There is privilege involved with being born a US citizen at a time in which the US was basically", "by world standard", the capital country of a global empire, with most of the rest of humanity as its colonized/neo-colonized. Even among folks who are conscious of oppression, exploitation and privilege, way too few bother to think about what is basically US-privilege. [...] my origins came with comparable privilege, although being born and raised outside the US in a multilingual family meant I grew up keenly aware what the US was doing to dozens of other countries. While I've still had plenty to learn, this allowed me to see through a lot of lies and illusions very early on.
One of these illusions we all need to see through is [...] the feeling of powerlessness, that we can't change the world for the better — this is psychic poison beaten into all our minds by those very highly-privileged in power who have the most vested of interests in keeping things just the way they are. When we wise up and rise up there is no power structure on the planet that can stop us.
It's been long said there are your origins in which you have no say, and then there is your stand, which is completely in your power and thus responsibility. You have to be aware of how your origins shaped you and your relationship with the world around you, but the whole point is to take a stand on the side of humanity, justice and saving our biosphere. [...] People are dying, homeless, living in grinding poverty and torturous abuse, breathing ever more alien air under wildfire skies and rising seas ... I could go on, but I'll just say take a stand.
What forms your activism might take is up to you — there are endless ways to be active and take a stand, and any one of them is a calling. If you have money to donate that's great, good causes have lots of need for that and too few of us have any to spare. Voting and the right to vote are essential but not sufficient to make change; as Emma Goldman said "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal". There are countless ways to protest, organize, educate, strike, boycott — I'm not gonna talk any tactic or form up or down because all situations are fluid and forms and tactics change over time (if we're doing it right). We need more of all kinds of activism and we'll need even more of them all, and new ones as we dare, tomorrow and to come. Find folks who are active and join with them, watch, listen, learn by taking part ... You'll catch on and you'll know you're doing it right by the very inspiration you'll feel in doing the right thing, all the right things.
The main thing now is to open your eyes and ears and Take A Stand.
— Witchdoctor Bill on Fartloaf
That first paragraph is something that I wish more US citizens would keep in mind when dealing with people from Third World countries, particularly the ones that their so-called "great nation" has tried to push around. (Yes, I have written about this at length before, although those writings are currently not published on this site/platform.)
Pick a side and take a stand, even if you're wrong. I've more respect for someone who draws a line, states what they believe in, what their values are and/or what their political ideology is than these limp-wristed and spineless liberals and centrists who are so scared of offending or excluding anybody or getting a bad reputation that they sit on the fence and make wishy-washy namby-pamby statements that are meaningless. I don't care for you if you're so spineless and feeble that you couldn't stand for anything if somebody gave you a pair of crutches (and I don't care if that strikes you as an offensive ableist statement, either). Of course, I might not agree with the side you pick and I might tell you to get the fuck off my lawn, anyway, but take a goddamn stand, for the FSM's sake!
On the subject of taking a stand, here's mine on some of the new slang adulterating the Queen's English:
Say "thot" one more time, I dare you. I double dare you! (Please skip the video ahead to the 04:26 mark for the relevant bit. Thank you.)
As much as I love the inventiveness of some of the terms and words catalogued in the Official Dictionary of Unofficial English (A Crunk Omnibus for Thrillionaires and Bampots of the Ecozoic Age), which I genuinely do, I have to draw the line at "thot". I have no idea what a "thot" is (and whether it's "lit" or "on fleek"), nor do I want to. It strikes me as a thought had by a drunken idiot lacking the self-restraint not to inhale Colombian marching powder before unleashing drivel on Twitter. If that offends you, then away with you, you three inch fool! Get off my lawn and go easy on the drugs for a while, yeah?! Think before you drink and check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Post thumbnail image is copyleft Banksy.
