Children have no sense of wonder. As a culture, we like to pretend that they do, we like to paint portraits of them wide-eyed and awestruck…but the simple truth is that kids are rarely awestruck by anything, because they have not yet formed opinions about the operational parameters of the world they experience. Everything is normal, everything is beyond their comprehension, therefore nothing is particularly amazing (or arguably, everything is, though they don’t typically seem particularly amazed).

As adults, we crave a return to that sense that anything is possible, as over the years we slowly box ourselves in to more and more limited systems of belief, a process which we call “learning from experience”, though in fact real learning has very little to do with it. We experience facets of life, and attempt to generalize from these (usually in an attempt to avoid discomfort in the future). We call the generalizations “understanding”, but in actuality it is a slowly crystallizing structure of beliefs. And eventually our beliefs trap us. We are hemmed in by our own boundaries, and we long for the days when we could breathe freely, delighting in the possibility that literally anything could happen.

Those moments when we glimpse that nearly forgotten realm of possibility inspire what we adults call “wonder”.

After our first taste, wonder is an addictive sensation, though most people never realize what it is they are craving. They substitute the weaker experience of surprise, which while perfectly fine for what it is, will never begin to approach the complete, if momentary, freedom that is wonder. The open night sky, the bizarre implications of quantum physics, those moments when we witness something which perfectly embodies love, truth, or beauty…these things will always carry a deeper sense of satisfaction than the most surprising surprise party in the world.

Is it possible to reach a point where we completely regain our sense of boundlessness? Can we develop a permanent sense of wonder, within which we combine wisdom based on experience with the knowledge that our experience is a doorway rather than a boundary line?

Is that, perhaps, what growing up was always meant to be?

giant puppets are pretty wonderful

Dear MoveOn,

A year and a half ago, you asked me to choose which Presidential candidate MoveOn, as an organization representative of my beliefs, should support and promote. I chose Barack Obama, as did many other MoveOn members. So many, in fact, that he received your endorsement for the Presidency; support which undoubtedly had a significant influence on the election results of 2008. Barack Obama is now President, thanks to our hard work.

And the country has yet to see the Change and Hope upon which he based his platform.

This is all the more disturbing considering the Democratic majority in Congress. Now that they have a so-called “super majority“, one would think that meaningful reform would be ushered immediately and gracefully onto the floor. But this has not happened, and according to any intelligent reading of the reports from Congress, it’s not about to happen. Despite their ability to enact real change which would have a significant impact on the American people…Congress is not inclined. It’s easy to say compromise is important, but when you have offered extensive compromise and your opponent says “Not good enough!”, it is time to walk away and carve a path on your own. Democrats do not need to compromise to enact health care reform, alternative energy research, net neutrality, or any other goal they strive to achieve…all they have to do is vote for it. Their reluctance to do so speaks volumes about their loyalties and their fears.

It is understandable, given the results of the last Democratic attempt to implement health care reform(1), that they would be cautious now. Recent polls(2), however, make it clear that the majority of American people want universal health care. It is traditional to try to ease in change, rather than rush it forward before a majority of the people understand the necessity. Immediate and goal-oriented action, however, is required if the United States is not only to survive, but to prosper, during the coming energy crisis. A belief in the efficacy of “trickle down” economics(3) has driven most Americans into debt and dishonor(4), and the very idea that Internet providers have a right to choose the future of ideas based on ability to pay is a demonstration of where such backward thinking has brought us. Congress can change the future, any time they wish. They just choose not to.

I am writing to you, then, MoveOn, to ask you to do what you do best: tell people their hopes and dreams are on the line, and it is up to them to make sure their elected representatives actually represent. If we want universal health care, we are going to have to demand it, louder than all the corporate interests and “Socialism Sucks!” naysayers who are making them wonder about the longevity of their appointment. If they supported the bill which makes the difference between life and death for the children of hard working, low income American families…they will be reelected, with or without the help of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. If we want clean energy and energy independence, we are going to have to write them, call them, show up at their offices with statements, arguments, and petitions until they realize that voting for funding which leads to less pollution, more financial security, and higher employment rates will get them reelected even without the support of fossil fuel dependent corporations which are desperately trying to cling to the pipe dreams of their youth. We can insist upon Net Neutrality, so that the Internet remains a place where every idea has a chance of being heard. For that matter, we can go further and ensure equal rights for homosexuals, abolish no-victim crimes, and end a few unnecessary military engagements. We can release some innocent men from Guantanamo, ditch the Patriot Act, and make sure that no President can ever, ever again take such unwarranted liberties with our Constitution as the last one did(5). Just this once, we don’t have to compromise. We can make change happen.

