Monday, February 09, 2009

R*E*S*P*E*C*T


{on a cold winter day, I go back to the bay - photo by me}

My last post caused a bit of a stir. And engaged some of my commenters with each other rather than directly with me. Which is all fine and good.

But what struck me most forcibly and has for a few days now, was the complaint that I didn’t offer solutions to the problematic Proposition 8 approval in California and to the other long list of ills that faces the new president, Mr. Obama.

Solutions?

They can be all boiled down to one word:

RESPECT.

(1)
How about that from here on in that the U.S.A. offers respect to all the other sovereign countries of the world. That respect would begin by not invading them ever again.
And to those they have invaded without cause or reason:
Huge whopping apologies for the genocides and the horrific destruction with a sincere effort to rebuild the mess and compensation for resources stolen and private property annihilated.

(2)
How about from here on in that the U.S.A. offers respect and equality to all of its citizens and not base it on gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. And by not forgetting the marginalized aboriginal peoples or the 25% of Americans who declare themselves atheist or agnostic. Starting with perhaps the Oath of Office, an affirmation of the separation of church and state and certainly not a gloating in-yer-face assertion of Christian domination of all belief systems.

(3)
How about respect for the planet itself, our fragile eco-system that can no longer sustain the burdens of over-population and the relentless plundering of her finite resources: water, oil, minerals, animals, fish, etc. How about being the world’s leader in an effort to halt the pollution, the mono-agriculture, the flagrant waste of rampant consumerism?

(4)
How about not bailing out the banks, the insurance companies, the auto manufacturers who have raped and pillaged the hard workers of the U.S.A. How about revitalizing the electric car, sustainable community living, 21st century public transit, community organic gardening?

(5)
How about universal health care that would embrace each and every citizen of the U.S.A, and not just the wealthy?

(6)
How about correcting a system that sees 5% (the highest in the WORLD) of its citizens incarcerated for idiotic petty crimes.

(7)
How about admitting that out of control capitalism doesn’t work, has never worked, will never work. How about working together to find a system that does?

Starting with RESPECT?

And speaking of respect: has anyone else noticed that the news commentators on CNN, MSNBC, et al, refer to the new president as “Obama” while continuing to refer to the last as “Mr. Bush.” A small point, but telling.

And a great big thank you to Tessa for my latest award, shown on the sidebar and here!


- and I pass it on to these five wonder-women:

Irene
Twilight
Gaye
Brighid
Laura

24 comments:

  1. Your points are well made, WWW. Respect is the magic word in all of them and you name them very well. You are a constant source of accurate information and righteous indignation that can only cause other people to stop and think very hard about what the hell is going on.

    I can only give the broadcasters the benefit of the doubt and wonder if they use the name Obama without the addition of Mister as an endearment. That is how I choose to think of it, but maybe I am wrong.

    Thank you very much for my award. I treasure it very much coming from you, who I admire so much.

    xox

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  2. WWW, aw thank you so much for the award but I am not worthy of a scribbler award let alone Superior!
    I just write from the heart. I wish I had the talent you have, I love reading your posts, your thoughts.
    You have such a way with words, skill I wish I had.
    I have just written something that will no doubt cause more stink but I was so compelled I couldn't help it. I hope they won't bomb my house.

    Great post about RESPECT! Great points.
    Gxox

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  3. I cannot disagree with a single word of this post WWW - not least my award - thank you very much, I am honoured!

    Seriously though, respect for the citizen as an individual again would be good, instead of clumping everyone together as band A, B, C or whatever 'consumer demographic' and valued accordingly. Which brings to mind 'The Corporation' documentary once more that has a hell of a lot of nail-on-head observations about why society is where it is now. Also fellow blogmate Homo Escapeons has some pithy commentary on the state of modern apes illustrated by his inimitable photo-doctoring skills! Too painful to read at times, despite the acidic humour.

