Existential Question: What The F%$@! Are We Doing?

by: David Sirota

Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 20:46


Over the last decade, I went from idealistic college kid, to idealistic Hill staffer, to cynical political campaign operative, to angry/angsty writer/activist, to full-time journalist, and in this last stage, I've hit an existential question that I think many are struggling with in their own lives, regardless of their age: What the fuck am I doing?

What, for instance, am I doing working in a media/political business that is so often governed with no rhyme or reason, and so often rewards the foolish, the stupid and the immoral? I mean, really: for every Rachel Maddow, there are five Sean Hannitys, but it's not even that - that's just an ideological bias against progressives, and that I can make sense of (even though it disgusts me). The worse truth - the one I simply cannot grasp - is that for every Harold Meyerson (ie. for every legitimately brilliant progressive writer) there are 25 Joe Kleins (ie. braindead megaphones).

This is the kind of thing that makes me want to throw my computer out the window, wear my PJ's and a robe to the supermarket, and play Halo all day. It's not the conservatives that really get me - their existence/success at least has a rationale (ie. serving the corporate masters who pay them). It's the unskilled - the classic No Talent Ass Clowns, if you will. I work in a business that treats Andrew Sullivan and David Broder and Matt Bai and Journolist and the Politico and Tom Friedman as Very Important, Very Serious, Very Newsworthy People - people worthy of not just applause, but of emulation.  Scores of the precocious and the ambitious in this business aspire to be these people, scores of youthful college kids head to D.C. dreaming about being the next Joe Klein or David Broder. Indeed, there are entire magazines like the New Republic whose foundational objective is to groom the next Matt Bai.

Though I certainly don't want that for myself (thus, my flee to the sanity of the Rocky Mountain West), I'm struggling with the questions about the system. I wonder: What am I doing working in a system that creates those desires, rewards that idiocy, and creates a gross incentive structure?

That's the question, as I said, I think lots of people are asking about their own lives, whether in the media business or any other field.

David Sirota :: Existential Question: What The F%$@! Are We Doing?
Thanks to the economic meltdown, ensuing AIG bonuses, and promotion of economic criminals to top White House jobs, it has never been more clear that the American economy and political system is one that rewards everything we say we don't want to reward. The media world I work in rewards David Brooks, the economy rewards AIG executives, the political system rewards Larry Summers. It's all the same fucking thing - everything we say we want to punish, but instead systemically cheer on.

So again, what the fuck are we doing? Why do we just sit here and take it? And if we're not going to take it, what the hell should we do? Most of us who have a job are totally overworked - we barely have time for our families. Those of us who are out of work are scratching and clawing to survive - they barely have time for anything else. So what should we do?

I don't have an answer to these existential questions...at least not yet. And I certainly don't know what to do in reaction to asking them. One voice in the chorus that is my inner monologue says "you're right, what am I doing? Fuck this, I'm moving to Costa Rica."* Another voice says "I'm not getting out - I'm doing the right thing by keeping the faith that this is important work." And yet another voice says, "Just don't ask those questions - they will only give you heartbreak."

All of the rationales have merit - not just for me, but for society. And I'm sure millions of people are having the same "on the one hand, on the other hand" debates in their minds. Some days we defiantly push on, other days we want to drop out and move to some far away nirvana.

Shit, maybe this is my quarter-life crisis (though that would mean I'd have to live to 120) or my mid-life crisis (that would mean I'd be dead at 66 - that would suck). Whatever it is, all I know right now is that we live not in interesting times - we lived in fucked up times, and that means fucked up questions are going to be asked. Here's hoping we don't fuck up the answers.

* I know, I know - there are definitely serious problems in Costa Rica. But at least its warm and near the ocean...or at least that's what I tell myself as a rationale for seeing that Central American nation as a terrestrial version of heaven.

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Existential Question: What The F%$@! Are We Doing? | 81 comments
And we all wundered..... (4.00 / 2)
...what was in that note President Bush left for Obama.  The note said, "guess what, you're all f*cked, doomed, and you can't do sh*t about it b/c I so royally screwed up the economy, it even amazes me." - signed G.W.

"Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east. Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", was the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish its army. Among Latin American countries, Costa Rica ranks 4th in terms of the 2007 Human Development Index. The country is ranked 5th in the world, and 1st among the Americas, in terms of the 2008 Environmental Performance Index. In 2007 the government of Costa Rica stated that they want Costa Rica to be the first country to become carbon neutral by 2021."

To Bite, To Spit On, To Step On, To Kick (4.00 / 4)
the toe of the colossus.

You're 40 or 33? whatever - I'm 49 - since my summer living in the woods with the nam vet hippies in the berkshires, I've wondered not just HOW to change things, but HOW to make things work so that fucked up things aren't the norm.

When I was a hugely indebted ex-welfare kid poli sci major drop out cook in Boston in the 80's, "What Color is Your Parachute" didn't have a version for fucking with the man... in a way which was gonna work, anyway, for those of us living check to check.

I get fed up with trying, especially with all the clueless sacks of shit around me who know everything about American Idol and everything about staying fucking clueless.

HOWEVER,

MAYBE YOU'LL GET A CHANCE!

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

rmm.



It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way

WTF? (4.00 / 2)
You are exposing people, situations, systems. When you expose something, you throw light on it, to reveal its true outline.
You are not supposed to save, salvage or change that person, situation or system, just expose it. Remember William Wilberforce? He could have given up, but he realized it wasn't about him. Please, don't give up, or go insane, this is a fight worth fighting, for others who are living under the injustice others have made of our ideals.
He Is Not Going To Go Insane LOL (4.00 / 1)
     The problem is that David keeps shedding the light, as do others, and the quality of our lives pall to many different countries and islands.
[ Parent ]
You are a damn fine blogger/pundit (4.00 / 6)
Your passion brought you to the place that you are. Keep following your passion to share your opinion and the business end will work out.

I for one am educated by your words and need you to keep educating me about issues and problems.

I can understand your frustration with the balance issues, this is an evolving medium and it will reward you for work in time.

Hang in there buddy, and keep passing the open windows.

This is a great post! (4.00 / 4)
This thing belongs in a very small ongoing anthology of absolutely honest essays on political blogs, and I only have one small objection, based on my long experience with "alternative" life-styles.

If you wear your bathrobe to the supermarket, you can leave the pajamas at home.

David, you are feeling what many of us (4.00 / 3)
have felt many times over.

After the sixties, many of us thought we really made a difference.........and we did.  But it was so much slower than we thought, one step forward, three steps backwards.
To this day, I cannot forget the absolute feelings of abject shock, anger, and sadness when this country elected Ronald Reagan.  How the h*ll did my generation, the first decade boomers, get followed by masses of greedy, materialistic, closed minded dolts.  
In 2000, I was stunned and shocked that ANYONE at all would vote for a dolt like George W....he was the rich frat boy that my friends and I despised.  While he and his buddies called us traitors for protesting the war, they were secretly getting deferments, sweet positions in the national guard.

In the 80s, in the era Reagan and "star wars" and monopolies, I went to many a protest here in CO.  In the seventies we had enough people to encircle Rocky Flats and make TIME magazine.  In the 80s, we had ten people show up to protest Reagan's Star Wars program.

You think you're frustrated.....trying being twice your age and still fighting it; still writing letters, marching, organizing.......
you CANNOT quit.  None of us can......not ever.

In regards to electing Reagan (4.00 / 4)
I cannot forget the absolute feelings of abject shock, anger, and sadness when this country elected Ronald Reagan.  How the h*ll did my generation, the first decade boomers, get followed by masses of greedy, materialistic, closed minded dolts.
 