And we must, because time is disappearing beneath us. If the current administration, the current Congress, continue to do nothing for the next year, we will lose the power to enact the changes we so desperately need. The Democratic majority will be lost in the next mid-term election, the Presidency two years after that. While action may risk failure, inaction guarantees it.

So please, use your influence, your ability to pull people together, to remind us all that our work is not even half done. We have one good chance, right now, to change our lives for the better. Please don’t let it slip away.

Thank You,

Celestina Adams

Notes:
(1) Yes, I just referenced Wikipedia. Because it’s often accurate. And when it’s not, it is at least more amusing than Fox News.

(2) Just gotta mention this part While seventy three percent of Democrats favor a tax increase to fund coverage, only twenty-nine percent of Republicans back such a move. Seriously, guys, this makes you look like a bunch of assholes. I know you probably have your reasons…but you probably need someone saner than Glen Beck to try to vouch for you at this point.

(3) One of the weirdest things that has happened in my lifetime is the idolization of Reagan. I know this is likely to get me crucified, but seriously people…he was a pathetic actor, and his Presidential highlights were largely based around watching Nancy throw her voice to cover his increasingly slurred/sugar-high gibberings. He was never, ever a “great” President. Get over it.

(4) New Appalachian farewell blessing: “May the wind be always at your back, and the repo man always under your heel…”

(5) Want to argue that point? Be my guest…

photo by mogmismo

Once upon a time, The Husband and I sat on a grassy hill in summer, looking out over miles of forest and fields, holding hands and talking about…politics. We were specifically discussing the American plans (at that time they were only plans) to build a big ol’ fence to keep the Mexicans out. The concept, to both of us, was patently idiotic. Whatever your take on Hispanic immigrants in the ‘States, it is easily apparent that building a chain link fence isn’t going to do much but piss them off. So after a few moments’ rant, we began discussing other walls throughout history. The Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, Hadrian’s Wall…and how they were all failed attempts at protection and, ultimately, separation of people who weren’t really that different. We talked about all the many ways that people try to draw lines, create Others, and the animal instinct to seek security through being part of a pack. We talked about a lot of things, but somewhere in the discussion we came up with an Idea. The Husband is a photographer, and I have a certain fondness for writing. The Idea was that we could travel the world, visiting all these walls (both ancient and modern), researching their history and talking to the people who lived around them. The Husband could photograph these walls and these people, and I could write about their stories. At the end of it all, we would make a book, and who knows? Perhaps people would read the book and some of them would decide that walls weren’t the solution. Perhaps some of them would even start to look for other ways to approach the difficulties we all face.

Unfortunately, we were broke (as we usually are), and so the idea got put on the shelf along with many other dreams that would be nice, some day…

The other part of the frame for my story takes place a couple of years later, just a few months ago. I was sitting in a coffee shop, chatting online with some dear friends in Australia. The topic was what you would really do, if you could live your life any way you want. And they weren’t quite sure at the time, but I had some definite notions. I wanted to write and to travel. I wanted a lot of things, actually, but at the center of it all was that. And from that conversation came the idea that, if only we could all figure out what we really wanted, we could be allies in helping every one of us to get there.

