The trouble with being visionary is that the details are all fuzzy as Yoda would attest. Being a world changing person is also fraught with dubious misalignments, miscalculations and impatience. Progress is always painted on a backdrop of resistance. It's not that we resist progress, we just don't want things to change. We can't deal with change, including change for the better. Think about it, from 1900 to 2009 we have had a tremendous amount of change. Are we tired of change? Why is change so traumatic to us?
Actually there is kind of a "I can speak for the rest of us" thing going on. If that speaker is a person who resist change for what ever reason, he incites folks who don't take time to reason it out for themselves. The sling fest is heated with half truths, outright lies, etc; a spirit of deception that works every time. And then the psyche war ensues. If they fight back, it must be true or maybe there're hiding something, not telling us something. If they don't fight back we won, we did win didn't we? Or they are ignoring us. I feel so disenfranchised, I want my voice to be heard!! I think I can speak for the rest of us!!
As much as we would like easy answers, there are none. When one offers a platform for debate to find solutions it is not a defeated posture. But a reaching out to get the true stories from the ones suffering under the broken policy and engaging the public as a think tank to work out their own problems. We would not want our reps to develop policy on hunches and theoretical twisting of data now do we? We have equal outrage; my government doesn't hear me, my government should know, why are they asking me? The government that asks you what do you need and want is being accused of setting policy based on something else.
The biggest and most obvious problem in America is that we don't trust other Americans who are different than ourselves. If the African-Americans gain power and influence in our nation which we fought so hard for to make it as it is, will they retaliate for the past history of abuses. The underlying motive is there, I know it, it has to be there. Are you feeling guilty, suspicious and waiting for a new civil rights movement to evoke hopefully an amnesty or reconciliation of some sort to let you off the hook? No, I didn't do anything to anybody!! And I won't take the rap for my ancestors!! That's all right, you couldn't pay me enough to make up for what your ancestors did to mine!! It is not about money, land or mules, we are all too far down the road.
The truth of America is that we welcome any nationality to come here (some by force in the past) and subject them all to mental and social abuse until all traces of the former nationality, allegiances, and cultural fixations are reasonably diminished. It may take a couple of generations. You may be a naturalized citizen, you may have been born here, but your legal status is not the problem. It is the social conversation we have concerning each other, beginning with that stupid hyphen. We put the country of our ancestral origin in front of American. We are not Americans only. That is the problem. If we take away the origin label we instantly put a color designator there in its place. We are all liars in the sense that we pledge allegiance to this nation and re-attach the umbilical cord and adhere to a color code. There is a caste system that is implied. Legally we are all Americans, but when we think and speak about each other we are from other places and it doesn't matter how long we've been here. When will we become native Americans? When will we become native to this country? How many generations does it take to produce a native American? Talk about change, remove the hyphen, change the dialog.
We romantically talk about a melting pot and live a sediment tank reality. The blending of peoples in close proximity is not thought of or talked about with accepting kindness. Mixed families are handled with uneasiness. Funny how when we ourselves are in a so-called mixed relationship we accept it, when we see others in that kind of relationship, we have a hard time dealing with it. The reality of this conversation is still coming out of the closet. It is hard to accept this conversation when the president talks about mixed family feelings while growing up. Like you never had these thoughts, maybe not concerning race but certainly concerning families of mixed religion or nationalities.
In my town, my eyes are opened by the Hispanic folks. Some are so light and some are so dark like me. I sort of have a hunch by sight but never really know until they speak. It is always a surprise. I guess there is a general anxiety and hysteria when your origins begin to fade in the fabric of the world around because of the mixing in of everybody else. Can we say we are forgetting our ancestors ways, culture and sensibilities, or we can say we are becoming Americans. Gee, we don't think like our origin folk, it is obvious when we go to other countries and get identified as Americans, yet we don't see it, we don't acknowledge it. I am not an American, I'm an African-American, my origin is so obvious, I am assorted Euro-American, I am various Asian-American, I am............ Darn those hyphens, they need to be surgically removed from our mentality. United States, yeah, the states are united under one country. The people are separated by hyphens.
If you elect me as your president, I will de-hyphenate America! There will be great simultaneous outrage. Folks who never thought of their ancestors or history will cry out, "You can't forget where you are from!" Hey, I thought you were from here, America! King George is still singing from his grave, "they can't get me out of their mind" and "but you did take it with you."
Thanks to race relations and propaganda and indoctrination, I have had no desire to "go back" to Africa, though I might go to visit, just to see it. Gee, how can you go back to where you've never been? If you don't have dual citizenship, America needs to lose the hyphen, and start by either including a American check box on forms or eliminating the statical data check box for hyphenated Americans.
There is one Constitution of the United States, yet it is administered according to your hyphenated status. Thus the Constitution is different to different people based on how it is applied because of your hyphen. It's about how we view and treat each other.
There will be a whole new school of psychology dedicated to dealing with de-hyphenated people. Anxiety disorders from identity homogenization will increase. A national survey will be circulated with the question, when do you become just an American? And how has wearing the de-facto standard hyphen effected your rights and liberties as a citizen? Don't forget the disclaimer, " this may be the last time the diversity ID check boxes appear on any form in America (though you can still write it on the blank line provided)."
The American experiment, it is a failure or on going? After these many years, it is a work in progress and we keep doing parts over trying to get it right, thinking something else ought to happen.
Issac Asimov wrote a story about a Martian exploration group stranded and waiting for rescue. Eventually they moved from the encampment into the Martian ruins they saw, over the waiting time they adapted to the environment, became the Martians themselves. When the rescue team finally came they could not find the original crew now dispersed. They wondered about the Martian ruins they saw. How long does it take to become just an American?
And you thought this Linuxville guide only talks about Linux. Linux is just the tip of the iceburg. Penguins rule.
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