It's not so much how did your generation get "followed by...", but how did your generation "become...". And who do you think raised all those masses of greedy, materialistic close minded dolts? That TV show that made Michael J. Fox a star playing a Reagan Youth kid raised by former hippie parents got it exactly right.

And yes, I admit to some bitterness here and a feeling of betrayal. I am was old enough to remember the values championed in the 60's and early 70's, but by the time I got to voting age, you all had already put Reagan in office. It was like, "I got mine, so screw the next generation".  

[ Parent ]
The more things change, the more they stay the same. (4.00 / 1)
Edger posted this in one of his essays at Docudharma.  HBO aired it November 5, 2005.

I really don't see how anybody can change it. Vote blue, vote red, don't vote -  the ruling class is rich, powerful, morphs, and is now global.  If you kick them out of office, the owners simply give them a different job at twice the pay.  If you think you things are futile at 40, try 60. I use to think blogs might be of some hope; but after watching dailykos morph, I don't think so anymore.  

[ Parent ]
I'm very familiar with that Carlin bit (4.00 / 1)
but I hadn't seen it with those graphics, I don't think. Thanks for posting it.
[ Parent ]
Oh please (4.00 / 7)
This is ignorant bullshit that I would troll-rate if I believed in troll-rating.  You're not a troll so I won't, but geez.

Look, Oaktown Girl, while you were in high school and some of my generation were becoming Wall St. tycoons and Reaganites, others, like me, were fighting a dogged and losing battle for working people, for keeping jobs in the United States, for the people of Central America and South Africa.  Don't you DARE try to paint me and mine with a generational brush.

Look, there are assholes in every generation, and probably most people could be described that way.  I remember a high-school classmate of mine, the biggest kiss-ass I ever met, came back from a year of college saying "oh, I believe in working WITHIN the system now" - as if he'd ever believed anything else.  Yeah, a lot of my generation were faking it, deluding themselves and others.  So what?

Generational politics is for idiots and you're not an idiot, so stop it.

sTiVo's rule: Just because YOU "wouldn't put it past 'em" doesn't prove that THEY did it.

[ Parent ]
The boomer generation was never all one thing (4.00 / 3)
And certainly it was not boomers who made Reagan governor of California and able to contend for the presidency in the first place.  

Darkness has a hunger that's insatiable, and lightness has a call that's hard to hear.  
[ Parent ]
Please see my reply below, thanks. n/t (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
I see (4.00 / 1)
you blame me.....
thank you.
I did not realize that working for progressive causes all my life, voting progressively, volunteering and all those things made me such an ogre.

Sheesh.....
false generalizations much?
I came of age the same time as Cheney and Bush but I am not responsible for them or their offspring....and while occasionally real life may have been reflected by a television show, to base your view on a situation comedy speaks volumes.....

[ Parent ]
Of course I don't blame you (4.00 / 2)
and I do know a great many people in your generation have never stopped doing great things for great causes, and I've worked with them plenty. I was responding to what you said here: "How the h*ll did my generation, the first decade boomers", which was itself generalization that everyone in your generation had (and kept) similar shared goals and values, which of course they didn't.

Look, I understand you didn't literally mean everybody in your generation and later ones any more that I did. But I was responding to the way you phrased it - contrasting "my generation" with "followed by masses of greedy, materialistic, closed minded dolts" without any acknowledgment of a)not everyone in your generation was golden, and more importantly b)all the great activist work that's been done and is being done by people younger than you.

So I freely admit to having given an emotional broad-brush response. It pushed my buttons because I've been hearing stuff like that all my life - older people telling me my generation is doing nothing simply because on the TV news they aren't seeing tanks on the street fighting student protestors (I grew up in Berkeley). They never bother to ask what's going on with people my age, they just make assumptions and often follow that by lecturing. It's maddening, and a very painful negation of a lot of hard work and dedication on the part of people my age. And no, I absolutely do not lump you in with older people who do that.

 

[ Parent ]
I've held those kind of feelings (0.00 / 0)
for the folks that came before me - the hippies, the Boomers - whatever label you affix.  I get your frustration. The "Sixties" never quite lived up to the hype and yes, a good number of people went from the commune to the boardroom. But recrimination isn't gonna help and finger-pointing isn't a policy.

Take a deep breath and look for those around you that are supportive of you and your political ideals. These are your allies and there's damned few of them. The values championed are still there, despite the imperfection of those that came before.

I'll stop before I start sounding patronizing. Really, this is a topic better dealth with face-to-face. I wish we could meet for coffee or something.

"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

[ Parent ]
Not to worry (4.00 / 2)
I was consciously making a broad brush comment. We can meet for coffee, but this topic isn't something we'd have to hash out because I'm sure we're on the same page.
[ Parent ]
Pull it together! You are needed. (4.00 / 2)
If your goal is to fix all the problems in the system, of course you're going to fall short.

If your goal is to point out all the problems in the system, you may fall short there, as well, but at least you've lit the path for others.

So, make path-lighting your goal and focus on encouraging the new ideas and the new people who will follow. What can you do today to ensure that the next progressives understand the old problems, identify the new problems, and fight passionately to solve them all?

There are lots of people with something to contribute. Most don't know it, others don't know how. Give us a path to follow!

You will probably get more than a few responses to your blog post (4.00 / 1)
A few observations based on my own life's experience:

1. Meaning is created by each and every one of us from one moment to the next, breath by breath, heartbeat by heartbeat, epiphany by epiphany, angst by angst, twitter by twitter, etc.

2. Or not.

3. No matter how bad things get, always try to take a bath, eat something and get some sleep every day without fail. That's the fastest way back to sanity.

4. Some people have a mid-life crisis. Some people don't. Some people have two or three. Personally, I've had eight.

5. Quality of life is best measured with a long piece of string.

6. And remember, aphorisms will only get you so far.

I leave you with a poem from one of my favorite poets:

i sing of Olaf glad and big
whose warmest heart recoiled at war:
a conscientious object-or

his wellbelovéd colonel(trig
westpointer most succinctly bred)
took erring Olaf soon in hand;
but--though an host of overjoyed
noncoms(first knocking on the head
him)do through icy waters roll
that helplessness which others stroke
with brushes recently employed
anent this muddy toiletbowl,
while kindred intellects evoke
allegiance per blunt instruments--
Olaf(being to all intents
a corpse and wanting any rag
upon what God unto him gave)
responds,without getting annoyed
"I will not kiss your fucking flag"

straightway the silver bird looked grave
(departing hurriedly to shave)

but--though all kinds of officers
(a yearning nation's blueeyed pride)
their passive prey did kick and curse
until for wear their clarion
voices and boots were much the worse,
and egged the firstclassprivates on
his rectum wickedly to tease
by means of skilfully applied
bayonets roasted hot with heat--
Olaf(upon what were once knees)
does almost ceaselessly repeat
"there is some shit I will not eat"

our president,being of which
assertions duly notified
threw the yellowsonofabitch
into a dungeon,where he died

Christ(of His mercy infinite)
i pray to see;and Olaf,too

preponderatingly because
unless statistics lie he was
more brave than me:more blond than you.

Excellent words of advice (0.00 / 0)
words to live by.  
[ Parent ]
The Dude ABIDES!! (4.00 / 5)
Remember, except for Donny dying, The Big Lebowski has a happy ending.

OH YES IT DOES!

You're just having your "Damn, Donny didn't get to live to see my pad, again, with the rug that ties the room together" moment.

Chin up!

