dumping thoughts from somewhere else

I was in a conversation elsewhere and got carried away with commenting and my thoughts were too long to fit into the post-limit there.  So I'm dumping it here.  Yeehaw.  No editing went into this, so fuck you.
------

I've been thinking about this thread for awhile, and I'm gonna try to share some of my thoughts.

Frederick Douglass was one of the first prominent voices for civil rights and provided an excellent example of Republican-style responsibility. His presence was so prominent that people gave him all of the oxygen in the room, and when he died, there was no one person who could fill his shoes. Booker T Washington was pretty great, but then there was W.E.B. DuBois, too, and in the absence of one great voice to listen to, people were split between this divide -- the great irony being, of course, that no one voice can or should ever speak for any group of people. But a pattern of dialectical leadership began, and I think it's morphed into a fucked up standard for today. (For those unfamiliar with Washington or DuBois, I'm not going to try to sum them up, but the MLK/Malcolm X dichotomy runs parallel.)

Excuse me while I make a feminist analogy, but there certainly does seem to be a madonna/whore problem with black racial stuff that I don't see in the same way with other racial issues. (Maybe it's just me?) I think the problem, in part, has to come from other races being more closely tied to an actual country, whereas black Americans are tied to -- what? To slave culture that they are told to resent? They are told by their own that they are "other", but the only thing they really have to tie them to an understanding of what that otherness is is a history of injustice with real heroes like Douglass and the black robe regiment being erased.

This is a lot of babble to get to the point that when I was in diapers and black people were first starting to get mainstreamed into popular culture in a hardcore way, it was a big deal. And it was an even bigger deal when the Cosby Show rolled around and portrayed them as "normal" instead of Rerun or "Dyn-o-mite!". (etc) But at the same time that The Cosby Show was groundbreaking, you also had Run-DMC essentially recreating the music industry. Which way were people supposed to go? Washington or DuBois? MLK or Malcom X?

I'm oversimplifying, of course, which has a tendency to mush the pot.

I see a strong desire by mainstream America and its white liberal guilt to accept black culture... but what the fuck is black culture? It's not the black slave traders who sold them into American slavery to begin with. It's not the carefully chosen songs sung on plantations that were used as coded communication methods. It's not the amazing black leadership that existed before the 1900s that's been all but erased from the books. It's like the big secret of black culture is that it's as fabricated as Kwanzaa. The emperor's wearing no clothes, but ain't his pimp suit fly? Black culture seems to be rooted most strongly in Otherness, and with so much emphasis on the injustices of the past, personal pride becomes the ability to eschew the norm. There's nothing else left to use as an identifier other than doing the opposite of whatever is mainstream. So, maintream becomes "white" (regardless of color or ethnicity", and not-white become black, and it's a fucking pile of confetti on the floor that you're supposed to not call garbage.

Generationally, this always happens. Your parents are square and weird, you're hip, and your children think you're dreadful. But having children and burying parents (and a general attitude of love and respect within familial ties) evens that shit out. But I don't know if there's ever really been an entire subculture like Black America before (like, ever-ever), where the whole reason for it existing as a different group is to promote that it's not the "ruling" group, with no strong ties to an identity of its own beyond rejecting something else. And a loose and mythological tie to the jungle -- which, let's face it, is a loose and mythological tie to tribal savagery.

How dangerous, and how sad. And now the country seems to have two different roads of black people: oreos and criminals. Cultural things that come out of urban areas that seem to belong more to black people (rap, for example) get mainstreamed, leaving black people struggling to find new ways to be Other. Saggy pants and wearing hats on their feet and seemingly ANYTHING that's too crazy for a Cracka to get away with doing it. Even hair is politicized. Straightened or corn-rowed or shaved or what the fuck ever. I'm lucky if my hair is clean on any given day. Is there any fucking thing in black culture that doesn't have some weird whitey oreo opposite that's put down? Is there anything in black culture that is actually it's own fucking things and not a fabricated opposite version of the Way Whitey Does It? (<-- not a rhetorical question.)

