Subconscious Activism

Last night, I woke from a nightmare.  There were fires in the trees right next to a what my subconscious mind had created - a combination of my son's high school and the local state university. I somehow sensed that arson was to blame, but there wasn't time to dwell on the cause. I knew that the fire threatened the buildings and the people inside.

I ran in, but all the fire extinguishers were spent, missing, or broken. I pulled the fire alarm switch, but it came off in my hand without any effect. Panic-stricken, I searched for a solution. I discovered a tool shop, and found an old pump-type extinguisher. I quickly popped the lid and filled the large tank with water. Acutely aware of the precious time ticking away, I grabbed a rusty hand cart and lugged the huge heavy canister outside.

The flames were climbing higher into the branches and licking the sides of the buildings. I pumped the handle and sprayed from the nozzle at the conflagration until the stream dwindled, then pumped again. The heat was like nothing I've ever felt. I had to be close or the water wouldn't reach. It felt as if I would melt. The flames seemed indifferent to my efforts.

I pumped and sprayed, pumped and sprayed, My muscles began to cramp, but I couldn't stop. I was so relieved when people joined in, taking turns pumping and spraying. The progress was painfully slow, but we began to make some headway. Our combined efforts were diminishing what was once a seemingly unstoppable conflagration. We turned that destructive force back. Even though the trees were damaged, a botany professor in the group thought they could be saved.


When I told my wife a little bit about my dream, she said with a hint of sarcasm, “Really, so you had that  dream? I wonder where that came from?” She's brilliant, and she saw it for what it was. I was too close to see the allegory of my subconscious mind.

My daughter gave away the other seven hats she made the week before the march.

On Saturday, my wife, my daughter, and many of our friends participated in our city's women's march. I was excited and grateful to participate. The feeling was electric. The message was life-affirming. So many people were demonstrating how much they cared about each other, and the world we share. There was anger, too.

People have devoted their lives to advance causes of equality and the environment. Turning back the clock on the progress they have fought for is a goal of those in power. Our institutions are being threatened. Cabinet picks are so averse to the functions of their posts that the great John Cleese compared the nominations to “Assembling the crew for a pirate ship.” Science and facts are disregarded in favor of inflammatory campaign rhetoric even in a “presidential” inaugural speech. The arson has reached the branches of the trees begins to threaten the core structures of our system.

People reacted. They came together in the largest nationwide protest in the history of our country, but it transcended borders and oceans. This is a global phenomenon. It is inspiring to be just one small part of something so important and historic. The key, is the power of one. The numbers are impressive in size, but would not exist without each and every individual who participated, and it is a demonstration of the sheer number of individuals who will be acting as one.

We'll be watching, demanding accountability, and contributing to those individuals and groups fighting along with us to turn back the destructive inferno roaring before us.

We have the old reliable tools that still get the job done like rusty carts, antique fire extinguishers, editorial pages, local organizing efforts, and postcards and letters to representatives. There are comparatively new tools as well such as email campaigns, social media, and even the seemingly ancient form known as the blog post. With a concerted and consistent use of these tools a committed group can win the day and prevent disaster. Trees, buildings, and lives can be saved. We can protect a community, a culture, and a nation that values knowledge, diversity, and equity.

My subconscious didn't create a perfect analogy, but this is an incredibly imperfect time. There is always room to strive for a more perfect union. It feels like there's more room now than there has been in a very long time.

This Just In...

The Highs and Lows of Human Potential

When a person makes the decision to take so many lives - as happened in Aurora Colorado early Friday morning - it can lead to many questions that no amount of evidence collection, witness interviews, or the inevitable and seemingly unending media attention can answer.

Of course, there have been many devastating examples of senseless violence in recent US history. The 9/11 attacks, acts of arson, and bombings such as occurred in Oklahoma City are just a few examples. The effect of these events is difficult to overstate. No discussion of other tragedies can or should be allowed to diminish the horror of these events in anyone’s mind.

Finding recent examples of murder on a grand scale is made easier by the fact that three-quarters of the deadliest mass murders in the United States have occurred since 1980. And while mass murder comes in many forms, most of these deadliest acts involved firearms as the exclusive or primary weapon.

Read This, for Yourself

My twitter-friend, Eric Sipple's post "Fragments of Where I Am" really spoke to me, today. I always get something out of his blog. Even though I don't always understand some of the programming challenges and technical glitches he faces, those are only a small part of his writings and there's always something I can relate to in his posts. He writes conversationally, but deeply and I am very partial to his movie reviews.

"Fragments" is special. Here, Eric takes an extremely personal experience and shares it in a way that is completely affecting and, for me, eerily familiar in the same way that some of his aunt's revelations were to him. His journey toward understanding himself and as a consequence, understanding that he needs help is every bit as inspiring and engaging as his willingness to share this evolution with the reader.