And then, one day about a week ago, I came home to discover that while I was gone The Husband had signed up for a contest. It’s a photography contest, wherein a $50,000 prize will be given to one person to go do the photography shoot of their dreams. And the idea he entered was…The Idea. The problem was that, to even get to the final round of judging, you had to be in the top 20 “popular” votes, meaning roughly that you had to have a hell of a lot of people show up on the site and vote your project up. And so I emailed a few people, and we went up a few points…and the other top contenders climbed higher and higher. And so I went through my address book again, adding a few more. And again we went up a few more votes, while others climbed steadily higher. Finally I just started emailing everyone I could think of, spammed my Facebook friend’s list, started begging my Mom to send it on to all those people she sends forwards of cutesy animals with their heads in the toilet. And we’re still barely hanging on to 20th place…but I started to realize something. These people, some of whom I hadn’t even spoken to in a year, were turning out to do a little bit to help. Some of them were doing even more, sending our plea on to all their friends, writing articles, helping to film a promotional video for Youtube… and for about the millionth time in my life, I found myself thoroughly humbled.

See, a few minutes to show up on a website and vote doesn’t actually cost any one person a lot, but no one has to do it. And it’s easy not to. There have been many, many times where I got some sort of “please take just a minute to…” email in my inbox, and dismissed it without even really reading it. I’m sitting here now, though, realizing that for whatever reason, a truly amazing number of people looked at my email and decided to lend a hand. It was ten minutes (I said in my email it would be five, but one respondent corrected me) to them…and each one left me feeling truly grateful, just a little closer to something I so desperately wanted. And I thought back to my conversation with my friends in Australia, and I realized this doesn’t have to be a pact among just a few people. We can, each one of us, pick something we really, really want, and then all help each other try to get there.

Today I spoke with a friend online to whom I haven’t really talked in a while. He was having a bad day. Not the end of the world, but with some real problems and no idea how to fix them. As we talked, I realized that there was something I could do, something that would get him a little closer to what he Really Wants To Do. So I just said I would. It’s as simple as that. We can all do whatever is in front of us, whatever is in our power, every chance we get, and know that maybe we are all helping each other get somewhere. It doesn’t have to be every man for himself. It doesn’t have to be sink or swim. We can all of us give whatever we can in any moment to help everyone else we care about get just a little closer to the life they really want. We can all be allies, well before all those walls come down. All it takes is just a little more.

So what I really wanted to say is thanks. To every person who took five ten minutes and tried to help me get a little closer to what I Really Want To Do, thank you. Whether or not we win this contest, you, bit by bit, gave me something more. I hope that when you see your chance you will let me know how I can help. Because you reminded me about what is really important…and you somehow gave me something to write about.

And…ok, yeah. I’m not so altruistic as to not add a plea here for my own cause. If you want to help The Husband and I be able to write our book, please go to our site and follow the instructions to cast your vote. It means a lot to me, and every single vote and comment creates a wave of excitement in our house that I wish you could see.

Yesterday I found myself explaining a curious thing to my son. He was wondering why H.P. Lovecraft wasn’t the most famous horror-writer ever, and I explained that he was a little too “out there” to ever garner a larger readership, until recently (admittedly, I suspect his readership is still not huge, but it’s growing). My son asked me why more people were reading him now. And so I told the tale of How Geeks Took Over The World.

Long ago, I told my son, when I was growing up, Geeks were forced to desperately cling to the lowest rung of the social strata.  “Really?” my son asked, horror showing plainly on his face.   Yes my love, I told him, it was a very hard time to be a Geek.  And I reminded him of several nightmarish episodes from my youth.  I then proceeded to explain to him how we took over.  How, with the advent of the Internet and computer games, suddenly we were the ones holding the keys to the kingdom.  You see, I continued, no one but the Geeks had ever bothered to learn how to write computer programs or play with hardware.  And so they found themselves coming to Us.

After that, I went on, it wasn’t long before it was “cool” to be a Geek.  And then the ex-jocks and cheerleaders and prom queens and kings and all their minions traded in their jerseys for some plaid, button-up shirts and Chucks and started talking about sci-fi and roleplaying games and comic books and physics.  And some of them even started reading H.P. Lovecraft.

My little son’s faced glowed as he gazed adoringly upon the mother who had fought so hard to bring the world to what it is today (or at least, I like to remember it that way).  But then his little brow crinkled, and he asked in a worried voice,” But Mommy, how do we tell the Real Geeks from the Fake Geeks, now?”

Simple, I replied.  Real Geeks would never use Internet Explorer.

