This is a great clip of a speech by given by Charlie Chaplin in “The Great Dictator.” I’m tempted to quote him, but I suppose I’ll just let him say it:
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Brene Brown
“In a culture of shame, we are constantly overwhelmed with feelings of fear, blame, and disconnection. This creates an “us and them” world. There are people like us, and then there are “those other people.” And, we normally work very hard to insulate ourselves from “those people.” As children, there were the people that we were allowed to hang out with and then there were the other kids. There were the people we were allowed to date and then there were the other kids. There were the schools we went to and there were schools for the other kids. As adults, we live in the neighborhood were our kind live – the other neighborhoods are for the other folks. We emotionally and physically insulate ourselves from “the other.” It never seems to end. We’ve developed language to describe the others – sometimes we refer to them as “those people” or even the more mysterious “people like that.”
“I seldom use the word truth, because it’s a strong word with a lot of promises behind it. But in this instance, I’m going to use it because, out of all the things I’ve learned in the past decade, the one concept that I believe has the biggest potential for helping us overcome shame is this: We are “those people.” The truth is…we are the others.”
“I Thought It Was Just Me.” Brene Brown, 2007.
“Let it not be said that we did nothing…”
“Let it not be said that we did nothing…Patriotism is more closely linked to dissent than it is to conformity…”
These ideas fall in line with Kennedy’s concept of the conscientious objector. It must become an expression of patriotism to dissent, to petition your government, to make America what you believe she must be, rather than stand behind the flag and sing empty praises of democracy.
Anonymous
“When did we suddenly decided, as a country, that our national security depends on the occupation of other countries? When did we decide we needed 900 military bases in 130 sovereign nations in order to call ourselves safe?”
Wealth Distribution, 1983-2009
This graph, also from the Economic Policy Institute (link in right hand column), illustrates the gains in wealth over roughly the last three decades. Note the difference between wealth and income. Income is considered wages, capital gains, etc…We think of wealth as: (assets – liabilities) or more simply, what you own minus what you owe. As you can see, once again, the upper echelons of American society have enjoyed a period of substantial wealth growth. In comparison, the wealth of the lower 80% has stagnated or, in most cases, actually fallen.
