one of the first things i try to ask myself in any given situation is
if the situation is fair and equal, and if not is there a greater good that
could possibly come from that inequality that might outweigh the invasion of personal
rights and liberties? that’s basically
why i wake up and go to work everyday. that is duly reflected in my blog, website,
and wherever else i operate. i realize
that other people’s priorities are different.
i share feelings because they are necessary for growth, not to try not to
impose any will or care if people agree or disagree.
i suppose i don’t really need to care if people don’t want to share
feelings. deep down i do care because i know
humans need input from many different values and viewpoints. and it becomes a
degeneration of society to not have active participation. but for the sake of my internet presence, i
don’t have to care much if people contribute.
ideally, it would make things like the blog or website more of a living, breathing entity, but if it
dies it dies. it’s all gonna die
anyway at some point. such lack of participation is not an internet phenomenon, it is
consistent with the culture. americans have shown continually more
inaction and ambivalence than taking the effort to
fight causes. it takes a rare bird to
stay behind for the winter. it should be
of no surprise that the facebook nation reflects that. facebook’s main purpose
seems to be validating personal feelings and (positive) moral support and comic
relief. if a person posts anything too deep,
facebookers don’t participate in the conversation. (that’s one reason why i prefer twitter to facebook.) it should be of no consequence then, for the
sake of my website, that i become judge, jury and executioner of world events. it
may not be better for my experience and knowledge, but i can only use what i have at hand.
stereotyping for a moment (people certainly do interact to varying
levels), it should be disconcerting that people on facebook don’t like to
interact with challenging viewpoints, for whatever the reason. whether a person has a political posture that
they need to maintain in the community, don’t have the energy after a hard day
of work, have gotten past the turbulent political activist years of their
youth, would rather concern themselves with lighthearted comic relief and the
sunny side of life, or whatever it is, i don’t need to judge that. that’s one’s own prerogative and people are
free to live out their lives as they see fit and the conglomeration of these
attitudes ultimately reflects our preferences as a society. in the minimal outcome, it still is
worthwhile if the information provided here makes one person able to have a
little different appreciation for a way of thinking that they haven’t exercised
before. that would help me consider my job
a success.
so whether it’s a vote for a rabble rouser, a snarky :P, a pm, an
email, a reply, a comment, a tag on facebook, a tweet, or if participation
doesn’t even happen, i am not going to stop thinking about things or stop
fighting for equality. if there is no contribution, i sometimes must
employ my benevolent dictatorship. if
someone wants to challenge, or encourage me to more of the same, i welcome the
contribution and participation. barring
any of that, here are some rabble rouser of the month considerations, followed
by the winner, which is perhaps the most light-hearted facebook-friendly choice of all of the nominees.
february has always been a good protest month, just as the spring that soon follows is a time of planting seeds and rebirth,
regeneration, cleaning, etc. ironically, or maybe appropriately, this month has been yet another
regression in our nation’s civil rights history. oppressive attitudes by officials toward
personal liberties have gone berserk many places in the world, but most shockingly here in the
united states.
nearly everyday, somewhere in this country, a cop (of some variety) is
reprimanded for beating someone, driving drunk or some other gross negligence
of justice and dereliction of duty.
never to suggest that all cops are bad, and one
rotten apple does often spoils the public image.
but the harvest of the fruit is a product of the
tree’s environment. are there enough checks and
balances? are there people being held accountable for their actions? this is the part of the system i most often
watch for the real injustice. the main
reason i am not too inclined to support bad cop/good cop stereotypes is because
the injustice in the system breeds itself.
the good cops still have to stand up for the actions of all their fellow
officers, the whole fraternal order and that whole bit. good cops are not often inclined to buck the
system when another cop acts out. when they do speak out, they are villainized (see link to the new jersey police chief below). that’s
the real root of problems: the allowance of conditions to fester.
two of the more upsetting recent cases: cecily mcmillan in
her apparently felonious action of elbowing a cop who grabbed her breast and that of
margie carranza and emma jernandez who were shot at 103 times by police in a
case of mistaken identity.
not only do people go too far in assuming that cops are mostly good, many people have a bias against the supposed villains that cops harass. people especially seem to have a bias against the entire occupy movement.
apparently it is wrong to protest unfair labor conditions, monetary inequality
and things of that nature. everything the founding fathers of the united states
fought for would be in vain as well under that guise of thinking. occupier’s
plights have been easily wiped away by a disconcerted public that doesn’t seem
to want to deal with fights that are a nuisance. for sure, rights are not an easy thing to
secure. the fight is supposed to be tough. it is supposed to be a nuisance
because oppression itself is a nuisance.
cecily mcmillan, who happened to be at an occupy wall street demonstration in 2012, was grabbed from behind by her breast. she threw up an
elbow into the face of the perpetrator, who happened to be an NYPD officer. she
was then beaten into submission before being arrested and charged with felony
assault of a police officer. when i hear
comments like, “if she hadn’t been there in the first place, she wouldn’t have
been beaten,” i lose faith in human relations and wonder what the point of
interacting with other people is. it’s as if inaction and ambivalence is any
way to make any change in society. i can
come right back with the obvious retort that if the cops hadn’t been there,
then she wouldn’t have gotten beaten either.
