A Little Bit of This and That

Seems like a long time ago and I guess it was. There was a tiny town, more like a grouping of buildings along a country road. At one time there was a button factory in this little town. When I was a little girl, the button factory was long gone, the train no longer stopped in that little town, but that dusty ill-stocked store was there. I think it was a grocery store, but memory doesn’t serve me well. I don’t know that I ever went in the store, only sat in the truck (red Chevy that somehow sat three adults and two children in the cab) while my grandparents went inside.

I remember more about the store in another little town. I actually went inside that store. There was sawdust on the floor and a pop machine and I believe the pop was a dime, a bottle…the machine only sold bottles of Coke, RC, orange and grape Nehi. I don’t know why Dad drove thirty miles to that little country grocery store. Usually, Saturday was grocery shopping day in C’Town. We saw neighbors, teachers etc., all out grocery shopping on Saturday. Back in those days, all the stores were closed on Sunday.

I’ve been watching a 1950’s television show. It is instructive. It is set in a major U.S. city and I did not see Black people in any of the scenes, e.g., crowd scenes where one would expect a mix of the inhabitants of that city. There are no Black people in jobs like waiters and waitresses, maids, chauffeurs, etc. What one would call “Black” jobs in the fifties. I’m sure other shows had the same type of casting. Black people were non-existent on television in the fifties. That’s a period that white supremacy wants back.

I was watching another show about time travel and the Black character said something that was very true. He said and, I am not quoting, but paraphrasing– that there was no time period in United States history that was welcoming to Black people and he had no desire to experience the past of the United States. Of course he did. That was his job. Doctor Who did a show featuring Rosa Parks and the Black character, English–was it any better in England? I’ve see that television, films are part of the white supremacy narrative that white people are smartest, most intelligent, most innovative, most ethical, most compassionate people that have ever existed on this planet. Of course, they are the opposite, but if one only sees the narrative that is shown on television and the movies and other entertainment venues, one would be misinformed and, for us, that misinformation has been deadly. And, unfortunately, that narrative is the basis of most of the entertainment that is available in the U.S.

We can learn something new every day. A short while ago, I saw a short video of elephants encircling their young as they experienced an earthquake. A hen will pretend to be injured to draw a predator away from her chicks. Blossoms on a wind whipped tree will remain attached. But humans…female child in a misogynist society…murdered and no one cares. Seems like the non-thinking flora and fauna instinct to preserve their kind for the future is greater than any feeling humans have for their progeny.

I wonder if one can be a compulsive pathological liar? Psychology distinguishes between the two types of liars, but, the persons in power in this country exhibit the traits of both, except compulsive liars might admit to lying if confronted. The persons in power in this country never admit to lying. They dismiss the truth as “fake news”. I just read where one compulsive pathological liar actually said he was “honest”. This is a person whose lies have been documented and, is the person, we say, if his lips are moving, he is lying. How can one be so deluded about one’s self and character? But that is a trait of a pathological liar.

It’s dangerous to have a pathological liar in a position of power. Like the boy who cried wolf once too often–if the pathological liar told the truth in a crisis situation, would the people who need to respond to that crisis respond or shrug their shoulders and say to themselves–another lie, ignore him. And as the city burned, he said it was raining and his cult fled into the fire, shouting as they burned that their savior had saved them.

We are a nation of haves, haves-a-little, and have-nots. And, the haves-a-little are either complacent or wanna be “haves” or delusional as the “haves” destroy the society that enabled them to be a “have-a-little”. This country is almost there to a country where there are haves and have-nothings. Why would anyone want to be in a system where a tiny minority exploits the majority? There is no stability in such a society. The rich will only cooperate to a certain point, then they begin to eat each other and/or one of them is more pathological than the others and begins to systematically kill the others. Either way–instability.

When did we get into this repetitive cycle of repetition of past failed societies and expecting a different result? I think Isaac Asimov’s “cult of ignorance” that is rampant in these United States is a large part of the answer. I think the very premise of “patriarchy” is another large part of the answer. And “white supremacy” is another large part of the answer.

I’ve been watching reruns of the Perry Mason Show. That’s the show I previously mentioned. During its first season in 1957, there were no Black people anywhere, not in crowd scenes or court scenes, All the crimes were committed by white people with white victims, with a few exceptions. Mind you, this show is set in Los Angeles. According to the online Los Angeles Almanac, approximately 8% of the population was Black. In the first season, Hispanics were acknowledged. They owned restaurants and the women were exotic dancers. At the time, Hispanics were about 6% of the population. (This is a guestimate because most persons of Mexican descent were classified as white and were only listed separately in the 1930 census.) Japanese Americans were about 3% of the population and they were acknowledged in one show as one of the servants appeared to be of Japanese descent. Of course, neither Hispanics nor Japanese-Americans were on the jury or in any positions of authority.

I’m now into the second season and there was a female judge in one of the first shows. In the first season, there were no female attorneys or judges. The only woman seen regularly was Della Street, Perry’s secretary, who spent too much time, in my opinion, gazing adoringly at Perry Mason. In the first season, women were often brutalized, sexualized, objectified, and infantilized, and they were always considered an accessory. This is the 1950s and the narrative that women were second class citizens and the property of males is prevalent.

In another show in the second season, two Black males who I took to be Pullman porters were briefly seen.

Overall, this is the whitescape and malescape that was being viewed by millions in the 1950s. It was a false narrative that supported white supremacy and white male dominance. And the white males were depicted as brutish, greedy, sexual predators, amoral, and individuals with no concern for any life other than their own. But that was the standard. That was and is their aspiration. Perry was supposed to be the exception, with a moral center, but he was more like the norm than not.

It’s been three months of chaos, incompetence, grift, bribery, corruption, cruelty, stupidity, institutions choosing greed over their commitment to society. Good news–and that is spotty–is that the courts seem to be the only branch of government that is living up to its role set forth in the Constitution. Articles of impeachment have been filed in the Congress, but will probably not succeed. In my opinion, the Supreme Court created an unconstitutional monster, and the Supreme Court should defang the monster it created. So, I repeat my take on “Good News”.

Good News

Good news—I looked and looked

Under every rock and in every nook

For that good news;

And, all I found was the dead singing the blues!

I looked some more,

Into my core

For that good news;

And, all I heard was my heart drumming the blues!

I looked again

To star light, star wane

For that good news;

And, all I saw was a constellation signifying the blues!

The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you. B.B. King

I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better. Maya Angelou

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