Thought for the Weekend

I'm gonna be busy for a coupla of days, fiddling and trying to keep the poor little wooden box shielded from the death rays beaming down on it and into our current heat wave--105 for tomorrow, kiddies. At least we're not at the moment on fire, like Colorado. And I knock on wood there. Which might not be good, as wood is flammable.

Anyways, here's a quote straight from "I Blame the Patriarchy," which is one of the most clear-thinking blogs you can find anywhere:

Racism extends considerably beyond prejudiced beliefs. The essential feature of racism is not hostility or misperception, but rather the defense of a system from which advantage is derived on the basis of race. The manner in which the defense is articulated – either with hostility or subtlety – is not nearly as important as the fact that it insures the continuation of a privileged relationship. Thus it is necessary to broaden the definition of racism beyond prejudice to include sentiments that in their consequence, if not in their intent, support the racial status quo.

This fine definition comes from Wellman, David T. Portraits of White Racism. Second Edition. Cited in: “Definitions of Racism”. Center for the Study of White American Culture, Inc. 2001. 23 Dec 2004.

I believe this very sensible definition actually expands naturally to include other forms of systematic imbalance, including our current bigotries involving various minorities, and of course the patriarchy itself. It was in this context that I posted a picture of the sign from the days of segregated water fountains. Subtle support of the imbalanced status quo is the sine qua non of most of American political discourse.

Some Democrats make some efforts against this atmosphere, and are to be commended while we continue to push them forward as best we can. Republicans are squarely against all efforts. This is the current nature of the political choice we have to make.

A nitwit once told me that global warming was a false theory, because CO2 only operated as a green house gas a few feet from the surface of the planet--e.g., it was still cold as the dickens at 100,000 feet, and is expected to remain so. I regret to say that I continued to make an effort to explain to him why he was wrong, on scientific grounds. He should have been commended for his subtlety of execution.

Bonton roullette, as they say in Vegas. Those wheels of karma, go round and round, sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. To quote the late great Richie Schulberg.

[photo Rosie Ledet, by Dave Leucinger]

Update: we made it there and back, and had a great time playing music. Yesterday on the way back it was 105 in New Bern, with lightning and 200% humidity. It would have made a good movie from some other planet--the one we're probably making with our industrial gasses, but who's to say. So far the fiddle's intact.

Re Rosie Ledet, I posted the pic because it was a great pic and we were about to play some cajun/zydeco music. I discovered this morning that she's currently entangled in a tragedy. Of course people on the internet have all sorts of judgemental opinions. I hope she can make it through ok. It's not up to us to judge such sad stories from the distance.