because people like to assume the authorities are right, it is a fruitless endeavor to worry about how the beating could’ve been
prevented. the main issue is that for a
really long time, if not forever, cops have continued to get away with murder,
literally, and to further the endeavors of the establishments in power. cecily was one person standing up against
that and was beaten.
earlier this month, cecily’s trial began. the fact that she was charged with a crime was
the more severe insult to injury. in other words, she was harassed and
attacked by police to the point of unconsciousness, yet for fighting
back she faces seven years in prison while the cops are still free to continue
beating people. as her lawyer pointed out,
once the police grabbed her breast, it was a natural reaction for her to hit
back. ultimately, whatever anyone’s take on the situation, there
are more humane ways to detain people, if in fact detention was warranted. police don’t need to beat someone unconscious
for any reason, ever...
...just like police don’t need to fire 103 shots without any shots being fired back. margie carranza and emma jernandez were in the wrong place at the
wrong time last february, but they are quite lucky that the cops they
encountered seem to be in need of target practice. february 12 marked the one-year anniversary
of the death of christopher dorner, the former u.s. navy officer and l.a.
policeman who supposedly turned vengeful. while the jury may be forever out on
what his particular case was all about and whether he is a hero or a villain,
the innocent bystander shouldn’t be a victim.
the cops stopped the 43-year-old margie and her 71-year-old mother in a
case of mistaken identity. they shot at
the unarmed women 103 times and merely injured them. there was monetary compensation paid,
but earlier this month it was learned that the cops violated policy (really?), though the public will never know who did it or whether they will be reprimanded and continue to serve the public.
when cops are allowed to act out with no consequence, it is not holding
them accountable for their actions. it
is only making the streets more dangerous.
and who could make things safer?
if there is no one to stand up and express their anger and frustration
at the system, is the system really wrong?
certainly, in such a condition, police will be able to continue to kill
rights and everything that has been fought for over the years in this country
will continue to erode. and, at the same time, the
corporate news will have an easy job censoring stories when when people are
basically censoring themselves by showing no concern.
march 15 is the international day against police brutality. i doubt that it will get more than a copblock honor. i do not
give up on the need for a good police force, but to accomplish that we need to
keep the agencies on their toes. how can we keep any agency on their toes when
every level of society continues to show hatred and discrimination and
disrespect the laws they are sworn to uphold and protect? there are so many stories from this month
that are ridiculous in their lack of respect for people and the law that i
can’t possibly list even most of them.
here are links to a few:
:: christian tumax suspended from rudder high school in in texas for
standing up for the rights of a special needs student.
:: arizona government passes legislation against being gay.
:: olympics: yvegny vitishko sentenced to three years at
russian penal colony for opposing the sochi olympics by “defacing” (aka spray painting) a fence outside the governor’s vacation home which is allegedly
illegally built in a national park.
:: hartford connecticut news photographer arrested for using a drone camera.
:: 84-year-old nun sentenced to 35 months in prison for protest at
nuclear facility.
:: olympics: ukrainian alpine skier bogdana matsotska quits olympic games in protest over
president yanukovych for widespread militant corruption causing violence
against ukraine :: yanukovych has thus far refused to step down,
but his government has issued an order for his removal and arrest.
:: alain labrecque offered big money for his tar sands home near the
keystone pipeline, goes vocal.
:: new jersey police chief relieved of duty for speaking out against police corruption.
:: u illinois chicago faculty strike to protest continued increase inadministration, and decrease of faculty
:: cops beat unarmed man to death in front of family (in the video, when the cops first release their holds on the man, look at the "oh shit" look on the first one's face...
:: cops beat wheelchair bound man inside precinct: cop cleared of all charges. one of the most wrong videos i have ever seen
how is someone supposed to pick a rabble rouser of the month from such
a group of people? none of these even considers the case of michael sam.
michael sam’s open media admission that he was gay and all the frenzy
that has awakened in social concern. people are confused over the point of the
matter and want to suggest that a person’s personal life is no one else’s
business, basically meaning that michael sam and everyone else need to shut up about it. again the self-censoring public continues to
trample their own human rights. the
topic of gay rights is the most pressing concern that society seems to grapple
with right now and it fights on as the watershed movement of this
generation. we will come to a solution
in time, hopefully sooner than later, because such discrimination really should
be impossible at this juncture of human endeavors.
yet, there are still kids being bullied and committing suicide because
it is still apparently wrong to be gay, especially in the wild west. i feel this epidemic absolutely needs to be
talked about, loudly.
but battles have to be chosen carefully i suppose. gay rights are human rights, of course, but i
would be more inclined to choose someone like cecily or the victims of police
brutality, being that it seems more pressing at this time to view human rights
broadly, mostly because issues that more directly kill, than indirectly, should
probably be stopped first. there is
probably a good case that another approach is best, but so long as there is a
plan of some sort, we are in a position to be successful.
