May a Flock of Thrushes Disrupt Your Hologram This Yuletide Season

[Guest guest]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jason_mi_051225_may_a_flock_of_thrus.htm

 

December 25, 2005

 

 

 

May a Flock of Thrushes Disrupt Your Hologram This Yuletide Season

 

By Jason Miller

 

 

It's Still a Wonderful Life, in Spite of Potter

 

" It's a Wonderful Life " is my favorite movie. I have watched it so

many times I have lost count. Last night, in celebration of Christmas

Eve, I watched it again. As I felt my " Christmas Spirit " reviving from

the drain of the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it occurred to me

how odd it is that I have not exhausted this precious resource of

personal spiritual renewal. Frank Capra's idealistic portrayal of the

triumph of the " common man " over the greed and avarice of America's

plutocracy has yet to wear thin with me.

 

 

It's a Long Way Down, But It Doesn't Take Long to Get There

 

Despite its exaggerated nature, Capra's film captured some fundamental

truths about humanity and the dynamics of America's social and

political structure. When I was a naive, confused, and very depressed

freshman in college at the University of Missouri in 1985, I

discovered " It's a Wonderful Life " when a friend taking a film studies

course took me to see it. For reasons which evaded my consciousness at

the time, the movie buoyed my sinking soul. Despite having found that

life preserver, the powerful undertow of my bipolar disorder

eventually sucked me deep into a sea of self-destruction and despair.

I completed three years of school before dropping out of the

university and out of my relatively privileged lower middle class

life. Through my spiritual and emotional crisis, I made choices

leading me to financial bankruptcy, a serious industrial accident

which left me with severe chemical and thermal burns, chemical

dependency, abandonment of my family and responsibilities, temporary

homelessness, six years of " servitude " in menial manufacturing jobs

with poverty level wages and pathetic benefits, and an emotional pain

so profound that I seriously contemplated suicide. The Valedictorian

of his high school class and Eagle Scout had hit rock bottom. And what

a blessing it proved to be!

 

Starting in the early 90's, under the tutelage of one of the finest

humanity had to offer, I learned to manage my bipolar condition. Lynn

Barnett, my counselor, gave me the tools I needed to reclaim my soul

and my life. Guided by Lynn's compassionate tough love, cognitive

behavioral techniques, and the principles of the Twelve Step programs,

little by little I scaled the face of the cliff toward the plateau of

spiritual and emotional stability. I repaid my child support

arrearage, regained joint legal custody of my twin boys, quit drinking

(1991) and smoking (1997), found decent employment, found a beautiful

and decent human being with whom to begin marriage anew, completed a

degree in liberal arts (by taking classes while I was working), read

and studied voraciously, taught myself Spanish (the language of the

poor and oppressed), adopted my new wife's son, and became an activist

writer on behalf of social justice, human rights, and intellectual

freedom (while continuing to work to help support our family).

Plumbing the depths of despair and striving to return from the

" underworld " gave me the gifts of humility, appreciation,

independence, and determination to pursue my goals. It also endowed me

with insight and empathy, which were sorely lacking in my character

before my " fall " .

 

Aside from my obvious personal challenges arising from the

manifestations of my bipolar disorder, it has become quite apparent to

me that my spiritual crisis (and subsequent epiphany) was also rooted

in the collective cry of a metaphorical flock of thrushes which flew

into my subconscious and decimated the hologram of the Simulacrum

Republic (* below for a " must read " article by Joe

Bageant which explains the metaphor of the thrushes and the hologram).

As is often the case in the human psyche, my unconscious mind was

several steps ahead of my conscious mind as my inner being vigorously

rejected the American Nightmare of violence, militarism, instant

gratification, over-consumption, bigotry, insularity from other

cultures, short-sightedness, xenophobia, hubris, and avarice force fed

to us as the highly palatable " American Dream " by our government,

text-book manufacturers, corporate-controlled media, Madison Avenue,

and corporate America. In short, I take responsibility for my choices

and their consequences, but understand that I made them in the context

of having a disorder with which I had few tools to cope effectively,

and that my self-destructive, irresponsible acts were in part an

unconscious rebellion against the perverse psychological and economic

oppression of America's corporatocracy. I am not letting myself off

the hook for what harm I caused, but I understand my motivations, have

made amends, and have forgiven myself.

 

 

Once Again Inanity Dominates the Public Consciousness

 

During this holiday season, as Fundamentalist Christians clash with

secular forces over the petty issue of the appropriate way to express

one's Yuletide greetings, I pose the question,

 

" In light of the myriad challenges facing humanity today, why are

people wasting their time and energy on this absurd " War on Christmas? " "

 

While people feud over the appropriate words to use at a time of year

which means something different to almost everyone, the Mr. Potters of

the world, embodied by amoral and immoral corporations which have

attained the rights of personhood, continue in their steady march to

squelch human rights and enslave humanity.

 

 

You Mean They Don't Really Have Our Best Interests in Mind?

