Consequences of Political Quietism
As big Tuesday approaches in less than a week’s time, I am reminded of two traits exhibited by both candidates and a majority of the voting population that might keep me away from a polling station on November 4th:
1. Cowardice
Bravery lies in a field buried where the fog of status quo, from the clouds to dew on grass, obfuscates vision. And honesty has decomposed in this, bravery’s coffin. If courageous honesty was actually valued in the US, a lot of corpses swept under the politics rug would be exhumed. Given the state of political discourse, resurrection of such heroic bravery to speak honestly would be akin to a biblical miracle.
2. Support of the Status Quo: No one wants change.
If the voting public and the candidates actually wanted change, a couple of things completely marginalized in the 2008 election discourse would have to be addressed. What are those things? What would change and courageous honesty in America actually look like?
Supporting a political platform that would call for:
1. No finanical assistance to terrorist states, like:
Israel
Saudi Arabia
2. No terrorist interventions in places like:
Iraq
3. No domestic terrorizing in the form of:
-Prison Industrial Complex
-The US government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and incompetent recovery efforts administrated by the governments for Hurricane Katrina survivors, in particular 9th ward residents (if Hezbollah could rebuild Southern Lebanon, post-war of 2006, quicker than the US government could rebuild New Orleans, than, there’s an obvious problem).
In my dream world, someone who is about change and bravely stands up to the aforementioned terrorism in and by the US could actually be considered a viable candidate for president of the US!
It’s our own fault Arab American community. If we really want to have any political influence that steps outside the realm of defensive organizing against absurd claims, defamatory statements and hate crimes; we need to move beyond arm-chair complaints and start organizing ourselves as a community. Yes, it’s become a tradition to sit with the family and lambaste absurdity. And, that will continue to be the realm of our influence, inside the family room, if we don’t step up and take out our efforts outside our comfortable homes. The use of our communities as a political liability and punching bag by candidates, like affiliation with Rashid Khalidi (by both Obama and McCain) or the hiring of Arab or Muslim staff members (i.e. Mazen Asbahi), in this year’s elections can partly be blamed on the Arab American community’s history of political quietism in this country. Let’s not continue to be silent, or substitute our standard protocol of silence with a doctrine of self-victimization.
Tags: 2008 elections, american politics, arab-americans, Maytha, Shit Extra Hard on Arabs and Muslims Month, war of terror
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
As big Tuesday approaches in less than a week’s time, I am reminded of two traits exhibited by both candidates and a majority of the voting population that might keep me away from a polling station on November 4th:
