Several years ago I saw a cartoon that made me laugh. Then about a month or so ago I saw a similar one and it didn't make me laugh. Maybe because I am now about 60 years down the road from where I was the first time I saw it. It made me think of a lot of things that have crept their way into my life to shape the way I look at things. I hope to let you in on some of my inner secrets as I go along.
Besides crossing paths with the cartoon I mentioned above, I also had a first hand experience with a complete falsehood sent to me over the Internet by Email. Now, you're saying, "so, what else is new?" In this case what else is new is that this falsehood touched on something about which I have first hand, actual, experiential knowledge. It was right there in a vitriolic email as though it were a well-known truth about which there was no doubt in anyone's mind, least of all the author of the email. I know the agenda of the author and I know the kind of trash that I have received from that direction. I would just dismiss it as being irrational ranting from a person who spends life in the fifth lateral dimension (Stephen King's term) rather than within the bounds of our traditional three dimensional world. So here's my take on the kind of activities that take up the time and effort of activists.
First, all statements that they make are infallibly true. Whether or not they are factual makes no difference.
Second, whatever they want, for themselves and for you (they always include you in their wishes) is a right that they (and you) are owed.
So, in that famous cartoon of which I spoke earlier, the manager says to the supervisor, "I'm giving you three days to accomplish this project." To which, nonplussed, the supervisor responds, not quite so tactfully, I might add, "Good, I'll take July 4, Thanksgiving and Christmas." In real life two things might have happened. One, two people laughing at the quick wit of the supervisor and then getting down to the task at hand. Two, the manager, assured that this was not a joke, fires the supervisor, gets sued for denying the supervisor his right to choose the best days on which to produce the desired results, the pickets come out in front of the courtroom denigrating company "X" for "unlawful labor practices" and total disrespect for national holidays which are celebrated because they are a right owed to every citizen of this country, good, bad or indifferent. The match continues for 10 years, the manager dies from the stress and the company pays the supervisor a cool million to get lost.
The result is that the activists now know that they have an audience. So, they continue to make all sort of comments on any and every labor topic that they can imagine, and always in a snide and nasty way. Such it is in every community in our society. Labor, Agriculture, Art, Church, Politics, Education, Sports and Scouts...name it, they are there. For the good of the citizens who are integrated in these communities? Not for a single minute. They do it for themselves, for their personal comfort. It gives them comfort to know that anything, anything they say will be heard and draw attention back to them. They know that the further away from the factual truth their statement is, the more attention they will get. It is their way of getting things done...by keeping the institutions they watch, uncomfortable, even if it takes dis-ingenuity, innuendo, dishonesty and falsehood.
I for one, don't give in to them. I force them to produce the facts. Most of the time, they are a little bit right and embroider the rest. It's the embroidery that I'm after. I've shredded a lot of it. Maybe that's why I don't get too much activist email. The one I'm talking about got through. I'm in the process of shredding the embroidery. That will be one more email list that I will no longer hear from, I'm sure.
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