435 Dem Primaries 2012
Coffee Party Usa
TheRealNews.Com

I just assume (4.00 / 1)
That the majority of people who enter the field of journalism have a talent level where their upside is being the next David Broder while they are capable of being much, much worse.

However, I hope that your frustration with being surrounded with idiots doesn't result in you turning into a libertarian.  One libertarian pundit is worse than a hundred Joe Kleins.

Things You Don't Talk About in Polite Company: Religion, Politics, the Occasional Intersection of Both

Like you said, I think everyone has these thoughts (4.00 / 2)
A few scattered thoughts:
1) If you're not satisfied with the system, change the system.  While journalists and writers have an incredibly important job in illuminating problems the system has, it's hard for them to truly change it themselves.  So, if these questions keep coming up (and only if they do--you should never make serious decisions impatiently based on momentary emotions), you might want to take a long, hard look at yourself and ask: Am I comfortable just showing the path for others to follow?  Or do I want to follow the path myself?
2) I don't think moving to another country would help much.  Every country has problems, and living there tends to magnify those problems.  The grass is (almost) always greener, after all.
3) Yes, it's true that we lived in fucked-up times.  Then again, humans have always lived in fucked-up times.
4) I don't think asking yourself "What the hell am I doing?" is fucked-up.  Quite the contrary, I think it's an incredibly good thing to ask yourself.  I strongly believe in the value of self-reflection and questioning, well, everything (even the proposition that you should question everything).  If you don't ask yourself what you're doing--if you don't ask yourself whether or not your actions are helping you to achieve your goals--how will you ever actualize your dreams?

Keep soldiering on, David.  I think you have the intelligence and the drive to achieve your dreams.

Chose your path (4.00 / 2)
You have to chose your path. One way is to get caught up in the daily blather that is required of those with a job that requires them to fill so many inches of print or so much air time.

No one can say anything intelligent for long in such an environment. You end up commenting on other people's comments and vice versa.

The other path is to follow your own drummer. Become an expert on areas which interest you and dig out the information that isn't being revealed. This takes more work, but provides a service not being done by anyone else.

I recommend reading one of the collections of I.F. Stone's writings. Not only are his pieces well written, but they are detailed and factual. No one was further out in the wilderness than he, but he still had an important impact.

The blogosphere encourages rapid responses which leads to cliche and superficiality. As for the blockheads, it is best to ignore them. You won't change the minds of their blind followers and giving them notice only adds to their reach. Furthermore there are plenty of others who delight in dissecting each contradiction or hypocritical rant.

Policies not Politics

RE: Cheerleading vs Critiquing (4.00 / 1)
Sadly, some of the frustrating stances and personnel decisions of the new administration (coming on the heels of the worst administration in modern American history) highlights the fact that any change will be incremental at best.  

Short of fundamental changes to the political system such as abolishing the senate or publicly financing all federal campaigns, there is very little chance for progressive change.

One area where lefty blogs could make a difference imho is focusing on and ridiculing of the corporatists within the Democratic Party, rather than focusing on and ridiculing the nutters on the Right.  The Right won't change, most people who read lefty blogs don't need to be convinced of how wrong the Right is; but there are a lot of progressives whose partisan attachment to Democrats blind them to the horrible actions of elected Democrats.

Lefty blogs can either be partisan and cheer when Evan Bayh Chuck Schumer et al are reelected, even though those politicians serve the corporatists as well as or in some cases better than the Republicans they beat, or lefty blogs can focus like a laser-beam on the actions of wayward Democrats and hope that such focus will change them.

Being both partisan cheerleader and a sometimes, flitting critic of the Democratic Party doesn't seem to be working for the progressive cause.  

I'd like to see (0.00 / 0)
the numerous posts cheering when Schumer or Bayh were re-elected, or more relevantly, cheering when they won their primaries.  Do they exist?



New Jersey politics at Blue Jersey.

[ Parent ]
"classic No Talent Ass Clowns" (4.00 / 2)
It's not the conservatives that really get me - their existence/success at least has a rationale (ie. serving the corporate masters who pay them). It's the unskilled - the classic No Talent Ass Clowns, if you will. I work in a business that treats Andrew Sullivan and David Broder and Matt Bai and Journolist and the Politico and Tom Friedman as Very Important, Very Serious, Very Newsworthy People - people worthy of not just applause, but of emulation.

The "existence/success" of the "classic No Talent Ass Clowns" has the exact same "rationale (ie. serving the corporate masters who pay them)" as the conservatives. The establishment propaganda system is like a big fat billionaire cigar-smoking businessman with a sock puppet on each hand. On one hand are the Hannities, Limbaughs, O'Reillies, etc. On the other hand are the Broders, Kleins, Friedmans, etc.

It's all great theater, and gives the illusion of a democracy. The right hand is allowed to go as far right as their malevolent imaginations will take them. The left hand is allowed to be the opposition on cultural issues that the ruling class don't care about, but can't go any further than center right on anything that relates to the bank accounts and power of the ruling class. The only thing left out is a voice for the working class. That's where you fit in. Your voice is crucial because it is so rare.

Scores of the precocious and the ambitious in this business aspire to be these people, scores of youthful college kids head to D.C. dreaming about being the next Joe Klein or David Broder.

That is because they understand that this is the most likely path to fame and fortune. They may not see the big picture, but they recognize who gets the doggie treats and who gets whacked on the head with a newspaper.


miasmo.com
We are beginning a new way forward (4.00 / 1)
The advanced capitalist model of free, deregulated markets, which is actually the old model from the early 20th century, has now been fully exposed. We must now hunker down and rebuild true community across this country, while we resist the continuing of the American Empire and its corporate beneficiaries. Let us boycott the Walmarts of the world, and create worker owned cooperatives; let us barter for goods and services; and above all let's get out in the streets to say enough to greed and corporate fascism. See, that wasn't so difficult. On 4/11 there will be demonstrations held by A NewWayForward.org in over 60 cities. This is how to jump start the populist movement of the 21st century.

Also check out www.Heist-themovie.com to learn how we got here.

Great Post! (0.00 / 0)
     I couldn't agree more with the sentiments and suggestions of this post.  Though, we need a  short-term and long-term strategy on a lot of different fronts.  I think Chris' diary about what canidates to give money is a great tactical move in a long strategy for progressive change.
[ Parent ]
how phil ochs answered (4.00 / 1)
He may have been speaking to a prior generation, but phil ochs explained why you and I (and so many) do this and can't not do it:
And I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone
Can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

We're in the fight because it's right.  The question isn't WHAT THE F%$@! or even WHY THE F%$@!.  The only question we need to worry about is HOW THE F%$@!?

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org

You're Not Alone (4.00 / 4)
Man, you are the best thing to hit Denver talk radio in the 23 years that I've lived here.

Upon my arrival in Denver fresh out of college, I'd soon lapsed into a comfortable conservative lifestyle until my girlfriend of four years (recent) opened my eyes to our political process and the mainstream media that perpetuates the myths. She'd started out by explaining to me that I was a troglodyte, and I liked her so much that I gave her the benefit of the doubt. She's the brainy one, and she's held you in high esteem for several years now.

My point is that there are many troglodytes who are still out there waiting to have the lights turned on for them. I'm not going to share my girlfriend with them so it's up to you to do it for them. You've got a gift, David.

It's been a joy listening to you host the Jay Marvin show for the past month or so. I'm selfishly hoping that you'll find that radio offers you a healthy outlet for your passion, and that you'll either co-host or host your own daily show in the near future.

