Marie PhD
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Revolution

7/9/2016

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What does revolution really look like anyway? Most of the time when we think of revolution we think of cops and barricades and frustrated people screaming and reciting mantras of what they believe needs to be changed. But we've seen time and time again, this kind of revolution doesn't change anything (at least, not by itself). For every one of those people screaming, there are at least ten people at home wanting things to remain exactly as they are. In the end, all revolution achieves is one group of powerful rich old white men transferring their power to another set of (soon to be rich) old white men and nothing really changes.

I noticed a true revolution had occurred with one vignette from Mad Men: a scene of Don Draper's family leaving a picnic site. They got up, leaving all their rubbish at the site, and simply got in the car and drove away. The same thing would never happen today; there was no storming of the barricades to make us clean up our picnic sites - it's something we just do.

The revolution will not be televised -- it'll happen when no one knows it's actually happening.

Even today virtually all power is tightly clutched in the hands of rich old white men. There is nothing so establishment as rich white old men: they own and run everything, from the media down to every corporation. Even when there is a female CEO, she is one female face in a sea of male top-level executives, and to be replaced by a male; when a corporate board has women on it, the ruling majority board members will be men (and the few women who temporarily reach the top echelons must outplay and generally simulate men and their testosterone-soaked hierarchy to remain).

Having a female US President will be a massive break to the psyche of rich white old men: the establishment.

Of course you can't tell men that. We're all the same - we're all just vaginas. The already-common refrain, "sure, you're saying you and all women MUST vote for her just because she has a vagina," all but outright states that essentially Clinton is no different than Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann... the only thing we are is vaginas. Assign a quick number from 1-10 for sexual desirability (in true sophomoric, Trumpian fashion) for any real differentiation;  likely all of us can throw together a sandwich. What else are we good for really?

But we see the establishment in action all too often, most recently with Clinton being somehow excoriated at the same time she is cleared of all legal wrongdoing - fodder for the narrative, in which everyone *just knows* she was really guilty and manipulated herself into the clear, just like how so many *just knew* Casey Anthony was guilty. There is nothing that'd clear her of wrongdoing in the minds of people who have already made up their minds.

Meanwhile Trump is facing a rape lawsuit (hardly the first charge of sexual or other impropriety)  which goes completely ignored. Completely! This is rape culture. This is acceptable to the establishment.  (While it is true that filing a lawsuit, in itself, does not prove or establish anything, imagine the media's reaction should any such lawsuit have been filed against Clinton, whether Hillary directly, or Bill.)

The real revolution will be when we remove the hierarchy our society imposes upon classes of people. All people will be of equal value: men, women, black, white, children, disabled, LGBT... we won't distinguish between them based on how much money they have or how attractive they may appear to us. But for now, individuals and even whole classes of people are treated as completely disposable. We saw that clearly when it was completely okay for banks, not individuals, to be bailed out and for banks to take people's homes in 2008; we see that whenever corporations sack half their staff to raise stock prices, and no one cares what happened to the out-of-work folks; indeed, the out-of-work generally get the blame for the most part for being so "lazy," so unworthy, so disposable. This is a fundamental aspect of the establishment, the ranking of people into classes, implying that only those with both self-serving wealth and power have true worth.

While we are all different, we are all needed - until we break down this hierarchy we will have the same problem over and over again. We must recognize we all offer different skills to serve each other with, even if it is merely our potential.

Do I think the revolution will be completed if Clinton wins office in November - no, indeed - there will be massive pushback from the establishment. They will not only scrutinize but exaggerate, mischaracterize, and outright lie about everything she does in office and they seize upon any technicality as a distraction from her actual policy goals; this is how they will maintain their power.

And so we also hear from some people who say that we'll just wait to elect our first woman into high office - she will be some mythical "pure" woman who hasn't devoted any part of her life to the pursuit of politics or the goal of being president, who hasn't tried to blend in or work within to the establishment.  They miss just how much Clinton stands out from the establishment: she's a woman - she doesn't have a history of men standing behind her, men to catch her if she falls, men to whitewash her mistakes - like rich old white men do.  The irony is that the establishment's greatest weapon against Clinton is to paint *her* as the establishment -- all while business as usual grinds on.

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    I am interested in progressive politics, women's rights, science & art. I believe the only way we'll survive is if we help each other.

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