Today activists are asking “Where’s the outrage?” Jake and Lil thought things were breaking bad in the 1980s, but now, on every front, economic, environmental, women’s rights, racism, surveillance, you name it, we’re worse off than we were thirty years ago. Where’s the outrage? We know where it is. It’s buried in what looks like an insurmountable mountain of crucial issues, a garbage dump of rights and freedoms. It’s a pileup, issues overflowing the outhouse, tissues of lies clogging the drains.
The seas rise. The water wanes. The deserts spread. The ozone scatters. The bees buzz off. Spring birds come earlier and starve. Wildlife flees north, higher up the mountain, till there’s nowhere else to go. Wait till the next round.
Carbon pollution? The sky’s the limit, but it’s full of holes. How holy can it get before the ring of fire? Mass extinctions clear the decks for more MANifest destiny. Whistleblowers, back off. We see the crumbling reefs and they are us. Nature sends in Superstorm Sandy to clean things up, the deniers pay no attention. Fukushima blows, nuclear energy will change the world. Uh huh. We don’t need all those endangered toads, minnows, pigeons, bugs, manatees. Oops, there went polar bears, they were kind of cute; and wolves, well, they were scary. Wait till the next round.
When the good news is that Obama promises to shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline if it’s bad for the environment, what’s the bad news? The environmental impact report on the henhouse (the planet) has been handed over to the foxes (industry flacks). Righties are lining up with Lefties in opposition to XL to protect their private property rights. But nothing’s private any more. You’re not alone, here comes a drone.
Climate Change ups the ante. The historical issues of class, race, gender, resources have all reached tipping points too. There’s no place to hide until we snatch our minds off the assembly line of bullshit passing for information on that infamous highway. Gain control of the mind and the body will follow. A convoy of neo con men is roaring up behind us. Fake heroes, apocalyptic fantasies, reality shows, star wars, video games threaten our morals, our morales, our truthiness. We got a young Black president. We got fooled. Joker chortles. Occupy sparked outrage and it looked like an uprising, but it got downgraded… though not cut down. Wall Street is the most crime-ridden area of NYC. Stay tuned.
What’s the bad news when the good news is that Chelsea Manning won’t be executed but is sentenced to 35 years for trying to salvage a free society? When Edward Snowden is kindly promised that he won’t be executed either if he’ll only hand over his freedom, which is standing in for ours? Will these guys get the Nobel Peace Prize, joining the ranks of warmongers Kissinger and Obama?
When Marissa Alexander received twenty years for a warning shot over her abusive husband and George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin because he was wearing a hoodie in his own neighborhood, what’s the good news? Stand your ground in white hoodies, Florida, where the ground might give way under vigilantes — retribution by sinkhole. The devil is in the receiving line.
Read the Good Book, the Bad Book, the Ugly Book. The prophets are all for profits. What a friend we had in Jesus…. But now he’s packin’; god’s guns are blazin’; god’s country is okay with shootups in schools, movie theatres, army bases, churches, temples, what the hell, it’s a free country….Without cocked weapons, where would we be? In a pussy riot?
Long term thinking is in short supply. It’s a takeaway, an occupying army gorging on Palestine, Africa, the world’s resources, our homes and kitchens. Please don’t feed the animals, or the people….Food stamps are a commie plot. Food Insecurity is a branch of National Security. No child left behind. It’s a takeaway. There’s nothing left to give. Now that reproductive rights are reproductive wrongs, who’ll come along to fill the pink tennis shoes? Take Back the Night so women can walk free. Seize the Day so the poor can come out of the shadows. Where’s the outrage? Simmering on the back burner, waiting for the dump to explode. Occupy everything. Citizens, unite. Imaginaction! Dream on with the Dreamers.
To read Happy Newsyear 1981-1985 visit: www.jerrykearns.com
