Posted by KaraS on August 21, 2004, at 20:12:31
In reply to Re: need to poke fun is a **trigger** for me, posted by Jai Narayan on August 21, 2004, at 18:47:19
> Thank you KaraS. I appreciate your support.
>
> Dr. B's focus is harmony and support.
> So politics seem to be disharmonious at best and at each others throats at worst.Absolutely!
> Lately I have been wondering when I started being so concerned about who was president of the USA?
> It appears to me we seem to be slipping and sliding toward the rightwing.
> I have studied what has happened to other countries when this has happened and all sorts of problems arise.
> I am worried that our country could get more militaristic.
> Selfishly I am worried about myself. I don't want to end up in a cell. I have strong beliefs that are not compatible with the rightwing.
>
> I went on vacation in Guatemala in the 1980's while they were at war internally and it's a heartbreaker how many people disappeared.
> (I am scared of disappearing)
> It didn't seem so abstract when I was there while it was happening.
> I saw it in action.
> I took photos of people that were killed the next weekend. I still had to develope their images and they no longer existed.
> I remember showing a slide show of their faces and telling the audience that they may no longer be alive.
>
> When's the last time we saw a war on the citizens of the United States?
> Guantánamo Bay, Cuba prisons now......
> Cointelpro 1970's ....
> Joe McCarthy blacklisting era 1950's....
> WW2 when Japanese Americans put in internment camps....
> all the way back to the Native Americans
>
>
> Okay I'm depressed.
> I have only myself to blame for this.
> But thanks for listening.
>I too am displeased with and worried about the slip to the right in this country. You obviously have seen other countries policies that have scared you a great deal. Most of us here who have not seen such things first hand have a strong belief that nothing like that could ever happen here. My fears are not as strong as yours though I have had similar thoughts on a smaller scale. I am more optimistic because I think the balances set up in our system do help to eventually bring things back more to the center. (McCarthyism was horrible but it didn't lead to the situation in Guatemala. It eventually was exposed as the horror it really was.) I think that the attacks and ostracism of those opposing the war in Iraq have definitely calmed down and the debate is a bit more free-flowing. Unfortunately "unpatriotic" is still a label given those who disagree with current policy but things are not as horrible as they once were.
And, yeah, depression can make it seem much worse but you should not take any blame for that. Depression is not our fault!!!
Take care and keep the faith,
Kara
poster:KaraS
thread:379538
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040820/msgs/380572.html