Moving Day -- PLEASE NOTE!
13 years ago
Ipecac Soup for the Soul
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
I've been trying to figure out an effective strategy for dealing with the absolutely astounding out-pouring of venom from the likes of O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Coulter, Malkin, etal..
I'm a firm believer in the concept that every challenge that arises in my life is a puzzle for me to figure out, and I choose pronoia to the best of my ability, opting for "the suspicion that the universe is a conspiracy on my behalf".
Honestly, however, the recent bilious overflow from my not-favorite pundits involving: severely injured children from working-class families being portrayed as deadbeats, children being blamed for their own torture, soldiers characterized as phonies because they had the temerity to exercise their freedom of speech, and Jewish people portrayed as needing to "be perfected" -- and the resultant cluster-fuck of hateful commentary (which has scorched my retinal ganglia right back to the visual cortex because I was stupid enough to actually visit some of the gall-bladderesque websites from whence this bile emerged) -- is challenging my pronoic capacity to its limit right now.
What to do, what to do?
How do I solve this puzzle?
I want to retain my integrity and ethics no matter what faces me. How then, do I deal with someone who seems to have absolutely no concern for ethics or integrity? How do I have an honorable engagement with someone who has no honor? How do I "work with them", if they are willing to pull out the vilest bilge, lie, cheat, steal, edit tape, and redact testimony? How do I have a discussion with someone who is completely dedicated to "being right" rather than having a discussion?
Today, Michelle Malkin (I will not link to her blog, I will not, will not, will not, will not, will not link to her blog) wrote about . . . . " the continuing campaign to silence the right".
Apparently, Malkin wants us to feel sorry for us.
Funny thing is -- I actually do feel sorry for her. And O'Reilly. And Limbaugh. And Coulter. Et Al.
I feel sorry for them because I know that, as I listen to their broadcasts and read their writing (and the commentary that follows these communications), I can feel a distinct toxicity that pervades my body, mind, and consciousness, and I believe that they probably feel this too (probably more keenly, as the authors of such a toxic flow) -- whether they are conscious of it or not.
To my mind, this denied toxicity would account for all the loofahs, pain-killers, anorexia, venom, lack of logic, hypocrisy, double-standards, and the continuous, insane, performance-art renditions of "do as I say, not as I do".
But even knowing that doesn't really answer my question -- how do I solve the puzzle of "If I've welcomed this into my reality and I don't like it, what is the response that will change my reality?"
I really want to solve this puzzle.
I don't think that complete avoidance is the answer, because, truthfully, I haven't actually found the strength of will in myself to completely avoid it.
Thankfully, I think I've discovered a hint in the many, many posts and comments that I've read recently that begin with, or include these words: "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little".
Yes, I think that Soul-Puke is the answer.
If I ingested something toxic into my digestive tract, my good old discerning stomach would bring it back up my alimentary canal and save my life and health in the process.
So, from now on, when I read, hear, or hear of any of this toxic, inane crap, I'm going to take a big dose of Ipecac Soup for the Soul and just have a spew. I'm not going to try to restrain it. I'm not going to hold back. I'm going to say things like: "This is completely unethical and lacks integrity and it's un-Constitutional and hypocritical and if you say you're a "Christian" and do shit like this you are going to burn in a hell of your own karmic invention and furthermore - - I WILL NOT STOMACH IT!
There. I feel better now.
Posted byPortlyDyke at 8:50 PM
Labels: Bad Behavior (Mine), Mainstream Media
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Maybe we could do a fundraiser and run a huge ad in the New York Times with their pictures on it, saying just what you said. Then set up a website where like-minded individuals can donate to a counter, pronoic cause.
Lambness
Gurrrl, thanks for being brilliant and lucid and ethical. And right.
I was a much more "interesting" (and read) blogger when I was so friggin' mad I was spitting as I typed. But it was killing me. I was becoming the poison I so despised. And I was attracting reciprocating bullshit from trolls (remember "jasper?")
More recently, I made a decision to confront "wrongness" on a more present level, not avoiding interactions with co-workers who spew bigotry or acquaintances who are xenophobic; instead I've been asking them why they feel as they do, finding some thread of common ground (often by voicing the fears they reveal with their aggressive positions,) then telling them what I think, based on what I know. And I ALWAYS insist that we have more in common than we do separating us, a concept which is easily proved by a short check-list of "what's most important to you."
As a result, my Fundie boss and I have a heart-felt, compassionate understanding of each other, the fag-bashing carpenters I work with stop and listen when I talk about my daughter's struggles, and "jasper" took my olive branch and left.
We still need to be passionate voices for our causes, and I'm sure I'll go off on the occasional war-path, but for me, debunking the bunk has superceeded hating the bunkist.
Or something.
Geeze, shoulda saved this for a post over at my place!