When I say Fear Not, mis amigos, I don't say it lightly. I'm not saying "Don't worry, be happy" (aka, go ahead and do those farewell drugs). I know there is plenty to fear out there, plenty of reason to fear, plenty of conspiracy theories to conjure up that would scare the pants off a Vietnam Vet, plenty of bad past behavior that tends to predict future behavior. As a momma bear I have to listen to my instincts about protecting myself and my family, and PLAN for the best hopeful outcome at the same time. Fortunately for us women, multi-tasking is not difficult. Por ejemplo: While talking to Randi Rhodes on her show about how awesome the DNC and Obama and everything was going to be, I was filling up my emergency 5-gal water bottles. Juuuuuusssssst in case. True Story.
So. These past two weeks have been like cold-water slapped in the face after a wwweeeeee bit too long stewing in the old de-regulation jacuzzi. Ahhhhhhh... What a relief. I mean, it's kind of a relief when the shit finally hits the fan, isn't it? For more than 2 years now we've been waiting, biting our nails for this moment, when the biggest banks the world has ever known would collapse under their own irresponsible, monopoly-money weight, and then not even ask or beg politely to be bailed out, nay, but DEMAND that we bail out their sorry asses and NOW with no oversight, just hand over the money bitches!!
My first response is kinda Goodfellas, as in "Fuck YOU, pay me." The next response comes from my redneck half (that's my dad's side) which is grab the guns and bar the door. Those muthafrakkers come for your house, your farm, your car, your dog- I think you have every right to pull a shotgun on them at close range and use whatever catchphrase suits you. All of them translate to, "Nuh-uh."
In this sense, I have so much in common with my Republican brother-in-law, it's not even funny. He's been preparing for this day since he was oh, about 10, maybe younger, when his father was killed in an industrial accident and he was suddenly "man of the house." Make no mistake, I have respect for the guy. He knows how to hunt, and he pretty much walks his talk, which is un-sanctimonious, and generous to a fault with those he loves. With no college education, he's a hard worker, well respected in his field, and pretty damn smart. (and somewhat ironically, a proud union member).
Which is why I cannot allow him to vote for Grampy McSame.
Or, which is why it totally pisses me off that despite everything, EVEN THIS, he WILL vote for John McSame.
Let me back up a bit and explain why I'm writing this blog. Last weekend we went up to Greeley to visit the nephew for Family Day at UNC, where nephew just started. yaay, nephew!! We're so proud! Also we went for the brunch buffet which included all-you-can-eat prime rib and waffles. *Very good, I might add, since the cow came from right down the street. Driving up there through Adams and Weld Counties via Hwy 85, you get a very clear sense very early on that you are no longer in Obama Territory. Greeley is a friendly enough town, despite the slaughterhouse and stockyards, but getting up there is like crossing through No-Man's-Land for us progressives. Don't expect me to launch into a hilarious travelogue here that basically gets me cheap laughs at the expense of rural people and their culture, that's not what I'm here for. Like I said, half of me is redneck, from the smallest of towns in South Dakota for chrissake, and there's a reason this mutual hatred/contempt/disdain divide is growing in America- I don't need to add to it, and don't see the point.
Drive through any rural county that's adjacent to a major metropolitan area in America, and you'll see that this election is as much about Country vs. City, as it is Black vs. White, and Rich vs. Poor. There's a reason McSame picked a small-town mayor from a largely rural state who touts "small-town values" and loves to hunt, ride dirt bikes, do meth, etc. It's because of this divide, which has been nurtured and allowed to grow for the past 8 years (or I would say, 28), built on a false notion that country mice and city mice are fundamentally "diff'ernt" as my grandmother would say (god rest her soul), and therefore "other" and therefore easily, "enemy."
(this is a cute picture to keep you interested, break up the text, and display my happy-dance moves.)
So in many ways, I totally empathize with the country mindset, but I can't claim it.
Which brings me to my original point. My brother-in-law will vote for McCain no matter what I say, because yes, it's his last stand so to speak, at least philosophically. The anthropologist in me ponders these things and comes up with what me & my colleagues have always come up to explain inexplicable behavior in groups of humans, behavior that is against their own best interest, behavior that is self-destructive: People don't want to admit that they're wrong.
(if this blog were a talkshow, instead of "Ah-ha!" moments, I would have "Duh" moments, and that was one of them.) Duh. Big dog double duh.
I mean, really, really, REALLY don't want to admit that they're wrong. Like, ever.
Not even when they're going over that cliff, headfirst, and the guy who they thought was their best friend PUSHED them and is now laughing his ass off up top, and holding your wallet, as well as your pants, because he ripped them off you first and told you this was skinny dippin'. They'll be yellin', "see you at the lake, Mac!" as they plunge 10,000 feet to their doom.
That's right, many people would literally rather die, than admit they're wrong.