 

Retailers like Wal-Mart give us " Always Low Prices " . All they demand

in return is that Americans look the other way while they continue to:

compensate their " associates " with sub-standard wages and benefits,

crush the economies of the towns and communities where they locate,

run their competitors out of business, and import $15 billion worth of

goods from China each year. Energy titans like Exxon keep us dependent

on fossil fuels, spend millions " debunking the myth of global

warming " , plunder the resources of other nations, and keep the prices

of gasoline artificially high by limiting refining capacity. Monsanto

and their ilk poison our bodies and the environment as they work

religiously to fatten their bottom line without regard for humanity or

the Earth. Obscene entities like the Carlyle Group, which derive their

profits from murder, beat the drums of war to lead both soldiers and

innocent civilians on a lemming-like march to their deaths.

 

Campaign finance, lobbying, think tanks, advertising, propaganda

blitzes, the rights of corporate personhood, and so-called " free trade

agreements " coalesce to enable these and many other repugnant

corporations to act with callous indifference toward human rights and

environmental concerns. During the Christmas/Holiday season, the

efforts of individuals to embody and advocate truly meaningful values

(like those depicted by the character of George Bailey) are too often

drowned out by the Potters of the world joining together in

cacophonous calls for spending, consuming, and pursuing one's

narcissistic desires. Projected to spend $435 billion during the

holidays, US consumers will do their part to ensure the perpetuation

of the fiscal empires of the embodiments of Lionel Barrymore's

despicable character.

 

Thomas Jefferson gave us a prescient warning about the power of banks

(recent deregulation has significantly blurred the line between banks

and other types of financial corporations) and corporations:

 

" I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our

liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow

private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by

inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will

grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property

until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers

conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and

restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. "

 

--from his Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)

 

 

Robber Barons: of Yesteryear and Today

 

In his book Thomas Paine and the Promise of America, Harvey Kaye (the

Rosenberg Professor of Social Change and Development at the University

of Wisconsin-Green Bay) discussed the extent to which the power of

America's corporatocracy and plutocracy had grown by the time of the

Gilded Age (about 100 years after Jefferson's admonition):

 

" The concentration of wealth and power and the growth of large,

hierarchical corporations fundamentally denied America's

eighteenth-century republican ideal of small producers and independent

citizens and the belief that political equality would engender

economic equality. With its new extremes of rich and poor, it seemed

the United States was coming to resemble Europe, the only difference

being that whereas aristocrats ruled Europe, " plutocrats " --a far

wealthier and more vigorous breed--ruled America. "

 

Despite the valiant struggles of the muckrakers, the women's movement,

the labor movement, the civil rights movement and the anti-war

movement of the Twentieth Century, Old Man Potter is alive and well.

Today, America's plutocrats are more avaricious and powerful than the

Rockefellers or the Carnegies. America's plutocrats' deeply incestuous

ties with the government (and the media) coupled with their carefully

honed images of corporate benevolence afford them the power to

manipulate " We the People " to a degree that would even have shocked a

man like John Pierpoint Morgan.

 

As I continue to work, to parent, to write, to maintain my blog

(Thomas Paine's Corner), and to engage in my activism to advance

social justice, economic justice, human rights, and intellectual

freedom, I will celebrate the Yuletide season as a time to focus on

peace, goodwill to fellow humans, giving and family. I give thanks to

my concept of the Higher Power for the many blessings bestowed upon my

family and me (in spite of the fact that my wife and I are amongst

Potter's so-called " rabble " who does " most of the working and paying

and living and dying " ). My spiritual journey through the chaos and

pain of bipolar disorder has been arduous, and is far from over as I

work each day to manage my condition, but the character and spiritual

freedom I have earned enable me to joyfully exist in the less

appealing, but much more fulfilling reality which lies beneath the

corporate-manufactured hologram of the Simulacrum Republic.

 

In 1947, the FBI mentioned " It's a Wonderful Life " in its

investigation of Communist infiltration into America's film industry.

In the United States, it was, and still is " Un-American " to portray

the plutocracy in a negative light. Instead, our sick mainstream media

glorifies hollow men like Donald Trump, while tantalizing the masses

with the incredibly remote possibility that they could have what " the

Donald " has by completing courses at " Trump University " . Meanwhile,

our information gods mock and demonize people like Ralph Nader, a man

who has diligently fought for consumers, the common people, and the

environment for years.

 

George Bailey could just as easily have been talking to Lee Scott,

Wal-Mart's CEO, when he said:

 

" You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the

whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't, Mr.

Potter. In the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say you were

nothing but a scurvy little spider. "

 

Thanks to the efforts of " Communist " labor unions on behalf of working

people, my grandfather (a man of strength and integrity who only had

an eighth grade education) provided a decent living for his family by

working at a General Motors assembly plant for 25 years. As I grew up

listening to him decry the injustices in the world and watching him

shun opportunities to better himself financially when they would have

violated his principles or jeopardized his family's security, my

powerful sense of justice and affinity for integrity were forged. I

thought of my grandfather when Harry Bailey proclaimed:

 

" A toast to my big brother George: The richest man in town. "

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, and a

Joyous Winter Solstice to you!

 

* http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec05/Bageant1222.htm

 

 

 

Authors Website: http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/

 

Authors Bio: Jason Miller is a 38 year old activist writer with a

degree in liberal arts. He works as a loan counselor in the

transportation industry, and is a husband with three sons. His

affiliations include Amnesty International and the ACLU. He welcomes

responses at willpowerful or comments on his blog, Thomas

Paine's Corner, at

http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/.