White-Beard Notes

White beard notes of a Semi-Clean Man. What’s that ringing in my ear? Who do you turn to when all your heroes are long dead, pushing up weeds in neglected graveyards? This isn’t a heroic age. This is an age of cowardice and spin, cover-my-ass hypocrisy, big lies shouted from big platforms, and the silence of the Great Majority, to borrow a phrase from old Dick Nixon. Even Nixon might feel ashamed today. Do you get the feeling that the whole deal is sliding toward the sheer face of a steep cliff? Crack another Coors Light, ignore this nagging disquiet, ignore the ringing in your ear and the man behind the velvet curtain. A crow perched on a wooden fence, hot salsa on a king-sized burrito, pigs feet under glass. Wealthy pale skins come down from their hilltop fortresses to taste the delights of a Westside taco stand. Militarism is the last refuge of a failed government. When moral reason fails, pull your pistol from its holster, wave it around so everyone can see how big and bad you are. Why is investing in people, not things, a radical notion? He was a wise and stupid man, for he could see things far away, yet was blind up close. Switch on the Tube, tune in to Fox’s coverage of the baseball playoffs, and be bombarded with commercials for Fox’s own slate of blood & guts dramas, hospital dramas, legal dramas, and game shows. Hey, Rube, you can win millions! Solve all your troubles in twenty-two minutes. VISA gets a nice slot, so does E-Trade, Verizon Wireless, and oversized liquid crystal HD televisions from Sharp. Whoopee! I feel deprived without my HD TV! Mirror mirror on the wall, which is the dumbest country of all? The most morally bankrupt? Number one in hypocrisy? Oh, baby, we got that market cornered. We’re untouchable, the undisputed champs. And how proudly we wear our crown of thorns! Teach the children, but teach them what? To conform and obediently follow the dictates of crooked masters? Who is teaching the children to stand up and speak out against injustice and hypocrisy and greed and lawlessness? Such thinking isn’t included in the standard, state-approved curriculum. Do you feel the creep of fascism? We love our guns, fear foreigners and immigrants, propose to build walls to keep them out, and trample our most sacred traditions in the name of “security,” in the name of protecting our “freedom.” Means and ends. Remember the wise black man who said, “the ends are not cut off from the means, because the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process, and ultimately you can’t reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree.” In other words, ends and means must be aligned. Too much hatred, too little love. The morning train rumbles through town, waking the sleepers in the homeless encampments along the tracks. Poverty and want in the shadow of prosperity and wealth. What are we building here? Man rolls over and pulls his dog closer as the train roars past. Have you checked your credit score lately? Have you talked to Chuck Schwab about your portfolio? The DOW is up, how do you feel about that? Or are you worried about your enlarged prostate? Have you heard about Avodart? Ask your Doctor. Oh, you can’t afford to see a doctor? Too bad, man, too bad; your death will be drawn out and painful. Ever thought of going down to the blood bank and selling a pint? I tried it once, but they said my blood was only semi-clean.