It will probably come as no surprise to readers that I have been alternately amused and outraged by politicians throughout my sentient life. Because my father was a professor of Political Science I grew up in a home where we talked politics around the table. I remember Nixon's farewell to the electorate when, in 1962 he announced to the press, "You won't have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore." My dad remarked that since Nixon would likely join a law firm he would henceforth have attorneys to kick him.
I remember the outrages of Lyndon Johnson and his transparent lie to the nation concerning the "Gulf of Tonkin" incident. I recall Spiro Agnew asserting that "Once you've seen one slum you've seen them all."
I am in no way remarkable owning these memories, this is the stuff of concious citizenship .
Now a new instance of shameful political hubris has entered my world.
Journalist Marc Cooper reports on the use of the term "Freakin' blind" by Karl Rove and President George W. Bush on his blog. http://marccooper.com/freaking-blind/ The story comes from Bob Woodward's book State of Denial. After the president's re-election in 2004 he and his chief political strategist amused themselves with a battery operated electric toy, a "red neck bullhorn" which when activated would speak aloud various road rage insults with a southern white man's accent. One of these side splitting knee slappers was "What are you, Freakin' blind?" One imagines this is useful if you're driving in Houston or Dallas.
Bush and Rove apparently amused themselves with this executive plaything and Cooper relates Woodward's story with his own twist by arguing that now it is the public's turn to aim the bullhorn at the administration. Now speaking as a man who really is "Freakin' blind" I'd just like to say that I was always opposed to the war in Iraq and I wasn't mislead by the argument about Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction". I knew as did many in the U.S. and abroad that a decade of U.N. imposed sanctions and the enforcement of a severe "no fly zone" over Iraq meant that the shrill and bellicose claims that there would soon be an Iraqi sponsored mushroom cloud was just "the Gulf of Tonkin" all over again. I said so at the time. I said it to anyone who would listen. I put it in writing. I joined poet Sam Hamill's nationwide protest called "Poets Against War". You can read my entry in Sam Hamill's book published by The Nation magazine called "Poets Against the War". I have helped to organize poetry readings against the war. I have bemoaned the activities of artists who continue to attend functions at the White House. I have not been shy. I even believe that my computer's hard drive was investigated by a Trojan virus. I had to have my computer rebuilt accordingly. Other writers have reported having the same experience with their computers. This isn't trivial and self absorbed progressive paranoia. My hard drive was photographed by a remote presence. I hope they like the half written poetry and the letters of recommendation for college students who want to become teachers, lawyers, doctors, sign language interpreters, military officers, dentists, child care workers, writers, environmentalists, or business men and women. I am "Freakin' blind" and I have nothing to hide. There are no notes on my hard drive that promote violence. There is no smut on my computer. I am not perfect and I go to church to ask Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins. I do sin. I will likely continue to do so. But I have no dirty tricks on my hard drive. No plans to mislead my neighbors or their children into an ill advised war of attrition. I have no dirty jokes on my hard drive about people of color or women or other minorities. I do have a video clip that pretends to be a Master Card commercial that depicts fans of the Boston Red Sox having to give up their earthly possessions or certain body parts because their team finally won the World Series. I hope the N.S.A. really liked that.
Yes I'm "Freakin' blind" and I don't like Bush's bullhorn or the further use of the term to make a counter punch against the administration. As the American poet James Tate once said: "Curse on those who do or do not take dope." I'm Freakin' blind and I haven't advocated insuring that people in the inner cities won't have enough voting machines. I haven't argued for detaining the citizens of other countries in an illegal concentration camp in defiance of the Geneva Convention. I haven't argued for the wholesale bombing of Iraqi civilians with a brand name: "Shock and Awe" with the additional expectation that destroying civilians in the opening of a war would cause the people to rejoice. I haven't advocated for loosening environmental protection laws that historically have helped to keep our air and water clean. I haven't looked the other way while overtly racist political advertising or the ableist mocking of Michael J. Fox was promoted within my party's campaign strategy for 2006. I haven't watched with a smirk on my face as the poverty rate rises and the middle class shrinks in America.
Yes, I'm Freakin' blind. And like the character known as "Rain Man" I really am an excellent driver.
Perhaps the normates out there would like to know that we blind people have our own bullhorns. Like Karl Rove's device all you have to do is push a button. It says the following things:
"What are you, a dumb shit visual person?"
"Hey, how many weapons of mass destruction am I holding up?"
"What's the difference between a blind democrat and a blind Republican? Nothing. Neither group has accessible voting machines."
SK
Recent Comments