And that, my dear readers, is what I have come to you to say today.  Please, please, for the love of all that is holy, do not use Internet Explorer.  It’s not cool.  The Real Geeks laugh at you behind your back for using it, when they are not cursing you for making their day jobs as programmers ten thousand times more difficult.

If browsers were cars, IE would be a moped.  If browsers were wine, IE would be Night Train.  If browsers were hot dates, IE has herpes.  If browsers were…well, you get the idea.

So there’s the tip of the day from one who knows.  If you want to be one of the “in-crowd”, ditch that lousy-ass browser.  You’ll be glad you did, and so will we.

1) How come it’s crazy when Middle Eastern religions say women have to cover up, but it’s OK when we do it here? It’s because it’s different bits, isn’t it?
2) How come Western culture is so sexually promiscuous, and yet a nipple is still headlining news?
3) How come anyone still cares about Britney Spears? [Note: you must follow above pattern of searches to understand this question]
4)Why does a search for men in burkhas turn up mostly naked women?

Perhaps they are not deep questions, but I sort of think they are.

We Start At Birth

Various politicians have taken flack for proposing a particular age or grade where sex ed should begin. And rightly so. We should not wait until some completely arbitrary point in a child’s life to begin addressing the many topics which fall under the heading “sex ed”. From the moment a child realizes that he has hands, and then proceeds to use those hands to explore his own body, he is already experiencing the beginning stages of “sex ed”. From the moment a baby learns to focus her eyes and begins to observe our attitudes about our bodies and about sex, she is forming the platform upon which she will model her own behaviours. Every single parent is engaged in “sex ed”, whether they like it or not.

“Sex ed”, as formally taught, usually begins with a discussion of the various parts of both the male and female bodies, and the proper names for all their parts. Any child entering kindergarten who can name his fingers and toes but still refers to his penis as a “willy” is at a disadvantage. We don’t call our noses “nibnibs” or our bellybuttons “potholes”. In assigning cutsey names to sexual organs we are not protecting our children from the evils of the world, we are merely setting up an assumption that there is something dirty or wrong about those body parts. So let’s begin “sex ed” at home, without embarrassment, by simply naming all body parts with equal honesty.

By the time a child is five, they have already learned much by watching and imitating their parents. They have the foundation of sex roles and sexual attitudes already instilled within them. Parents continue “sex ed” in their demonstration of their attitudes to these issues. If the mother consistently capitulates to an overbearing father, the child learns that women are submissive (and yes, that can very well affect their sexual interactions later). If the father carries a burden of shame and weakly acquiesces to the mother’s every whim, then the child learns that women are the powerful ones, and men can only follow. If the parents make it a point to never be naked in front of a child, then the child learns that the body is something shameful, best kept secret. These are deeply ingrained attitudes in every person, but each parent owes it to their child to overcome them to the best of their ability, so that they are not passed on to the next generation.

Where Do Babies Come From?

Every parent is asked this question, generally well before their child is of age to enter kindergarten. Sadly, it is at this crucial juncture that many of even the most well-intentioned parents falter. Clearly, “storks” are not the answer, and “from love” is neither wholly accurate nor complete. We tell ourselves they are too young to understand, and yet we are perfectly comfortable explaining other complex human interactions or bodily functions. Our unease comes not from what the child can accept, but from our own discomfort discussing something we have been taught was dirty. And yet, if we want our children to grow up to be responsible about their sexuality, it is our own unease and irrational prejudice we must overcome.

Along with explaining the mechanism of sex, children are interested in (and deserve to know) the actual process of birth, their own and others. At this time, most people either tape the birth of their children or know someone who did. At the very least, there are plenty of still pictures and videos of birth on the internet. Children should see precisely how they came into the world and, if at all possible, attend at least one actual birth as they grow up. Whether male or female, they benefit greatly from understanding the drama, pain, and joy that go along with bringing a new life into the world.

Growing Up Knowing

As children get older, they become concerned with more than the simple mechanics of sexual intercourse, and they watch us for clues to how to approach it. Are we open and comfortable talking about sex? Can they approach us with their questions without fear of judgment? How do we relate over the topic of sex with other adults? Is it a part of life, just like eating and drinking and laughing? Or is it something never discussed in front of the children? If we take an open, honest approach then the children absorb much of what they need to know as they go along.

