Oklahoma Dreaming: ARRRRGGHH!
by Donna Schoenkopf
It has come to my attention that I have written two, TWO!, columns in a row that were lovey dovey and sweet.
Well, enough is enough!
I am pissed off and vinegar is just oozing from my pores.
Let us begin with the bromide that our country, our beloved country, was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
What a bunch of crap.
First of all, WHICH set of principles was it founded on? Judeo? Or Christian?
There is a world of difference.
Shall we embrace Judeo? An eye for an eye? Literally? Shall we not eat shellfish, nor do ANY work on the Sabbath? Shall we not covet our neighbor’s wife under penalty of the wrath of God? Shall we stone adulterers? Shall we kill our child to prove how much we love God, like Abraham was asked to do? Shall we not take the name of the Lord in vain? (Some argue, the most important of the Commandments.)
Oh, God. (Ooops. If this nation were founded on Judeo principles, I would have just been stoned or something equally horrible for taking the name of the Lord in vain.)
But lest you think that I think that Judaism is all wrath and violence, I understand the requirement for good Jews to take care of their fellow Man. I get that.
Or shall we be Christian? Turn the other cheek? Give up all material possessions and follow the Lord? Clothe the naked? Beat our swords into plowshares? Love our neighbors as we love ourselves?
And lest you think that I think that Christianity is all love and kisses, I understand the requirement of good Christians to not have sex unless you absolutely must (St. Paul) or that ever-popular belief that unless you believe exactly what I believe then you get ETERNAL DAMNATION!!!
No, no, no. We are NOT founded on Judeo-Christian principles. OUR first commandment (known as the Bill of Rights) says that freedom of speech is numero uno. That includes “shaking an angry fist at the sky and calling God a bitter name” if you want to.
And I am pissed off saying the Pledge of Allegiance with the words “under God” in it. This little prepositional phrase was added in the 1950s as part of the Anti-Red Scare that was running rampant in our country. I am sick of being a second class citizen because I do not believe in god. Notice the lower-case g.
The third thing that is pissing me off is the story of an Oklahoma woman and an Oklahoma state trooper.
The woman was drunk. The woman was handcuffed and thrown to the ground by the trooper. The woman was kicked in the chest multiple times while handcuffed by the trooper. The trooper said he did it because she spit on him. All of this was recorded by a camera in the trooper’s patrol car. The video does not show her spitting on him.
How did this come to the attention (or shall I say LACK of attention) of the local citizenry? (By the way, THAT pisses me off ... the LACK of concern.)
Well, it turns out the cop’s cohorts, the other troopers at the scene, turned him in.
(My darling dorter asked why the other troopers dropped the dime on this guy. All I could think of was that they hated him for some reason OR they knew the video tape recorded the incident and didn’t want to be guilty of aiding and abetting ...)
The woman never reported the incident. SHE said that she didn’t bother because it (cops beating up people) happened all the time and nothing is ever done about it anyway.
I am REALLY pissed at HER. As Eldridge Cleaver said, “If you’re not a part of the solution, then you’re a part of the problem.”
But what I am really, REALLY pissed off about is the Oklahoma law that states that the trooper will get a maximum of 90 days in the clink and/or a $1,000 fine. And the woman will get 5 YEARS in the pokey for spitting on him.
How about THAT for justice?
Another thing I am pissed off about is HughesNet.
I am forced to use this crappy corporation because I live too far outside of town and can’t get DSL any other way.
Every single month my DSL goes out. For up to two weeks. But do I get a refund or credit on my bill because their system isn’t working? NO! They just keep raking in the dough. I spend HOURS on the phone with technicians who must hurry through the call, all the time being exquisitely polite, because HughesNet only allows them a certain amount of time with each customer and their every word is recorded like Big Brother, so the problem is never solved that way. (How would YOU like it if every word YOU spoke was recorded by YOUR boss? Hmmmm????) If a technician comes out to my house, I am charged. AND the corporation doesn’t allow anyone to give out phone numbers or addresses of the head office. Yeah. You heard me right. The Big Boys keep themselves protected from irate customers by forbidding their phone people to connect us to the powers that be.
I HATE THAT!
(But I found them anyway. Heh, heh, heh.)
ANOTHER thing I’m pissed off about is how people feel guilty when they feel bad or try to make everything nice at the expense of truth or justice. I say unto you who turn your head or keep your mouth shut or swallow your bile, STOP IT! STEP UP TO THE PLATE! MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. SPEAK UP!
You know, it is what the Buddhists say: “Life is suffering.” But, dear hearts, do NOT “go gently into the night. Rage, RAGE! Against the dying of the light!”
You have to acknowledge your hurt, fear, anger, and do something about it. Otherwise it will eat you alive from the inside out. PLUS, you do not serve justice if you keep your mouth shut. You will be aiding and abetting the crime.
Hmmmmmmm. Is there anything else I’m pissed off about?
Oh, yeah. I was told that people here in Oklahoma will look at me as that Californian who just comes over here and points to all the flaws in the state and really has no right to because she was not BORN here.
Well, FUCK that shit! If that were the case, I would be a woman without a country, because I have lived all over the damn place, and I would have no right to say anything at all to anyone.
So ... lest any of you think that I am getting soft and sweet ...
Let THIS be a lesson to you!
donna@fourstory.org
Comments
I hear you sister!!! I don’t know whether you’ve been up to date on all the LAUSD mess that’s been going on. I’ll just cut to the chase, too many people have been willing to put their heads up their own asses and pretend that nothing is wrong and don’t want to speak up! I am not one of those and for that people look at me like some whinny bitch - but I know that what I’m fighting for is right and will never feel guilty about not doing anything.
2009-05-19 by Violeta