Many times, during political and cultural discussions regarding the status quo, business, political activity or even the charged events going on around us, you’ll hear the last words of the argument: It doesn’t matter how you feel about it or what you say, no-one’s going to listen to what you have to say. It’s one of those popular aphorisms that sound true, but simply aren’t. You can’t fight city hall. If it were such a good idea, they’d be selling them already. Your vote doesn’t matter, it’s rigged from the beginning.
Except that these things have been shown to be false, time and again. Still these things persist in society. In fact, these myths are just as hard to kill as: Giant alligators in the New York sewers, chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, tracking you with the new anti-counterfeiting mechanisms in our money.
Without having to cite history as a proof, let’s just stick with current events. The Arab Spring was started over one man’s protest (via self immolation) over the high prices of food, barriers to entry to compete in the market place and poor working opportunities in general. Since this one man voiced his protest, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya have seen their established governments fall.
In our own country of the USA, we have seen the Occupy Wall Street movement. It has changed the dialogue in our country. It has highlighted the difference between the .01% at the very apex of the financial pyramid versus the 99.99% holding up that base. It has done so to the point that even our potential candidates for Office have had to address their stand on this.
Just recently, two bills that purport to protect us from the evils of corruption on the internet, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act,) through loud and vocal online protests were couched and delayed for a later (hopefully, on the part of legislature, a more propitious) time to even come to a vote. Both of these bills were basically being put on the table to make it harder for individuals and small businesses to conduct business on the internet. These bills were essentially lobbied for by large companies in the TV, Music and Movie industries as well as Computer companies.
Even more recently, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation announced that they are pulling funding to all Planned Parenthood centers for breast screening and breast cancer services. While it was claimed it wasn’t done for political reasons (the report is that they caved in to right wing anti-abortion groups pressure) it was pretty clearly one of the most unpopular things made public in recent history. After less than five days of intense protests, pressure and activism on the part of people who expressed their outrage, disappointment and even a small scale revolt within the ranks of local affiliates of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, they first backpedaled and then retracted their position.
While these actions are not permanent, what in this world really is? We, the American People, have been witness to a War on Women since the failure to ratify the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) since 1972 (ERA passed but failed to ratify, though it was introduced into Congress every year since 1922) and Roe v. Wade in 1973 respectively. We have seen the enactment and subsequent repeal of Prohibition, the enactment of the Controlled Substances Act (1970) and the current backlash in the growth of decriminalization of marijuana and the allowance of medical marijuana dispensaries.
It just goes to show you that your voice does matter – if you use it. One lone voice in the wilderness is generally not enough to enact a change. Sometimes it takes millions of voices, all raised in protest or in unison. And on some occasions, your one voice may be like the one that makes the final difference. It could be like in “Horton Hears a Who,” where that last Whovillean’s voice allowed others besides Horton to hear them, resulting in saving them from certain destruction by an uncaring, unbelieving group who thought they knew better.
So the next time you hear someone say, “It doesn’t matter, no-one’s listening anyway,” tell them they’re wrong and show them the most recent examples of SOPA, PIPA, Occupy Wall Street and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. Voices, raised in protest, in unison and demanding change do work. That’s simply not possible if no-one’s listening anyway.
You have a voice. Use it. It matters. People are listening.
Occupy Your Mind
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Steven J. Gulitti
sagemerlin
Petitioner person
beauty1947
Jeanette DeMain
Poor Woman
Salon.com
Comments
♥
I'm sending a note to Apple right now.
Well, what if all you can do is voice your opinion? Then you must do so. Most people don't sing praises or even say things are okay, because there's no need to, things are great or okay. But man, do we like to make noise when something isn't right.
Except even that is not always true. We have for too long and too often bought the idea: No one cares what you think, you can't fight city hall, keep your head down and be glad you still have a job.
History and even recent events show us that change is not some spontaneous event, moving to us like a comet (which even they have prescribed orbits and paths, so -- not spontaneous) portending omens of what the future holds.
We see things that are going wrong in our political processes, our liberties, our rights and in our society. If we don't speak out, in unison and in protest, those who think everything is okay will continue to do so.
Speak your mind.
You have a voice.