Eric is a writer. It's incredible when his passion for writing becomes a tool for healing. What person that loves to write will not be moved when he shares, "...writing gives me a power over it that speech does not." I feel I know exactly what he means. There is a freedom that the written word affords, a compact between the writer and the reader that's lost with mere utterance. It's one of the reasons I avoid the telephone when I can.

Go now, read a post that contains the sentence, "The truth of it is that I’m only beyond help because that’s where I’ve been holding myself." You just might be better for it.

"Tweet" of the Day

Don't hate me for this. It's not you, it's me. etc. "Howl" for the pseudocommunication age. "Tweet" (McSweeney's)

Fun and Prophet

This post and associated links have been rendered invalid by the demise of Air America Radio. It will remain here in memory of what once was. Please see the original version of The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus here. UPDATE: Watch the video on YouTube.

In this video, The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus, Dorsey Shaw brings the incredible collaboration of Al Franken and Don Simpson to further life. If you find the title to be sacrilegious, watch the whole thing before you judge. This is a fine piece of political humor which skewers self-serving posers. It's quite touching at the end.

The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus

Twitter Suicide Posts

On April 10th, a Twitter user began "unfollowing" everyone and deleting all of his tweets (posts) except for these tweets that he made that evening:

1) Have you ever been driving a car and suddenly realize you have no idea where you are or how you got there? My life is like that.

2) April showers bring May flowers. I was foolish to wait. If only I had showered her with April flowers things may have gone differently.

3) Dear Holy Trinity, If you are omniscient then Jesus committed suicide. So can people who commit suicide go to heaven?I’m asking for me

4) Of all the lives I've lived, I'll miss this one the most.

The imagery on the profile, including a leafless tree used as an avatar, pointed to an ominous conclusion. The user ceased all public communication after that. For hours, much of the Twitter community was deeply concerned about the well-being of this person. Many of us contacted everyone we could to try to find this user and check on his safety. Another twitter user, who appears to be his wife was located. Eventually, she responded that everything was alright and placed the blame for the incident on her husband's theatrics. To her credit, she thanked the community for their concern. He had decided to leave Twitter and created this stunt as a parting gift.

Many users were involved in trying to help this person and they should know that they have demonstrated a great deal of character in their actions. They should remember that people who show signs, such as these, of needing help must get it quickly.

Some have deleted the history of their communication from that day. I assume that they prefer to move on. This is understandable, but moving on is not forgetting. I know that some others were directly involved in the “joke” or in the promotion of it and simply found it easier to erase the record of their actions, but posted retweets of users congratulating them on their prank.

I have since learned that this is not an isolated incident and that suicide has been threatened via tweets before, but the callous disregard for the consequences in this case seems to be unique. A lesson to be taken from this is that you can't always take Twitter seriously. This is a lesson that we have learned about the rest of the internet already, and is part of what makes Twitter entertaining. The danger is that many may be taken in by lies disguised as the truth, or come to doubt everything.

I know that my family's experience with suicide makes this more important to me than it may be to someone else. My concern is that, because of this incident, someday someone who is truly in need of help will not be taken seriously.

A Tortured Analogy

Here's another way of looking at the hypothetical torture fallacy.


Quick! There's a fire on your stove. You are certain that the only way to keep your house from burning down is to throw gas on the fire.

Are you nuts?

Yet Another Email That Deserves to Die

About a week ago, my aunt asked for my view of this email which has been floating around in various forms for awhile. I wrote this response and have since been pointed to other responses that could be subject to the very same criticisms I voiced. It may be viewed as a waste of time to treat these rants seriously, but it felt good to ignore the obvious dishonest and baiting aspects and to treat this as a literary exercise, however verbose it may be.

My opinion is not of consequence in relation to this email. The color grey cannot be described to someone who only sees black and white as the author of this divisive rant appears to be. Maybe, red, blue and purple are more accurate metaphors. If there is a person who feels exactly as the person he describes, and I am not sure there is, I don't know if they would be capable of taking offense. Otherwise, this painting of "everyone but me" as a ridiculously out of touch extremist only serves to make the author and the like-minded reader feel superior.
My straightforward critique is that this email is far too didactic to be considered as effective rhetoric for all but a select few, although some mighty big historical aberrations have occurred as a result of words that were much less inflammatory. To be fair, if the intended effect is absurdist hyperbole, this is quite successful and could be viewed as humorous or laughable.

That's my view as requested,

Brian

Xenophobia on the Rise?

Lou Dobbs, uptick in nativism groups, "evil alien horde" movies and increasing anti-hispanic hate crimes. Are the current economic and political conditions making xenophobia worse, or am I overanalyzing?