,
Judy's in the pantry
Bottling the suds.
Father's in the cellar
Mixing up the hops,
Johnny's on the front porch
Watching for the cops

Thank You Silent and Baby Boomer Generations*

Thank you for the work you did to popular music. You wanted something syncopated, uptempo, with back-beats, and definitely physically charged.

Your work has, so far, culminated in awesomeness. And knowing the artist in this case, we may have only seen the beginning.

Wa-wa-what did you say? Huh?; You're don't think this is awesome? [you're wrong] Sorry; I cannot hear you, I'm kinda busy