Touching a nerve

[textualdeviance]

So, my post about Reagan's abysmal record on AIDS apparently pissed a lot of people off. Unfortunately, a lot of the people it pissed off are people who were either too young to know what things were really like then, or weren't paying attention at the time. So all they know of Reagan's record is either what they've seen in revisionist history textbooks, or filtered through overly-nostalgic hindsight and highly-edited retrospectives.

I was fortunate to be a very politically active kid, thanks to my parents. Even though the politics they were active in weren't the same as the ones I was developing, it was good that they made it clear how important voting and being aware of the issues is, and, most importantly, that it's essential to be able to criticize one's leaders. Though they did sort of push the message, I never got the attitude that all government was a bad thing and was to be despised. In fact, I ended up being quite a bit of a socialist. My view has always been that government is there to serve the people. It's supposed to be the best kind of parent: neither overly authoritarian, nor overly-lax. There to protect, provide, nurture, educate and care for. To help "the kids" learn and grow and become self-sufficient. To teach them to respect themselves and others and keep them from hurting other people. Basic human services-- protection from crime, disaster, illness-- are essential components of goverment. Providing for the populace to become productive, healthy members of society is also an essential component. It seems simple, doesn't it? Yet those basic principles are consistently ignored not only by politicians but by voters. We seem to have two kinds of voters in this country: those who believe "questioning authority" means not merely questioning, but trying to gut it entirely (anarchists) and those who believe that a safe and orderly nation requires restricting everyone's lives, and prescribing specific lifestyles and religious beliefs for them to follow. (fascists) What ever happened to us being a Republic? What happened to the notion of freedom, so long as the rights of the minority are protected? What the hell happened to following the Constitution?

It absolutely chills me to the bone that there is this post-9/11 culture developing in the US which is fervently nationalist and authoritarian. People are being arrested, fired, censured for criticizing their leaders. People on my other journal are yelling at me for complaining about the record of a former president, saying that people shouldn't criticize our leaders!! O_O Are we teaching history so poorly in public schools that people don't see the parallels between this culture and 1930's Germany? Do we not see the parallels between demonizing gays and Muslims and demonizing, well, gays and Jews? Do we not see that even as we complain about Islamic Fundamentalism, we have a growing militant Christian Fundamentalist movement in our own back yard?

If we're going to honor a dead president who was horrendously lousy at his job *just because he was the President* then everything that makes this country great is lost. Pubes and his toadies keep going on about freedom, but it's something they know nothing about. The "freedom" they're pushing isn't for the people-- it's for rich white het men to be able to make money off the labor of everyone else. The only "freedom" they believe in is unfettered capitalism. Reagan started us on this path. He started with the economic policies that eliminated the middle class, and created massive conglomerate corporations, and an economy where 1% of the population holds the majority of the wealth. He created an economic culture where a person can no longer start at the bottom of a company and spend the next forty years working their way up, but where MBAs are considered proper qualifications for management in any company/industry, and you can't get a managerial job without already having had one. The American dream no longer exists. The most people can hope for is that they don't lose their job to having it shipped overseas for cheaper labor, or getting laid off, while the work you once did now goes to your buddy who has to work 10 hour days to complete it, and never sees his family.

And don't get me started on the "freedom" that doesn't exist if you're not straight, male and Christian.

Reagan's legacy is that a small group of people now control virtually all of the economy and political power in the US, and they are doing everything they possibly can to ensure that they retain that power, no matter how many lives are ruined or even ended in the process.

I don't give a single shit about what a nice smile or handshake the man had. He fucked up the country that I dearly wish I could love, and put me and many people I care very much for in desperate circumstances, both economic and personal. He legitimized open homophobia, just when we were making progress. He quashed the gains of the feminist movement. He created a permanent servant class, while CEOs get multi-million dollar bonuses for firing low-level workers. He supplied Afghanistan with weapons and military training that was later used to overrun their country and attack ours, all in the name of subverting godless communism.

No, I'm not going to be "respectful" now that he's dead. I'm not going to stand idly by while they canonize this man and ignore the complete wasteland his horrible presidency made of the US.

I reserve my right to criticize my government, and I will continue to do so, whether these leaders are dead or alive.

Comments

[indiwise.livejournal.com]

*stands and applauds*

Hear, fuckin' HEAR. I agree wholeheartedly.

TELL it.

[piccalo.livejournal.com]

what i respect about you, is that you have the courage to SPEAK. so many don't, won't or can't. whether your views are "right" or "wrong", you have the tenacity to stick to your guns. i read your other post and what i saw there was typical conditioning. it is EVIDENT in so many ways and in so many subjects the mis-information and naivete. every day that goes by, i'm learning more and more about human nature, and hypocrisy, and tunneled visions. people are conditioned to think and believe in one way. it takes a damn long time to change those things. you cause lots of waves...but my hope is, out of those waves, you get at least one ripple of someone thinking outside of their conditioned, comfortable box.

[ourdramaqueen.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Just because someone died, that doesn't make him/her a saint. It's a nice trait to try and see the good in everyone, but that doesn't mean you should ignore the bad in them.

[t3hmuffins-hat.livejournal.com]

Aaaghh thank you! (Both of you ~_^) *applauds also* They're stopping the bloody MAIL for his "honor" tomorrow, so I've just missed getting my friend's birthday gift here in time X_X

Stupid goverment.

[penguin-attie.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

I'm already getting sick of his deification, and I'm not even in the US. The only watchable channels I have right now all begin with 'Al' (Jazeera, for example) - unfortunately I don't understand three quarters of what they say.