Rural people especially don't want to feel like they're being told that their entire way of life is wrong, because they already get that feeling from pop culture. But they are by far, not the only ones. There's about 20% of people who cannot or will not bring themselves to think for a moment that even PART of their worldview might be based on false premises. That don't want to be told that it's not okay to be racist and it NEVER was. They don't want to hear that their behavior is inherently sexist and needs to change. They don't want to know that their old one-ton pickup truck is causing the polar icecaps to melt and maybe they should switch to biodiesel (grow your own!)
However,John McSame knows that rural people in pertickler feel picked on, and that's why he's telling them that they are right, for once. His message is that there's nothing wrong with being racist, or sexist, or extremely religion-ist, or a fun-lovin', atv-drivin', gun-totin' redneck. yeeha! That's what Ammurrka is all about, right?
So for the sake of pride, and ego, and saving face, this same 20% of the American population (most of them, my family) will vote for John McCain. It will be their last act of defiance as they're dragged, not into "that good night" but into the dawn of a new era. And once they get there, they will find plenty of hard work to please their spirits and plenty to be proud of, but precious little to whine about.
Especially taxes.
So this is what my sister-in-law brings up, as we're tucking in to our lovely roast beest and peppering the freshman nephew with questions; Taxes. I made a sarcastic comment that it wouldn't bother me too much if bro-in-law's (her husband, did I mention?) absentee ballot got lost in the mail. She replied, well at least he researches the issues, unlike most people who just see a commercial and then decide. I mumbled something about anyone who did a lick of research would know that McSame is not on their side. She retorted (and this is rare for her) that Bro-law would probably say the same about me, and didn't I realize that other people with different upbringings, religions, and income brackets would just not want to pay higher taxes? I looked at her like, HUH? Both eyebrows arched to the utmost. I started to say, uh, no, that's never made any sense to me and besides Obama's plan would give way more tax breaks to the middle class while Grampy's basically just continues the cornholing, but older, but she rattled off some more platitudes about "isn't it great that people can disagree in this country and still live together" while I checked her cranberry juice for drugs.
Perhaps I should direct her to my other blog, "No longer the difference between Coke and Pepsi." Or perhaps not.
No, I don't get the whining about taxes, because it's just that, a whine. It's a cover for people who can't bring themselves to vote for a black man, because in their hierarchical little brains, that puts a black man Above them somehow, and they can't have that.
They would literally rather die, and see their children sold into slavery for the Chinese, than admit they've been bamboozled, lied to, raped and then forced to pay for the rape kit- than vote for change.
So still, fear not, Obama will be President, and it will be great, but not perfect. We'll have a lot more of those Waco-style compounds springing up as the right-wing voters refuse to participate in the rebuilding of America and instead wall themselves off rather than admit that a black man is President, or place themselves in any way "subservient" to him. This is unfortunate, but may be a necessary step in our evolution as a country. Bruce the psychological-guy explains to me that integrally speaking, these people are still in the "orange" phase where everything's a hierarchy and the person "above" you is not your friend unless they look, act and talk just like you. We anthropologists have a better way of explaining it: they're operating from the lizard brain, or the reptilian cortex, which in more common terms houses the ego, and that great sin of pride. But this time, I sure hope no one gets killed. Especially children.
Fear Not! means having courage and an open, generous heart even in these difficult times. We can't mock those who aren't at our integral-level-of-consciousness yet (it's green, by the way). We need to let them know that our invitation to the Global Tiki Party of Hope is always open, come as you are. Bring the kids, bring the family! We need to SHOW them how much fun the new way is going to be aside from just preaching it. We need to empathize and agree that this Oil-Death Culture had everyone in a trance so that it was damn near impossible to even imagine another way of life. We need to let them know that they do have skills, and brains, and gifts to bring, and that we need those gifts. We need all the help we can get.
We also need to let them know, in no uncertain terms, that whining about your taxes when you're already rich, and on top of social heap, when people are dying, children are starving in our country or can't go to school, and close to half of all Americans have no reliable healthcare, and basically the corporations are drilling all of US, right here right now, - is totally unacceptable. Refuse to listen to that whine. Tell them "we are better than this" if you have to.
Yes, switching over and retooling our economy and entire way of life is going to be difficult, but as an anthropologist, I know we can do it. Not just hope, I KNOW WE CAN. Switch every building over to solar power in ten years? I KNOW we can. Switch and re-tool every car over to electric, which is powered by solar? Impossible? nay! I KNOW we can do it. Restore the wetlands along the entire Gulf Coast so that hurricanes are absorbed the way Nature intended? That's a big, muddy task but I KNOW we can do it. Try out s'more seemingly impossible tasks in your head, roll them around a little bit, let go of "how things are" right now, and see if you don't come up with KNOWING that we can do this.
Joe Strummer had a great quote on his radio show that I wish I had a soundbite of to play right now. He basically said, with a tone of wonder in his voice, "People can do ANYTHING. We're truly amazing. Anything they put their minds to- ANYTHING! Cure a disease, feed everyone, build the most amazing buildings on Earth- anything! And most people spend their lives telling themselves the lie they've heard from someone else- that they can't do it, that things are impossible, that no one can save the world. It's nonsense. It's simply not true."
I think I'll end with that. :)
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