DAILY NEWS – JANUARY 13th, 2011
DATELINE: IN HAITI, SEARCHING FOR THE FIVE PERCENT – That would be the five percent of the rubble that has been cleared away in the last year. Yes, despite the millions of dollars, after one year this is all that has been done. Food, education, medical attention, sanitation facilities… all is in short supply despite the work of volunteers and NGOs. There are still people dying of cholera, there are still more than a million people living in tents, there are now major problems with the women in these tents being repeatedly raped at night because they have no security, no doors, no nothing. Perhaps now it is time for a new mindset in order to get the country back on its feet? Perhaps it is time not for donations but for investment… investment that means continued interest and long-term involvement, investment that comes with commitment. It is pretty obvious that just holding telethons and mailing cheques is not enough. With the majority of the population there under the age of 25, there is a need to invest in education for them. There is a need to invest in medical care for the people, in sustainable hospitals and programs that will help the people. There is a need to invest in infrastructure that will move the country out of the rubble and into some hope for the future. Perhaps the answer is to start in the areas outside the capital, where there is less rubble because the people who lived there had virtually nothing. The simple fact of the matter is that more has to be done and it has to be done quickly, because if status quo is the best we can do, those people will never get out of tents, because they will never have jobs to go to or have schools to attend. The job is overwhelming, and people with nothing cannot be expected to overcome. The donations gathered in the days after the earthquake showed that we have compassion and we believe in the ability of the country to rise above the ashes. So far, what we have done is tantamount to sending a state of the art bicycle to a man with no legs. Now we need to help him build some legs so he can stand, run and can ride the damned bike.
DATELINE: IN A ROOM FULL OF IDIOTS AND ERASERS -- First it was someone taking an eraser to Mark Twain’s work. Now, we’re going to do the same to songs? A quarter of a century ago, Dire Straits released their song Money For Nothing. For twenty-five years this song has been fine until… *cue ominous music* … it was played on a radio station in Canada and a caller phoned it to complain that it contains a ‘homophobic slur’. In their *insert sarcastic font* ‘always-present infinite wisdom’, the CRTC has decided that yes, it does contain tha slur, and even if the language would have been relatively commonplace when the song was released, it no longer is and so, before the song can be played on Canadian airwaves or sold in Canadian stores, it must be revised to remove that one particular word. Don’t think for one minute that I advocate the use of these vile words, because they really have no place in a civilized respectful lexicon, but they were commonly used words at the time of their writing and are, therefore part of history, and history should never be erased. They are also words that have strong meaning and impact because of the emotions they evoke. Our current-day musical fare offers over 85 songs by current artists who absolutely fucking love using these words. Kanye West, Twista, Diddy, LL Cool J all have songs with that 'Mark Twain' word in them, and it seems that Mobb Deep, Nelly, Onyx, Lil Wayne, E40, Spice 1…. The list goes on and on of those who can’t seem to perform a song that doesn’t contain that word, so what the fuck is the deal? And if we are going to start erasing two offensive words, how about those songs that refer to women as hoes and bitches, that advocate rape and domestic violence? How about we just totally erase Eminem completely (just the mention of his name makes me want to puke) and everything he ever wrote, or at the very least break his hand and cut his vocal cords, because there is nothing that comes out of that mouth that is not intensely offensive? The works of Mark Twain are being bastardized to ‘tone them down’, to make them more accessible to modern readers? Give me a fucking break. Yes, I am offended by some of those songs, incredibly offended by several of them, and I do believe they leap over the bounds of good taste and moral precepts, and I don’t believe they propel society in a positive direction, but it is music and literature, and in no way is it necessary in my life to have to listen to them or read them if I don’t want to. If the word offends you, either pull on some big girl panties and listen to the artists message or close the fucking book/ shut off the radio/ don't buy the damned book, but don’t censor the damned work, because that opens up the door to the re-writing and white-washing of everything about us, which is nothing more than lying about who we are, where we come from, and the mistakes we have made, and that is never a good thing.
DATELINE: JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE HEARD IT ALL – Sarah Palin opens her mouth, and out spews a whole new degree of insensitivity and stupidity. I guess it was foolish to think she would take the high road, acknowledge that there is something to be said for ‘rational, civilized, non-hyperbolic’ debate that people might actually listen to, that might actually impact those who are trying to determine their political bent. It was naïve of me to think she could just say yes, it was a tragedy, and yes, there is a need to reflect on the political climate of the day in all political and journalistic camps. No, she had to join the ranks of those other nimnos – the ones who protest too much, who spend every day dipping the beaks into that vitriolic well because they just are not capable of reasonable, rational, civilized debate. Nowhere have I read or heard that she is ‘the cause’ of what happened in Arizona. She is, however, a prime example of the shouting, screaming, hatred, and intolerance that we see in the political arena, especially as she makes her always-handy rifle references and strikes yet another pose with a shotgun on her shoulder. She has helped to notch up the rhetoric… a lot… taking it far beyond debate and discussion… and then she refers to the media’s reaction, the media’s speculation that perhaps some of the incendiary language used has helped to create an intolerable environment that puts many in danger, as a ‘blood-libel’. Wow… just WOW. Is she really so poorly educated to not understand the words that stream so passionately from her mouth, or does she have a bunch of bumbling idiots handling her? Either way, she was the one to speak the words, so the buck stops with her, and so now as a Jewish congresswoman lies in a hospital bed in Arizona fighting for her life, a new swirl, this time of anti-Semitism give an already incredibly sad, terrible story yet one more incredulous angle. As with all tragedy, we are see the strength of human fiber rise as the inherent need to protect and help each other surfaces against all odds. It also gives us the chance to see the worst of human nature in the form of religious and political renegades attempting to seize the opportunity to make some political mileage at any cost. Someone please save Sarah Palin from herself, and buy that woman a roll of fucking duct tape, because that is really her only hope. Someone please explain that a huge part of the reason people have become disengaged from politics and voting is because they are fed up with the screaming, shouting, name-calling, mud-slinging games and just want to know what a candidate sees as the future, the solution to the problems we face, and now the hell to get there. Quit shouting over us, quit trying to snow us, and talk to use like we are your bosses… because we are certainly the ones footing the bill, and we are the ones who can hand you your pink slip come election time.
Now, I hear you already, reading this and saying ‘what a dumb bitch! She advocates freedom of speech in music and then slams poor Sarah for her choice of words only seconds later.’ Yes, I do. Eminem is not running for public office, is not taking steps to present the public in general, and spewing words that I can turn off and it makes absolutely no difference to my life or wellbeing. Politicians, however, do impact my life with their words, their positions, their actions, and their fucking stupidity. Her words are in no way considered ‘art’, they are considered ‘life’ and should she stand up there and refer to people in the same manner the songs do, if they were to advocate for the ‘beating of your bitch’, refer to women as hoes, and glorify violent sexual assault, that would be a problem.
