"Art is a lie that tells the truth" -- Pablo Picasso
Thursday, November 3, 2011
But What Are Your Demands? What Is Your Agenda?
Bill Moyers answers that question with great eloquence from personal experience. I too come from Texas cotton pickers. Bill's were from East Texas. Mine were from the Panhandle (from Clarendon).
The piece is very depressing to read, especially about Obama's fundraising, although I should have known. Where else would he be getting the huge campaign contributions?
What really bothers me is what the constant asking and re-asking of "What are your demands/agenda?" is what it implies.
I understood, almost immediately, that these were people who simply wanted to see humans live as humans, not profit units, and who get - either from personal or experience or insight - the suffering engendered by our ongoing madness for mo'money,mo'money,mo'money!
What does it say that so many don't understand that; that it seems empathy with that situation is simply beyond them?
Doug, I too come from East Texas cotton pickers -- my dad's folks were poor farmers near Gilmer, about 40 miles from Marshall where Bill Moyers grew up. They struggled against great odds but like Moyers they felt that despite their modest starting point they were in on the deal: they were full citizens, there was a path to success open to them, and they took that opportunity and forged a good life for their children and grandchildren. Today that 'deal' is not on the table for most people. Bill's speech is very moving and makes me want to get involved! Thanks for posting the link, and for your ongoing coverage of the scene in New York.
It's pretty depressing to read the comments on ***The Nation's*** site though ["OWS knuckleheads": moderation anyone?!]
Very interesting history Moyers brings up. No coincidence that Powell and the Revenge of the Chamber of Commerce starts about the same time as the GOP's Southern Strategy? Race&Class (&Gender, thanks AngelaD) as ever, intertwined. Divide&Conquer fodder, for the Powers That Be.
My great grandmother and grandmother with her brothers and sisters ended up picking cotton in Clarendon as sharecroppers because great grandfather drank all of her money away. It was public schools and public universities that helped them climb out of poverty.
I should also point out that my grandfather (father's father) spent 2 or 3 years of his life as a young hobo riding in boxcars around the Midwest and the South.
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Wow! Bill Moyers for president?
ReplyDeleteThe piece is very depressing to read, especially about Obama's fundraising, although I should have known.
Where else would he be getting the huge campaign contributions?
What really bothers me is what the constant asking and re-asking of "What are your demands/agenda?" is what it implies.
ReplyDeleteI understood, almost immediately, that these were people who simply wanted to see humans live as humans, not profit units, and who get - either from personal or experience or insight - the suffering engendered by our ongoing madness for mo'money,mo'money,mo'money!
What does it say that so many don't understand that; that it seems empathy with that situation is simply beyond them?
OMG --thank you Doug.
ReplyDeleteDoug, I too come from East Texas cotton pickers -- my dad's folks were poor farmers near Gilmer, about 40 miles from Marshall where Bill Moyers grew up. They struggled against great odds but like Moyers they felt that despite their modest starting point they were in on the deal: they were full citizens, there was a path to success open to them, and they took that opportunity and forged a good life for their children and grandchildren. Today that 'deal' is not on the table for most people. Bill's speech is very moving and makes me want to get involved! Thanks for posting the link, and for your ongoing coverage of the scene in New York.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty depressing to read the comments on ***The Nation's*** site though ["OWS knuckleheads": moderation anyone?!]
ReplyDeleteVery interesting history Moyers brings up. No coincidence that Powell and the Revenge of the Chamber of Commerce starts about the same time as the GOP's Southern Strategy? Race&Class (&Gender, thanks AngelaD) as ever, intertwined. Divide&Conquer fodder, for the Powers That Be.
My great grandmother and grandmother with her brothers and sisters ended up picking cotton in Clarendon as sharecroppers because great grandfather drank all of her money away. It was public schools and public universities that helped them climb out of poverty.
ReplyDeleteI should also point out that my grandfather (father's father) spent 2 or 3 years of his life as a young hobo riding in boxcars around the Midwest and the South.
ReplyDelete