I had an interesting conversation on Saturday with some colleagues that covered several topics including the state of our American society. At one point, we half-joked that the country might be headed for another civil war. At the time I didn’t take it seriously at all, but then some other events have caused me to rethink. We probably are not headed for a civil war, but we may very well be headed for another revolution. As Gil Scott-Heron said, it will not be televised.
Friday while I was teaching my yoga class, I got a call from my ex-dentist pressuring me to make a payment of half the (very large) balance of our bill (which has been in dispute) or he would send the account to collection, generating more fees. He’s very smug about his position because we (my family) are basically poor schmucks who can’t do anything about the situation. We don’t have the means to fight him…yet. The full story of that drama will definitely follow soon.
Fast forward to Sunday night. A friend of ours is having some trouble with his business partner. All our friend wants now is to get out of the business amicably with the two going their separate ways. But the partner is a bit of a vindictive and crooked bastard. The partner has money and power and connections, How can a thirty-something year old guy with very limited resources hope to stand up to that? He’s going to do everything he can, but the odds are grossly stacked against him.
Do these situations ring a chime of familiarity? Probably more familiar than the average person would care for them to.
Now let’s take a look at history. There was an American Revolution where the colonists, tired of being taken advantage of by a king and country on the other side of the Atlantic, stood up and booted the British out of the Americas. Then there was a French Revolution where the poor French people got sick (literally and figuratively) of being stepped on by Louis XVI and company. The Russians did it, too. The little guys eventually got pushed too far to the wall and pushed back, encouraged and pulled together by the more educated members of their societies.
Which brings us back to modern times. We live in a society where more and more people are struggling to stay above the poverty line. And I’m not only talking about the really poor, I mean the two income, educated, professional families who are still having trouble putting food on the table and are avoiding medical care because the out-of-pocket costs are just too damned prohibitive. We’ve all heard this – the middle class is rapidly disappearing. That’s bad enough. But then when you have the small group of rich and powerful going out of their collective way to beat up on and bully the vastly larger majority of the population, someone is asking for trouble. How long do the powers that be really think this dynamic is going to last before people start to snap and organize?
So, no, the revolution will not be televised, most likely because the cable and satellite companies could easily just shut that down. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the revolution was to be Podcasted. I think it might just be coming.
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2 comments:
I was pretty much at this point in...fall of 2006. I was literally getting prepared to hike up to Harriman and set up camp.
Will ignorance prevail? Only time will tell.
"Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."
You know, and another thing...especially as applies to our friend...he may feel hedged in, and he may BE hedged in. But obviously we care about him. He needs to take the realization of his frustration he communicated with us and work toward his goal. He may be frustrated, but it will pass...and he will be either where he is now, or in a different place.
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