Pardon Me While I Burn

I'm in a pissy mood today. There's alot of shit that's got me down, not the least of which is this idea that I am simply spinning my wheels in mud. There's a song by Incubus that keeps bouncing in my head, so rather than belabor you with my troubles and self-loathing, let me give you a song to warm you up....




Why Do We Need A Constitution?
While I was out in San Francisco last weekend on weekend trip with my family, I came across a series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle about the murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey. I've linked the articles here, here, and here .

At first, I thought I was going to rant on religion by bringing this up, but it really wasn't about that but about silencing dissent. Chauncey Bailey's murder is another slide down that slippery slope of fascism that includes the intimidation of the MSM by their corporate owners and by the White House; threats and murders at abortion clinics; the penning in of protesters whenever the President visits a major city -- it's all part and parcel of the same form of intimidation.

Chauncey Bailey was gunned down by a member of an Islamic goon squad, but one can easily substitute the "islamic" modifier with any other word and achieve the same effect. Have we reached a point in our country's history where the constitution even matters? Consider the oath of office that one must take before assuming the office of President of The United States:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God.

You consider the events like Chauncey Bailey's murder, it makes me wonder which part of the oath our President takes most seriously. I would venture to guess the "so help me God" part because he's done nothing but chip away constitutional rights such as due process, illegal search and seizure, the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment, all in the name of security. It's as if he's the god and we're the ones being so helped.

Please. I say we just tear up that fucking parchment and pull out a piece of construction paper and a Sharpie Marker, and scribble a new constitution that reads:

Do as I say and nobody fucking gets hurt.

For certain, that banker robbers oath may sound like a threat, but I'm beginning to wonder if it would have saved Chauncey Bailey's life, by making him shut the fuck up in the first place. Speaking of security....


Smile, You're On Security Camera....
The day after we returned from our trip, October 10, I came home to find out that my youngest son got in trouble for fighting in school. This was not your typical bottle-flinging, chair-smashing, paddy-wagon worthy fight. This was a couple of 11-year old kids pushing each other's shoulder blades with fingertips saying things like, "Oh yeah? Well, I touched you last. So there."

For this, my youngest, his good friend, mullet Tom, and their enemy, bully-boy Nick, were dragged into the 6th Grade dean's office and separately interrogated to determine what happened. This was all part of the school's zero-tolerance policy for fighting, which calls for this type of Abu Ghraib isolation. However, the interrogation was merely for the purpose of providing context to the taped video surveillance they had of the whole scene. The dean saw it all on tape.

A truly what the fuck moment, for me, because I had absolutely no idea that our schools were using video surveillance in the cafeterias. I asked E. about this because I was always under the impression that video surveillance was being used outside the school to monitor the entrance and egress to the numerous doorways into the building. She confirmed that this was the case; that it had been this way for quite some time; and that it was being done for that all-encompassing and nebulous reason...Security.

I almost spit out my mouthful of penne pasta mixed with Filomena's gravy (that Italian for marinara sauce) because I was stunned by what I was hearing. What really made my heart sink, however, was the discussion that ensued between me and The Eldest over this point.

TE: Daddy, I don't get why you're so upset by the cameras. They have them in my school, too. They're for security. They make us feel safe.

Me: So let me get this straight. You think that those cameras are there for your safety?

TE: Yes. Now would you just drop it. This is sooooo stupid! Mom!

E: Ya know. This was supposed to be a nice family dinner. Thanks (E. picks up her plate and leaves the table)

Me: What? So now our family dinners can't include discussions about security? (Turning to TE) So, you think that some camera hooked into the false ceiling in your cafeteria is going to stop someone from kicking your ass and beating you senseless? Where are the teachers when you eat?

TE: Well... maybe people won't want to do stuff like that if they know cameras are on them.

Me: And, maybe, some people bent on violence won't give a shit about the cameras and lay some knuckle on your face anyway. Will the camera "secure" your personal safety then? And doesn't it bother you that someone is watching everything you do every second of the day?

My daughter's words troubled me because it appears to me that we are raising a society that is so used to being watched and protected from all of the evils in the world. They've become so numb and indifferent to the invasion of privacy that video surveillance represents. In this case, the school is using video surveillance to cover it's ass from liability in case a kid gets hurt in an altercation. But how long before it becomes a tool for controlling what information gets passed on in classrooms.

As well intentioned as this form of security may be, do they honestly feel that surveillance will be a deterrent? It doesn't stop people from robbing banks, why would it stop kids from pounding each other senseless? It's yet another form of fear-laden laziness that, once accepted, will insidiously creep into other areas of the school curriculum. You can just imagine little Joey going to home to his fundy mother and telling her "Mom, today I learned that the earth is not 6,000 years old", and having some poor science teacher called to the carpet with the scrutiny of video evidence because some wingnut parent complained.

What scares me even more about this video surveillance coupled with zero-tolerance is that it's telling my kids not to defend themselves; to keep your hands down while some bully pummels their faces to pulp just so that they won't run afoul of school policy. To be mindless, voiceless idiots whose only mission is to automatically absorb whatever information they're being fed and take willingly whatever punishment they receive. Fuck that. My kids have a standing order to defend themselves with words and fists if anyone tries picking on them. They may get detention as my son did, get suspended, or even expelled. In my view violating this stupid school policy in the act of self-defense is a grounds for a holiday.

We're All Niggers of Some Sort
Last night I read and commented on Fairlane's post over at Jonestown titled Wingnuts Of a Different Color, where he laid down a spirited and inspired rant on racism in the context of the Jena 6. I found his commentary on the state of racism dead on target because it is alive and well in this country. And, if I understood his post correctly, Fairlane's main point is that we, as nation, seem to have grown too used to racism, and that now that it's rearing it's ugly head in the form of non-s0-coded noose hangings, our reactions, particularly those of liberals, are tepid.

In the context of his post, he's right. The image of a noose is not just some prank or joke and, particularly to blacks in the South, it's an image which connotes fear and violence on a scale I can't even begin to imagine. However, whenever the subject of racism is broached, the discussion almost always denigrates into a shouting match of epithets, instead of a rational discourse on what it really is -- a divisive misuse of cultural labels by really stupid people.

Consider the meanings of the word nigger from the American Heritage Dictionary:

1. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.

a. a black person.

b. a member of any dark-skinned people.

2. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.

3. a victim of prejudice similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised.

Put in this context, nigger is not just a label applied to blacks through the ages, but anyone for anyone who, as some point in their cultural history has been relegated to the scrap heap of inferiority. This is not to diminish the hateful and hurtful nature of the word in any way, particularly in the manner it's been used to label blacks, but the fact remains is that it is a label. And if it hurts, it's because we choose to let it hurt by identifying with it in some way. Let's face it folks, a noose around your neck will kill you, a burning cross on your lawn is dangerous, but filthy words -- ones that only require the collective intelligence of Randy and Damien to use -- will not.

The fact is that we all stem from the same genetic source code. While many different versions of this "source code" has been modified by physical and cultural forces and time, the code is the same. Were I to mate with black woman, we would likely produce children not much different from the gorgeous, young mulatto woman with crystal blue eyes and a kinky afro of blondish brown hair who rented us bicycles to me and my family in San Francisco last week. Would you call her a nigger? How about an Oreo cookie? Do you think she would call herself that? Does it really matter?

I ask because, whenever we allow ourselves to be affected by these labels we become no better than the people who use them. This is the denigration that I'm talking about where I call a black man a nigger and he calls me a cracker. Why are we paying so much heed and attention to this nonsense?

I don't have any simple solutions to the problem of racism and I doubt very much I will see it's eradication in my lifetime. But one thing I know is for certain: The less an issue I make of it, the less it affects me. While there's no way to avoid racists, we live with them, we commute with them...shit, in my case, we even have to call some of them family. Some may think that I am avoiding the problem by avoiding the label. I'm not. What I am saying is that we can and should demand a higher sense of decency from ourselves and others. We must stand firm on the fact that racist language has no place in human society and that anyone's use of it puts them at risk of becoming the very same social outcasts that they used to express their unfounded fear of differently colored people. You no more legislate away the hatred of racism anymore than you can make the use of the word nigger a crime. But we can, as humans, move towards the goal of eradication racism by removing the words that feed it from normal social discourse. These are labels for which we no longer have any use.