I was Googling my domain today to see what came up and apparently there’s a quote by Eugene Debs:
“Solidarity is not a matter of sentiment but a fact, cold and impassive as the granite foundations of a skyscraper.”
Interesting quote and source, especially considering my line of work. Here I was, thinking I was clever for putting these two words together, and now Eugene Debs comes and steals my thunder.
It’s been a long time since the last Breeders album, Title TK. Mountain Battles isn’t even due out until early April, but of course “accidental” leaks are all the rage today.
Give a listen, courtesy of Funeral Pudding.
Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace takes Fox and Friends to task over their portrayal of some of Obama’s comments. (Via Think Progress.)
Today is the first day of the Youth Media Blogathon, about youth and violence.
It couldn’t be a more fitting day to make our voices collectively heard: March 19, 2003 was the day that the United States invaded Iraq. Since that day, I have graduated both high school and college. I’ve written thousands of words and listened to hours of music. I have fallen in love– and out of it. I think back to where I was five years ago, and I remember how upset and frustrated I was because this country, my home was acting in our names to destroy someone else’s home. I was young, naive and frightened. I was too young to remember Desert Storm, but I remembered vaguely seeing reporters telling stories from a sandscape that might as well have been on Mars. For the first time that I could remember, I was fully aware of the terror and pain that my country was inflicting on real human beings on the other side of the world. I was insignificant. And I knew that the various demonstrations that I participated in– Walk-Outs, Sit-Ins, Teach-Ins and other protests that were organized around the Invasion could do very little to help. This was my place in history, and I was convinced that this Anti-War Movement I had found myself a part of was going up against some stiff competition. I felt my voice was too weak, too young and too alone to mean anything.
Five years is a long time. We’ve seen conservative cable news surge in popularity and we’ve become citizens of a near police state. It’s difficult to extract myself from the context of a young person who has come of age during this globally broadcast war, but I know that seeing people my age coming back home in body bags has given me an entirely different outlook on life. I remember thinking about how my life would be different if I lived in Iraq on this day five years ago. I felt guilty that I was relatively safe at home in Chicago while my government “shocked and awed” entire towns full of people with common experiences and memories. The language that was used to talk about war deeply upset me, mostly because the media made no qualms about constructing a cognitive veil between the clever catchphrases pitting “The Axis of Evil” against “The Coalition of the Willing,” the whole while glossing over the fact that “dead checking” left a lot of actual bloodshed in its wake.
Here we are, five years later, and the war is still sputtering on. Thousands of young folks have died in the name a country that never gave a damn about them; Iraqi youth have experienced the kinds of horrifying atrocities that most people wouldn’t wish on their worst enemies. I don’t know what more to say except that it really makes me upset, and it makes me wish for a better world for my children. If I’ve learned anything in these five years, it’s that one single voice may not mean much, but when there is a chorus of people united by ideals and armed with the desire to speak out against what they believe is unjust…that’s when movements are created. And that cannot be destroyed.
I’ve become obsessed with seemingly nonsensical mashups, and this video of “Shipoopi” as performed by Peter Griffin somehow works perfectly with Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control.”
Anyone who knows me is well aware of the fact that I have been an avid Obama supporter for quite some time, but the most troubling element of this campaign is the absence of a serious dialogue about Race in Modern America. Every time something happens that I think will provoke a stimulating conversation for once, it gets glossed over by both the mainstream media and more progressive media outlets.
The first such incident of course is when Michelle Obama said, “for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country.” To me, that makes sense: Here is a 44-year-old Black woman who grew up on the South Side of Chicago, who has no doubt been keenly aware of the disparities that have existed between whites and people of color for quite some time. It comes as no shock to me that she would make those comments; I’m well aware that seeing Barack win over America one state at a time is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I’m only 22 years old. But instead of taking the controversy that ensued after her now-infamous speech as an opportunity to bring to light exactly why those statements resonate throughout communities of color, they were just swept under the rug and treated at face value by both the media and the candidates themselves. If I were in Clinton’s camp, I would certainly urge her to use that media storm to her advantage in order to connect with women of color, a constituency that she consistently ignores.
Another issue with the Obama campaign that should be invoking more interesting conversation and debate is the ideology of his mentor and pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Fox News has been harping on this for a while, and I guess they’ve finally gotten their druthers because outlets like MSNBC and ABC News are starting to make a bigger dealout of it. Basically, Sean Hannity seems to have a personal vendetta against Wright and his followers at Trinity United Church of Christ simply because their Church covenant has a section urging parishioners to support Black businesses. Are you kidding, Hannity? Do you really not understand why a predominantly Black middle-class church on the South Side of Chicago would support such a thing? However, instead of making the logical arguments about how Black business is key to supporting a viable, affordable and non-gentrified community, the MSM seems to just focus on whether or not Obama should retain Wright as a confidante. And instead of challenging the MSM’s ignorant surface analysis of Wright’s comments, Obama seems to be distancing himself from the man who Baptized his children and performed his wedding.
I understand: There certainly is a double standard between Obama and Hillary. While Clinton can proudly boast her status as a Female Candidate, it’s dangerous for Obama to flaunt himself as the Black Candidate. It’s more threatening to Whites in America to hear Obama talk about the Black experience than it is to hear about Hillary being a woman, even though both should be celebrated and brought to the light. So I get it– it’s not necessarily Obama’s fault that he can’t delve deeply into issues of race when they arrive, it’s the American public’s fault. Still, though, I can’t help but wish we lived in a country where we weren’t so constrained by simple minds and simple conversation.