-- Take Care, Jeff

Change is Not Easy, Just Inevitable (4.00 / 3)
This August I will be 65. I grew up near Yorktown, VA, and graduated from a segregated high school. I have lived through Vietnam, the Civil Rights Movement, and the rise of Feminism.  

My first memory of watching TV is seeing the flashes and tracers as U.S. Navy ships bombarded the Korean coast during the Inchon landings. I was there when we saw the news of the King and Kennedy assassinations, when the Black Panthers took over the Cornell Student Union and, then, when the crowd in the Union erupted with cheers when LBJ announced that he would not run for a second term as President.

My world is now a very different place. News broadcasts that used to feature a single white man with a pack of Camels displayed on his desk now look like a rainbow coalition.

My mother did a nursing degree, then married my father, and spent her life as a housewife. My wife brought me to Japan and is president of our company. My daughter graduated from Annapolis. Both she and her Marine Corps husband are veterans of of our recent wars. In the essays for her successful applications for public policy programs at Harvard, Georgetown and Columbia, she could write, "I have spent most of my adult life as a tool of public policy. Now I want to help shape it."

America has elected a black president, and the Iowa Supreme Court and the Vermont legislature have both decided in favor of gay marriage.

All these changes we owe to folks who faced incredible difficulties, some of whom never lived to see the results of their efforts. But "We shall overcome" has become "Yes, We Can." It's a far from perfect world, but not a time to give up.

Thanks For Sharing Your Thoughts (0.00 / 0)
    Perspective is key.  Though, the positive you site are still difficult to lessen the madness of the past 15 years of this country.  
[ Parent ]
What am I doing here? I got laid off (2.00 / 2)
What am I doing here? I got laid off, so now i have the time on my hands to pursue things that make me happy. At openleft, it's the opportunity to laugh at faux populism. Populism of the I'm-so-mad-i'm-going-to-quit-my-upper-middle-class-job-and-move-to-Costa-Rica variety.
Is this some sort of issue? Im sorry you were laid off. (4.00 / 2)
But what the hell are you talking about? You think typing for a living is upper middle class?

Or is he a part of the great librul con-spiro-cy that destroyed Bush? or Are you a Naderite? Happy to throw a brick through any window, cause you like the sound?

--

The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky

[ Parent ]
Nice Erev Pesach diary! (0.00 / 0)
Chag kosher v'sameach. I was to comment that the vast Jewish conspiracy did not come through for the Orthodox rabbi candidate on the U City school board, but may have helped the African-American candidate who did win.

With some snark, I will say that elitism is helpful in a situation like this. Elitism tells you that 90% of everything is crap, and this includes 90% of the rewards which are given out. Therefore the point is not to care about the rewards for yourself but to use the power you have to give rewards and recognition to those who actually deserve it.



Darkness has a hunger that's insatiable, and lightness has a call that's hard to hear.  

Sorry, I Don't Think He Cares About Rewards (0.00 / 0)
     He wants to see more journalists and activists, like himself, be able to affect more change.

    Though, Bruce talks a lot about losing his innocence, and it helped him grow: when to accept and when to fight.  

[ Parent ]
But this is how he framed the question (0.00 / 0)
"What am I doing working in a system that creates those desires, rewards that idiocy, and creates a gross incentive structure?" Two out of three of the problems with the system is how it hands out rewards. Also he wrote that the rewards given to the unskilled is why he wants to chuck it all and move to Costa Rica.  

Darkness has a hunger that's insatiable, and lightness has a call that's hard to hear.  
[ Parent ]
Bruce (0.00 / 0)
is smart enough to know the nature of the system he is working in, but he has chosen to work in it to get his music out. David has the same relationship to cable TV.  

Darkness has a hunger that's insatiable, and lightness has a call that's hard to hear.  
[ Parent ]
Irony duly noted (0.00 / 0)
of speaking about elitism and Passover in the same post.  

Darkness has a hunger that's insatiable, and lightness has a call that's hard to hear.  
[ Parent ]
I'm easily old enough to be your father (4.00 / 2)
If you ask these questions of yourself too often, you will either become Curt Cobain - dead - or Woody Allen - irrelevant.  I read your stuff, and I see you on the TeeVee, and I actually truly believe you would be wise to stop trying so hard to be relevant.  You're a smart, perceptive guy. In the music business, where I come from, especially in the recording process, we have developed a catch-phrase, "you stewed on it all night and made yourself crazy."

Just do the work. Listen to your critics as well as your friends. Do more work.  Meaning is accrued. It's not automatic. Like inspiration meaning is ephemeral.

Eeesh! I'm morbid!

take lessons from the funny ones (4.00 / 3)
David, you're going to burn out if you keep taking yourself so seriously.  Certainly, take the causes you fight for seriously.  But look at Rachel Maddow, or Molly Ivins or Jim Hightower before her.  All three are (sigh, were, I miss Molly) smart, passionate progressives, and all three have great senses of humor that they often turn on themselves.  Laughing more doesn't stop you from fighting, it helps to keep you sane.

You do what you do because you have to.  But try to have some fun with it.  I get the impression that one of the most effective ways to take the Money Party down is going to be ridicule.  What if we could get almost everybody just laughing at them?  Can they really win once people stop taking them seriously?

[ Parent ]
Laughter Only Goes So Far (0.00 / 0)
     I think it is so important to have a sense of humor. Also, to really a have deep perspective of where you stand in this world and how you can shape it.

    Though, I think the hard thing for my generation, Generation X is that we have seen the country slide a lot; and we know that a good 8 countries do have a better quality of life.  And, you get inpatient!  That's the problem!  

[ Parent ]
Sides of the same coin (0.00 / 0)
in my mind. Sense of humor and knowing where you stand.

Yes, impatience is a problem, but so is complacency.  

"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

[ Parent ]
Asking myself the same question (4.00 / 10)
I'm usually a lurker, but I felt compelled to post on this because I've been asking myself "WTF am I doing?" and related questions a lot recently. I'll talk about my problems below and I hope that, if nothing else, David, they'll lead you to think one happy thought: "at least I didn't go to law school".

Last year I graduated in the top 20% of my class from a law school ranked in the top 20 in the country. Right now, I am unemployed, as I have been since I graduated. You see, unlike other people with my law school background I did not apply to the large law firms that do on campus recruiting, nor did I apply for judicial clerkships. No, I went to law school because I was an activist. I was involved with Amnesty International and United Students Against Sweatshops as an undergrad; I had an internship on a successful congressional campaign; as my summer jobs in law school I had represented a local chapter of an environmental organization and worked in the general counsel's office of one of America's largest unions. No, I didn't want to be a law clerk, I wanted to get out there and litigate for the causes I believe in: economic justice, the environment, consumer protection. I knew I'd get a job with a union or a public interest group. Or the government. Or legal services. Or a union-side labor and employment law firm. Certainly I'd be able to get a job in one of those places.

Yeah, not so much. People who try to comfort me talk say that I'd have a job if it wasn't for the economy. I don't really buy that. I blame myself. I should have gone after clerkships. I should have done better at the interviews I had for jobs I was interested in. But really the big thing is what I shouldn't have done. I shouldn't have gone to law school.

Seriously, that's my advice to young activists out there: if you are thinking about going to law school because you think that will help you make a difference: don't. I went to law school because I was inspired by reading the books of Thomas Geoghegan, and Ralph Nader (before he went cuckoo). I thought that being an activist lawyer would be the perfect way to combine my skills in researching, writing and analytical thinking with my desire to make a difference. Ha.

David, you complain that journalism has 25 Joe Kleins for every Harold Meyerson. The law has 10,000 corporate lawyers for every Tom Geoghegan. And law school teaches you to think that being one of the corporate guys is the goal.