The cruelest irony is that with each black thing that's mainstreamed, we're actually TAKING AWAY something "wholesome" (or, at least, not too horribly dangerous) for them to cling to as "theirs". They're left with the world of "Precious", because no one in their right mind fucking wants that, and then they cling to it, because at least THAT is THEIRS, and then the fucking Democrats subsidize it because if THEY claim it as THEIRS then it's cultural and must be respected, and now fucking Rachel Jeantel is a multilingual genius lauded for her oratory instead of a functionally retarded liar whose claim to fame is saying "retarded" and "cracker" under oath and fucking a kid who was shot.

I'm doing that thing where every paragraph leads me further down the rabbit hole. I'm trying to say that I think the problem with black culture is that it is not a culture in the textbook sense of the word, and in trying to understand it or live it or respect it, we fall into strange dichotomies... when perhaps the only solution is to blow up the whole damn ship. Black culture and heritage is totally different from pretty much any other fucking race (different in its formation and construct) -- with the exception of mutt-Americans like me. I think that's part of the reason I delight so much in the ironical celebration of "cracka"ness. I'm mostly British/Welsh, and I've got some Mayflower blood or whatever, but I don't look at a map of England and cry for my motherland. I'm American, and if I wanted to feel pride in some other ethnicity, it'd be a fun fabrication. American culture takes the best of everything that's been poured into it and claims it as ours. And that's fucking awesome. It's one of the secrets to our success. (Or, it used to be.) Ex: we can all celebrate fucking St Patrick's Day without being Irish, and no one goes stomping around on that day wearing American flags because they feel like the drunkfest is marginalizing them. Black culture, in order to exist, has to do the opposite of American culture. Just by definition, it has to do this in order to exist. Since American culture = white culture, and since white culture = source of slavery/injustices, black culture becomes something awful just by definition, because it's the opposite of something uniquely awesome. But no one (no one that has a real voice -- you know what I mean) will fucking say out loud that the emperor is naked, so we keep going on ladidah, as if pouring poison into a jar of sugar doesn't leave you with anything other than sweet death. We're supposed to feel bad for thinking people look retarded when they wear their pants backwards -- but what the fuck, their PANTS are BACKWARDS. We're supposed to feel boring and white for liking pearls instead of bling. We're supposed to "understand" this "otherness" and find some kind of "acceptance" and "tolerance", when at its core, it's really just a rejection of everything that as defined what it means to be an American.

It took time for the American identity to develop, and it wasn't there yet in 1776. It grew and flourished, and later on, within it, something new started to grow that defined itself as an opposite. It's like the only way to defeat it would be to turn horrible and ugly ourselves, so the evil twin becomes nice, and that ain't an option. I know I feel disgusting guilt for thinking most of what I've written, which just further demonstrates how insidiously this polarity has infused itself our core -- and the more we try to make room for everyone in the tent, the more everything splits apart at the seams.

How can we ever make room in the tent for something that is defined as being outside of the tent? And why is it our fucking responsibility to make room in the tent -- no, not "make room", but carry into the tent on our backs" -- for people who want to stand out in the rain?

I'm apparently unable to sum up my point, so I'm stopping now. Hopefully there was something worth reading within that babble. Langworthy out!

Romney Lost... What now?

I've seen a lot of emotions and political philosophy being tossed around .  It's my turn to weigh in, I suppose.

I believe in God & country. I believe that God is on the side of freedom. I believe that if Romney were the only/best path back to a truer America, we would have won. I now believe that we have to hit a worse rock bottom before the idiots get their heads out of their butts; however, I also believe that while America is near the tipping point, America is not yet forever lost. IMHO.

