Wrong
"Don't strike at the puppet, strike at the puppeteer." -- Malcolm X
I remember back in the Reagan era, when his Secretary of Interior James Watt, while testifying before Congress, explained his anti-environment positions by saying, " I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns ..." For those too young to remember, Watt was a toxic twit who advocated mining public lands. One afternoon, while talking politics with my father, I expressed how much I hated James Watt.
My father, an FDR/JFK Democrat, started laughing. He said that Watt was indeed a horrible person. But, he said in the tone that I recognized as his way of delivering an important message, always remember that Watt and his ilk are lightening rods. When Watts makes an offensive public statement, it is to distract attention from something that Reagan or Bush are doing that they don't want the media or public to focus on.
I learned another important lesson from the days of James Watt. One of my favorite journalists, Bill Moyers, incorrectly quoted Watt as saying, "After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back." Moyers had taken the quote from an article in some magazine from the time, but it wasn't true. Moyers apologized. This taught me that even someone I respected as much as Bill Moyers was capable of making an error.
I made an error last week, in an OP about Trump's claim he aced a cognitive test. Our friend Ms. Toad corrected me. Thus, due to my tendency to question the possibility of making a mistake -- much less a foolish one -- I re-contacted the two individuals I had spoken to for the information I posted. Both laughed at me, and said the same thing: I had only asked about Trump's most recent unscheduled "physical" at Walter Reed. So I wasn't really wrong, I pleaded? Yes, you were, in that you only focused on one incident, and ignored everything else. Tunnel vision is, by definition, an error in perception.
At other recent times, I've learned important things from other forum members. Let me give an example. Recently, I posted an essay asking forum members how they were attempting to increase the number of people who would vote for Joe Biden in November. Over the decades, my interest has been in getting young adults to recognize that, as a group, they can influence the outcome of any and every election.
This includes working with young people who are "leftists." I can identify with those who are rebels and reject the older generations' previous works and current values. I have no problem, for example, with young people who think that past generations have betrayed them by handing down a severely damaged environment. But how to get these young activists to recognize that it is important to vote for Joe Biden?
Our friend PETRUS made an important suggestion. Angela Davis is a legendary "leftist." In recent years, when I've spoken at colleges, I've been encouraged by the renewed interest in and respect for her. And, as PETRUS noted, she has said that we have to evaluate elections in their proper context, and that means we should vote for Joe Biden. PETRUS recommended that I communicate that.
Last week, a young man that I met at St. Lawrence college posted yet another rant on facebook about Biden being unacceptable to true "leftists." When this fellow's parents rejected him for his beliefs and lifestyle, I had welcomed him into my home. Though I haven't seen him in a few years, we remain in contact. So I responded to his FB post by talking about Angela Davis.
His first response was, "I like Angela Davis, but ...." We had a little back-and-forth. Meanwhile, the number of his friends that "liked" my comments was increasing. Eventually, he focused upon the failures of my generation, and noted his generation would not compromise. They were going to build a new society. That echo from the past brought a grin to mywrinkled, ugly mug.
I said to build a new society required starting by building a solid, strong foundation to build off of. My generation did important work in the 1960s and '70s to build the foundation, but too many of us were focused upon the rooms and roof. The foundation, I said, is at the grass roots level, the rooms are the state level and Congress, and the roof is the presidency. If you try to build rooms and a roof on a weak foundation, those walls will crack, and the roof will leak. I suggested that his generation complete the foundation we started, then start laying cinder blocks.
By this time, he agreed, and I thought, "Hey, this works! I've gotta thank PETRUS!" I was especially encouraged by the number of his friends who "liked" my comments.
Today, I saw that he has a new rant, about "old people" who try to use Angela Davis to convince "leftists" to vote for Joe Biden. But he isn't getting any support so far. I went back to the other post, and noticed something I find interesting. All of his friends who "liked" my comments were females. Not a single male. That got me remembering that, at colleges, it was primarily young women interested in Angela Davis. Indeed, my collection of books by and about her are now in my older daughter's library.
While I think the young man is wrong, I hope that the election results are not cause for him to recognize his error. If Trump some how "wins," we'll have more James Watt-types destroying the environment. And the Constitution, that provides protections for young people who rebel against society.
Peace,
H2O Man
= new reply since forum marked as read
One of your greatest strengths is your perpetual promotion of inclusiveness 
supported hillary and will support mr biden. 
i apologize if i sounded a little gruff . can sometimes come off that way. stay safe . 
I still think of myself as that 70s activist!
I was deeply saddened to see a recent post on FB (that I mostly avoid these days) from a young woman I have met through a mutual volunteer organization. She was hoping that Trump is reelected in November. Another not quite 18 volunteer agreed with her. I did not know where to begin! But I knew FB was not the place to do so.
We still have a great deal of work to do - on that foundation you encouraged us to build.
Cheers H2O Man!
