by Don Hynes
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| Vantage Point | Culture and Politics by Don Hynes |
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"No man is prejudiced in favor of a thing, knowing it to be wrong.
He is attached to it on the belief of its being right; and when he sees it is not so,
the prejudice will be gone." - Tom Paine
June 09, 2006 Waldron Island Journal Winter has come and gone as spring turns to summer. The sea becomes more placid, the air dries and warms. Green growth burgeons astoundingly and a vast variety of wildflowers light up the land and slowly fade. I notice the many colors, enjoying their beauty, but I have no passion for categorizing or identification – to pay attention and admire seems enough. The bald eagles are nesting above Mail Bay though some have followed the salmon runs north toward Canada and Alaska. The ravens appear to have left for summer; perhaps the comfortable temperatures and calm weather are not to their liking. Our culturally conditioned phenomenon of the “nice day” is approaching - no wind or cold or rain to pressure the human presence. Oddly, the more emphatic we are (at least in the U.S.) with our demand for comfort, our resistance to hardship and labor (unless it’s for sport!) the more careless we become with spreading violence and horrific difficulties onto other parts of the human race and to the environment everywhere. Our “nice day” demands a full tank of gas, monstrous sport trucks and pleasure boats, and a quantity of food that is emptying the seas and turning the richness of north American agriculture into factory farms of unspeakable cruelty and the end of tilth or any reasonable standard of care for the soil. Even “organic” food has become an “industry” and the connection to something more in tune with the natural order is now confined within the artificially lit corridors of the “super” market. There are hopeful signs and intelligent, caring people everywhere, but the mass moves like an unforgiving glacier across the land and sea, scraping away the precious quantity of life that has been so abundant but is now under dire threat. We paddled our sea kayaks to Friday Harbor, thirteen nautical miles each way, on a four meter tide that often visits the inland waters of the San Juan Islands. South of Jones Island a half circle of large tourist boats floated to the east, a quarter mile or so away, when two beautiful orcas breached the surface, their blow holes spraying toward the grey skies. The boats were filled with people, but far away from our close up and unexpected vantage point. We were just following the tidal river south on its ebb flow and the orcas were in the same current amidst the wider sea, though they were swimming against it, enjoying the flow of nutrient and the rush of water against their skin. It’s too easy to carp against the tourist laden boats, their giant diesel motors and poisonous effluent; they were admiring the power and beauty of nature, but in effect loving the whales to death, who even though in the Pacific Northwest are the most protected wild species on the planet, are being driven to extinction by water borne PCBs and other toxins in high concentration that are part of the weight of the human footprint enjoying the “nice day.” Idling to observe in that fast moving current took a huge amount of horsepower and cheap oil; to flow with the tide and follow the current takes more personal BTUs, but results in a form of attunement that conforms to the way of life, that allows the abundance and beauty we revere. The way of death is becoming more and more obvious in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Houston, in Washington DC, and in the Straights of Georgia flowing along an international boundary that is posted on every nautical chart but has no real bearing on the natural order. Evil eventually consumes itself as the ancient oracular texts inform, having no real energy of its own, perishing once it has consumed the good it depends upon. There is comfort in that for those who are searching for the current in the wide sea that leads us home, as well as sadness for all of us under the cloud of human ignorance and depravity. There are clear signs that the deficits of our collective “nice day” will be inherited and suffered for generations to come, and there are vivid signs in the natural world and in the human civilized order that the days of reckoning are already upon us. The Oregon poet, William Stafford wrote “it is important that awake people be awake, or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep; the signals we give – yes or no, or maybe – should be clear; the darkness around us is deep.” The paradox of the “nice day” syndrome is that painful isolation and a conviction of futility accompanies our joy ride, yet the signals we make, the convictions we hold, the compassion we embody, are as old as the tide and as vital to the flow of life. The strongest tidal