I believe the soul of our country is sick -- sick like a junkie. Some who vote against the betterment of the country know better, some don't, some hate America and want to transform it into something else. Sick like a fuckin' junkie. I never thought Romney was the Magic Cure. No single, one president can fix a junkie-country. I thought a President Romney could slightly turn the Titanic away from the iceberg, buying us time to better prepare for harder times ahead of us and perhaps making the eventual iceberg-collision a little less devastating. Instead, the whole country is gonna hurt a lot more than it needed to, and it's gonna happen sooner than it needed to. It's a damn shame, but what's the point of the captain steering the boat a little to the right if enough of the passengers don't believe that the boat is capable of sinking? Maybe that's part of our job now -- reaching out to the passengers in the boat.

It feels like we are outnumbered, but the margin is so small that it is nearly insignificant. (Especially given the amount of voter fraud that we know exists, and especially since 300,000 different votes in key swing states would've gotten Romney a victory, and especially because [fill in the blank myriad horseshit]. Point being -- small ass margin.) Apparently, there are some (many) dumbfuck voters who still believe the lie that government is the answer. (Or, maybe they simply cannot admit that their '08 Obama vote was a racially driven, affirmative-action vote; thus, they voted for him again to try and prove to themselves that they're not racist. I digress.) 

Our country is a heroin/benefits junkie. Sometimes junkies go into drug-induced comas when trying to sober up, so they don't have to experience the horrible withdrawal. (QE-infinity comes to mind, but, again, I digress.) But those are the junkies that have a higher percentage of falling off the wagon -- because they don't experience the pains of withdrawal. It appears that America has to hurt -- and to feel the hurt deep in our bones -- before the more rational of the stoopid Obama voters will see the light. It's gonna suck. But maybe we have to hit the iceberg hard -- and then have all hands on deck to yell out warnings beforehand and then fix the damn boat once it hits. America is the only country built on an idea, and it's a helluva a lot stronger than some damn boat. We can bring her back to her glory. 

Until then, until we hit the iceberg, we can freak out about the country being lost... but we've been on this course for awhile, and the country has been losing its way for a long time. Have any of us experienced true liberty in our lifetimes? I don't know. But I do believe that in an election where more than 40% voted on either side, it cannot be the tipping point if everyone remains vigilant on their home turf. (WI being our home turf.)

If Romney was the only way out of the mess, then we are screwed. But this is goddamn America, and there are no "only one way" options. We are tough. We are innovators. We don't just survive, we thrive. We invented the lightning rod, and Morse code, and toilet paper, and roller skates (ahem), and the vibrator, and jeans, and ball point pens, and zippers, and the assembly line, and air conditioning, the air plane, and cheeseburgers, and chocolate chip cookies, and electric guitars, and deodorant, and airbags, and spandex, and PCs, and email, and cell phones, and FB, and and and... Hard days are ahead, but all is not lost. We are Americans. There will be better days for our children or grandchildren, days we might not be alive to see but that will exist nonetheless, but only if we continue to do our own part in our little corners of the world.

Those are my thoughts, as best and as briefly as I can put into words right now. I'll be trying to shut up about this now, and instead I'll be trying to focus my energy on the hard road ahead of us and very important work we have not yet accomplished. We may not live to see the eventual fruits of our labor (hell, the progressives have been building their movement for a century), but those fruits will never be known if we do not fight now.

More Conservative Discrimination in WI

Everywhere you go in WI, there are people displaying their approval or disapproval of Governor Scott Walker. This can take the form of anything from a t-shirt to a sneer reacting to that t-shirt.  Great!  Political discussion is good.  Ideological expression and diversity of opinions are great.  The key, of course, is often displayed on liberal bumper stickers.  We must COEXIST.

Apparently the liberals in Madison have some trouble with that.

The newest story:  A Wisconsin woman was fired for having a pro-Walker sign on her car.  Her frickin car in the frickin parking lot.  Does her car even have anything to do with her job?  Nope, she's a custodian.

The story, as it was originally reported, was that Mary Taylor was not told to remove the sign from her car.  Radio personality Mark Belling has uncovered evidence that shows she WAS ordered to remove it.