it was said that michael sam’s NFL draft stock will slide because of the
open admission and that there would be some kind of baggage that comes with
employing him. well then, let’s welcome
the NFL to the rest of racist america. a
player would, in theory, be drafted based on their ability. michael sam was the best defensive player in
the southeastern conference, who many people think is the best in college
football. the missouri tiger defenders
over the past couple of years have gained legendary status in the NFL. michael sam is another of this breed. he is likely to be around for many years,
anchoring the defensive line of the team that wants to take the chance and
draft him. late round draft picks don’t
get paid like first round picks and have to fight harder through the narrow
window of opportunity that life in professional sports offers. so, in effect,
sam’s being gay seems to reduce his potential value somehow? so the team that gets him,
will get him for a much cheaper price tag – because he is gay.
since some places are more racist, and some team's defensive line needs
outweigh their moral opposition, and NFC west teams are particularly committed
to building stout defenses, there is a great chance that michael sam could end
up playing for either the st. louis rams, san francisco 49ers or seattle
seahawks. i would just have more respect
for a team, whoever it is, to draft him within the first four rounds, even draft
him higher than he may have been – because he is gay. how is that for reverse discrimination? the league would love that. the latest news stories seem to show outward support by clubs owners. draft day will tell the real story, i suppose.
in any case, if sam were to go in a later round of the draft, it would
likely increase the chance that he will be picked up by a stronger more
well-established team. in the end just
making it to the NFL is a win-win scenario. for a while, anyway. his draft stock is only of interest as a
civil rights issue, which is as messed up as the fact that the gay rights issue is even an issue.
i cannot pick michael sam as rabble rouser though, because picking him among any
numerous other gay rights issues is like picking one victim of police brutality
over another. there are millions of
people being discriminated against daily in this country. pretty much everyone
is discriminated against. as shown, lawmakers have continued to be
discriminatory, law enforcers have continued to discriminatory, businesses and
sports leagues are showing themselves to be discriminatory, all the way down the line,
shit runs downhill, or maybe it runs uphill.
nonetheless, society is permeated in shit.
the rabble rousers of the month will be a local choice featuring
another, perhaps more rudimentary, form of discrimination, as if it any level
is better or worse than another.
remember when religious zealots didn’t acknowledge the existence of gay
people to be able to know to hate them yet?
back then, they picketed things like movies and rock concerts. death angel played in idaho for the first
time in 23 years earlier this month. that show was one of three different
concerts going on in a four block walk of downtown boise on a sunday night. it
made me realize that the rock and roll world has grown too large for
protestors who don’t have enough resources or support to fight against it
anymore. so, people are free to play
rock and roll. mostly. and in the rock and roll world, people are even allowed
to be gay. some form of discrimination
must exist at some level in the rock and roll world, but it is much harder to distinguish than the overt
discrimination in the political world.
one of the other concerts happening in boise that early february night
was sun blood stories. they are an eccentric troupe with heavy blues soul
that will no doubt make major waves in the music industry if they continue to
grow the way they have over the past couple of years. sun blood stories performed on a killer
saturday lineup of bands at KEOL fest last summer and wowed the few people that
stopped in to see them. they were due to
return to la grande on febraury 23 to play the “decompression party” following
#EOFF2014 that weekend at anthony lakes.
…until the venue told festival organizers that sun blood stories were too controversial and had them removed from the bill.
on february 19, sun blood stories tweeted: We got fired from an upcoming gig because our music is too freaky. LEVEL UP! my reply to that: i wouldn't be interested if they weren't freaky people. however, it was only a
couple days later that i learned the job they were fired from was at anthony
lakes! the film fest continues to get
bigger and better and it featured a blast of after parties with the likes of sad
horse, boy
eats drum machine and au, which one can only presume would also be too freaky
for anthony lakes as well. so, that was a bit of rain on the parade. luckily, i found out about this cancellation
before i went to anthony lakes, because i obviously cannot support someone that
does not support one of my favorite boise bands, although the tweet sun blood stories
replied with was beautiful in it’s own right:
it kinda sucks. But it's also the best compliment we've ever received.
i am glad sun blood stories take it as lightly as “kinda sucks”
because i could not get out of the foul mood for two days. one would think such a display of
discrimination would be bad for business.
apparently it doesn’t matter much.
in the case of anthony lakes staff, they seem to think that it would be
bad for business if they didn’t discriminate.
whatever. at least i know to
never go to anthony lakes and i will get to see sun blood stories again soon,
so all is not lost. in fact, to see the
simplicity of rock and roll still grinding people’s gears is a pleasant sight,
so right it should be a huge compliment to the band. with each passing generation, and aging
parents that never “get” the new stuff, i always have to remind myself that if
rock and roll wasn’t controversial, it wouldn’t be doing its job. so even
though sun blood stories is pretty innocuous by today’s shock value standards, i
am glad that rock and roll continues to do its job and piss people off, the way
that anthony lakes pissed me off.
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| sun blood stories: controversial rock and roll |
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