You don't see people saying you should be more respectful towards Hitler just because he's dead, either...

[ex-lunarisi.livejournal.com]

Ahh shit. I don't know even where to begin. I both agree and disagree with things that you've said here. I think I'll just say that it wasn't as bad as you make it out to be NOR was it as great and wonderful as mainstream media makes it out to be. There was good and bad. I think most people are taking the time to honor the good this week and putting off accentuating the bad til next week. Something like that, anyway.

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

I think most people are taking the time to honor the good this week and putting off accentuating the bad til next week. Something like that, anyway.

Oh, I think that's fair enough. What bothers me is the move to deify the man. The talk about putting his face on money makes me want to hurl.

[foxykc.livejournal.com]

I got a link off of DL -- salon.com -- which had some terrifying looks back on the things that Reagan did which led to things we're doing today.

1. He invented Saddam Hussein and provided him with WMD which were subsequentlyused against his own people. In 1988 while the world is decrying Sadaam's attacks against the Kurds, Reagen quietly stymied efforts to do anything about it.

2. His fiscal policy was basically to cut govt spending. Even on programs that were vital.

3. The reckless disregard for legalitya dn international opinion evidenced in the Iran Contra thing foreshaded the War in Iraq. and some of the key players in the Iran Contra thing are operatives in Bush's current regime.

It's strange about the aids thing because he and Nancy Reagen had many gay friends.

At the end of the day, there are things which took place on Reagen's "watch" like the end of the Cold War. Whether his policy of aggressive military build up (the Soviets simply could not keep up) contributed to that or not may or may not be disregarded by future historians.

He was an actor. He knew how to make people like him and say his lines. what was going on behidn the scenes was another matter.

We live in a country where we have the right to criticize our government and we should bloody well do that if there is something we don't like.

[theh.livejournal.com]

I had a history teacher in high school who told us that Reagan was the best president the United States had ever had. He's as much proof as you need that they truly are teaching us bullshit in school and training us to become American zombies.

[cherryheavy.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[digitallux.livejournal.com]

Oh ... OH ... I read your post over there and all I can say is RIOT.

*giggle*

I stopped reading the responses because I was getting a headache and my coffee had gone cold. You got balls baby and I love it. Has anyone pondered if this is a 'Wag the Dog' kind of thing for Bush?

"Oh no former President Reagan died lets turn this into a week long funeral/speech/kodak moment and then we will talk about that for another week and while doing all that we will conveniently forget about Iraq ..."

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

Definitely a wag the dog thing. Bush's approval rating has gone up three points this week.

And yeah, on the funny responses. As I've always said, once the other side has degenerated into shouting and namecalling, you know you've won. :D

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

Yeah, on the not forgetting white bit. :)

And thanks. :)

If you don't like how the way . . .

[fanfictionaxis.livejournal.com]

Our government is run. Then, get off your lesbian ass and start voicing your concerns while you have a chance to voice them to the possible incoming president or the incumbent. Your voice can do plenty good if you do not like something, write letters to your government and let them hear your voice! Other than that, shut the f**k up! You might have hated the man for what? Not knowing what the future was going to bring? That AIDs was going to be killing millions or that Saddam would end up being a tyrant and a possible threat to other countries? You would have to be clairvoyant to see those things! As I said before, your voice if you keep it silent from being heard, the problems we all have right now is not your fault as you kept your mouth shut. I'm not just meaning posting your gripes about a man who just died over six days ago, but if you want to get something done get your voice heard by the government. You may learn that you did something to help something good about. But don't say, I do not have to write letters for them to hear me. I write letters to my government officials, letting them know where I stand on certain issues. Let them hear your voice and they will know where you stand and they may try their best to get this country back on it's feet again. Till then, either shut up or write letters letting them know what you think.

Re: If you don't like how the way . . .

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

First off, I'm not a lesbian, but thanks for the compliment.

#2: I'm voicing my concerns to other voters, to educate them about the true history of the man's presidency while the media fall all over themselves to pretend he did a great job. Hopefully this will make people think twice about voting for a candidate who says they supported Reagan's policies.

#3: I'm very politically active, thanks.

#4: Reagan was aware that AIDS was killing thousands of people, and how the virus was transmitted. He refused to fund programs to educate people on how to prevent getting infected, and research in the early days of the diease to figure out what it was and how it was transmitted.

Re: If you don't like how the way . . .

[kinkyhobbit.livejournal.com]

Saddam was a tyrant when he came to power decades before Reagan got involved with him, you fool.

[kinkyhobbit.livejournal.com]

What I love is that people are saying he was one of the greatest presidents in US history because he was "a great communicator" and "he lifted people's spirits". Yeah, so did Adolf Hitler. There's more to leadership than giving speeches and making people feel good.

Apart from the AIDS fiasco, Reagan brought us right to the edge of Armaggedon - and he did it with a smile. He instigated an unprecedented stockpiling of nuclear weapons and sowed missiles in western Europe like he was sowing crops. He accelerated the Cold War to new, frightening and dangerous heights.

His administration deliberately prolonged the Iran-Iraq war, making a fortune in the process selling weapons. And remember Iran-Contra? Remember those pix of a smiling, laughing Reagan shaking hands with a smiling, laughing Saddam Hussein?

Now people are crediting him with ending the Cold War! And with the fall of Communism and the Berlin Wall. Sorry, but fuck off you ignorant plebs. Save the fiction for your next short story or novel, because it doesn't belong in history books.