My question: Why aren't the Wisconsin MSM sources doing their jobs and looking in the same areas as Mark Belling?  If the information was available to Belling, surely it would be available to at least ONE of the state's seasoned reporters.  Did the WI MSM find this information and suppress it, or did they not even bother doing their jobs and searching for all available evidence?

h/t Breitbart.com

Rox Bar Apologizes... Sort of.

More on Roxgate!  The Rox Bar and Grille has chosen not to contact anyone in our party.  Our emails and phone calls have been left unanswered.  They did, however, post this on their Facebook page today.

"Dear Patrons of the Rox Bar and Grille, We are sorry. To anyone that we have offended, we ask that you please accept our sincere apologies. I promise you though, this was a big misunderstanding that is missing many of the facts. At Rox Bar and Grille, we take pride in ensuring our customer’s satisfaction. Unfortunately, we have had to deal with heated debates in our establishment, that could have potentially threatened the safety of our staff, as well as our patrons. We are a small, family owned business and when you walk through our doors, we feel a great responsibility to enforce a safe, family-friendly atmosphere. We truly do open our doors as if it were our home, and welcome anyone and everyone to spend time here with us. We DO NOT condone any type of discriminatory behavior in our establishment. We are in constant pursuit of perfection and are already working on solutions that will prevent similar problems from occurring in the future.We deeply value our relationship with our customers. Without all of you, we do not exist. Yours in service, Dennis Hronis and Peter Hronis - Owners"

I'm confused why they are supporting a "family friendly atmosphere" when you must be 21 to enter.  But I don't really care why they have their alleged policy and see no need for them to justify it by alleging previous violence; the alleged policy should have been made clear to us before we entered.  And I disagree with their claim that they "DO NOT condone any type of discriminatory behavior in our establishment."  They are judging people based on what they choose to wear.  They are judging people based on their appearance.

If the Rox Bar wants to discriminate against people who wear their political hearts on their sleeves, so be it.  But don't lie about it -- and don't let us waste our money there before saying we're not welcome back.

Jerry Bader Show, part two

Transcript of part two of the Jerry Bader Show, with Jerry talking about Roxgate.  This includes a call-in from another member of our group of six who was there that night.

Jerry: I find this story nothing short of fascinating, and even though it happened in Pewaukee, in Waukesha County in suburban Milwaukee, I think it has implications statewide.  Because there is this mindset that rules in Wisconsin that you actually don't have the right to express your opinion about Scott Walker -- if you support him.  Now, understand, a private business has a right to do whatever they want to do.  In fact, if they want to tell you, "You know what, we don't like Scott Walker, get out of here" -- not smart -- but they do have the right to do that.  They have the right to have a policy.

Jerry Bader Show, part one

Here's part one of the podcast of Jerry Bader on The Jerry Bader Show talking about the Rox Bar Incident:

Part one: Scott Walker T-Shirt wearing man shares his story


Jerry, introducing "the person directly involved with" Roxgate: Santo joins us now on the phone. Santo, good morning.

Santo: Good morning, Jerry. How are you doing?

Jerry: Good, and I really appreciate you taking the time to come on.  Now.  What we're talking about is Rox Bar and Grille in Waukesha. Santo, in your own words -- and, you know, talk a little bit about the day and the events that led up to you folks being there, and tell us exactly what happened there.

Leftist Tolerance in Madison, WI (with video)

In Wisconsin, if you're in political office and don't kowtow to Big Labor, you risk facing recall.  When they launched the recall of Governor Walker (for limiting public unions' collective bargaining privileges -- and related monetary and political power), a group of Walker supporters gathered in Madison to show our support for Gov. Walker and his state-saving reforms.  The anti-Walker folks gathered in the Square around the Capitol building -- on the Capitol grounds, on the sidewalk around the Capitol, on the streets surrounding the Capitol...

The sidewalk on the other side of the street? That's where we Walker supporters were allowed access.  We circled the Capitol a few times.  Here is the reaction from the Tolerant Left: