Michele, over at A Small Victory has a triff post on ‘Blame America’, inspired by the recent murder of Dave Mobilio, a Red Bluff police officer, and the postings (on Indymedia and elsewhere) by someone who claims to be his murderer. Unlike the South Park song, it’s serious and has consequences.
In other words, don’t blame the shooter, blame the man. The man was holding him down and caused him to shoot. The man was repressing him and stealing his air and killing his babies and diminishing his rights.
And if it isn’t enough to just place the blame on corporations and laws that were obviously driving this person insane, you can always turn to the old conspiracy theory train of thought and blame the government.
Of course, that was it. The murderer was sent out their by none other than Ashcroft himself. They brainswashed the poor young man, turned him into a killing machine and then sent him out to kill a young police officer, all to make the anti-war protesters look bad. Of course.
Look.
It’s clear that there are things in our American history to which, like the root causes of all tragedies, we can trace the causes of many things. But one of the great things about this country is the commitment to the ideal of Progress, that things can be identified and fixed, that tomorrow will be better than today, that we are not enslaved to our tragic roots, and can leave them behind.
It isn’t sudden or perfect. But it’s real.
And yet we seem be ass-deep in people who want to throw up their hands and burn the house down rather than fix the leaking roof. That’s a great plan. If you’re willing to sleep outside in the cold.
The house may be leaking and imperfect, but it does keep the worst of the elements outside.
UPDATE: I hate it when I do a bad job and I’m not clear. Michele’s post was ‘triff’, which is slang for ‘terriffic’. I got four emails and two comments asking me what the hell I meant…so apologies to Michele first of all, and to the readers whose time I wasted.
Blaming America is stupid. There are lots of things wrong with this country (and this world); this is where we have the best shot at fixing them.
There’s no place I’d rather be.
Did we read the same post?
“And yet we seem be ass-deep in people who want to throw up their hands and burn the house down rather than fix the leaking roof. That’s a great plan. If you’re willing to sleep outside in the cold.”
I’m not quite sure if you are referring to me, to the murderer or to the posters at Indymedia. Please clarify so I can respond in the right context.
That was my point. If you’re referring to Michelle, I don’t see where it came from. If you’re not, I don’t see the point of the post.
I feel better now. Thank you!
Reminds me of my favourite rap lyric ever, from J-Live:
Now it’s all about NYPD caps and Pentagon bumper stickers
But yo – you’re still a nigger
It ain’t right them cops and them firemen died
That shit is real tragic
But it damn sure ain’t magic
It won’t make the brutality disappear
It won’t pull equality from behind your ear
It won’t make a difference in a two party country if the President cheats to win another 4 years
But don’t get me wrong
There’s no place I’d rather be
The grass ain’t greener on the other genocide
But they tell you we free men
Don’t forget to cut the lawn and
Uproot the weeds, ’cause I’m not satisfied.