I have friends who work for corporate firms who are nice folks and vote for the Democrats. But I can't quite understand how they reconcile their work and their politics. Most likely, they don't see a conflict.

But I do. And so, I am unemployed and I'm not sure when that is going to change. I feel like I've exhausted all the options (certainly all the ones in my city) for doing the kind of legal work that would make me happy. Last week, I had an interview with a business defense firm, my first ever. I actually think it went well. I'm very conflicted about what I'd do if I got an offer from it. (In case you couldn't guess). But what else to do? I've occasionally applied for jobs that interested me but weren't attorney jobs, but they don't seem interested in me. After all, I went to law school so I want to be an attorney right?

No, I didn't want to just be "an attorney". I wanted to be a progressive activist attorney, a people's lawyer. If I can't do that, then maybe I shouldn't have gone to law school, maybe I should have done something else. Ironically, David, journalism is one of the roads not taken I think about.

I'm not sure this has really responded to the post, except in that it shows the truth of the statement that other people in other businesses also ask the same existential questions. All I can say, David, is that I think you have an interesting and worthwhile job and that you do it very well. But maybe that's just a "the grass is always greener on the other side" thought.  

A Moving Post (4.00 / 5)
    Thank you for sharing these tough and insightful thoughts.  
[ Parent ]
I have had similar inclinations as you (4.00 / 4)
I am currently in undergrad 3rd year and have thought about taking the route you describe, the activist lawyer. That seemed to be the best way to use my skills, as you said, but I am not sure the world needs another lawyer and I am unsure about the debt load law school would leave me with.

I am interested in academia but the campus battles seem somewhat petty while on campus and marginalized from the mainstream discourse away from campus.

The political machine jobs, whether working on campaigns or for specific politicians, seem interesting but being from Washington DC, I am turned off by that world and its mind games and it seems hard to break into that world considering I don't know where I might end up.

I have thought about getting a public policy degree, either in general or for specific fields, and working for non profits or government or advocacy organizations, but I shudder at how compromising or slow or grindingly frustrating such work might be, despite the fact that such eventualities are often caused by social forces much larger then the self. In short, my general feeling as I grow older that everything is imperfect and we must all compromise is clashing with my youthful idealism which is becoming gradually more cynical the more I witness the priviliged upper middle class world that my fellow students are generally being socialized for, with nary a socially conscious action around, much less activist organizations. This clash of maturity and idealism (as I imagine it) is causing me not just to rethink my personal path of where I want to fit into the system, but to just boggle at the sheer scale of the problems we face.

Who am I to try to live out the principles I feel are correct? Am I to simply watch and listen as harmful myths and conventional wisdom idiocy become ideologies to organize around and psychological wage earnings that people feel invested in? Do I just laugh it off when so called liberals make it clear that my objections to their racist or classist or just disrespectful language are things to amuse me with, not real principles to take seriously? How do you tell someone the power they have is often derived from unjust means without being alienating?

The Alinksy motto of meeting people where they are seems to me to be vital if one hopes to make changes, but at what point am I just being self defeating in by compromising TOO much? My question is not about who's side am I on. My question is how can I use my power to stand on that side when often enough just being visibly non conformist is enough to become utterly marginalized?  

[ Parent ]
Alinsky is so zen (4.00 / 1)
One of my favorite stories was when he went after Kodak. Kodak endowed the orchestra in upstate NY and he and his cohorts went to a concert. After eating plates and plates of baked beans. Can you just imagine the sounds and the smells they created!!!!
[ Parent ]
My thoughts on activists, the law and grad school (4.00 / 2)
Well, I think the fact that you asking yourself those questions now, rather than after already embarking upon a career/graduate school course is a good thing. I think that it's important (certainly to myself, but probably to activist types generally) to have a job where you can take your conscience to work and feel like you are making a difference. What that job will be is different to each individual, and I don't know enough about you to say what is right for you. But I do have some thoughts on the law and graduate school in general.

I guess the problem with the law as opposed to other professions that might attract folks who want to make a difference is that I think that the fallback in case you don't get your dream job is a lot worse-you might either end up in an area of law that you aren't interested in, or you'll end up working for the exact opposite side. Or maybe both. After I couldn't find a union-side labor law job, I started looking at other areas of law. I had an informational interview with a plaintiff's side personal injury attorney. He said that plaintiff's side firms rarely hire anybody who isn't experienced, so I should start off working for a defense side personal injury firm, representing insurance companies. I think that's rather insane. My father works in public health, and he didn't have to gain experience by working for big tobacco.

I think there are some jobs out there for activist folks in the legal profession, but I think they are fewer than people might think going in. At the national level, those jobs tend to go to folks who went to the best schools. Not a top 20 school, like me, but a top five school. (My inspirations, Mr. Geoghegan and Mr. Nader, and our civil rights lawyer turned president, all got their J.D.'s at Harvard. ) And at the local level my experience has been that the number of firms that do interesting work is small, they are close knit, and its hard to get in there unless you worked for them during law school or something.

So, I'd advise young activists to think hard before going to law school. Ask the question, "If I can't get my dream job, would I be happy doing wills, or criminal law, or business law?" If the answer is no, then I think I they should try getting a non-lawyer job where they can work on the issues that interest them, rather than becoming a lawyer and being forced into doing something that doesn't interest them.

I think a lot of people go to law school who probably don't really want to be lawyers, but that's not solely their fault. I think there is a lot of pressure to get some kind of graduate degree, and I think that is unfortunate. People shouldn't be encouraged to spend several years of their life and accumulated tens of thousands of dollars of debt pursuing something that they may not really want to do.

So my advice would be not to even think about going to any kind of graduate school right away. Instead go after jobs that sound interesting and that you think could be worthwhile and try not to let concerns hold you back. I took a year off after law school, but it was more out of exhaustion than an attempt to figure out what I wanted to do. The job I ended up taking after I left my unpaid campaign internship was as a tour guide. It was unsatisfying, so I went back to plan A: law school. I didn't apply for jobs that sounded more interesting because they'd require me to move, or I didn't think I had all the necessary skills (I saw openings for organizer jobs, but I thought I was too much of an introvert for those.) This was a mistake. If I'd tried to find something I really wanted to do out of undergrad, maybe I wouldn't have gone to law school. Or maybe I would have, but I would have had a better understanding of how to get the activist lawyer jobs I wanted.

Sorry this is long, but I really do I admire you for asking this questions at the point that you are currently at, and I hope I could be of some help.

[ Parent ]
Have you thought about utility law? (0.00 / 0)
It's not activism, but public utilities are one little pocket of functioning socialism smack dab in the middle of our capitalist world. So are credit unions.

The seeds of the new are embedded in the old.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
Thanks for the response (4.00 / 1)
I appreciate your response. As of right now I intend to get a job after undergrad, most likely with a nonprofit I have done some work with on children's advocacy, or a similar organization. I would love to get a community organizing job or something similar.

Your answer I think pretty much sealed the deal for me re: law school, especially with the question about not getting your dream job. And you are right on grad school, more and more it is a requirement. I don't really feel the need to go, but I think if I find a field I really want to enter and I could enhance my own ability to be effective within that field with a grad school degree, I will do it.

I guess what I am saying is that wherever I can bring my passion and abilities to bear, thats where I want to be. I just need to find that place. I can't thank the Open Left community enough by the way, for helping me clarify my own thoughts on this. It doesn't get mentioned enough how truly educational this place is.  

