Poverty Is Not an Accident

Poverty Is Not an Accident
Nelson Mandela

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Hello? Is anybody going to do something???

You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com
Share |


to my discussion, "What is 98% trying to do?"

to: Agit pop, who is associated with 98%: I just posted this on the Institute for Policy Studies website. I want you to read it, too. And I want a dialogue. I want my concerns taken seriously. You're turning off voters. I get a lot of "likes" to my comments about focusing on solutions, rather than problems. I think you're taking people's power away from them just like the GOP and Tea Parody are! PLEASE explain how what you're doing helps!
...............................
Are you Democrats? Would you tell me if you were? Are you a think tank? I found you because I "liked" The Other 98%, but am finding them just complaining about problems, but not proposing solutions; finger pointing at the foolishness of the GOP & Tea Parody. I find it useless. I find the slurs against women, people with behavioral health disabilities, transexual people, etc. repulsive. 98's purpose seems to be agitation. So, i went to their website and saw AgitPop, which even has typos on their home page and a Facebook page that talks about "kicking ass," and find THAT repulsive and counter productive, too. We don't learn what to do RIGHT, how to solve problems, how to heal things. It's just whipping up anger, imitating the lynch mobs of the Tea Parody and that scares me and makes me VERY sad. What are YOU trying to do?
 PART TWO
Well, I think I figured out Institute for Policy Studies, who, along with everybody else I asked for info, totally ignored me. Noam Chomsky is associated with IPS and its major focus at present seems to be on the outrageous defense spending & 2 wars, while gutting social programs. There's nearly NO activity on their or Agit Pop's facebook pages.

I am also very much enjoying Anonymous News Network. Yes, that anonymous. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anonymous-News-Network/114504038619787

Other than that, I stick with local Queer groups, art groups, homelessness groups, etc.

What really chilled me was Rachel Maddow's headline about the non-violent Egyptian overthrow: "It was the Army," to which I replied, "Bullshit. It was the PEOPLE!" which drew quite a few "likes." And I seldom use bad language. What terrifies me about that headline is that I don't think the Democratic party WANTS people to take our own power, as happened in Egypt. I think it's WAY too invested in the status quo and corporate lobbyists to risk encouraging folks to take to the streets and demand our rights.

Otherwise, when Obama became President, that HUGE grassroots and online community of very enthusiastic people, huge segments of populations that never even VOTE usually, would not have been squandered. Instead, we'd have a massive social movement of community volunteers and activists, working for CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN.

All I get from them is Milquetoast emails, whining about this or that social ill they blame on GOP or the Tea Parody, and begging for $5, which they "urgently" need. WHAT???

I guess the most embarrassing thing was when Obama's Fb page posted an ADVERTISEMENT of a link to buy TEE SHIRTS! The President of the United States? Selling tee shirts? The whole world has gone Wal*mart!

Anyway, Robert Reich is calling for a popular movement, but that's just talk. Progressives United for Change is just pointing at the GOP & Tea Parody & clucking their tongues....

I dunno. Maybe after this budget goes through and we old farts and cripples start to drop dead in the streets from lack of social services, maybe then people might become interested. Maybe not. Maybe they'll just recycle our bodies into protein snacks.

Soylent Green is people!
Three
I know; it's like we've all got ADD or whatever it's called. We don't pay attention. I'm guilty of this, too. I can't read everything that appears on my wall and, sometimes, I assume it's about A when it's really about Q or something, so my comment is relevant to what I think, but not what's being said! LOL

What I TRY VERY HARD to do is stay positive. And I DO NOT mean Mary Sunshine. I'm not a cheerleader and I'm not stupid.

But people are soooo frustrated and angry and feel soooo powerless. In fact, I think that sense of powerlessness is what spurs the "trolling" and abusive crap in comments: they just want to know they affected SOMEbody!

What I mean by positive is this: I tell the person who posted the link that I'm glad to have that information, I try to remember to "like" everything I'm actually glad to see. I ignore the stuff I'm not glad to see (game requests, astrology, fortune cookies . . .), rather than rag people about it. And, even if the story is difficult, depressing, negative, etc. I try to understand and communicate that this is important information, and ask "What can we do about this?" I find people are surprised by this question. It makes them begin to think maybe they COULD do something. I get a lot of "likes" for doing that.

I don't like it when liberals, progressives, etc. just point at the jerkwads and sneer. What GOOD does that do??? I don't want to hear the next idiotic thing Palin or Beck have to say! They have PR people and Faux Noise! Why is Rachel Maddow telling me this garbage??? What I want to hear is: WHAT ARE WE DOING TO MAKE IT BETTER?????

They seem not to WANT things to get better! They seem to WANT us angry, frustrated and feeling powerless.

Well, I've seen Egypt. Eighteen days. No violence. They cleaned up the litter WHILE they protested. It still brings tears to my eyes.

And other people have seen it, too, obviously. Look at Morocco, Libya, Jordan, Bahrain . . . It's not as easy as Egypt and Mubarak, who had to listen to US tell him how to handle it. The leaders in THOSE countries don't HAVE to listen to US! And the people are out there, anyway, in the THOUSANDS!

It made me very happy to see a little kid in Wisconsin, holding up a protest sign that said, "Walk like an Egyptian."

It's time to learn to take our power, our beautiful country and our lives back by ourselves. Peacefully, but firmly. It's ours. And if we love it, only WE can save it!

All the budget cuts in this new budget, but coal, oil, etc. get subsidies and tax breaks?????? We can't trust THEM to care about OUR interests.

So, I learned how to make a tear gas mask today out of a soda bottle and how to wash tear gas out of human eyes and what to wear in the streets to protect the body and head and what to bring as a shield and what to put in a first aid kit. Just in case.

We have GOT to listen to each other! NOT to Faux Noise. NOT to MSNBC. We have got to really study, really learn and REALLY LISTEN! I sincerely believe that, under all the propaganda and hostile rhetoric, we fundamentally want the same things!

No comments: