[lit-ideas] Re: lit-ideas Digest (editing) and Missouri)
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2008 18:47:40 -0600
IC:
>It has to be not handed down in the first place.
Exactly, but that's impossible. Your parents can't teach you what they don't
know. They can't model behaviors they don't practice. They can't impart
aspirations they don't aspire to. That's my belief in any event. Can people
change? Certainly. We all do over time -- well, most of us do, I don't think
George Bush has changed one iota since day one. But chance can come only with
a perception of some need for change. One doesn't just wake up one morning and
say, "OK, today I'm changing my basic beliefs" (excepting, of course, Paul of
Tarsus). It's the incremental realization that a particular belief isn't
really working. Isn't getting one where one wants to go that makes change
possible. What if I do this instead? That's how human beings change, or so I
believe. No one's going change by reading your posts or mine or anyone else's
-- not unless we happen to address some belief that they have already called
into question, but even then the likelihood of someone else's espousal can be
fitted into another's narrative is unlikely. They'll hobble stuff together
until something works or works for awhile. Unlike you, I don't believe there's
one right way, just a sometimes right way for me.
Mike Geary
Memphis
----- Original Message -----
From: Andy
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 10:43 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: lit-ideas Digest (editing) and Missouri)
You missed my point completely. My point is that there's only 100% of
something, in this case energy. If her energy is being diverted into hating
something, what's it being taken from? I don't condemn her either. I actually
feel sorry for her for that very reason. She was as victimized by having that
hate energy instilled into her and having to carry it into eternity as the guy
who she dumped it on. Nobody asked her as a kid, hey, Sally, do you want to
carry hate energy your whole life? They just handed it to her. That kind of
wound is permanent. It's very hard to erase. It has to be not handed down in
the first place.
--- On Sat, 11/8/08, Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: lit-ideas Digest (editing) and Missouri)
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Saturday, November 8, 2008, 4:09 AM
IC:
>>But even in your restaurant, what could she have done with that
energy instead of what she did?<<
Nothing. That's who she was. I don't blame her, don't even condemn
her. She was the person she was brought up to be. Brought up by parents who
were brought up by parents who were brought up by parents all the way back.
Just like you. Just like me. Change comes creeeping slow. I know you don't
agree with that, but then you wouldn't, you being you. And I don't blame you.
Don't condemn you. You'll change, as we all do -- slowly.
Mike Geary
Memphis
----- Original Message -----
From: Andy
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 8:21 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: lit-ideas Digest (editing) and Missouri)
You know, energy that's going into racism isn't going into
something else. It seems to me that especially in the home, who's not getting
what when people are focused on hate? But even in your restaurant, what could
she have done with that energy instead of what she did? Like the venom inside
a snake that she spits out on occasion, that's what she carries around. What
would she feel like if she didn't carry it around?
--- On Sat, 11/8/08, Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: lit-ideas Digest (editing) and
Missouri)
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Saturday, November 8, 2008, 12:13 AM
Marlena:
> Give us time, please. We're making progress.
Yes, I think we all are. Slowly. One of my daughters was going on about how
great it was that Obama had been elected, but then she said, "It must be
even more surreal to you."
Yes, it probably was, I said. It was right at 50 years ago that I was sitting
in the Little Pigs Barbecue Shop eating one of their delectable slooow barbecued
pigs. I was 14, possibly 15, I was the only customer in the place -- a store
front neighborhood eatery. The cooks, staff, etc were behind a counter. Half
way through my scrumptious slooowly barbecued pig a black guy, a teenager,
enters the place. The woman behind the counter immediately shouts out, mean as
hell: "We don't serve niggers in here." This was 1958, maybe
'59 in Memphis. He turned on his heels and left. I was dumbfounded. My
instincts were to stand up and throw the half sandwich at the woman and shout:
"Then I won't eat here either." But damn, it tasted so good. The
woman moved away from the window and the moment passed. I lost my chance to be
a moral hero. But you don't know just how good their barbecues were. Worth
going to hell for? Yes! Still don't know which course of action was the
wiser. Maybe should have called out to the black guy, "Here, fella, you can
have the rest of mine." Like he wants my hand-me-down barbecue sandwiches!
Don't know what I'd do today even. But I do know that nothing like
that would happen today. Today white racists in Memphis look around to make
sure there are no blacks in earshot before telling nigger jokes. You might not
be impressed with those changes, but like Eric and Paul are arguing, it took a
hell of a lot of white folks to elect Obama. Things are changing, even down
here. Midtown was awash in Obama signs.
Mike Geary
Memphis
Mike Geary
Memphis
----- Original Message ----- From: <eternitytime1@xxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 3:37 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: lit-ideas Digest (editing) and Missouri)
> Hi,
> I was waiting for Julie to report in, but since she is distracted with
other Lit-Ideas topics, I will explain.
>
> We have come a LONG way from 2000 and 2004. It was undecided up to the
last minute.
>
> Final results: McCain 49.4% and Obama 49.2%
>
> Was awfully close.
>
> But, remember--we have to contend with this sort of thing (I'll share
a kid story)
>
> This is about a conversation my son had in Spanish class yesterday--yes,
we thought the election was over, too. A whole group of the kids ended up being
furious that Obama had won--and there is, apparently, word that it was because
of McCain's not standing behind Bush. (this is contrary to the other crowd
he and I both know who are blaming Palin for McCain's loss--as though she
selected herself as McCain's running mate...) In case you didn't know,
Bush was and is a fantastic president. Btw...he HAD to do *something* after
9-11. When Ben said--absolutely, and no problem going into Afghanistan. The
response was 'but Iraq is who attacked us on 9-11, so he had to go
there'. Then, when Ben tried to explain who had attacked us, they said
'but what about all the nuclear weapons they found in Iraq'. "WHAT
nuclear weapons" he responded. "Don't
> you watch tv?" They asked him. As he told me, in some exasperation,
even the biased news stations have never like that there were nuclear weapons
found. (he watches Fox each morning and has for years--he likes balance and
they do get the weather correct more than some of the others)
>
> To her credit, the Spanish teacher (he said), never said a word during the
whole discussion--tit was at the end of the class, I guess. She did tell him,
as he was collecting his books, that he handled the situation quite well.)
>
> B's question to me was "Who are their parents?" and
"This is what we have to look forward to when they can vote, too."
But, Missouri has Julie's kids and mine. And, they have friends...and they
THINK. (and, as my son said--those kids would not know a credible source if
they were given some to chose from. They wouldn't last one minute in Debate.
Oh, btw--last Policy issue debated on that I judged dealt with whether or not
the USA should model its healthcare system after that of France. One of the
groups who had the 'con'--didn't use the typical arguments...they
started out by agreeing we needed to change, but just not to that of France.
That we needed to model the USA after Japan. I thought of this List, of course,
at that. For those who do not know, France according to WHO has the best
healthcare in the world...but it is, after listening to several sessions,
debatable. At least by bright Missouri High School kids. No wonder we are all
conflicted here...we see every side.)
>
> Lates toipc that is interesting here in Missouri, is the latest
discussion points are not about moving forward, but about how wonderful Bush
is/was (it is, of course, from the WSJ opinion page, the media and the general
pubilc who have said he has done a bad job and then created the bad job for
him--not his policies, etc) Oh, and how it was Palin who destroyed
McCain's chances. I do not remember any of that sort of discussion after
Kerry lost--but it is even on the radio stations which traditionally play music
around here (except for the two stations which just started playing Christmas
music. THOSE announcers are rather cheerful and stated that the elction was over
and they were going to be gettng into the holiday spirit. Joining Walmart which
just began playing Christmas music over their intercom system)
>
> Give us time, please. We're making progress. The real quirk was
(maybe--need to check on this further) was all those who went Libertarian -- and
that is a question. Do you think the Republican party will become known as the
Far Right and Neo-Con party and the moderate Republicans will all end up
builiding up the Libertarian Party? In my area, those who could not bear to
vote Dem--we know some of them and most of them have a lot of money and are very
much social-issue moderates-and that is what they did. At least about 15
families we know--all of whom make about 6-8 times more a year than I do
>
> ...and in a .2 % difference, I wonder...
>
> Like Julie, I'm still not sure it is real--this having Hope thing is
interesting. It will be hard, I think, to find our way back up the cliff that
we were falling from, but at least there is someone who knows how to climb.
>
> BUT--here is a fun thing to imagine. One of my friends is married to a
guy in the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) and their chapter all dressed
up in their uniforms to go out and vote. (We in Missouri like to have fun, I
think. At least we moderates...)
>
> Best,
> Marlena in Missouri
> Where the Future is Coming
>
>
>
>
> Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:06:27 -0800
> From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: I'll edit yours if you'll edit mine
>
>> Obviously I meant "in the near future", rather than "in
the new
> future".
>
> Yeah, I was getting tired of the old future. When are you guys going to
> get your act together in Missouri?
>
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