Politics. Not really... but it's about people and culture.
The thing in specific which really bothers me is the attitude that there's some system, some infrastructure, which is keeping disadvantaged people repressed. Affirmative Action was a legal effort to change this mysterious infrastructure which is holding minorities back. My friend Jennifer is a black female - a double minority, and she works at this huge furniture manufacturer here in the Big Fast. She says that at her workplace, and elsewhere too, she feels as though people are dissecting her with their eyes, wondering what she's doing here, if she's really qualified, or if she got her position in the office because of her minority status. Affirmative Action was targeted at the system which kept the equally qualified, equally educated, equally whatever'ed minorities out of the good jobs. And certainly many people benefited, but what was created? A new culture of mistrust.
Substance dependant teenagers? Huh? Nearly every kid at the substance abuse program is put there because they got in trouble, and they also like to get high. So someone on their case management committee decided that the kid was an addict, and if we tell them that they're powerless over their addictions and need a higher power to make their lives managable, they'll quit acting like irresponsible teenagers in a culture where crime pays (six figures), and it's cool to beat people up and have random sex with whoever.
Conspiracy theories are a more esoteric symptom of the same attitude. We all can look at the world and say it's messed up. If there's a secret group of hideously powerful people behind the scenes, pulling strings for some purpose, well then, that explains a lot. A current conspiracy theory: Bush administration knew about the plot to destroy the WTC, and allowed it to happen so Bush and his buddies could get the US taxpayer to finance a war, make them absurdly rich, and kick Saddam's butt. Also explaining that whole thing is this: people are sinful, make sinful, evil choices, and choices like that allow people to do horrible things, and other people (like Bush) can bungle official duties. That's how sin works.
It comes down to this (i'm pretty depressed right now): everybody is sinful and totally unable to do significant good on their own. On the plus side, of course, we're all made in the image of God, and because of that even the most outrageous committer of sinful acts (like the 9/11 terrorists, i suppose) is immesurably worthful, because of that God shard in him. On the minus side, culture is simply the norms and rules that we sinful, broken human beings collectively agree upon. That's why Affirmative Action failed - it was aimed at a "system", not a culture. That's why kids who leave "rehab" are not rehabilitated from their actual problems - their actual problem is that they are part of a culture where violence, drug use, misogyny and hate of authority are held up as correct, "real", proper behavior. Conspiracy theories are a kind of grim wishful thinking.
We are sinful. We make culture in our own broken, sinful image. What i want to do is advance the Kingdom of God, the culture outlined so well by Jesus over and over - taking care of the poor, orphaned and widowed and foreigner (that means illegal immigrants). The first shall be last and all that. It's pretty much based on love and peace and doing a lot of weed... wait, not that last one. And i don't think we're supposed to replace our culture, we're supposed to redeem it so it becomes more like the Kingdom of God. That's why i'm okay with welfare and socialised medicine and, well, socialism basically. Libertarian Socialism, to be exact.
On a much much much ligher note, Weird Al came out with a new CD, and the video for White & Nerdy is totally freaking hilarous. It's on the level of All About the Pentiums. Check out these two links, PLEASE!!! But then i had to go find the video for the song Ridin' (Dirty), and got totally depressed again. The Chamillionaire dude from the video looks like an angry, confused, hollow, troubled kid who (in contrast to goths and punks) revels in his destructive lifestyle of empty materialism and pointless conflict with authority.
meh, with a header like this one I got all jazzed up… and then, no mention of gritty politics… aaah well, how about this Foley scandle. It gets worse by the hour. What is realy chappin my hide is how so many liberal blogs are celibrating the fact that this insedent will almost certainly win us the house. Well hello… we dont need a creepy 52 year old Republican polotition making lude and sexual advances on a 16 year old boy to win this in 06… I think even the magority of repubs are tired of “staying the course”. It is shamefull… everything about this story is sick, just like the page who recived the creepy emails… “sick sick sick” !!!
-- jj - 02 October '06 - 21:03