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Issue No. 158 | 25 October 2002 |
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The Sirens' Song
Interview: The Wet One Bad Boss: Like A Bastard Unions: Demolition Derby Corporate: The Bush Doctrine Politics: American Jihad Health: Secret Country Review: Walking On Water Culture: TCF Poetry: The UQ Stonewall
The Soapbox Postcard Month In Review The Locker Room Bosswatch Wobbly
 Heaps of Bali FeedbackBrooklyn Phil Says ...Here Comes the WTOFrom Little Finks ...The Mouth From the South!Ushering the Rusted ShieldEchoes of DLP
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Letters to the Editor Ushering the Rusted Shield
Democracy has historically linked us to the essential tools needed for survival within diverse cultures and societies. An active citizenry in the United States is meant to protect us from government control and excess.
But those that speak up are labeled "fringe," and "na�ve idealists." Our ideas poisoned with the rationale that our worldviews are skewed by airy hopes and empty realities. Dissent is no longer viewed as a necessary action in a world of like-minded capitalists. Our corporations influence on education, on the food we eat, the private water we will all one day drink, the dirty air we now breath, and the health care we don't have; you'd think would wake dreamy Americans. But our corporate culture muddles these essential debates. News pundits rattle over minor differences. Children wash their brains in re-runs of Southpark and video games of war. Grown boys ejaculate over touchdowns and slam-dunks. And the rest simply don't have the time or that energy, they are too busy fighting for their next meal. Lack of voters in the United States comes less from uninterest than from the perception that one cannot make a difference. It is perceived that our politicians are so a-like that a vote can't break the strangle hold monotony. It is more a lack of candidates with differences, than an ignorant populous, or what Chomsky would refer to as "the bewildered herd." But see, that is where we all come in. Our concerns over the direction of the world can't be intrinsic qualities. Rather they must be branding tattoos that label us as humans with purpose, with ambitions for the betterment of life on earth. Pre-emptive war, toothless lawgivers, and corporate greed leave democracy in the hands of the people. We are those people, the people with the power to make change. If you've ever felt alone in your thinking, you are not. Dissenting voices exist, and we aren't anti-American, or unpatriotic. In fact we are the epitome of democratic virtue. As anarchistic and feminist Emma Goldman once wrote, "the most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought. That this should be so terribly apparent in a country whose symbol is democracy, is very significant of the tremendous power of the majority." Our only protection from the majority now may be our rusted shield of democracy, but it is the only hope we have if we want future inhabitants of earth to enjoy the many qualities life still possesses. We must start at home; talk to our children, our parents, our colleagues and friends. We are the grass roots of hope; the only hope that is still left. Josh Frank 3355 SE 15th AVE Portland OR 97202 503-577-2340
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