[ Parent ]
I had a similar problem after getting my MBA (4.00 / 2)
My first job was in a factory, where I gained the trust of the line workers and, because of the things they told me, was able to redesign the supply system and increase productivity 20%. Pretty good, huh?

Increased productivity means increased wages so it's a win/win all around, right? At least, that's what they'd taught me in school, and even though I never understood precisely how that worked, I believed it because everyone said it was true.

But of course, guess what -- it's not true. What was missing (and I only figured out later) was union pressure. Without that, what happened instead was my friends got their hours cut. Because they trusted me.

And like you, I was like, "I just spent three years of my life learning something I don't ever want to practice!?! WTF!"

Have patience though. It took awhile but I finally found a way (actually a couple of ways) to "use my powers for good," and you will too.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
Thank you for the encouragement.... (4.00 / 2)
And thanks to everyone else who recommended my comment. I felt kind of unsure about posting it, but it was really something I've needed to say for a while and it's nice to have a sympathetic audience.

I certainly hope I'll be able to use my powers for good at some point in the not to distant future.  

[ Parent ]
See? (0.00 / 0)
The blogosphere is not only about flame wars and troll ratings. Stay strong.

"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."
[ Parent ]
Why not go to costa rica? (4.00 / 1)
You are suffering from a pretty severe case of burnout it sounds like.  

Work less.  One of the values of having a job that doesn't really improve anyone's life is that no one expects me to work myself to death

http://transgendermom.blogspot....

I've also wondered if Dave's recent post about 5 jobs was related to this one (4.00 / 1)
I wonder if Dave has considered that taking some time for reflection, and even 'non-reflection' (i.e., meditation where the mind is allowed to become still, or "empty"), is a necessity.

Krishnamurti said, rather bluntly: "The man who does not meditate is stupid." Dave is obviously a smart guy, so I trust that he will be smart enough to figure out why I quoted this sentence from Krisnamurti.

If Dave or anybody else needs some help living more joyfully, moment to moment, I recommend checking out This Abundant Life., at 7 pm EST on Sundays. Lizzie West, one of the two main joyful protagonists, certainly has had her share of questioning and disentangling from a corrupt system.

(In spite of her infectious joy, I just checked Lizzie's blog, and we can see that she is not immune to feeling overwhelmed:

I don't know about you, but I'm getting sorely overwhelmed by all the talk and feeling out of control with respect to action, what action do we take? I am trying not to bury my head in the sand about all the mess, but I don't know where to begin, who to call, how to fire them, and how to clean it up. It is so different from anything I've ever had to confront before. Anyone else know where to begin?

)

435 Dem Primaries 2012
Coffee Party Usa
TheRealNews.Com

[ Parent ]
Yes yes. WTF comes and goes David. (4.00 / 1)
Dont worry so much, do the things you like to do with enough time to them well.

Don't sweat the small stuff, its all small stuff.

Your job to is to throw nuggets so lovely and clear into the mix often enough, just often enough, that they are recognizable as the diamond and the swill you describe so well as the opproffession you work in, will be obviously the opposite.

You are doing all this because it makes us all better progressives. And we need better progressives.
 

--

The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky

Every Day. . . I Think Of Moving To Another Country (4.00 / 1)
     My main purpose: I have a chronic medical condition, and they won't me allow access to good health-care insurance, because I have a "pre-existing condition"--which is Bullshit. My finances are in pretty dire straits.
Thankfully, there are some really compassionate doctors, who work with me on a sliding scale.  Then, there are some doctors who I want to kill.  I want to so bad want to write a novel like Catch-22, yet focusing on the medical community.  

    I think of Tom Hayden a lot. I met him once, and had a long conversation with him about many of the problems you just mentioned.  Funny, one thing he mentioned was in the 50's through the mid 70's, one can get buy without a lot. His digust about our plutocracy was vivid. Yet, he a sense of humor about things. As we talked further, he told that, if Obama choses the "Chicago Group" and their ilk, we are in trouble (personally, I don't think that his economic are that fundamental, but. . .)  And, at that time, he was doing a book signing on his recent book about Iraq.
    No way, did I garner, that he thought the escalation in Afghanistan was going to occur, to this extent. Though, he certainly did not trust power, especially instititutions.  Yet amazingly, he is battling as we speak on all fronts, especially regarding Afghanistan.  (By the way, I think Progressive Democrats of America is one of the best advocacy and activist organizations around.) I don't know.

    It's a troubling situation: I just read Eric Alterman's recent Think Again column; and I felt the utter madness regarding the deplorable coverage of the health-care industry.  I knew a lot of things first hand.  But, some things were beyond the pall. I saw you on Rachel the other night talking about the firing of the GM CEO, and you were pushing Rachel softly, towards the utter hypocrisy regarding the treatment of the financial sector.  I can see that she and yourself were dismayed--though she had to keep her chin up for the cameras. I have read somewhere that you said MoveOn.org has become a DLC/DNC lapdog. (I don't know, I just hope not. Their position on Afghanistan is bit baffling.)  When I asked Mike Lux about Afghanistan, he said was not sure, he was not an expert.  And, that was an honest answer. Lawerence Kob--who I assume you know--is an expert; and lays out the case in a few different proposals for the need to go to war more vigorously on many fronts. I don't know. . .)  To hear Glenn Greenwald the other night on Bill Moyers, discuss how Meet The Press was one of the best venues for Cheney and his warped allies to sell the Iraq War--just added to my observations. Russert was not alone. And, I feel bad for his family. Still, it does not equal out.  I have visited too many veterans from the war--it's not right.

    I cannot imagine a country where Wal-Mart does not give one an eye-sore and liscense to literally ruin lives around the world.  But, then, I hope know department stores, buildings, homes become ruins.  Still, I don't Wall Mart will be gone by lifetime.  I am in mid-thirties.  I cannot imagine in the next 5 years not seeing Shields and Brooks on the Newshour.  I try to kid myself that it won't be so bad.  That feeling lasts for only a couple minutes.  So now, I never watch that segment anymore.

      It's difficult for you; you have a strong super-ego--which is a blessing and a curse.  Also, you do truly care.  And you wonder:  after all my fighting to better the world--these are the results?  Well, not to sound corny, but you and this sit especially, along other liberal and progressive site, make my days better.  Granted, I walk away from the computer, leave a meeting, go to a rally and leave with a sense of frustration often.  Mainly because, I am not as versed in this sphere as I would like; also, I have cognitive problems (Funny, my doctors always tell me: No More Politics, Bad For My Recovery) I tell them it is about causes, justice, the health of the body politic--they just laugh.) When I am commenting, it's takes extra strength to get thoughts down which are coherent and hopefully cogent and add to the discussion.  But, a lot of times I fail.

       Anyway, it's your decision.  Nobody knows the futility you feel at times; the sacrifices you make.  The tough part, I imagine, is this seems to be in your DNA. Though, you and others have shouldered a burden to revive the progressive grassroots.  Have much traction it has, is to be seen.  Unfortunately, our system is broke. . . has been.  I read Taylor Branch saying it will a long slog, patience is needed.  I still couldn't believe after the victories across the country in 2006, and especially after 2008, there is a lot of despair--like a balloon deflated.

      Read biographies of great men; they always help me.  I just found out Charles Dickens was contemplating giving up writing, was as popular, until he convinced the publishers that A Christmas Carol.  Samuel Jackson by W. Jackson Bates is a must. I read at least every 3 months.  Good biographies on William James.  It's crazy, can you imagine the way Thomas Paine wound up.  The different exitstentialist and humanist philosophers, writers, psychologists are always helpful.  "Man's Search For Himself" by Rollo May is an impressive--a little pallitative but it's good.  Sorry, for the run-on David and the rest of the readers.

