finally saw Outfoxed

Saw Outfoxed last night at the Roxie and listened to a couple of guest speakers afterwards. Alone at dinner later, finding myself without my usual pad and pen, I seized upon my napkin, took a pen from a donation basket of used pens that are being shipped to children in Africa (no, I did not make that up), and poured out the thoughts bubbling in the back of my brain. Here's what occurred to me:

We are too numb / lethargic / overwhelmed, incapable of action. What is it we can do individually against a rigid power structure which has evolved over decades, even centuries. I remember someone once saying we need a revolution every 30 years. But the 60s was not a revolution. The anti-war protests, as they were recently, were completely ineffectual, except in framing the war historically. But it changed nothing. It prevented nothing. Even now vets are considered heroes and the validity of the war itself, though widely condemned, is rarely brought into question. And it stopped nothing. What can we do now?

#1: UNDERSTAND the system. Understand the flow of money and influence. Understand how the various portions of our society work together.

#2: Understand our own individual channels of influence. What we as citizens are and are not capable of.

#3: Become centered within ourselves. Free our spirits from the encrusted shells we have grown onto like the nautilus, mired under chambers of its own creation.

OBSTACLES - what causes the lethargy?

1. Comfort. We're stil basically comfortable. We've learned to ACCEPT our situation. As long as we're making enough money to get by, very few of us are willing to sacrifice and make significant changes.

2. Exhaustion. By the time we're through doing the do, we have no more energy left to make changes, especially those that could result in an even greater expenditure of energy. We're tired. At the end of the day, we simply want to escape, not march, not think, not work MORE. We must lighten the workload, free ourselves and our time so we have the ENERGY. Incorporate a private practice of growth - ANYTHING. Turn away from the distractions, sports, games, tv, drama, movies, music. Or at least incorporate them in moderation and in such a way that CONTRIBUTES to our growth.

3. Too many ideas, not enough vision. We end up with dozens of people excited, with ideas how to change things. But not enough support. Too many conflicting agendas and leadership but not enough common purpose. Poor organization. Ideas with no focus, no discipline, no expertise. Several organizations have grown to lead the charge - moveon.org being a perfect example. But too many different agendas, some coordination, but not enough. No big impact. No success on the big initiatives.

If after this election we still elect Bush, that will prove that nothing the citizenry can do will be effective over mob psychology and the mass manipulation of the current power structures. I've never seen or imagined the current level of political consciousness. And from what I hear from elders and those who should know, what we're experiencing now is a movement as intense and anything in recent history. So will it be enough? If not, what then?

How can we re-evaulate the American system as a whole and make fundamental changes that are equitable for ALL???