Use it.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
More people will have to be roused from their apathy for real change to take place. I can't believe how a lot of people have ignored Occupy or don't support it. Don't you see our rights and our resources (of all kinds) slip-slidin' away?
Post arrested in a Waynesboro. PA's commonwealth book and discovering that Not One lawyer would defend me against GOP Banker CROOKS . . . Sigh.
I began to read a few law folks.
G.G.@ U.T. & author John Rawls's book: A Theory Of Justice. I devoured Harvard's John Rawls. I gave packets to lawyer book writers ref:., Hypocrites, and hand carried my layman (outhouse) briefs to (tp) newspapers, capital hill in DC, and even bank to the committee bank chairman. FBI met with me and Kim Doan in the Waynesboro. PA's police station. Guess What?I was arrested in the very bank proving predator lending. FBI agent Sonny said his boss was District Attorney Ashcroft. HUH. He sorta apologized his hands were tied.
HUH. Ah!
`
Henry Ward Beecher said:
`
Our dangerous class is not at the bottom;
it is near the top of society. Riches without
law are more dangerous than poverty without
law.
`
In her book (I'm gleaning quotes from SUNBEAMS - SUN Magazine - Feb -
-2012-
...
`
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century, by Barbara Tuchman:
`
There was a peasant revolt in 1358 that began in the village of St. Leu.
It spread throughout the Oise Valley. At one estate, the serf sacked the manor house,
and killed he knight.
Guess What they did?
`
They roasted him on a spit.
It was done in a pubic arena.
They did it in front of kids.
`
Ugh . . (Never do that) Oy!
`
Sad . . . Some violated the lady.
The children were still watching.
Gross . . . She was forced to eat.
She ate pieces of roasted flesh.
Guess What else? They killed.
The lady was even murdered.
The peasants were irked, huh.
I could protest - Whoa - Woe!
I sure loathe violence - Peace.
`
Now 'that' is class warfare, huh?
Arguing over the optimum rate-
Marginal tax rate for a top 1%- ?
... is not ...
`
Logan Pearsall Smith said this:
`
To suppose, as we all suppose,
that we could be rich and not
behave as the rich behave,
is like supposing that we
could drink all day and
stay sober. ( I do agree)
`
No drink. (sip goat milk)
`
A unknown author wrote:
`
"I am [sure] having an out of
money [nasty] experience."
`
Ralph Emerson ask this:
`
"What 'is' rich?"
and . . .
`
"Are you rich
enough to [huh]
help somebody?"
`
No steal homes,
laundromats etc.,
`
I still wondering?
e-mail Eric Holder?
He not DA Ashcroft.
`
I could go on and on.
That's for this Post.
It just reminded me.
`
We need to dig deep.
`
arachnologist (web of
deceit) rereading 'Charotte's Web'
during the (DoJ) lunch break
`
This was a morn wake up read.
Thank you. I love morn hoot owl.
We sure experience injustices.
`
It never ceases to amaze me how similar many of our life experiences are. I used to think as a child that I was very different. And I was. I was that kid that got bullied by the bigger kids, the dumber kids (or was I the smarter kid, I could never figure that one out?) the more abused kids, the rich kids, the spoiled kids, the kids who needed more attention -- and yes, by plenty of teachers, too.
But I had an advantage: I had three older brothers. They bullied me, too. They were mean to me and they weren't usually as smart as me when it came to knowledge gleaned from books. Oh yeah, and I was different.
All that training I got standing up to my three older brothers and learning to avoid my father when he was in his uglier, meaner mood (which was more often than not for someone who regularly consumed a case of beer for a single football game -- yes, I said CASE) stood me in good stead by the time I reached school.
I didn't no shit from no body. When the bullies came at me with fists and feet, I turned into the Tasmanian Devil (it was my nickname at five different schools where no-one knew me from my previous schools.) When the spoiled, rich or rude kids verbally attacked me, they found that this little twerp could argue back and insult quite well.
After all, those kids didn't realize I had three older brothers. When I told them they always said, "What are you gonna do, tell them and have them come beat us up?" You know, that was a novel idea, but my response was always, "No, but I fight all three of them at the same time. You're not going to be any real trouble for me."
When the teachers or the principals came at me, with their higher knowledge, life experiences and wisdom, bullying me with platitudes and homilies, I kept my back stiff, my mind sharp and I argued with them, citing history, philosophy and my own short life experiences.
