thursday.
back to work tonight.
grey outside.
messy house.
paranoid thought: back when we went into Afghanistan, most of the news coverage was taken up with Anthrax anthrax anthrax. on the eve (probably) of going into Iraq we've got Snipers snipers snipers.
the frisson of personal peril, no matter how absurd--whether it's from the mailbox with the coupons or a bullet from the clear blue sky, will always overpower actual destruction half a world away. (it's just t.v., right?)
selah.
==============
(at present listening to ani difranco's "to the teeth", but listened to steve earle's "Jerusalem" maybe 6 times last night--just plain one of his best. anyway the "artists note kinda struck a chord with me
Lately I feel like the loneliest man in America. Frankly, I've never worn the red, white & blue that well. I grew up during the Vietnam War & whenever I see a flag decal I subconsciously superimpose the caption: AMERICA--LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT across the bottom stripe. Back then as now, it was suggested by some that second-huessing our leaders in a time of crisis was unpatriotic, if not downright treasonous. We sent 55,000 of our sons to die far from home in the belief that if we didn't arrest what we percieved as an "evil empire" abroad that the last domino would ultimately fall at our own doorstep. When no enemy presented itself at the gate we began to turn on ourselves, subjecting our own citizens clandestine scrutiny by our law enforcement agencies & persecution in our courts of law. Our newfound "unity" became increasingly exclusive & eventually divisive until we fought each other in the streets of Washington, Chicago, Newark & Watts.
Well, we survived all that--& I believe we'll survive this as well. We are a people perpetually balanced on a tight-rope stretched between our history & our potential, one faltering step away from a headlong tumble from the most dizzying of heights. But fear not--we're working with a net.
In spite of our worst intentions & ignorance of our own history our Constitution has, thus far, proven resilient enough to withstand anything that we throw at it including ourselves. For myself, my faith in this one institution of our all-too-human (& therefor imperfect) society is absolute but, I hope, not blind. It was built to last but only if perfectly maintained. Fierce vigilance against the erosion of it's proven principles is the very heart of our peculiarly American brand of democracy. It was framed by men whose names we are taught to remember by rote: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Patrick Henry, Aaron Burr...the list is long & distinguished & we call these men patriots. In times like these it is also important to remember the names of John Reed, Emma Goldman, Abbie Hoffman, Bobby Seale, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King...those who defended those same principles by insisting on asking the hardest questions in our darkest hours.
God bless America, indeed.
Steve Earle
Fairviw, Tennessee
july 4th, 2002
back to work tonight.
grey outside.
messy house.
paranoid thought: back when we went into Afghanistan, most of the news coverage was taken up with Anthrax anthrax anthrax. on the eve (probably) of going into Iraq we've got Snipers snipers snipers.
the frisson of personal peril, no matter how absurd--whether it's from the mailbox with the coupons or a bullet from the clear blue sky, will always overpower actual destruction half a world away. (it's just t.v., right?)
selah.
==============
(at present listening to ani difranco's "to the teeth", but listened to steve earle's "Jerusalem" maybe 6 times last night--just plain one of his best. anyway the "artists note kinda struck a chord with me
Lately I feel like the loneliest man in America. Frankly, I've never worn the red, white & blue that well. I grew up during the Vietnam War & whenever I see a flag decal I subconsciously superimpose the caption: AMERICA--LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT across the bottom stripe. Back then as now, it was suggested by some that second-huessing our leaders in a time of crisis was unpatriotic, if not downright treasonous. We sent 55,000 of our sons to die far from home in the belief that if we didn't arrest what we percieved as an "evil empire" abroad that the last domino would ultimately fall at our own doorstep. When no enemy presented itself at the gate we began to turn on ourselves, subjecting our own citizens clandestine scrutiny by our law enforcement agencies & persecution in our courts of law. Our newfound "unity" became increasingly exclusive & eventually divisive until we fought each other in the streets of Washington, Chicago, Newark & Watts.
Well, we survived all that--& I believe we'll survive this as well. We are a people perpetually balanced on a tight-rope stretched between our history & our potential, one faltering step away from a headlong tumble from the most dizzying of heights. But fear not--we're working with a net.
In spite of our worst intentions & ignorance of our own history our Constitution has, thus far, proven resilient enough to withstand anything that we throw at it including ourselves. For myself, my faith in this one institution of our all-too-human (& therefor imperfect) society is absolute but, I hope, not blind. It was built to last but only if perfectly maintained. Fierce vigilance against the erosion of it's proven principles is the very heart of our peculiarly American brand of democracy. It was framed by men whose names we are taught to remember by rote: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Patrick Henry, Aaron Burr...the list is long & distinguished & we call these men patriots. In times like these it is also important to remember the names of John Reed, Emma Goldman, Abbie Hoffman, Bobby Seale, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King...those who defended those same principles by insisting on asking the hardest questions in our darkest hours.
God bless America, indeed.
Steve Earle
Fairviw, Tennessee
july 4th, 2002
morgan:
Yup, still writing an SG article. It'll be lots of fun, i'm gonna finish it up this weekend, I believe, and i'll post it in my journal at some point.
ragingwhore42:
i always want to comment on here-but you're always going off about intensely serious stuff-so i feel like an idiot saying hey-yeah i'm retarded and silly and i have nothing important to say-so yeah i did it.