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Submitted by Meta Hogan on Fri, 06/13/2008 - 10:11pm.
Open thread. Who's your "us"? Who's your "them"? Be honest. Listen. Have fun.
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I thought
Submitted by security_six on Fri, 06/13/2008 - 10:34pm.Them were giant radioactive ants?
Only if "us" is soft
Submitted by Meta Hogan on Fri, 06/13/2008 - 10:22pm.these days?
Submitted by enpen on Fri, 06/13/2008 - 11:15pm.I don't seem to have a defined us, but my "them" is people I give my time to and feel lame about doing so after the fact.
"In principle, I am an anarchist. Kurt Vonnegut once said he was an agnostic who respects Jesus Christ. I am an anarchist who loves democracy." - Kenzaburo Oe
Funny
Submitted by security_six on Fri, 06/13/2008 - 11:26pm.I feel the same way. Not everyone can be bent to the same world view though it seems.
Does That Make Us
Submitted by JstPlnOnry on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 12:05am.I've got a giant
Submitted by security_six on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 12:06am.radioactive in my... oh never mind. :-p
ACK!
Submitted by JstPlnOnry on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 12:14am.TMI! TMI! :)~
*shuddering as I head to bed!*
ALL ONE!
Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 12:46am.I think there is truth in thinking this way: I am the other.
In a certain light, we are all us and them.
At least it helps to think about it that way if we have any true desire and intent to increase community understanding and further the cause of peace and justice.
We are all one, born of the same essential materials. And as human beings, we all have the same basic needs. Belonging, security, food, shelter... We have a lot of similar other needs too: to love and be loved, to be heard, to contribute, to share, touch and sexual expression, to have meaning and purpose in life, truth, community, etc.
Who is Brunner?
Submitted by security_six on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 6:20am.inventor of " God soap"
Submitted by hazzardus waste on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 6:18pm.I've seen that stuff
Submitted by security_six on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 6:20pm.My ingrown toenail won't let me be barefoot, and if I become a stoner I can't buy guns. :-(
It's just an awful lot of "us"
Submitted by emmettoconnell on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 7:02am.Douglas Adams:
I am he
Submitted by stevenl on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 8:19am.I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
Having an Us and a Them doesn't have to be a bad thing. Learning more about Them with an open mind is part what makes life interesting. Long live liberal arts!
In foreign policy, or course, it is another matter. What would it take to change the dominant Them mentality to an Us? Not U.S., but a global Us. I have always been fascinated by President Reagan's occasional speeches where he mentioned how a threat from outer space aliens could help bring the world together. What was the deal with that? And, was he right? Would the Us/Them thing vanish under such circumstances, or get worse?
Goo goo g'joob.
sounds like I & Thou Hans Bruber?
Submitted by hazzardus waste on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 6:25pm.Yes!
Submitted by Meta Hogan on Sun, 06/15/2008 - 6:36am.Martin Buber.
The intention of this thread was not so much to draw lines in the sand as it was to draw out and talk about the usses and thems that are already written across our foreheads. Sometimes naming it helps. It doesn't have to be something you're proud of, or something you would or could defend, or even something you could explain.
For example, one of the thems that regularly pops up for me these days is "people who would live in the Pearlwater condos". Who are they? Would I like them? Will they ruin this town? I can't really explain it. I probably know a few people who could afford to live there, and I don't really have a problem with them. I just notice that I have this oppositional thing that happens with those mythical tenants. It affects my ability to talk rationally about the pressing local issues that relate to the condos. I was hoping that if we all barfed out our thems, we could better understand them, and perhaps even lighten our them-loads.
completely agreed
Submitted by enpen on Sun, 06/15/2008 - 7:58am.On a local conspiracy note: I do wonder about the impeccable timing of new 800K - 1000K condos being build as the South Capitol Neighborhood works to expunge itself of lobbyists.
"In principle, I am an anarchist. Kurt Vonnegut once said he was an agnostic who respects Jesus Christ. I am an anarchist who loves democracy." - Kenzaburo Oe
That attempt
Submitted by Phil Owen on Sun, 06/15/2008 - 11:03am.goes back quite a long way. The primary complaint is that lobbyists buy or rent a house, use it as office space, then throw these monster big, extremely noisy parties.
It's hard to ask a neighbor to "tone it down" or to please not throw beer bottles in my yard when they are out-of-towners with no connection to the local community. If they piss off a neighbor, they don't have to live with the consequences because, well, they don't actually live there.
Jean Marie Thomas led the push to expel the lobbyists during her term as president of the SC neighborhood association a few years ago. I don't think there's any connection to the condos.
P.S. How's about industry lobbyists as a "them"? I've testified on the opposite side of a few different issues from these folks, and my God can they make my skin crawl.
Here's another "them": middle class and rich people who support anti-homeless laws. I find it galling to watch one human being use their priviledge in an attempt to criminalize another human being. Makes me think of all the admonitions in the book of Amos.
The Canaanite's Call
I've never quite understood the opposition
Submitted by Laurian on Sun, 06/15/2008 - 1:06pm.to lobbyists in the So Cap Hood. They keep their properties in good repair and only use them three to six months a year. They pay property taxes but use less city services than full time residents. So they have a few parties. If a party becomes a real nuisance, call the cops. They may not live in the Hood full time but they do have to obey the law.
Perhaps So Cap Hoodies should form a paparazzi crew and take embarrassing photos of Politicians/Lobbyists gone Wild. I know there is money out there for a pic of Tim Eyman Tom McCabe peeing in a bush.
Seems to me that having a portion of the So Cap homes used part time a win/win situation for full time and part time residents. What am I missing?
I Think It's Sad
Submitted by JstPlnOnry on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 7:08pm.We have met the Enemy and they is us.
Submitted by Laurian on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 8:18pm.Gotta love Pogo
Submitted by security_six on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 8:22pm."Us" is the peole who don't understand "them"
Submitted by Guglielmo on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 9:20pm.And it's a good thing...
Submitted by enpen on Sun, 06/15/2008 - 9:59am.that there are so many people here who dislike an "us" and "them" mentality. I sure hope they speak up in protest the next time somebody brings up a group of people as being "weird" or "abnormal."
"In principle, I am an anarchist. Kurt Vonnegut once said he was an agnostic who respects Jesus Christ. I am an anarchist who loves democracy." - Kenzaburo Oe