THE TRUTH IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK HAPPENED
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Why We Need Socialism
Socialism. Apparently the mention of the word is enough to enrage conservatives. It implies some kind of unfair redistribution of wealth from their pockets to the lazy poor. What the right wing seems to forget is how Socialism came to be, and why it’s essential not only for the poor, but also for themselves.When Europe started to cast off the ideas of the middle ages, starting with the British civil war, and extending to the American Revolution, the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, the idea that regular guys (yes, guys, not girls) could rule a nation without being born to it and anointed by God for the job was a kick in the pants for the average joe. Prior to this, rising above the station in life that you were born to was impossible. It was done, certainly, but you always “knew your place” and bowed to those above you accordingly.
After Napoleon was defeated, Europeans sat up, rubbed their eyes and wondered how they could better their situations. The Industrial Revolution really started swinging in London, and country folk who were formerly content (or rather, allowed) to work the land flocked to the cities and got jobs in the new mechanized and steam powered industries. The merchant class rose, the GDP of Britain changed for the first time ever –and lo, capitalism was born.
The concentration of poor folk working in textile mills and machine shops and coal mines meant that all the infrastructure which was neglected by the government was amplified. The safety net of the time was the workhouse, sewage ran in the streets, and children worked long hours. The first labor laws were passed in England in the 1840s – children between the ages of 9 and 18 were prohibited from working more than 12 hours a day. The merchant class was definitely looking out for themselves, and themselves alone.
These appalling conditions created discontent. But it was not discontent that spurred on legislative change to better the conditions of the working man. Only the merchant class, gentry and nobility had the vote in England. They were not going to listen to the gripes of a bunch of poor rabble rousers. The parliament did expand the vote in 1832 after much pressure, but even then not all men could vote. Something had happened in 1831 which I believe gave birth to socialism, and which makes it not only relevant, but necessary to this day.
Cholera.
The Second Cholera Epidemic hit London in October of 1831, and initially it was thought to be a disease of the “lazy poor” – the drunkards, criminals and prostitutes. The clergy blamed sin, and sinful living. Little did they know that a horrible death from cholera was waiting for them at the next drinking fountain. The disease raged throughout the 19th century and killed millions worldwide including the last king of France and the daughter of a US President. Poor, they were not.
The idea “If you don’t take care of the poor, they’ll kill you” really blossomed during this time. There were revolutions throughout Europe in 1848 at the height of the epidemic, and Karl Marx released “The Communist Manifesto” to a populace that was starting to realize their problems could be solved with some necessary public works and a few good labor laws. Suddenly the merchant class, gentry and nobility were sitting up and taking notice – cholera was killing everyone, and if they wanted a society to rule over, then they had to provide some basic necessities for the unlucky poor who were in their districts. Those who survived the epidemic started organizing, the first general strike in Britain was organized by the Chartists in 1842 who demanded voting rights for all men (yes, men).
Now if you give voting rights to the poor, they are going to want things like sewers and clean drinking water, weekends off and schools. If the rich want to have disease and crime free lives, it’s in their best interest to fund these demands for public works and free education. If the only safety net is the slavery of a workhouse, then the wealthy had better figure out how to take care of those who are unlucky, ill or old so they don’t get robbed or contract a contagious disease. The age of cholera gave rise to the idea of a “Societal Body” – the health of the society as a whole should concern everyone because what affects the lazy poor will soon come knocking on your door.
The hilarious modern example of this was the notably hypocritical governor of Texas who was threatening secession one week because of his knee jerk reaction at the concept of socialism, and the following week begging for millions of tax dollars for public health projects to fight the swine flu. A similar incident visited the governor of Louisiana after he criticized the use of tax payer dollars for monitoring volcanoes, and a month later Alaskans were properly warned that Mount Redoubt was going to blow through the benefits of volcano monitoring. Socialism can’t be back dated, you have to build the sewer system and water treatment plants before the cholera comes. If you want a crime free society, you have to start educating good citizens in pre-school.
This is easily the most forgettable fact in our current political discourse. Conservatives don’t want to be taxed, but they want all the benefits of civil society. Blaming the poor for their situation has been popular for centuries, but then when swine flu or bird flu is evolves from people living with livestock, or cholera is spread from lack of sanitation, then who do we blame? The poor? Or is it the lazy rich who are to blame for the latest pandemic?