Take, for example, the issue of birth control. Much has been made of whether children should be taught about birth control in “sex ed” or whether the programs should focus on “abstinence only” instruction. Let’s be honest, here (after all, we’re adults, right?). No matter what your personal beliefs about when and how sex is appropriate, no matter how openly and comfortably you discuss your opinions with and in front of your children, hormones and curiosity are a potent mix. Unless you keep your child locked in a closet throughout their teenage years you simply cannot guarantee that they will not have sex before they are ready to raise a child of their own. And should your little one choose to play when you’re away, the last thing you want is to have them coming to you at thirteen with the announcement that they are about to embark on the wondrous adventure of parenthood for themself.

As to arguments that teaching kids about birth control encourages them to have sex, let us consider whether not teaching them about birth control discourages them to have sex? Have “abstinence only” programs reduced teen pregnancy? Clearly not. So ask yourself whether you would rather have your child engaging in sex with or without protection, at whatever point they decide to go there. It’s really that simple.

Assuming you have been honest with your child about sex, and assuming they have plenty of exposure to videos of live births and time with annoying smaller children, they are probably well-prepped to understand the importance of birth control. At what age should one approach the topic? The earlier the better, preferably the first time you explain to your child what sex is. “This is how babies get here, but sometimes people have sex when they don’t want babies, and so there are various means for avoiding pregnancy,” is a good start. From there, it tends to just flow in with the rest of the conversation. We, as adults, talk about birth control fairly often. We even see cars with blown up condoms attached to the bumper pulling away from weddings. It’s really not such a difficult thing to include our children in these conversations, and the more comfortable they see we are with the topic, the more likely they are to approach us with questions which may prevent a tragedy later on.

Sex Ed In The Classroom

As much as every child would benefit from being raised in a healthy sexual climate, we must also recognize that not all parents are up to the task. Right now, and for the forseeable future, many children will enter the school system knowing no more about sex than they do about advanced calculus. As the whole ostensible reason for a public education system is that society as a whole benefits when its members are educated, so also society as a whole benefits when each member is educated about sex and reproductive responsibility. So yes, the schools should teach sex ed. Beginning in kindergarten.

It’s a simple thing to include the reproductive system as we talk to kindergartners about their bodies. It’s really not so hard to discuss what sexual intercourse is. There is no reason in the world that children should not see videos of birth in school. And really, what is the problem with talking about contraception in the school system? It does not undermine any moral guidance you may give your child at home to have them hear that, at such time as they ever decide to have sex, here is how you go about preventing pregnancy. It’s a practical thing, a life skill. It’s not in any way akin to telling kids it is acceptable to kill, steal, or eat their younger siblings. Like so many things, giving our kids an understanding of contraception is handing them a tool which they can then employ at whatever point they choose.

So yes, let us have sex ed in school. Real sex ed, sex ed that actually educates. Let us have it in our schools and in our homes and anywhere else it might come up. Let’s not wait until our kids are teenagers and 22 out of every 1,000 girls are pregnant. It’s time we got past our fear of what giving kids the facts may do, and focused on what our policy of ignorance has created.

Presenting The Case

As I have stated previously, democracy is not a bad concept for a governing system, but it simply doesn’t work if the people stop having input into the system. The concepts sort of cancel each other out like that. So the real problem in this country, the problem underneath all the other problems, is that the people no longer have any real input. We can vote, but the election system is now so vulnerable that it cannot be trusted to supply a valid result. Even if it could, we live in a nation where the vote of the people can, and has been in the past, overridden by “more powerful” people in a system designed to keep those “in the know” able to direct our elections “for our best interests”. Even apart from that, we only have elections every couple of years, and that leaves a lot of time in between for our representatives to spin their more dubious actions in a better light. And even worse, most of their dubious actions happen behind closed doors, out of sight of the people, and are rarely reported.

