( – promoted by buhdydharma )
Writer Slavoj Zizek described “the desert of the real” as the place where there are no illusions, no alibis, and no more comforting emotions. For all Americans – but especially for those of us who gave our hearts and our time to getting Barack Obama elected – it is time to move from the warmth of election night jubilation and step into the desert of the real.
In the desert of the real, we must end a pointless war in Iraq while winning a just war in Afghanistan.
In the desert of the real, we must take the lead in repairing a global economic meltdown that is the direct result of America’s irresponsibility.
In the desert of the real, we must protect, defend, and repair a Constitution that has been treated as “just a piece of paper” for far too long.
In the desert of the real, there are still far too many Americans who need our best efforts to help them gain the basic human rights that most of us take for granted.
To those who might accuse me of being a wet blanket, to those who just want to kick back and enjoy the glow for a little while, I can only say this: there is no time.
There is hard work ahead, and some of it is dirty work, and some of it is the work of generations that many of us will not live to see completed. But it is work that needs doing, work that we should have been doing all along.
It is cold in the desert of the real; the light is bleak and hurts the eyes. But it is where we have to go, because on the other side of that desert is our shared American future. So let’s go, everyone. Wake up, get a shower, and roll up your sleeves.
Welcome to the desert of the real.
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red eyesores on the electoral map are reminders of how far we have to go to get out of this desert. But we can! The real we have collectively dwelt in was not so real. It’s existence was built on lies, it thrived in the dark. It’s time to allow people to come out from the fear and hatred that was called patriotism.
The political myths which kept power firmly entrenched in the hands of the worst of America is belied by the pictures world wide of joy. Their is no option except to keep working and moving forward. This reality does have a liberal bias and we need to keep it there. The law of the land needs to be dusted off and reinstated. Fear needs to be kicked to the curb and capitulation to monsters is no longer necessary.
Up on the Roof
The sound
of rain on the roof
reminded her
that she needed to hurry.
It wouldn’t do
to be stuck
out here alone
in the storm.
She remembered
the days of isolation…
of deprivation…
of loneliness…
those days
when the roof would leak
and the fire wouldn’t
put out enough heat
to warm
even her hands…
those days
when turning
to her neighbors
was not possible
because they universally
detested her difference.
Now they voiced
acceptance of her
and would let her visit
when the storms came.
But they still
didn’t understand
who she was
or what it meant
to be her.
They would open
their doors
during a storm,
but they still
wouldn’t help fix
the damn roof.
She was still different.
–Robyn Elaine Serven
–March, 1998.
Lately it occurs to me that sometimes we are what we dream. This American meme has always been a dream that’s just beyond our grasp. Think good thoughts. People from all over the planet share our dream and they’re counting on us to lead again. Be good.
Why is the war in Afghanistan, called a “just” war?
An American backed fighter became upset over American presence in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabians hjjacked planes & hit American symbols here, killing approximately 3000.
So instead of “just” treating this as a criminal action & going after “just” the perpetrators, we “just” hit another country, “just” one of the poorest in the world.
We install “just” a guy who was “just” a former Exxon man.
We`ve “just” been there for 7 years & most of the dead are “just” brown skinned women, children & elderly. We “just” helped the opium crop to be at it`s highest levels of production, by “just” muddling through to “just” get to Iraq.
Oh I “just” got it.
They “just” really live in the desert of the real.
History will “just” prove that calling it a “just” war, in the “desert of the real” was “just” wrong. There will “just” not be a winner in Afghanistan.
“Just” war.