( – promoted by buhdydharma )
So, this is likely to be a little bit “stream of consciousness” in delivery, sorry, welcome to my brain. heh.
Yesterday was interesting day, and yes, I am referring to some diaries and commentary over at l’orange. In particular, of course, was buhdydharma’s clarion call (now up to 764 comments) and later in the evening, y’got a good dose of teh funny but true from Shizzle (only 478 comments in that one), addressing the recent ramped up flame wars between “Pragmatics” and “Idealists”.
I happen to think that whole Pragmatist v. Idealist frame-up is a crock of shit. Myself, I am clearly in the Idealist camp, but I’m enough of a Pragmatist to know that I don’t even bother trying to persuade or convince or rally the… pragmatists to our side. Can’t explain that very well. It has very little to do with me being pragmatic and everything to do with me being very thin-skinned chickenshit. lol.
So… what about us subversives, huh?
Nudging.
Tweaking.
And, some well timed and well articulated YELLING.
Until … tipping.
I was also thinking quite a bit about… oh … everything. The quiet activism of someone like Buffy Sainte Marie who, with her fame and fortune, has done some really great stuff, quietly. And there’s others. But those dividends are not likely to pay off for another generation or two. But still, I hope they keep it up. Educating people is key. Or, as we called in in the old days, “consciousness raising”.
But … we’re running out of time.
I was struck by the number, and tone, of people in buhdy’s piece who… a) applauded him for being spot on, and b) admonished him for letting Obama and the Dem’s off the hook too easy! (What?! lol) So where are they? Do we invite or encourage those folks to wander over to DD? or do we actively tip ‘n’ rec over there, (and other blogs too) while passing out megaphones…?
Sarah Conner: Do I look like the mother of the Leader of the Free World Resistance? I can’t even balance my checkbook!
I don’t know.
I, for one, am on the edge of my seat today (but, no pressure, buhdy!)
I want to talk and learn more about civil disobedience for the 21st century, this age of technology. More about sustaining communities. More about us 99%’ers. More about envisioning Sea Change and creating more and better ripples.
How can I help?
.
Shosholoza
The Zulu word Shosholoza means go forward or make way for the next man,
and is also reminiscent of the sound made
by the steam train (stimela) described in the song.Move fast
Move fast
on those mountains
train from South Africa.You are accelerating
You are accelerating
on those mountains
train from South Africa.
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corrupt and basically the same when it comes to corporatocracy, foreign policies, civil rights, etc. Buhdy straddles the line pretty well and for him and his messages maybe that’s the right thing.
That music video of those boys is awesome! Kind of makes you think about what is possible in this world.
the pragmatists. The stupid labels of degrees among the blogger’s is silly. It’s not like that in life, were all a mixture of ideals and how to implement them. Political wonks who get so caught up in the gaming aspects of electoral numbers and demographics are not practical as there is nothing static about politics by it’s nature. They put the cart before the horse, believing that winning is worth losing the everything they fight for. They put there faith in political fictions that keep them stuck and afraid to move forward, and allow the pols and their keepers to continue with this charade. There is nothing pragmatic about this.
Grayson is great because he has if nothing else shattered the myth that the left must play to the mythical centrists or we will lose, and it’s the purists fault. I think the comments reflect the realization by people that they have been played, by being ‘pragmatic’. Grayson’s right most people ‘don’t care about process or politicians or personalities or anything like that.’ They care about the reality that they have to live in. To call the truth idealistic is not pragmatic, it’s delusional.
Get off the electronic surveillance grid- Why
It pisses big businesses off
Pay cash cancel the credit cards tell them everybody is getting euthanized by swine vaccines even if you really don’t buy into that theme
Get a fire safe and start taking money out of the banks. If people start doing that well, it’s going to happen anyway.
Don’t support electronic money transfer. Yes it is fast easy and convienient but do you really want a microchip?
Live totally in contempt of ALL corporate media and tell them so. Deflate their illusions by emulating the wearechange.org methods.
Shake off the fallacies of both political parties and deprogram yourself from the memes they taught you.
Learn how to live without pharmacuticals, non-green cleaners, celebrity crap, American branding and a whole list of other things I can’t get into now.
Don’t worry about being PC, polite,unconventional as we are in for the fight for our lives. People are going to get angry trying to hold onto their belief systems. They, like you have been lied to their entire lifetime so you really can’t hold these illusions against them.
Jury duty- You really can’t sit in judgement of other people when the system does not function anymore. You may go as far as convictions might take you but I just put radical alternative worldview on my jury questionaire.
Race questions- To refuse this on the principle if everyone is really “equal” then why ask. All of this info feeds databases on how specifically to pit one group against another.
Author
Im trying to write less spazzy, really, I am.
🙂
pragmatists,
would get real,
and stop trying
to change,
only what they can change.
afterall a half a loaf
is better than no loaf,
but what’s better than either
is having your own Bakery.
talk about dreaming,
imagine
People that were empowered
to feed themselves and more
all without the sweat of their brow,
but by the power
of their dreams.
is that there has been a shift in its meaning that is subtle to the eye and sensibility, but sweeping in its implications. I’ve always understood pragmatism as meaning the willingness to change and adapt the means one uses to more expeditiously achieve one’s desired ends. What passes today for “pragmatism” in Democratic Party circles, including the blogs, seems to be this: the willingness to adjust one’s ends to fit one’s preferred means.
.
After more than 4 years I thought it was going to be a “tough break”. Quite to the contrary, I haven’t missed it a bit. No withdraws, nothing, in a week or more.
Anyway, regarding your main point, I contend that it’s practical to be somewhat idealistic. Ah! A contradiction some might say! Not at all: had Obama been more idealistic back in the spring and early summer regarding Health Care Reform — e.g., holding out Single Payer as the desired way to go, but “allowing” the GOP and VichyDems and Insurance Jackals to make him “cave” and compromise with a Public Option — then we wouldn’t be in the bind we’re in now, where the Public Option was Obama’s “best case scenario”, as the starting point for negotiation. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And impractical.
Mu . . .