It started with a comic book...
Jul. 4th, 2005 07:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnpalmerNothing ever starts when it starts, except maybe the universe, and when it comes to that, we simply can't know.
What I am doing right now didn't start after the election, nor even right before it. It started with a comic book.
It's a kind-of silly thing, but that's how my brain works. Single images or ideas can cause a massive cascade, and I can see things in a completely different light. Like, I was hearing the movie "Summer of Sam", and I hear this guy into punk (I think that's what it was...) and one of his friends says something like "You're wearing a dog collar, for Christ's sake!" and the guy shoots back "YOU'RE wearing a dog collar!" and *bang*, it hit me, I understood the philosophy the guy was following. Yeah, he was dressing ugly, because he was rejecting a feeling that he *had* to dress a certain way. To dress the way society expected *was* putting on a dog collar - you put collars on dogs to control them! Putting on a real dog collar was a symbolic way of recognizing that control, and rejecting it.
I don't know if there was value in challenging those assumptions, or flaunting their rejection, but I understood, and I also understood the appeal of doing so. I was also glad that some people did this. It's like, if we don't play with these ideas, we never know if there's something we're all missing.
All that, from a line in a movie that I wasn't even interested in. That's how my brain works.
But this was about a comic book. It was Frank Miller Daredevil... and the image is kind of corny.
Captain America is trying to track down who was responsible for unleashing Nuke (a US super-warrior), and walks into a general's office. "You know we've always held you in the highest regard. We've always valued your commitment-- and your loyalty...". By "Loyalty", of course, the general means "your willingness to shut up and walk away from something evil", which is not loyalty at all... at least, not the kind of loyalty that people should value.
In response, Captain America, grasps the flag in the general's office and says "I'm loyal to nothing, General... except the dream."
And it hit me like a ton of bricks. First, how the flag could be a symbol, not of America, and not of the current politicians holding office, and not of the fifty states, or the American people... but of the dream.
Not the American Dream of a house, car, and some number of children that includes some fractional child for humor value. The dream of freedom, of justice, of a land where it's acknowledged that the government exists to serve the people, and not the other way around.
And the thought of the dream itself... the realization of how important it was. The realization of how a person could dedicate their lives to it, and how people could love it so deeply and dearly.
Today is the day I celebrate the dream, and rededicate myself to it.
It's not a day to celebrate the politicians and not a day to celebrate the brave men and women who have sworn to protect our freedom (though certainly a day to extend our gratitude to them for their oaths); it is not a day to celebrate wars or other damnfoolishness where people have died because people were shortsighted, evil, or stupid.
It's a day to celebrate the dream, and to remember one of the biggest, and most successful, attempts to turn the dream into reality. "Most successful", because it never is, and never can be, entirely successful; we have come closer, and we have drifted further, but the dream is an ideal that no imperfect nation can ever achieve. And that's okay, because acknowledging that we can only get closer means we will never stop striving to bring it about, we'll never rest and say we've done enough; we'll always push to see if we can make the dream of liberty and justice a bit more real than it was the day before.
It's time to remember the dream, to fall in love with the dream again, and to gear up and fight to protect it.
There are mighty battles being fought. There are vicious lies told, but we can fight back, because we have truth.
There is hatred spread and used, but we can fight back, because we have love.
There are people using Christianity as a weapon; I'm ready to counter with Jesus. They've got hundreds of preachers willing to say they're the good guys, and I've got the memory of a single man... but I think I've got them outnumbered.
It's time to fight back.
For truth. For love. For justice.
For the dream.
Bright blessings, much love, and my hopes that the dream becomes brighter and more real for us all.
What I am doing right now didn't start after the election, nor even right before it. It started with a comic book.
It's a kind-of silly thing, but that's how my brain works. Single images or ideas can cause a massive cascade, and I can see things in a completely different light. Like, I was hearing the movie "Summer of Sam", and I hear this guy into punk (I think that's what it was...) and one of his friends says something like "You're wearing a dog collar, for Christ's sake!" and the guy shoots back "YOU'RE wearing a dog collar!" and *bang*, it hit me, I understood the philosophy the guy was following. Yeah, he was dressing ugly, because he was rejecting a feeling that he *had* to dress a certain way. To dress the way society expected *was* putting on a dog collar - you put collars on dogs to control them! Putting on a real dog collar was a symbolic way of recognizing that control, and rejecting it.
