Posted on Mike Malloy's FB page, Oct 28-29 2010

Mike:
I think I can at least partly concur with what you've been saying about the election, with the Dems in mind especially. I'd like to respectfully tell you where I'm coming from this season: I say vote AGAINST Republicans. Using my own state of Wisconsin as an example, I strongly feel Russ Feingold is measurably better than his Republican opponent Ron Johnson. If nothing else, Feingold's a lot more consistent; Johnson claims he'll cut the deficit, but won't say how he'll do it. Especially mystifying considering Ron Johnson wants to continue the "open-ended commitment" in Afghanistan, i.e, the endless, blood and treasure-sucking war. And Tea Party favorite Ron Johnson wants to make the Bush Tax Cuts for the rich permanent; cuts like that are a time-tested way of adding to the red ink. Russ Feingold has at least proposed a timetable for withdrawl from the Afghan quagmire. Another issue: The GOP's Johnson is purportedly against "Government intrusion in health care," even while some of his plastic factory's employees have been covered by our state's "Badger Care." There are SOME important differences this year. But admittedly, I'm not able to follow the New Jersey, Nevada or Florida situation as closely as I'd like; maybe ALL the Dems in most other states really suck!

If people don't want to vote for any of the above, they should write in someone's name. That's my take. When my father first got involved in the Civil Rights Movement, somewhere around 1967, he started doing his activist thing in Mississippi. People, the vast majority of them Black, were being beaten or even killed in the Magnolia State. Just for trying to exercize their CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to vote for the candidate of their choice. Women didn't obtain "Suffrage" until 1920, after years of agitation and protest. I believe one should fight to retain those precious rights enumerated in the US Constitution. Voting is one of those rights. Not to pretend like a piece of paper really enables or safeguards our often illusory "freedoms," but still. Voting rights aren't some touchie-feelie notion. "Democracy" (even the pretense thereof) dies with the death of honest elections, as it did in 2000, 2004.
Voting rights: use them or lose them!

How sick the show....

Just watch this sick Hollywood production, if you dare. Warning: it might make you feel vaguely, even completely ill. See how they fill American Whites full of really otherwise inexplicable loathing. The hate, already so deeply ingrained, is amplified, exacerbated.
Consider that the non-white people portrayed are the sort that couldn't possibly hurt Americans in "The Homeland."
This episode dates from about 1985, height of the Cold War. So they were big on casting Russkies as the villain. Back then, a Russian would do in a pinch. SOMEBODY hs to play the "_____," the Untermensch. Even a white guy sometimes. The overarching desire was/is to fill the insatiable yearning for a villain, a Bad Guy. For plastic people whose identity is so awfully weak, there is a hankering for some kind of excitement, some vicarious thrill. People whose capacity for love has been horribly stymied might just find something to fill the terrible vacuum. That's why shows like this are produced:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO_Bfdbc_pE

I'm not making excuses for White People who are clearly so f*cked up. White Europeans created an unprecedented wave of violence directed at most of the planet ever since colonialism was the new rage. Present day racism and discrimination are an American, thus a World horror. But the kind of televised conditioning that makes a bad situation worse should be challenged.

P.S: If anyone has better luck finding Coretta Scott King's anguished words upon the assassination of her husband Martin Luther King Jr., please let me know. A truly passionate and heart-wrenching statement I haven't come across since I heard it somewhere on TV.

On The "Race Issue," to a Friend.

I'd have to remind everyone, though, ______, that the situation is complex, very complex. Many people, of all colors and all backgrounds sometimes feel strong "racist" feelings in America. Probably most Americans, if you want to cut through all the understandable hypocrisy and hand-wringing, are fundamentally "racist." At least on many barely- or sub-conscious levels. When I say the hypocrisy is "understandable," I mean that the hypocrisy is understandable in terms of constituting a defense mechanism. Oh boy, does it ever, on all "sides," in different ways. I know of what I speak.
One can say what one wishes about which group should feel more responsible for our hideous, long-term, appalling American "racial situation." I'm not going there now, if only because this issue is so unavoidably explosive, I've no doubt already tip-toed too far into the minefield. It would be amazing if an American of ANY background hasn't been traumatized, mentally, along lines of being exhorted to bigotry. Even if such appeals are merely designed to sell products! And avoiding such temptation is going to require ongoing work of the highest order on everyone's part.

But good people come in all colors, and bad people too. I know that from experience.

It's largely the SYSTEM, you know. The divisions are there for an obvious structural REASON. Divide and Conquer, as always. When I first visited Europe, I felt noticeably free of my racial hang-ups, maybe for the first time ever. Not because Europe is non-racist - it clearly has massive problems of that sort. But I was free from the American "Racial" Hell for the first time. The twisted, warping, maddening, vexing burden was 3000 or 5000 miles away. I wasn't surrounded by it. Not even trips to Canada had ever set me so free before.
This SYNDROME is not just a matter of individual failings, it's SYSTEMIC. Malcolm X noticed. He wrote about the peculiar horrors of the American "Racial" situation, which became more apparent in his mind when he visited other countries. It's always strongly noticeable and of course it's substantially unique to the United States. And I'm not, btw, over-looking the pressing need for people of good will to assume a strong sense of individual responsibility. Let's all have at it, OMFG!!!

I'm back in America now....
AUGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

The breakneck pace of innovation offers some good.

Dan Goldstein keeps making more and more progress understanding the impact of Facebook, and about himself. Having first read Marshall McLuhans "Understanding Media" 27 years ago, I should've remembered: All new media are capable of serious dislocating effects. And they are tools, not panaceas. One always brings oneself to the place of innovation. It's up to me to figure out an acceptable way of using this medium in a way that is conducive to social and intellectual growth. Something to be continually kept in mind while logged on is this: tools and instruments of human progress hopefully serve a societal purpose - they are not here specifically as a kind of electronic medicine whose function is to make me feel better. With that in mind, I've come to reconsider my definitive, yet quite possibly erroneous statements of the last ten days:

1. Rather than freaking out about unavoidable feelings of information overload, it is wise to consider that social media may REALLY reflect a major trend: Individuals may actually be destined to involve themseves in the affairs of hundreds/thousands of others, in an unprecedented way. In a way that could easily appear inconceivable at the present. Some of you have no doubt already realized this possibility, and taken steps to organize your networking activity accordingly. I may be halfway there, but have a long way to go in discovering what approach works for me.
2. Again, with McLuhan's theories in mind: History has demonstrated time and again that we tend to view the present through the "rear-view mirror of the past." Facebook and other sites are so new and largely untested that the jury surely must still be out about many aspects. My opinions may be intense, even interesting, but hardly authoratative. The future beckons, and if I lack the kind of intellectual courage required to confront it head-on, that's my problem. The future is, more than ever, NOW. One can run, but one can't effectively hide.
3. All media have their advantages as well as their drawbacks. Describing Facebook as "Odious," or "Monstrous" may have struck me as accurate when I said it. But I pride myself on at least trying to avoid over-simplifying things. Making across-the-board condemnations like that was a mistake.

Special thanks to a Facebook friend who very recently stressed the strong need for me to take responsibility for my networking activities, especially how I may impact others. And to also be responsible for numerous other areas of my life. He knows who he is.

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Media-Extensions-Marshall-McLuhan/dp/0262631598

So sick of itall I could...

Dan Goldstein cannot realistically pretend he's not sick to death of it all. But what the hell; it's like I've said before: I have a friend who described the majority of Americans as "Fascists" about 15 years ago. I thought he was exaggerating then, but it's likely November will prove him right. "What's the matter with Kansas (Wisconsin)!?!?!"