Friday, April 21, 2006
Tear Down This Wall
Society, as some suggest, is an ongoing experiment: try what seems to work; abandon what doesn't. Of course, what works for some is often detrimental to others. Especially in a winner-take-all capitalist system.
The European experiment in the Americas--beginning with slavery, murder, and theft, and, in many respects, still in that mode of relationships--is presently foundering on the indigenous resurgence and moral challenges posed by their culturally creative companeros.
Liberals--like conservatives--also fear the unknown, fear fundamental change, and fear the loss of privileges ingrained in our society for half a millenium. Their anxiety--based on a sense of security that is bound up with the existing system of inequality--places them in a juxtaposition between letting their conscience be their guide, and siding with those who would maintain such inequities.
For myself, the challenge--or experiment, if you will--is whether we can surmount the communicative barriers of the status quo in order to begin to discuss our hopes for the future.
The European experiment in the Americas--beginning with slavery, murder, and theft, and, in many respects, still in that mode of relationships--is presently foundering on the indigenous resurgence and moral challenges posed by their culturally creative companeros.
Liberals--like conservatives--also fear the unknown, fear fundamental change, and fear the loss of privileges ingrained in our society for half a millenium. Their anxiety--based on a sense of security that is bound up with the existing system of inequality--places them in a juxtaposition between letting their conscience be their guide, and siding with those who would maintain such inequities.
For myself, the challenge--or experiment, if you will--is whether we can surmount the communicative barriers of the status quo in order to begin to discuss our hopes for the future.