The poor exist not because they are lazy, but because they are unlucky. Some are born to it, some fell into it, some will claw their way out of poverty with hard work and intelligence, some will dig themselves in deeper with addiction and immorality. Regardless, they are part of the fabric of our society, and how livable our society is largely depends on the conditions of the working class. If conditions are good - there is public healthcare, a safety net and support beyond the private sector, then the working class will be healthy, families will raise well behaved children and the community as a whole will be happy. If the poor are forced to live in slums with few public services, their children go uneducated, and they have to beg, borrow and steal for their basic needs to be met – you can be sure that the wealthy are one car jacking or pandemic away from wishing they had funded a little socialism.
Virus hunter, Nathan Wolfe, gave a brilliant talk at the TED conference on searching for the newest pandemics evolving in Africa www.ted.com/talks/view/id/499 . Viruses evolve through contact between animals and humans, and the poorer the people, the more contact they have. The most poignant moment comes when he asks the audience to look at a photo of a bushmeat hunter, obviously deeply impoverished. He asks why we think that the responsibility to stop the next pandemic rests with someone so poor. He points out that our children and grandchildren will ask us why we allowed such poverty to continue when we knew that AIDS developed from these desperately poor communities who must hunt wild animals to survive.
The green jobs activist, Van Jones, talks about “a tide that floats all boats”. If we float the boat of a pig farmer in Mexico, a farmer in China, or a hunter in Africa – perhaps they will float ours in the form of a healthy “societal body”. If the industrial revolution had floated the boats of it’s workers, perhaps Karl Marx wouldn’t have written his book. When the nobility and monarchies gave way to democracies, the concept of Nobless Oblige fell by the wayside, so Socialism had to follow Capitalism to take up the slack for the poor. Capitalism and Socialism grew up together, you can’t have one without the other. Unbridled capitalism is selfish and greedy, and absolute Socialism is seriously boring.
Firsts (from Rydell)
1. Who was your FIRST prom date? Jim, he was gay.2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? Hmmm... the one I live with? He was my first carnal love.
3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink? Champagne.
4. What was your FIRST job? Cleaning the workroom at Given Gold on Piedmont Ave. I was 11.
5. What was your FIRST car? Mustang II
6. Who was the first person to text you today? Spy.
7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning? My son.
8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Chris Brown!
9. Where was your first airplane ride? Too young to remember!
10. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still in touch? Gwyn - yes we're still friends!
11. What was your FIRST sport played? No.
12. Where was your FIRST sleep over? No idea!
13. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? My son.
14. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? My Aunt and Uncle.
15. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Peed.
16. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? The Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food tour. I was 11.
17. FIRST tattoo or piercing? Ears... no tattoos!
18. FIRST foreign country you went to? Mexico, I was too young to remember.
19. What was your FIRST run in with the law? First and only time I got arrested was trying to climb the bay bridge on NYE 2000
20. When was your FIRST detention? Hmmm... the day I got punched in 8th grade?
21. What was the FIRST state you lived in? Mississippi... really.
22. Who was the FIRST person to break your heart? Tough one... you mean kindergarten?
23. Who was your FIRST roommate? Does living in a commune count? I had lots of roommates when I was 13.
24. Where did you go on your FIRST limo ride? 1983? In LA with Laura, Alexis, Jan and David. I'm still friends with all of them.
25. Who will be the FIRST to respond this? Possibly no one.
When you feel like you've never done anything of note...
Put an * next to the ones you've done:1. Started your own blog*
2. Slept under the stars *
3. Played in a band *
4. Visited Hawaii *
5. Watched a meteor shower *
6. Given more than you can afford to charity****
7. Been to Disneyland *
8. Climbed a mountain*
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo *
11. Bungee jumped (I jumped out of a plane - better)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning *
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train*
21. Had a pillow fight *
22. Hitchhiked *
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill *
24. Built a snow fort*
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping*
27. Run a Marathon (I did the AIDS Ride 5 TIMES!)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse*
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset *
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person*
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors *In the Czech Republic - a beautiful town called Pisek
35. Seen an Amish community*
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (in general)*
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke*
42. Seen Old Faithful (the geyser) erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant*
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight *
46. Been transported in an ambulance* I used to DRIVE the ambulance!
47. Had your portrait painted*
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling*
52. Kissed in the rain *
53. Played in the mud *
54. Gone to a drive-in theater *
55. Been in a movie *
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business*
58. Taken a martial arts class*
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen*
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching*
63. Got flowers for no reason*
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma *
65. Gone sky diving*
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check *
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy *
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial*
71. Eaten Caviar *
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square*
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job *
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London*
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle*
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper *
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox *
89. Saved someone’s life*
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous *
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one *
94. Had a baby*
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone *
99. Been stung by a bee *
100. Read an entire book in one day *
SEE "ANGRY MONK" AT THE ROXIE!
www.roxie.com/events/details.cfmI took one of my monk friends to see it today - it was GREAT.
When I first met Rinpoche, he gave me a copy of Gendun Choephel's "The Madman's Middle Way" - and talked about how he wanted to teach westerners about Choephel... he was born in 1901 and despite being raised as a monk, his life was a revolutionary act - from winning every debate on Buddhist scripture, to leaving the monkhood to travel, drink. smoke and get laid. He translated the Kama Sutra into Tibetan, spoke English, and wrote for the only Tibetan newspaper. He's wrote the definitive political history of Tibet, was a painter, and intellectual. He rebelled against the strict pre-Chinese government, and when the Chinese marched into Lhasa he said "Now we're fucked." He was imprisoned for 3 years by the Tibetan government, and died at the age of 49. But his books are still read, and he is still widely regarded as one of the most brilliant Tibetans.
The documentary is only at the Roxie until the 8th - and it's totally worth seeing - the fottage of Tibet, both old and new is stunning and fascinating. DON'T MISS IT!
SF Meme from Janna
Have you (not in character) ever gotten married in costume? If yes, how many times?Nope
Have you ever gotten married in latex?
Nope - but I was a bridesmaid at *that* wedding... the one that was on HBO that I have yet to see.
Which makes the average person look more attractive: Ren Faire costume or Dickens?
Dickens. Unless you're a pig farker.
What is your opinion on metal handcuffs in role play?
I had a bad experience once - my ex husband left the keys in the car and then poured a mixture of gin and melted chocolate ice cream all over me. I was a little annoyed.
Favorite kind of restraint?
neckties
What’s a great song to dance to?
Beers, Steers and Queers by the Revolting Cocks
How many corsets do you own? What styles? Are ANY of them NOT Dark Garden corsets?
Hmmm... at least 4... all made by Autumn.
Violet wand: Whee! or "something Hermione would own"?
I'm with Hermione.
Which do you prefer: kissing men, women, bois or pre-op transsexuals?
These days, men.
Does any part of your body have a bruise or a welt right now?
No.
In your closet or dresser right now, do you have:
Stomper boots YES
Zils YES
Plaid pants YES
Bondage belt YES
Leather jacket (painted or otherwise transformed from off the rack) YES - a Buddhist Punk one and a white one with flames
Thigh-high patent leather boots I don't do patent
Obama t-shirt HELL YES!
How many of your piercings can’t be seen if you go out dressed in day clothes?
None.
Have you ever wished you could afford to buy a Sybian or a Venus 2000 just to try it?
No.
Is brown rice sushi edible?
Yum.
Janus: Financial advising company, Roman God, or a really fun bunch of people?
Ew. A bunch of smarmy nerds who beat each other.
Are you now, or have you ever been, an exhibitionist?
Nope.
If poly, do you ever wish you could be monogamous for a while? If monogamous, do you ever wish you could be poly for a while? (Skip this question if your answer would stir up trouble)
I'm poly at heart, monogamous in practice.
Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s?
Rainbow Grocery!
Sex on a beach or sex in a tent filled with playa dust: which is more comfortable?
Playa dust - yuck.
Do you ever feel like you aren’t completely the gender others perceive you to be?
Sometimes, yes.
What’s the strangest place you’ve ever fallen asleep?
Hmm... Ren Faire in LA on a hay bale in 1984,
Sex while wearing a corset: heightens the experience delightfully, or just gets in the way?
In the way.
Do you love or hate durian?
Hate the smell... I'll eat the ice cream.
Do you remember how old you were when you first had a dream or fantasy of a sensual nature?
No.
Do you feel more comfortable with your body than you did ten years ago, or less?
More comfortable with my self. Actually I weighed about the same 10 years ago - got skinny and then had a kid.
In any given week, how many different styles of cuisine do you customarily eat?
At least 4. Maybe more.
Help me celebrate my BIRTHDAY at the Green Festival!
I'm going to be 40, and I didn't want to have a party (since throwing parties is part of my job), all I wanted was to go to my FAVORITE event of the year - the Green Festival!I'll be there all weekend - I'm totally psyched at the speakers - and the energy will be great!
www.greenfestivals.org/
Come and join me!
RIP: Alan Parker
A fellow AIDS Ride employee... a great human. I was honored to know him.| 1–10 of 443 | ‹ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next » |
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