Monday, March 29, 2010
Quotable: Ideas, the State, & Revolution in The Dispossessed
... ideas never were controlled by laws and governments ... You can't crush ideas by suppressing them. You can only crush ideas by ignoring them. By refusing to think, refusing to change ... the innate cowardice of the average human mind. Public opinion! That's the power structure ... The unadmitted, inadmissible government that rules the ... society by stifling the individual mind. --Character of Bedap, p. 165.
To say that a good end will follow from a bad means is just like saying that if I pull a rope on this pulley it will lift the weight on that one. --Character of Shevek, p. 225.
The individual cannot bargain with the State. The State recognizes no coinage but power: and it issues the coins itself. --Character of Shevek, p. 272.
We are not seeking power. We are seeking the end of power! ... The means are the end. ... Only peace brings peace, only just acts bring justice! --Character of Maedda, p. 296.
You cannot buy the Revolution. You cannot make the Revolution. You can only be the Revolution. It is in your spirit or, it is nowhere. --Character of Shevek, p. 301.
... revolution begins in the thinking mind. --Character of Shevek, p. 333.
Revolution is our obligation: our hope of evolution. 'The Revolution is in the individual spirit, or it is nowhere. It is for all, or it is nothing. If it is seen as having any end, it will never truly begin.' --Character of Shevek quoting character of Odo, p. 359.
Source: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (New York: Eos, 2001).
Labels: anarchism, art and literature, politics, quotations, Ursula K. Le Guin
Sunday, March 28, 2010
American Indians: Some Stereotypes & Realities
STEREOTYPE
"My grandmother was an Indian".
REALITY
Thousands of Americans "wannabe" Indians, but they are not.
STEREOTYPE
Indians are all full bloods.
REALITY
The majority of Indians are of mixed heritage.
Indians are all full bloods.
REALITY
The majority of Indians are of mixed heritage.
STEREOTYPE
All Indians have an "Indian name".
REALITY
Most Indians have only a Euro-American name.
A minority of Indians also have "Indian names."
All Indians have an "Indian name".
REALITY
Most Indians have only a Euro-American name.
A minority of Indians also have "Indian names."
STEREOTYPE
Most Indians know the histories, languages and cultural aspects of
their own tribe and of other tribes.
REALITY
Few Indians know all cultural aspects of their own tribes, much
less those of other tribes.
Most Indians know the histories, languages and cultural aspects of
their own tribe and of other tribes.
REALITY
Few Indians know all cultural aspects of their own tribes, much
less those of other tribes.
Source: Devon A. Mihesuah, American Indians: Stereotypes & Realities, (Atlanta: Clarity Pr., 1996).
Labels: critical thinking, identity, Indians
US' Worst Military Defeat & Geo. Washington Covers It Up
On the morning of November 4, 1791, St. Clair’s Defeat aka the Battle of the Wabash took place on the banks of a tributary of the Wabash River near present-day Ft. Recovery, Ohio. The US troops had moved north from Ft. Washington en route to the Miami town of Kekionga. They were intercepted before they reached their destination and in the course of a three-hour battle, Miami, Delaware, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Ottawa, Chippewa and Wyandot warriors under the leadership of Little Turtle (Miami), Blue Jacket (Shawnee), and Buckongahelas (Delaware/Lenape) killed 632 and wounded 264 US enlisted troops (a casualty rate of 97.4%).When it was over "Nearly 1/4 of America’s standing army had been killed." The US death toll "was more than three times the number" killed "85 years later at Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn - and, by far, the worst defeat of an American force by Indians in the nation's history." Some say it was "the single worst defeat suffered by the U.S. Army in its history."
Well, members of Congress decided to investigate with the House of Representatives issuing subpoenas for War Department (the military was a little more honest about what they did back then) documents. This prompted George Washington to call the first ever Cabinet meeting, where it was decided that "the President could keep matters secret from anybody whenever it was required for the greater good." Thus, was "executive privilege" born.
Sources:
- "Early America's Bloodiest Battle" on Archiving Early America
- "St. Clair's Defeat" on Suite101.com
- "St. Clair’s Defeat and the Birth of Executive Privilege" on Babeled.com
Labels: George Washington, history, Indians, politics, United States, US Founding Fathers, War
Friday, March 19, 2010
America's Wealthiest Religions
The image below (click to enlarge) is from "Transparency: America's Wealthiest Religions. An earlier "tranparency" gives the following proportions of the US population in 2008:
- Baptist 15.8%
- Jewish 1.2%
- Catholic 25.1%
- Generic Christian 14.2%
- Muslim 0.6%
- Mainline Christian 12.9%
Labels: class, religion, statistics, United States
