The impossible will take a little while
I've heard a lot of lectures and been to a lot of book signings by progressive and/or political authors, but Chalmers Johnson wins the prize for the most depressing lecture of all time. It was his first presentation of his lecture "Evil Empire".
We're doomed.
That said, I must not believe that his warnings are the inevitable outcome, or I'd just curl up on the sofa in front of Wheel of Fortune and relax while I wait for our world to crumble. Honestly, if I'd just work on issues like getting sidewalks in town, I think that would be a little easier, emotionally speaking. It's tangible. It's concrete (pun intended). You can see progress. But nooooo...I have to care about issues of international importance. What's up with that?
It's often what I'm drawn to. I can't help it. The consequences of doing nothing are unacceptable. I often can't see if my activism has any effect, but I just have to trust that it does. I'll keep adding my little stones to the pile. Maybe if everyone did, someday there'd big a massive rock pile that couldn't be ignored. I look at it as an exercise in patience and delayed gratification, plus I couldn't look myself in the eye if I ignored what's happening in the world.
I sometimes think about what Molly Ivins said in her last column:
As the saying goes, the impossible will take a little while. I try to do my bit. Maybe not every day, but most days.
btw, You can see Chalmers Johnson on C-Span tomorrow night at 10:30 pm Pacific Time.
We're doomed.
That said, I must not believe that his warnings are the inevitable outcome, or I'd just curl up on the sofa in front of Wheel of Fortune and relax while I wait for our world to crumble. Honestly, if I'd just work on issues like getting sidewalks in town, I think that would be a little easier, emotionally speaking. It's tangible. It's concrete (pun intended). You can see progress. But nooooo...I have to care about issues of international importance. What's up with that?
It's often what I'm drawn to. I can't help it. The consequences of doing nothing are unacceptable. I often can't see if my activism has any effect, but I just have to trust that it does. I'll keep adding my little stones to the pile. Maybe if everyone did, someday there'd big a massive rock pile that couldn't be ignored. I look at it as an exercise in patience and delayed gratification, plus I couldn't look myself in the eye if I ignored what's happening in the world.
I sometimes think about what Molly Ivins said in her last column:
And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets ...
As the saying goes, the impossible will take a little while. I try to do my bit. Maybe not every day, but most days.
btw, You can see Chalmers Johnson on C-Span tomorrow night at 10:30 pm Pacific Time.
posted by Terry at 4:35 PM
2 Comments:
Yep, he's depressing, but he's wiling to point out that there's an elephant in the room.
Pun intended.
Oh yeah. Someone's got to point it out. He does a good job of it.
And he signed my copy of Blowback. I've got the beginnings of a nice little collection of signed books on political issues.
Lotta good that'll do me when our whole world collapses, eh?
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