King Saud With FDR in 1945Image via WikipediaAutostart Sunday
Folks that know me will be quick to recall that I absolutely despise embedded content that automatically starts as the page is loading. You find that all over MySpace, and that’s one of the reasons I don’t surf MySpace pages. So why am I doing it here?
I feel like breaking some rules, so it’s Autostart Sunday @ Wordout. The song you’re listening to is Fearless, from the Pink Floyd album, Meddle. For some of you, it’s a pleasant journey back to a simpler time. For the rest, you might be tempted to quickly click away, but I hope you’ll let it play while you read this. It relates, in a way, to what I want to say today.
More down below…
An Example
It’s an example of something we can do, that we normally wouldn’t do. It’s not illegal, it’s just… antagonistic to some people. People like me, in this case. It doesn’t hurt anybody at all, it just bothers them.
So what’s that got to do with the price of oil in Arkansas? Surprisingly, it’s got lots to do with it. Oil prices, gas prices, the ‘wars’ in Iraq and Afghanistan, the gutting of the 4th Amendment, retroactive immunity, the failure of the world’s financial system… all these things depend on everybody believing what they’re told, doing what’s expected.
Well, I don’t believe it.
For instance, if we believe what we’re told about 9/11, a group of Saudi terrorists attacked us. So we declared war on Afghanistan. Then we invaded Iraq. Now the government wants to attack Iran. Whatever happened to the fact that these terrorists were from Saudi Arabia?
It sounds like some sort of comedy plot from SNL or The Daily Show, but this is real life. How can we just sit and watch all this go down on our TVs? And again, the question: What to do about it?
Since the FISA bill was passed I’ve devoted much thinking to that question. I’ve decided that within myself there is something that will not accept the way things are, the direction our country is taking. I’ve decided that to simply live with myself, I have to do something about it.
Legally Antagonizing Federal Foolishness (LAFF)
I propose to use laughter as a means of voicing individual and collective dissatisfaction with our government in general, and our senators, congressmen and presidents specifically. When Barack Obama tells us that he now supports the FISA legislation, we shouldn’t be outraged. We should laugh at him, as if he expects us to believe anything else he says from now on. When Bush says the war is over, or there is no recession or (insert Bush words here), we should just laugh at him. That he bothers to tell us anything at all is hilarious. Nearly 9 out of every 10 Americans believe him to be a barefaced liar. His stupidly crafted lies are funny. The results of those lies: not so funny.
So what’s the point in laughing? If enough of us just start laughing at these fools, maybe we can antagonize them enough that they will get angry, and do something Really Stupid. Or maybe they will get tired of it and actually stop lying, or actually pass legislation that Helps America, instead of destroying it. In any case, it’s hard to get arrested or taken away in the night for just laughing. We can still laugh at our leaders.
Such a sad and funny thing, our leaders. They lie barefaced to the cameras with smiles on their faces, knowing they are untouchable. Our president literally lies to get us involved in an illegal war of aggression, by-passes existing laws to illegally collect every communication, every email, every phone call and text message in America, breaks other laws whenever he wants. Then our congress passes a law which says it must have been legal because the president said it was so, and to remove all doubt in the future, from now on whatever the president says is okay.
I am Jon, and I just gotta laugh at the fools.
.
.
Fearless
You say the hill’s too steep to climb
Climb it.
You say you’d like to see me try
Climbing.You pick the place and I’ll choose the time
And I’ll climb
That hill in my own way.
Just wait a while for the right day.
And as I rise above the tree lines and the clouds
I look down, hear the sound of the things you’ve said today.Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd
Smiling.
Merciless the magistrate turns ’round
Frowning.And who’s the fool who wears the crown?
And go down,
in your own way
And every day is the right day
And as you rise above the fear-lines in his brow
You look down, hear the sound of the faces in the crowd.
(the crowd sings at a sports event)