If we are going to take back control of our country from the corporate interests currently running it, we need transparency. We need video and audio recordings of every single committee and conference meeting in which our government officials take part. We need to either outlaw federal lobbyists, or we need a set time and place where they can present their cases to our representatives (read: us), which must also be open and documented. Every person in the United States is not going to care about every issue, but each person must be able to follow all actions related to any issue they choose to investigate. All these recordings should be available to anyone seeking them.

All pending legislation must be made available online for all Americans to read, at least two days prior to it being voted into law. This legislation should be hyper-linked to any previous legislation which it references. All representatives must have a means for their constituents to send commentary on the legislation readily available, and staff whose job is to read the comments and convey them to the representative.

We must divest corporations of their illegitimate legal status as “people”, and begin holding them accountable to the actual people. Our media organizations must begin actually investigating the events happening in both our nation and others and reporting accurately and without bias. Our school systems must teach each child the actual structure of government, and must attempt to teach history and current events as accurately and broadly as possible. We the people must have the right to question everything, and must remember to do so.

If we can implement these few things, we can have our country back. Granted, it will be a long and arduous path getting there. We will have to fight like hell to make these things happen. But that, after all, is what a revolution is all about.

Presenting The Case

So, going back to my previous thoughts on the subject, we have already in the United States a significant number of people who feel that the current government is corrupt and dangerous to them in a very direct way (and this is important, because most people will not act until it effects them personally). Unfortunately, not enough people seem to realize that the real danger is not in higher taxes or the possible disappearance of Social Security, but in the fact that our government holds greater allegiance to corporations than it does to individual people. Consider, for example, this letter, which I read yesterday. It’s an open letter to Hillary Clinton, but the relevant part is the long (and referenced) list of ties between President Bill Clinton and corporations such as Monsanto and Tyson, and the obvious impact those connections have had on United States law and policy. And really, once you start digging, this stuff is everywhere. Our health, our wealth, and our freedom are being compromised in every department of government, simply because we have less clout than the corporations. And it absoloutely will not change, as long as people don’t know about it and allow the government to operate secretly.

So what to do? The first thing we have to do is get more people to understand what is happening. Here on the Internet, conspiracy theories abound, and as a result far too many people choose to believe that any criticism of the government is unfounded. What’s wrong with lobbyists, you know, since we live in a capitalist country and the lobbyists merely represent ordinary people who have worked hard and have a right to protect their interests? Except, of course, that corporations are not people, and their interests are not necessarily our interests. Consider the example above, of the policies put in place to protect Monsanto’s marketing of a certain growth hormone for cows. Even with reports coming in that this product was killing cows and potentially dangerous to humans, our government decided it was unnecessary for there to be any sort of warning on the milk we consumed. They went so far as to prevent companies not using the hormone from declaring as much on their labels. So I don’t know what “ordinary people” Monsanto is supposed to represent, but it’s not me and I rather imagine it’s not you. It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s just government as usual in the United States. But the government here was never supposed to be controlled by a tiny minority, and it’s far past time we took it back.

Information, marketed every way we can manage, until we get past the “conspiracy theory” threshold. Until enough people realize the actual problem to be outraged and infuriated and ready to do something about it. Every single person reading this can contribute to the solution, can go out and write something somewhere which chips away at the willful ignorance just a little bit more. Pick any government office you like, and start following the trail back to whose pocketbook is benefiting from their policies. It’s never “we the people”. Put a name to it and start letting people know. It doesn’t cost any one of us anything but a few minutes of our time, but as a collective all our individual voices add up to spread a greater ideology which can inspire change which is truly meaningful.

Presenting The Case

Well, the only other option is revolution.

When you say revolution, everyone leaps to the conclusion that we are talking violence. I deplore violence (well, I admit to a penchant for kung fu movies, but that’s different), and fortunately violent revolution is not the only option. But before you can even address the question of effective nonviolent revolution, you have to deal with a couple of other issues. Like what, exactly, do we need to change, and what the hell is it going to take to get people to move out of their depressive apathy and actually try to change it? Today’s random thought is about what needs to change.

