It's called This is Your Nation on White Privilege and I suspect you'll appreciate it as I did. But make sure you come back here when you are done!
*****
My daughter the 9th-grader was well into her 11th day of High School today when The Army™ came calling.My, they are going after 'em young these days. Back in my day, and I went to the same school as she, they never came after us at all. They didn't have to. If you got a low number in the Draft Lottery™ it was strictly (with many thanks to Country Joe and the Fish):
Of course, these days there is no Draft Lottery™ and so The Army™ has to recruit and recruit hard."One, Two, Three, what are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn.
Next stop is Viet Nam!
...Ain't no need to wonder why,
whoopee we're all going to die!"
Now, Everybody doesn't want everybody to get the wrong idea. I have told the child that the most honorable thing that anyone can do is to serve their country. I have also told her I have not gone to the trouble of raising her that I have (pretending to listen to her little stories about the Evil Vice Principal, feigning interest when she talks about shoes, etc.) only to be the first on my block to have my kid come back in a box (The Fish, again) in a war based on lies.
While, except for the dying and the maiming which is going on as a result of Mr. Bush's f---ing WAR CRIMES, (sorry if my going all CAPSLOCK BOLD scared you, but I am committed to ending this f---ing war any way I can) I am pleased that we are able to share the common experience of living through a time when our country was fighting a war based on lies -- it gives us so much to talk about -- I don't want her fighting in it. John McCain can't have her, either.
Maybe I don't have to worry too much. She's very level-headed.
In her interview today she asked The Man™, "Are there any jobs in Iraq where you don't get shot at?"
The Man ™ told her, "Ma'am, females are not permitted in front-line infantry positions."
So she asked, "How do you get a job in The Army where you don't have to go to Iraq in the first place?" And The Man™ replied (and we are not making this up), "You vote for Obama."
Asked and answered. The child squealed with delight and she and The Man™ high-fived one another.
*****
Speaking of The Man™, on Friday nights I do a broadcast of a high school football game and I damn near missed the kickoff last week and it was His fault. I had everything set up and ready to go up in the booth and had spent some time hanging with the other Band Parents when I returned a few minutes prior to air only to find my road blocked. I walked through a gate next to the production truck and a Security Guard asked what I was doing and I told him and he asked to see my pass and I told him I didn't have one and he told me that I wasn't going through that gate, then.
Just then, somebody from The Crew came around the corner of the truck and politely asked why my ass wasn't in the broadcast booth and I said, "I'm having trouble with The Man™!"
The Security Guard said, "I'm not The Man™!"
"You are too," I replied. "And you are keeping me down!"
Proper introductions ensued and I made it to the game on time. Good thing, too. I really need that gig.
Later, dudes.
.JPG)
8 comments:
I posted this on my Grace P. blog--
Grace Paley and Harold Rogovin would understand.
Marsha Z. West, too.
RIchard, you're way too kind.
Excellent post.
I read the article by Tim Wise that you mentioned. I thought it was silly and grasping at straws. Party politics is party politics not racism and "white privilege". I could write the same sort of thing in reference to the misogynists who attack Palin. It might sound like it says something but would be based on a faulty argument just like Tim's piece...Sound and fury signifying nothing.
Nomi:
Thanks so much! I told my daughter what you did and she thought it was, to say the least, pretty cool. So did I.
---
Dave:
No, I'm not. You are a gifted commentator.
---
Susan:
You need to educate yourself.
While I have no doubt that there are those who attack Palin because of her gender (like Limbaugh on Hillary, no?) it's not how I roll.
While I'll let Mr. Wise defend himself, I can tell you I "attack" Palin because her presence on the national stage puts the lie to the McCain campaign slogan "Country First". When you put our nation in jeopardy by putting someone as unqualified as she on your ticket it becomes "Pandering First".
I “attack” her because everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie. Starting with the fairy tale that the teleprompter failed during her speech at the hatefest which was the 2008 Repub Natl Convention. She lied in her speech and then she lied about the speech.
Then there are her lies about "Thanks but not thanks," regarding the Bridge to Nowhere. She was for it until it became a national joke and she withdrew her support but kept the 223-million dollars earmarked for the project. Speaking of which, there are her lies about being against earmarks while her state leads the nation in per capita earmark money, and the fact that she sent Ted Stevens a note outlining 200 million more in earmarks she'd like for Alaska just this past spring.
Then there is her false claim that she visited Ireland when it turns out it was a re-fueling stop. Or that she's been to Iraq when the fact is that she was denied entry there.
Then there is the fact that she expects you and I to believe that because she can see Russia from her state that she is imbued with foreign policy expertise. Yeah. Right.
I don't give a damn that she's a woman. I'm married to one (who I love very much) and am raising one (who I love more than words can say). I am, therefore, very much pro-woman. I'd love to see my daughter become president someday. She is already, at 14, a better choice than Palin. But at a minimum, I demand that regardless of gender she have every opportunity this country is said to afford its citizens to have her dreams – whatever they may be – come true.
But a bubbleheaded end-of-days theocrat who is a tool of the right and stooge for Bush, America's Worst-Ever President? I call bullshit and I’ll call it every time. I don't care what the person in question has between their legs. Got it?
Great post, Richard.
BTW, I haven't paid much attention to HS football in a long time. But since SeattleTammy and I moved to Hoquiam, it is required of all the citizens to be proud fans of the local team.
Go Hoquiam Grizzlies!
Dan, my high school girl friend once got in trouble for putting up a sign in honor of homecoming that said, “Huck ’Em Fuskies!” – Oak Park River Forest High School being the Huskies ’n all. Geez. Some people don’t know how to enjoy a high school football game.
Oh, yeah. I almost forgot: Muck Fichigan, too.
I got a tough go this week, boys. Both of the teams playing in our little "Game 'o the Week are named the "Falcons". Of course, it will make it easier to cover my mistakes which typically are numerous in number on any given Friday night.
Richard, that long involved reply was really not necessary. My comment was not meant as a defense of or an attack on any political candidate only on the validity of Mr. Wises' idiotic article.
RE: your comment that I educate myself. If you'd read what I wrote with a teensy bit of comprehension you would have seen that I was merely illustrating how Wise's argument fails by proposing a different argument using the same premise upon which he based his dull witted opinion. I hope you are able to grasp my original intention.
Post a Comment