       I have to go to sleep.  I have am getting a slew of tests tomorrow and next week: PET-Scan, SPECT-Scan, EEG, another Sleep Study (I am scrawn; I did not think that I could have apneas--need to do another one to make sure it was not a false-positive.)  Fun.

PS  It fucken kills me that are soldiers are committing suicide, because a lack of medical care!  I met a lot of the Gulf War Syndrome at UMDNJ in Newark, NJ.  The fucken lies. . .        

Read Kunstler he will help (0.00 / 0)
http://www.kunstler.com

Clusterfuck Nation here we come.

[ Parent ]
Maybe this is naive, but -- move to Massachusetts. (0.00 / 0)
At least, that's what I tell myself I will do if I lose my job, so that at least my family can figure out the demands of life without the constant worry of medical-expense ruin.  But I may have an exaggerated idea of how hard it is to fall between the cracks there.
[ Parent ]
Stay connected to your Self (4.00 / 4)
An honest post that speaks to something I suspect all of us experience in some way or other.  And an insightful and heartfelt series of comments from people who respect and relate to what you're saying.

For what its worth, my experience and my two cents of advice are to find ways to connect to a place inside yourself that was joyful and free as a child and is still there, though most often buried under the intensity of modern American life and a lifetime of various forms of social programming (some more obviously toxic than others).

Moving to the Rockies seems like a good external change to support this, but I've found (especially in the era of always-on media and Internet connectivity) that finding a way to connect to an internal peaceful centerpoint that's independent of all social identities and ups & downs is fundamentally important.

As I see it, the deep and chronic lack of this connection is a key factor in making this world we live in seem so much like the Bizarro planet to many of us.  And, in very real ways it is. But "underneath" it all (i.e., within each one of us) is a natural (but ignored) experience where hope and optimism are natural and (with some practice) can give our psyche a good measure of invulnerability to the craziness and frustrations which, as you note, are legion and sometimes maddening.  

For me, the key is to balance passion with peace and, preferably, a peace that's independent of how things seem to be going, or how damn screwed up so much of the world seems (and that you can take with you wherever you go). The two words may seem to be in conflict, but my experience is that true fulfillment is found in the state of being where they coexist, which also happens to be the place where true power resides.

How to reach that balance/synthesis is an individual choice and journey but, as far as I can tell, the destination is the same (hasn't gone anywhere since we've been alive), and sincerity and a little humility are key ingredients to navigating the journey.  And you seem to express both (along with an admirable passion and very understandable and healthy frustration) in your post.  So, from where I sit, you're headed in the right general direction and also asking for and receiving feedback along the way to make the necessary adjustments in your course.

To put it another way, in this neverending political fight its good to learn some of the lessons embodied by real martial arts masters--especially if you want to avoid burnout and maximize both your impact in this world and your enjoyment of life.

The place where peace, passion and power are one and the same, and don't depend on outside circumstances (though they can powerfully influence these circumstances).  Still rare in this world, but only because we're mainly looking for it in external identities and situations--where it can't be found.

This may sound airy fairy to some, but its really quite simple, visceral and practical.

Could be worse ... (4.00 / 1)
What, for instance, am I doing working in a media/political business that is so often governed with no rhyme or reason, and so often rewards the foolish, the stupid and the immoral?

It could be worse: you could be working in the American comedy scene today!

http://www.funnyordie.com/jame...

i sometimes think my/our role was easier under Bush (4.00 / 2)
we were so united in opposition to virtually everything he was doing. and it was easy to know where I stood when it came to torture, or invading a country with no real justification or exit strategy, or selling our retirement plan to wall street.

now Obama is doing a lot of things right, and the country is making progress. so I'm forced to focus on much more morally and practically complicated issues. like, okay, we're getting out of Iraq, but what are we going to do about Afghanistan? or, okay, we're passing a stimulus bill, but wouldn't it be better to just nationalize parts of the financial system that simply cannot afford to fail?

of course, a lot of this is intellectual hand-wringing. really, we need to keep the pressure on Democrats to do the right thing, and be ready to get back into the fray in 2010.

I've suffered bouts of (4.00 / 3)
depression all my life, so I am not a good person to ask.  All I will say here is that you are one of my top three favorite bloggers.   Maybe the problem is lack of appreciation?

Being Cassandra is never any fun, but it does serve a purpose, though I can't articulate it.

My blog  

Teresias was blinded. (4.00 / 1)

[ Parent ]
Careful or Ayn Rand will get you (4.00 / 1)
She said that one of the problems with Alan Greenspan was that he thought Henry Luce was an  important person.

Time to read Sartre. And you are right to be asking these questions of yourself.

Just imagine how awake people felt in the middle ages with all that midieval thinking around them. Not that it isn't around today but it is discredited when you gnaw at it. Gnaw at it then and the church would burn you.

Hey everybody time for Houellebecq! (0.00 / 0)
Especially Platform.
Listen to Alan Watts (0.00 / 0)
Interesting Costa Rica story (0.00 / 0)
The government noticed that Costa Rica was exporting a lot of copper.  Funny, since it has no copper mines.  If you look at Costa Rica on the map, it is on the neck connecting North and South America....and all those big copper telco lines between the hemispheres go through Costa Rica.

I guess you could call it a cottage copper mining industry.

Costa Rica would have promise....if it wasn't for the fact that it's going to bake as the planet warms.  

Bottom line: No-one said life was fair.

You're Very Good (0.00 / 0)
and I hope you stick with it.  I get the feeling that you may be too impatient in terms of the rate of change- it is unmistakably going to occur because the political capital of the well-to-do and the corporate world are fast evaporating, but perhaps just not as fast as we want.

Cheer up - our buddy Al is going to be in the Senate soon.

When I feel this way (0.00 / 0)
I ask myself: "Why the f&*k not?"

Take a nap in the sunlight and then get back to it.


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

The best we can. (4.00 / 2)
This is a great post.  It's a question I ask myself and my friends/fellow activists on a regular basis.  The level-headed among them usually respond with:  "What the fuck are we doing?  The best we can."

It's a marathon.  It's discouraging when we look at the short term, but I'll be 52 this year and I assure you that since I've been paying attention (40 years or so) the conversation has expanded and includes many more voices than it had.  In the 60's & 70's we had the "underground" newspapers and college radio stations carrying most of the water for counter-culture punditocracy.  In the 80's & 90's it expanded to real magazines; some talk radio; and some TV.  Then by late 90's and to today we have the explosion of the internet; podcasts and BlogTalk Radio; YouTube; Air America (well, not such a successful model); XM/Sirius.  

And, I will add one more personal note to your question.  Why the fuck do we do this?  To meet others who have the same concerns.  In the past 8-9 years my "extended family" has grown to include so many people I met thru activism.  We still "do activism" together but we also share holidays; births; deaths; even vacations.  I couldn't ask for a greater circle of friends. I suppose I should thank George W Bush for that...    

I love that answer. (0.00 / 0)
I am totally stealing that.

Montani semper liberi
[ Parent ]
what else is there? (4.00 / 4)
During my 44 years as a union member, activist, elected (sometimes)local union official, I felt like you describe at times. The answer for me is- there is really no alternative. If you are true to yourself,(and for me, true to the lord god Jahova) you must persue truth and social justice. Anything else is a lie, and self defeating. In fact the financial reward the whores get for supporting corporate tyranny seems like blood money, awarded for treason. Answer to the mirror, and friendly constructive critisisum from like minded patriots. Ignore the wing-nuts who are in it for the money, all they have is greed and a defeated conscience. Honor, piece of mind, the occasional rush you get when you win one for someone else... these are the real, lasting goals worth earning, and they are never easy. You do good work and are appreciated, please continue.

Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob..... FDR
Thinking of you, David. (0.00 / 0)
Hi David,

Well, you're probably past some of what you were feeling when you wrote your post yesterday, but I wanted to respond and offer some encouragement. Did you hear a year or two ago that the actor Richard Dreyfuss was chucking his chosen profession to advocate for bringing civics back into the American classroom? 40 years ago, many Americans enjoyed a much more rigorous level of public discourse. Many Americans read poetry for pleasure. Many Americans knew their neighbors. A lot has changed as the consumer culture has grown and intensified. You are now operating in a country where people don't know much about history or civics and, since it's not a priority in the school system or at home or in the workplace, many people are checked out without even knowing it. I don't bring this up to depress you and I'm sure you're already quite familiar with these aspects of our culture, but it makes me think that one thing you can do is to really assess, in light of our environment, what among your activities has the potential for creating the biggest impact. What are you doing that is less essential? And who can you partner with? Being a writer in a country that has already isolated its citizens from one another can be a lonely prospect, can make your efforts feel futile. Amy Goodman just took Democracy Now on a massive country-wide tour of community TV and radio stations. She is constantly connecting up her efforts with other groups. While Rachel Maddow is obviously a smart person and very engaging, to be a TV personality she's had to place herself within a very glib level of discourse which is essentially the enemy of really engaged citizenship. Within a year or two, she's going to have to ask herself some of the same questions you are. I would argue that what Amy is doing will have the greater impact over time. She's actually someone who you ought to talk to about this.

I read your book, The Uprising, and have been reading your work for a few years now. The book gave me real hope. It was a really useful piece of work. Don't worry about all of the celebrated stenographer journalists making hay in the media. The media they're operating in is the arena that keeps people separated from one another. Connect with the media that is drawing people together. Internet-based social media, advocacy groups, grassroots education, community-based media. It's the aggregate of all these endeavors (which is a sentiment that you get at in your book), that's really where it's at. that has the potential to bring citizenship back. That's one of the main prerequisites to real change. Devote a day a week on your radio show to talking about civics, citizenship, neighborliness. Make it fun. Partner with other groups to expand the impact of your efforts. Pare back anything that's not contributing to the Uprising (within reason, I know you need to make a living and support your family).

Alright, I've babbled enough. Best to you, David, and let us know how it's going.  

When I feel like this (4.00 / 1)
I think about the Founding Fathers. They had no way of knowing for sure they would win, but they fought anyway. So must we.

Montani semper liberi
good stuff man, dont give up (0.00 / 0)
i was a mindless oreilly follower until college, i started reading common dreams and discovered writers out there, out of the mainstream mind numbing corporate press, and over the years i have found more writers like yourself. the thing is who cares about them, about corporate news, about corporate movies, and music and theories, those ways are dying, too many people are seeing through the bullshit, granted a large portion still love the bullshit,

i am say why battle the way of the sheep? let them do their thing, if people are too stupid to understand, sucks for them, and over here, we can do our thing, listen to our music, have responsible discussions, start building responsible communities, there are communites popping up all over that are off the grid, collecting water from springs, growing their own food, building their own communities,

i once had hope for everyone until a wise man told me he only has hope for those who want to evolve, i want to evolve as does everyone on this site, we cannot force those not ready to join us, we just need to do our thing, maybe we will rub off on them,
peace,
and thank you dave


whatever you think people owe you, that is what you owe people

second bite of the apple (0.00 / 0)
It occurred to me that a quote from the great Eugene V. Debs might fit this subject. This is taken from the book "Labors Untold Story"....Once when delegates at a convention spoke of the sacrifices he had made for the labor movement, he said impatiently, "I have a heart for others and that is why I am in this work. When I see suffering about, I myself suffer. When I put forth my efforts to relieve others, I am simply helping myself. I do not consider that I have made any sacrifice whatever. No man does unless he violates his conscience". I have always admired Debs and see him as a role model. Although his equal does not exist in the U.S. today, we can all learn from the past work of such a master statesman.

Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob..... FDR
A clarion call to...pundit-envy? (0.00 / 0)
In this post David Sirota seems to be doing some kind of solo role-play -- a kind of pundit-envy masquerading as Big Lebowski Moment.  What's really hard to buy is this statement:  "It's not the conservatives that really get me - their existence/success at least has a rationale...It's the unskilled - the classic No Talent Ass Clowns, if you will. I work in a business that treats Andrew Sullivan and David Broder and...Tom Friedman as Very Important, Very Serious, Very Newsworthy People."

So Glenn Beck saying on Fox that Barack Obama should have a "stake" driven into his heart and Gingrich saying that Obama is trying to become a dictator are of no concern to Sirota?  But the respect that Andrew Sulliivan gets is a great threat to our discourse?  I'd remind David that Sullivan has a Ph.D. from Oxford in political philosophy, has written a couple of eloquent books, and broke with his fellow conservatives last year by enthusiastically endorsing Obama, since in his eyes the Republicans had self-incinerated when it came to fiscal sanity and individual rights. (And no one on the right was more blistering about the inadequacies of Sarah Palin.)

As for Broder and Friedman, they are Establishment defenders to be sure.  But Broder pounds the pavement during campaigns and talks to voters in beauty salons and PTA meetings, and every so often comes up with such a well-reported column from the grass roots, that you have to pay attention.  And Friedman, notwithstanding his economic globaloney, is passion on wheels when it comes to fighting climate change and investing in science and engineering education.  They still get listened to, because they do their homework and bat around .300 when they use their skills as career journalists.

In contrast, I really doubt that "What the F%$@! Are We Doing?" is the clarion call to brilliant thinking that we've all been waiting for.

No Identity, No Direction, No viable results, just Talk. (0.00 / 0)
Progressive ideas were awake even before Paul Harvey, Sr. (who passed away last month-RIP), when the terms conservative was progressive were neither much in vogue at the time, I listened to him when I was 19 years old, in 1960, and his sense of justice, rightness, and honesty awoke me to progressive views. (How dare conservatives claim him as one of their own, and compared him to Hanity and Limbaugh, neither with a sense of justice, or honesty?)
When it comes to the issues, 75% or more of the population are progressives (assuming current use of the term). Many don't know it, but that can be changed.
So why aren't there a progressive manifesto, an agenda, and no real political presence by way of national progressive party? (There are two states that have a progressive party that I know of, Vermont and Washington.
Like David Sirota, other brilliant people (which for expediency I will not take the time to name) have surfaced over the years. They make you want to get up and get something done. I've offered many of these people help to move with action on an agenda, and the creation of effective strategy to gain the rights of the people, but every one seemed too busy writing to stay alive.
If by next presidential election there are a few millions registered or self declared progressives, even putting Obama on the ticket as their Candidate for re-election, will be more effective to helping him, especially making it clear to him as to who elected him.
David Sirota, Chris Bowers, (and a few others who have enough of a following in this and other sites) have the implicit responsibility of moving the population to action. They have moved people into action with their words; Let them now channel their efforts, rather than scatter as progressives have been for several decades.
Create a platform; put a party together; talk to the hundreds and hundreds of progressive groups; get their member to join; register the party in all the states. Open a platform for discussion, and general participation, and so on.

A National Progressive Alliance, is the only viable solution.

http://www.openleft.com/diary/...
Existential Question: What The F%$@! Are We Doing? | 81 comments
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