Neo-colonialism & living the Tea Party dream in Oklahoma
I'm still fascinated with the people of Oklahoma. The majority of them
are good people, salt of the earth, friendly and hard-working. So how
come so many Oklahoma residents seem to have such a grudge against
Blacks, immigrants, women, liberals and gays? In her new book, Strangers in Their Own Land, sociologist Arlie Russell
Hochschild just answered my question neatly.
According to Hochschild, Tea Party members strongly believe that they
have been robbed. And how did they jump to this conclusion? Easy. The way that they see the world around them is that,
for years and years now, they have been patiently standing in some
allegorical line, patiently waiting to reach the American Dream by dent
of hard work. They have been working their fingers to the bone for most
of their lives to obtain the American Dream -- but even now, after all
these years of labor, it is still just over a hill and out of sight.
And so they work even harder and wait even longer. http://thenewpress.com/books/strangers-their-own-land
But then, just as this allegorical line is actually starting to move,
the places directly in front of them are suddenly flooded by a whole
bunch of undeserving, lazy and rude people who are using affirmative
action, welfare, women's rights, etc. to jump the line. And so, instead
of moving forward toward their Dream goal, Tea Party members now find
themselves stalling in place -- or even starting to slip backwards.
"Hey, that's not fair!" they cry in frustration. "We worked hard to get
here and you have done nothing." And just who, exactly, is helping
these new loafers to jump the line? The Government, that's who. No
wonder Tea Party members are pissed off at government, if seen from this
point of view.
But now let's just take a few steps backward, get a larger perspective
and look at the entire globe instead -- using this new "Standing in line
for the Dream" point of view and applying these same Tea party thought-patterns to the entire human race.
Cherokees in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, for instance, have been standing in
line for the "American Dream" since 1492! Or at least since the Trail
of Tears brought them here to Oklahoma. Back then, it was the white
settlers who had jumped the line. Violently. No wonder the Cherokee
were (and still are) pissed off.
Or take Mexico and Africa and Peru and India and China -- filled with
people happily pursuing the Mexican, African, Inca, Indian and Chinese
Dream. Or whatever. And then suddenly white colonialists arrived, cut
into their lines too and stole all of their dreams. And so, as a
result, native inhabitants of these countries also formed Tea Parties of
their own. The Boxer Rebellion, for instance. Montezuma's Revenge.
The Zulu uprising. Remember the Alamo?
And, today, we now have the American, Saudi, UN and Israeli
neo-colonialists doing the same freaking thing that the old colonialists
used to do. Now they too are jumping ahead in the line. No wonder the
Libyans, Afghans, Palestinians, Yemenis, Iraqis, Ukrainians,
Vietnamese, Koreans, Congolese, Haitians, Somalis, Hondurans, Chileans,
etc. are pissed off, and are also forming their own "Tea Parties" right
and left. Can you seriously blame them? Hardly. They are doing
exactly what America's Tea Party members are doing right now and, to
quote Ginger Rogers, they are "doing it backwards and in high heels". http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1493999002
Let's take a closer look at Palestine. Palestinians were all happily
living the Palestinian Dream. And then suddenly Israeli
neo-colonialists not only rudely cut into their line but also stole the
entire Dream itself and now it has become the Israeli Dream.
Palestinian water is now Israeli water. Gaza oil is now Israeli oil.
Israelis live their Dream at the expense of the Palestinians. No wonder
there is a Palestinian Tea Party. https://mikopeled.com/2017/04/27/the-holy-grail-by-miko-peled/
And take Syria. Syrians were happily living their Syrian Dream too --
historic cities, great education and healthcare systems, a president who
they supported. And then suddenly American, Israeli, Saudi and Turkish
neo-colonialists cut in line bigtime and tried to steal the Syrian
Dream, using ISIS and al Qaeda aka "moderate rebels" as their cats-paws
and shamelessly arming these monsters with the goal of slaughtering as
many Syrians as possible and stealing their soil and their oil. No
wonder Syrians formed their own Tea Party! http://www.globalresearch.ca/now-only-rational-thinking-can-save-the-world/5584987
Now that I've read Hochschild's book, I can look at our American Tea Party
members from a whole new perspective and can even sympathize with their
problems. And, hopefully, now American Tea Party members can also look
at the American military-industrial complex with new eyes as well -- and
start identifying with Palestine and Syria instead of with the American
Deep State neo-colonialists who are the real line-cutters here. If
Wall Street and War Street didn't steal over 90% of America's wealth for
themselves, there would still be plenty of money for the government (or
the free market or whatever) to give everyone a slice of the American
Dream. http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/28/middle-eastern-surgeon-speaks-about-ecology-of-war/
PS:
And does anyone but me find it ironic that Blue States rightly consider
Red States to be the ones rudely cutting in line? Red States receive
the most welfare, demand that the government spend astronomical amounts
of money on murdering beautiful babies in the Middle East, claim to be
the most moral while at the same time acting the least Christ-like, want
less government but saddle the Blue States with the most
corporate-biased government regulations since the Age of Robber Barons,
want to spend the Blue States' hard-earned money on junk like a Wall,
and generally are "poor me" takers who constantly jump the Blue State
line to the American Dream.
Perhaps its time for the Blue States to form their own Tea Party, secede and create their own line to the Blue State Dream.
PPS:
From what I can tell, the "American Dream" today seems to consist
mainly of owning bigger houses and bigger cars. Really? The "American
Dream" is to become the biggest consumer? To live out in some boring
suburb? And it's also definitely not the American Dream any more to become the most
moral person or the most happy person -- but rather to become the best at doing
anything for money.
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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world. And while you're at it, please buy my books! http://straitwellbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-top-best-seller-right-now-is-bring.html