current is mid-tide, in hours three and four, then diminishes rapidly in flow although the water continues to rise or fall for the duration of the cycle. My sense is that we are in the latter hours of this current dismal tide, of ignorance, impossibly poor judgment and horrible destruction, and that the tide is indeed changing, as it must. That’s my signal, one that we each must give – yes, no or maybe – and let the strength of our lives speak in the flooding darkness. Peace Music to Life gives top award to Kate Power & Steve Einhorn for their song “Travis John” Living with War by Neil Young Environment & Energy The State of the Peak Oil Movement at the Cusp of Collapse Bush Faces Growing Dissent From Republicans on Climate Change Hell on Earth: Chernobyl the world's worst environmental disaster, twenty years on Trade winds weaken with global warming Scientists find new species in Atlantic (check out the photos!) Ice-capped roof of world turns to desert Depleted Uranium - Far Worse Than 9/11 Ethanol and Peak Food New Orleans Katrina Aftermath: And Then I Saw These (B&W photos by Alan Chin) The Katrina Landscape: New Images From Photojournalist Alan Chin Post-Katrina Jazzfest photo show (recent photos) Washington Scandals The McKinney Affair Josh Marshall interviews Tyler Drumheller of the CIA (after 60 minutes interview) Hundreds of detainees abused, report finds The Al Capone of electricity - Ken Lay's true crimes Iraq Nearly 20,000 people kidnapped in Iraq in 2006 Sister of Iraqi Vice President Killed War Is Personal: Carlos Arredondo/Age 45/Roslindale, Massachusetts The 25th of August in 2004 was the day of my birthday, and I was expecting a phone call from Alex, which he never miss, to say, "Happy Birthday, Dad." My mother start baking a cake, and I was working outside with my cell phone in my pocket when I saw the Marines get off the van. Thought it was a surprise, and my happiness was overwhelming. Next thing, the Marines ask me if I was Carlos Arredondo. I don't understand why they asking me that, and I don't see my son anywhere. I even ask them, "Are you guys here to recruit some kids?" because I have a second son, a 16-year-old, Brian. And he said, "I'm sorry, I'm coming to notify you that Alexander Arredondo got killed in combat." The War Within The photo of the ‘Marlboro Man’ in Fallujah became a symbol of the Iraq conflict when it ran in newspapers across America in 2004. Now the soldier has returned home to Kentucky,where he battles the demons of post-traumatic stress. President's Unique Perspective on Pre-War Intelligence Gang activity seen in U.S. troops in Iraq Cut and Run? You Bet by Lt. Gen. William E. Odom American Hostages by Riverbend (Iraq blogger) A few days ago, we were watching one of several ceremonies they held after naming the new prime minister. Talbani stood in front of various politicians in a large room in the Green Zone and said, rather brazenly, that Iraq would not stand any ‘tadakhul’ or meddling by neighboring countries because Iraq was a ‘sovereign country free of foreign influence’… as Talbani pompously made his statement- all big belly and grins- smiling back at him was a group of American army commanders or generals and to his left was Khalilzad, patting him fondly on the arm and gazing at him like a father looking at his first-born! Iran Sweet deals: Behind the Iran 'crisis' On Bombing Iran and Other Fantasies of American Power International U.S. prepares to face U.N. on torture as Amnesty report blasts 'war crimes' "The U.S. government is not only failing to take steps to eradicate torture," he adds, "it is actually creating a climate in which torture and other ill-treatment can flourish -- including by trying to narrow the definition of torture." The report argues that these cases are not isolated incidents, but part of an overall pattern condoned by U.S. officials. Three decades later, Agent Orange still ravages Vietnam, GIs Taliban's new commander ready for a fight National New WH Policy Chief Was "Brooks Brothers" Rioter Mike McCurry & the hostile takeover of the Democratic Party Colbert Lampoons the President Border Lords: Immigration Plan is Crony Pork Bonanza Essays Zarqawi: The Man and the Myth by Justin Raimondo Was the 2004 Election Stolen? by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Rage and Light: Militarism and its Discontents by Chris Floyd Our Descent Into Hell Has Begun by Tony Swindell Out of grief and rage, with the stench of his buddy's shredded flesh in his nostrils, the soldier stops asking questions and then begins making up his own rules with a rifle. He has touched the heart of darkness and there's no going back ever. Embracing the whore called war destroys morality, and doing all this in a dishonorable cause compounds the damage. The Drug of War The self-destructive politics of hate Shortchanging the Wounded by Judith Coburn The Swift Boating of America By Greg Grandin *** |
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