Personally, I think that if you are going to bother with government at all, a real democracy is an acceptable way to go with it. It’s not great, it’s not perfect, but it will do (I am totally open to suggestions, here, if anyone has a better plan). So my reckoning is that we aim for that. The Constitution really was a pretty decent document, and while parts of it could use some serious modernization, it’s an all right base platform. So what are the big things that need to change to get us some place close to there? The big things that have to go are those that stand in between the representatives and the people (and yeah, a representative democracy is still a democracy, and trying to come up with ways for a country as big as the U.S. to be a direct democracy makes my head hurt). So we have to get rid of lobbyists, corporations as people, a hackable voting system, a corrupted and biased media, and closed-door meetings where we the people aren’t supposed to need to know what is going on. I might make an exception to that last one for military planning sessions if they were recorded and given over to the public domain in their entirety as soon as relevant military actions were over, with a definitive date at which they must be released no matter what (and I am banking, here, on the idea that given transparency and accuracy in reporting, we probably are not going to have so many damned military actions). Everything else though, if they can’t tell us what they’re doing, they need to not be doing it.

So far we have the blogosphere and citizen journalism starting to make a small dent in the corrupted media. It’s not much, but it’s a start. Using that, I think we have a good launching ground for changing the rest. We can use the growing online community to expose and report on the influence of lobbyists and corporations on government, to report on and fight back against the ruined electoral system, and to share what information we can find on what our government is doing where we cannot see. It’s not gotten far, yet, but really we’re just beginning to realize how much power we can take back in this arena. The first step is gaining and sharing information, and getting more people to realize that most of the power has slipped out of their hands. That’s where it has to begin, and that is the first battle to be won. In a sense, then, the revolution has already begun.

So, think on that. I’m gonna think on that, and be back with part two tomorrow.

Scaaarrrry!

A Traditional Antihero

One of the few traditional tales which defies the “Prince Charming” standard is that of Robin Hood. Unlike most of the heroes of his time, Mr. Hood does not employ honourable means to achieve his ends. Armed robbery is hardly a socially acceptable pastime, not to mention his unfortunate habit of camping out in the woods indefinitely, marking him even on the surface as a throwback to our savage ancestry. In order to find the roots of our current Bad Guy epidemic, we might do well to examine how such a questionable character as Robin Hood could have come to prominence and continued to exist for so long in the face of his more civilized counterparts.

Mentions of Robin Hood stretch back to the thirteenth century, though at this time the reference seems to be used mainly as a label for any brigand, indicating that the legends themselves may have originated well before that time. The first reference we have to the Robin Hood stories themselves is in the fourteenth century, in Piers Plowman by William Langland, where a priest confesses that he is better familiar with the stories of Robin Hood than with the Pater Noster. Over the next six hundred years, Robin Hood goes through a variety of transformations which appear to have as their primary aim the moral improvement of our character. The sheriff of Nottingham becomes progressively more evil and oppressive, Robin himself becomes more pious, earns a title (Earl of Loxley) and a love interest, and moves from attacking all and sundry to the now traditional “rob from the rich and give to the poor”. Even with these upgrades, however, he remains at his core a rebel, a murderer, and a thief…and we love him for it.

At the time of his probable origin, the average English peasant was caught between the rule of the nobility and the power of the Church. Life was hard and frequently unjust, and there was no recourse for the downtrodden or disenfranchised. Though the original Robin did not set things to rights for the commoner so much as wreak havoc on all who got in his way, even this near-random violence was a cathartic exercise for the listener. As the years passed and the culture evolved, so did his characteristics, becoming more of a refined rebel serving our cause than a literary manifestation of our hidden rage. Effectively, as a tool he became more finely honed, he began picking his battles, using his anger as a tool, rather than a blunt weapon. As a culture, we were doing this as well, engaging in revolutions and targeted efforts, and eventually discovering what it meant to try to “change the system from within”.