That all sounds really wierd, but I now realize many of you may have ultimately reached the same conclusions I did. You can't back down, but you can bend. You can't let them win simply because there's more of them than there are of you. If you sit quietly by, saying nothing, even when you absolutely know you should speak up, then you deserve everything they throw your way in silence.
Was I an angry person? Oh hell yeah. I was about as angry as they come once you pushed the right buttons. My family knew those buttons better than anyone.
I learned, though, that anger is a useful emotion when channeled into action. You can't stand up to bullies if you're merely afraid. You have to get angry enough to not care if they beat you up. This is just as much about verbal bullying as it is to physical bullying. Courage is great when you have it. If you lack that, then you have to get mad. It may be the only thing that can save you when your courage falters. I know it has for me.
I always HATED fighting physically. While doing it I never felt I could hit hard enough, fast enough; and there was this voice in the back of my head telling me how stupid it all was -- right beside that other one saying to me, "Poke out his fucking eye, man! Bite! Bite now!" The combination of these two voices amidst the insanity of hurting someone trying to hurt me when I really didn't want to do this in the first place would sometimes make me physically ill for days afterwards. I physically fought a lot in school until about the 7th grade.
Something changed when I hit a bigger kid so hard that I knocked out his tooth and knocked his punk ass to the ground. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, or that I was unjustified in defending myself -- but it affected me. I realized I truly had the power to seriously hurt someone, with no weaponry other than my anger and my body, small as it was. It didn't feel right.
All of that is prelude to telling you that I have managed to come from some pretty crappy early days that were rough, hard and mean, all of which I was at one time or another and all of which I could have remained. I didn't grow up (well, not since the 10th grade anyways, where I hit my peak gargantuan height of 5'6") as much as I simply matured.
Three things never changed in all that time though. These are the three things I have always heard from my peers; be they classmates, playground acquaintances, teachers, friends, family or gregarious strangers captured in conversations:
1) You're wierd (in High School it became, "You're a trip, dude.")
2) You talk too much.
3) You're a really nice guy.
I enjoy hearing any of the three on any occasion. I consider them my touchstones to my true nature. Immutable, unchanging and strong.
Of all the things I have learned, though, one stands out in sharp relief. No matter how different I seemed to others, I realized that we are not so very different at all. We all have dreams, feelings, desires and a need to be accepted. That means we can always find some common ground to come together. We don't have to fight each other physically -- that should only ever be the choice of last resort when no other options present themselves. It's our differences, combined with our similarities that give us, as a people, our greatest power and strength.
I believe we all have a reason to work together. I believe without articulating what we desire, what we think is right, or what we think is wrong, then nothing will change in our lives. I believe every real change begins with someone expressing an idea, a belief or an objective to reach.
You have a voice.
Use it.
Thanks for all the amazing comments and thanks also for putting up with the kid who still talks too much.
You all get big Rs from me!
Hearts get sore. Cargill, Monsanto etc., kill.
CEO's corporate greed kill kale greens too.
Let's tell the truth gently. CEO's do butcher.
They kill earthworms, quail, and honeybees.
No sane people sit back and blog as they kill.
Seriously -
Only a fool!
Fools defile!
CEO kill you!
`
Yes. Speak.
We duh duh?
or,
We'll get ill.
CEO's ill/ilk.
That whole spiel about votes, voices or actions not counting for anything is designed only so that those who covet power can convince those who disagree with them that there's nothing they can do to stop them.
I have discovered that the fight is usually won by those who hang in there the longest. Imagine how the Battle of the Ardennes in WWII might have gone had the American forces, surrounded by the Germans, surrendered instead of just hanging in there for another three days? Or if, during the Civil War, the Union just said, "Oh shit, they took DC! War's over, we lost," after the Battle of Bull Run?
Or if, after being jailed in Alabama, Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "Hmm. This sucks. I'll just keep my head down from here on out and not have to go to jail again."
History is written by the winners, but we have winners in so many aspects of what history is that we have to be aware of when the change we have is the change we might not have had if those winners had decided that what they did, what they said and how they expressed themselves just didn't matter.
You have a Voice.
Use it.
Occupy Your Mind
Thanks for the great comments everyone!