I don't know if there was value in challenging those assumptions, or flaunting their rejection, but I understood, and I also understood the appeal of doing so. I was also glad that some people did this. It's like, if we don't play with these ideas, we never know if there's something we're all missing.
All that, from a line in a movie that I wasn't even interested in. That's how my brain works.
But this was about a comic book. It was Frank Miller Daredevil... and the image is kind of corny.
Captain America is trying to track down who was responsible for unleashing Nuke (a US super-warrior), and walks into a general's office. "You know we've always held you in the highest regard. We've always valued your commitment-- and your loyalty...". By "Loyalty", of course, the general means "your willingness to shut up and walk away from something evil", which is not loyalty at all... at least, not the kind of loyalty that people should value.
In response, Captain America, grasps the flag in the general's office and says "I'm loyal to nothing, General... except the dream."
And it hit me like a ton of bricks. First, how the flag could be a symbol, not of America, and not of the current politicians holding office, and not of the fifty states, or the American people... but of the dream.
Not the American Dream of a house, car, and some number of children that includes some fractional child for humor value. The dream of freedom, of justice, of a land where it's acknowledged that the government exists to serve the people, and not the other way around.
And the thought of the dream itself... the realization of how important it was. The realization of how a person could dedicate their lives to it, and how people could love it so deeply and dearly.
Today is the day I celebrate the dream, and rededicate myself to it.
It's not a day to celebrate the politicians and not a day to celebrate the brave men and women who have sworn to protect our freedom (though certainly a day to extend our gratitude to them for their oaths); it is not a day to celebrate wars or other damnfoolishness where people have died because people were shortsighted, evil, or stupid.
It's a day to celebrate the dream, and to remember one of the biggest, and most successful, attempts to turn the dream into reality. "Most successful", because it never is, and never can be, entirely successful; we have come closer, and we have drifted further, but the dream is an ideal that no imperfect nation can ever achieve. And that's okay, because acknowledging that we can only get closer means we will never stop striving to bring it about, we'll never rest and say we've done enough; we'll always push to see if we can make the dream of liberty and justice a bit more real than it was the day before.
It's time to remember the dream, to fall in love with the dream again, and to gear up and fight to protect it.
There are mighty battles being fought. There are vicious lies told, but we can fight back, because we have truth.
There is hatred spread and used, but we can fight back, because we have love.
There are people using Christianity as a weapon; I'm ready to counter with Jesus. They've got hundreds of preachers willing to say they're the good guys, and I've got the memory of a single man... but I think I've got them outnumbered.
It's time to fight back.
For truth. For love. For justice.
For the dream.
Bright blessings, much love, and my hopes that the dream becomes brighter and more real for us all.
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For the dream
Date: 2005-07-05 03:29 am (UTC)Re: For the dream
Date: 2005-07-05 04:21 am (UTC)It's hit me more and more, and more frequently, as well... soldiers don't get to pick their jobs. They might get sent into a stupid war; they might make their stand against the greatest evil the world has ever seen, or they might have no opportunity to do anything but maintain readiness... but all who act honorably deserve our respect and gratitude.
(Um. If this sounds too gushy, I'm three-four beers into my drinking, so you can chalk excessive gushiness to that :-).)
no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 06:31 am (UTC)what she said.
Date: 2005-07-05 06:39 am (UTC)I believe in the dream. I just am not so sure *enough* people do, anymore, to counteract the way it's been hijacked.
(lovely fireworks display in Kingston, though... had a nice smaller-town feel to it, no traffic jams... )
(the unofficial displays are ongoing, I expect til 12:30 or 1 am; no big deal, I've got earplugs and Ambien, and know how to use 'em both! :)
thank you
Date: 2005-07-05 01:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 06:52 pm (UTC)