When the Lines Become Blurry

Our modern culture is not one of repressed peasantry and domineering nobles, so much as an overwhelming barrage of information. The average American watches four to seven hours of television a day, has a cell phone, and internet access. Through these means he follows the lives and stories of people all over the world. He is aware of the nearly 17,000 homicides that happen annually in the United States alone. He hears about child molesters, poisoners, priests who have broken their vows, dirty politicians, terrorists, abused animals, and every imaginable act of random cruelty and violence imaginable on a daily basis. Whereas back in Robin Hood’s time, someone in your village molesting and murdering a child was a once in a lifetime event, and provided gossip and speculation for years after the lynching party had done their work, now that the world is our village we are often so overwhelmed by the evil-doers in our midst that we can’t even fully process one horror before we are listening to another. Add to this the fact that we rarely, in our global gossip sessions, hear stories of great heroism or kindness undertaken by our fellow “villagers”, and the sense of powerlessness and fear that many experience becomes an understandable phenomenon. Based on our input, the evil-doers outnumber us at least ten to one. We cannot fight them all, we cannot imprison them all, hell — we cannot even find them all. If we could only understand what makes people cruel, crazy, and unkind, perhaps we could find a way to save ourselves, a way to stop the spiraling madness or at least figure out the best place to hide, the place where the raging maniacs of the world will not think to look. At the very least, if we could get into their heads, perhaps we could understand why they make the choices they do, and they would seem less monstrous and frightening.

And that’s where our mythology comes in. Through our stories, we explore the parts of our existence that we might not know how to face in real life. The Grimm brothers, in their time, detailed many of the dark alleys of the psyche in their sometimes gruesome tales. Alice in Wonderland was a wonderful insight into how to proceed in a world which appears to have lost it’s meaning (or possibly a lesson on how to deal with large doses of hallucinogens, depending). Peter Pan lets us examine the joys and perils of holding fast to the childlike aspects of ourselves, and Snow White allows us to examine the consequences of personal vanity. The thing that all these tales have in common, of course, is that the Bad Guy never wins, and that is appropriate when you consider that these characters usually stood to represent careful lessons in what not to do. In modern times, however, we are in need of a different understanding. What makes the Bad Guy tick? And for that matter, how can we tell the Bad Guys from the Good Guys, in a world with very few white horses and shining swords?

Take Hellboy, for example. A huge, red, demon, literally from hell, who goes around stopping evil from taking over the world. Not exactly a simple Good Guy, and almost certainly not the one you would choose from a group of potentials. Hardly the most complicated character in our repertoire, but a good example of how you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, and how even the most effective Good Guys have their little frailties. So how about Jack Bauer? Ostensibly a Good Guy, but one with frequent bouts of apparent psychosis and a complete disregard for the usual Good Guy ethical package. In fact, despite any admiration we may hold for Jack’s determination and ability to succeed at whatever his latest mission is, he is hardly a man you would want to meet. Likewise, John Constantine is hardly a sympathetic character, any good he manages to achieve being largely incidental to his battle against his personal demons, and yet we admire his skill and intelligence. Beyond that, both Jack and John give us a glimpse into how people come to do unpleasant, even amoral things. Observing their stories, we can find some sympathy with their choices, even if we cannot always come so far as to condone them. And that, really, is the point of the exercise. If we can make that leap, we can step into the shoes of anyone, whether they be madman or monster, in an attempt to confront our fear by examining it from the inside-out.

The Communal Dreamscape

It is often argued that the media is contributing to the “moral decline” of our culture, with its willingness to portray morally ambiguous characters through every outlet. It seems obvious, however, that this is rather putting the cart before the horse. The madness, the corruption, and the desperation that lead people to do “bad” things are already there, running rampant in our society. We battle with frustration, fear, and anger on a daily basis, compounded by our own sense of impotence. Every day a few of us go down to the strain of it all, and watching their collapse only adds to the worries of the remainder. On some level, most of us understand that we have in many ways created a culture that is beyond our capacity to process and understand, and we are struggling to catch up to our creation.

It is only through examination of what we have wrought that we can eventually come to terms with it, and from there figure out how to repair that which must be mended in order to move on. Though the large majority do not approach this process consciously, we are all on some level thinking and processing the data all the time, reaching conclusions without ever realizing we are doing it. Just as each night’s sleep provides us all an arena to conceptualize our fondest desires and fantasies, but also our worst fears and furies, the fiction of a culture is the public arena for the dreams and nightmares of us all. It is here that we come to a public consensus on the coveted, but it is also here where we expose our shared demons, working on some unconscious level to find the key that will enable us to let go of our fear.