I like to express and motivate constructive passion in positive orientated individuals. What can one man do alone, very little if even noticed. But, what can 50, or 500 or even 5,000 individuals accomplish, effective and positive political change.
Let all those small wispers of discontent being uttered in shadows and behind closed doors, fling wide those oppressive doors of passive obedience and unite all those small unnoticed wispers into of mighty roar of action and postive change".
No longer be of a isolated discontented mind, but be of a passionate and like minded force of those that only want for change. I just started experiencing blogging and I am a little nooby at this but I like the passion and the possible structure of a positive orientated group of individuals that can and "Want", to turn that strength and passion into a small glimmer of hope by helping our overwrought and over burdened political officials.
On my blog I am trying to encourage individuals to refrain from directing negative energies towards our appointed officials and concentrate on the positive energies of filing legal appeals at city and county levels. Levels at which we can actually create and initiate effective political change in our own communities and set examples for other commuties around our great nation
I have investigated, verified, and blogged about my concerns and my perceptions of certain current situations and conditions affecting and influencing our society and have identified some negative factors involved directly and inderictly.
I have documented and displayed the courses of actions that I have initiated and presented to the appropriate representatives and will keep my progress updated as it happens, as choice,or examples of what can be accomplished when an individual,"Wants"something bad enough.
I will keep my actions and the responses involved updated to encourage or for example of what one individual can accomplish, when they "Want it ", bad enough
Stay tuned and thanks for the comments!
You have a Voice.
Use it.
Occupy Your Mind
I agree ref:, negativity.
I was protesting `Sludge,
municipal waste,`Toxins.
`
I placed emphasis on`Shame.
I asked:
`
"Why risk poisoning people?"
`
We also opposed a waste chimney.
Washington County, Md.'s politicos`
were going to approve a`waste site.
The 'site' was gonna burn `toxic crap!
`
The commissioners backed down. Ah!
We (opponents) asked`Why risk health?
A already approved `Poison Plan ended!
We were `concerned citizens who cared.
I'll never forget it. I mentioned`Shame.
As different as I feel myself to be from my fellow humans (don't blame me, I'm just here doing a study on the planet) I realize over time that in a gross or coarse manner, we are all very much alike. The eccentricities, the idiosyncrasies, differences in point of view and other things are like the difference between human and chimpanzee chromosomes -- meaning that they are very minor. However, within those 2-6% of variance, it makes a world of difference.
In that light, I speak out to remind, nudge and socially poke in the third eye, my fellow humans to pay attention, look around, question the conditions of your perceptions, seek the truth. This is one of the lessons I learned some time back that, on occasion, I need to even remind myself.
The more you think you know something, the more likely it is that you will fail to question those things you think you know. I discovered this "blind spot" when I was in my mid twenties in such a fashion that I was forced to confront the blinders I was wearing -- and didn't even really know it until that time.
This becomes more pronounced when we hear the aphorisms, sayings and "common" wisdom that have been with us since before we can talk, before we obtained our personality or our independence of thought.
You can't fight city hall.
Your voice doesn't matter, no one's listening.
All politicians are crooks (well, *that* might be closer to true than the others)
Your vote doesn't count.
Money makes the world go around.
Innocent until proven guilty.
Honesty is the best policy.
These and so many other things we grow up with and hear, from the time we start nursing and sometimes up to the day we die. Unquestioned, believed, accepted -- but shown to be quite false in so many situations. And even so, we blithely move forward, convinced of our wisdom, our intelligence and our sense of the rightness of things -- until something happens to wake us up from our illusory bubble of reality with the truth of a situation.
What I have observed is that when this happens, most times the effect is nothing more than a temporary event. The effect wears off, the same way the adrenaline rush wears off after a close call on our lives -- and we meander forward, sideways and onward with our lives, unchanged, unaffected and no wiser for it.
Remember those differences I was talking about? Well for me, one of the differences is that I continue to recall that event that changed my view. I recall it, because I realized how important it was to remember it. It was a life and mind changing event. And because I recall it, because I realize that most folks have it happen and it's a transient event, soon forgotten, I have decided to continue to shout from the rooftops:
Question what you think you know!
Realize you can make a difference!
You have a voice!
Use it!
Occupy Your Mind
Question Everything, but especially authority in any guise.