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  4. WWW ~~~ I echo what has already been said by the two previous commenters (Finely Tuned Woman and
    gaudiumdegaea)about your own blog and your writing talent.

    Thank you, thank you for such a flattering, but probably 50% undeserved Award - as far as the adjective goes; though the noun is absolutely correct! Scribbler fits like a glove! I shall display this with pride.

    Synchronistically I have a list of Awards from me (along astrological lines) which I'd made up for posting last week. Your name appears on it. Other topics have popped up each time I've meant to post the list though. Perhaps sometime next week it'll appear. :-)

    Hugs and thanks, once again.

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  5. Thank YOU, Irene!
    Every time I hear one of the news wallahs refer to "Obama" I'm reminded of that movie "In the Heat of the Night" where Sidney Poitier says, "They call me Mr. Tibbs!"
    XO
    WWW

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  6. Gaye:
    Writing from the heart is where it's at!!
    Thanks!
    XO
    WWW

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  7. Laura:
    Yes: we all need a daily healthy dose of cynicism to cope with the ills of the world, particularly the "theocorporatocracy" which seems to be in charge at the moment!
    XO
    WWW

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  8. Oh don't sell yourself so short, T, you are a 100 percenter!!! Great writing skill, marvellous mind challenging astro-topics and beyond.
    I can hardly wait to see what you've done!!
    XO
    WWW

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  9. Hurrah, I'm so impressed with your solutions/respect list. A fine bit of work that. Thank you, Thank you.
    Now its up to us.

    i feel unworthy of an award she said as she cuddled it close to her battered breast.

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  10. Brighid:
    And thank YOU for contributing so much to this debate and for your blog.
    XO
    WWW

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  11. I'd heartily agree with all those points, except that I do think it was right to bail out the UK banks and maybe the US ones. Many of the UK banks were literally on the point of collapse and if they had gone down, they would have brought a huge chunk of the economy with them. But there's increasing fury here about the continuing bonuses for incompetent bankers. The government is still not condemning the bonus culture as fiercely as (Mr) Obama has.

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  12. Amen to it all, WWW, though as you'll no doubt read in my latest offering, I'm somewhat skeptical - particularly of number seven.

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  13. Nick:
    But the bankers were so so complicit in the tanking of the economy. Why not try a nationalized bank? I hate to see those criminals rewarded yet again for such scammery. It makes me seethe!
    XO
    WWW

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  14. RJA:
    I think we've all been brought to our knees by the current system and will be forced into another system, kicking and screaming.
    I'm hoping it's not a systems of feudal overlords and serfs but knowing where all the remaining wealth is concentrated I'm not hopeful either!!
    XO
    WWW

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  15. Our minister of finance here in the Netherlands, bought a large failing bank and nationalized it. We all assume it was the right thing to do. There is much ill will toward managers who get awarded big salaries and bonuses, but that has been going on for awhile, before the crisis hit. I think there are a number of institutions that need to be nationalized again, like they were in the past. Opening them up to the 'free market' has done us no good.

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  16. In fact several British banks are now as good as nationalised as the government has taken a majority stake in them. Yet they're still giving bonuses to their executives!

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  17. Great post, WWW. Amen to all of it.

    Excellent choices for the award! That Brighid is a real pistol - only to be expected from a lady with a fine name like that, I'm thinking.

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  18. Irene:
    I totally agree with you and nationalization needs to spread across the board to stop the plunder.
    XO
    WWW

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  19. Nick:
    That makes smoke come outta my ears!!!
    Where are the protests like they're having in France?
    XO
    WWW

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  20. Tessa:
    Thanks for the award and your good thoughts as always.
    XO
    WWW

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  21. Very well said - simple and clear and oh so needed!

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  22. I couldn't agree more. I gave a little cheer to this post.

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  23. Conor:
    Thank you kind sir!And more of us should be screaming it.
    XO
    WWW

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  24. I could hear you all the way over here, Debstar!
    XO
    WWW

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