Feel marginalized yet?

[Veilex]

Most of us are too busy fighting each other and fighting over moral-high-ground scraps to realize a few very important details: She’s not the enemy… and neither is He. They, are. All of us are afflicted by a lack of equal opportunity... and they are largely responsible.

So, who are “they”? They are the power brokers. The 1%, the politically corrupted, the religious leaders, CEOs, Hedge funds, Banks and so on. They are the ones who set the rules the rest of us follow… the ones who determine what double-standard is to be considered “okay” in our culture. It is not you and I… but it SHOULD be. We should be the ones making changes… not them.

Oh, sure, we can affect small changes here and there… but most often, the vast majority of us are too locked into an echo-chamber to really affect a lasting change. I don’t want to give the impression that small changes don’t matter…they do… however, those small changes are nothing in the face of the domineering power brokers… all those small changes just get washed aside with scrub brushes made of money, like dirt off the side of a truck. It’s frustrating… knowing that our voices are being marginalized.

Emotional outrage might be tempted to say this isn’t true, or say that we’ve come so far, and that without perseverance, we’d be much worse off. Anyone who bothers to shake off the emotional umbrage can see the truth of it; we are right where the power brokers want us… at each other’s throats rather than focused on them. It’s that old idiom: A house divided cannot stand.

Inequality is an issue that faces every aggrieved group out there. It is an issue that SHOULD bring us together in solidarity. Instead, we’re so busy being affronted by little things that we’ve taken our eyes off what’s important; sussing out and addressing the root of the problem. This is not to say that other issues should be ignored… but they should not be allowed to drive a wedge of division between us. We all have aggrievements that should be acknowledged... rather than squandering our individual voices in vain attempts to shout louder than someone else.

So long as we continue to focus on individual affronts, rather than supporting each other, we will continue to be easy meat to them. So this really becomes a choice of; we can lift each other up, or let each other fall.
I know what I would choose… the question is, what about you?

[liberal_at_heart]

1. The reason we are fighting is because we know that this military action will lead to further

austerity cuts. I do agree though that it is the consequence(the austerity cuts) rather than the action(military action) that should be the focus. The 1% is using this to distract us from the fact that they are cutting our social programs, and I for one will not be distracted. But I will continue to fight against the military action because it is the military action that will lead to further social program cuts.

[Veilex]

2. +1

[Feral Child]

3. Sincere and heartfelt agreement, Veilex.

[leftstreet]

4. Prejudice, bigotry and discrimination are not 'little things'

I'm sure you mean well, but you appear to shaking a cocktail of economic equal opportunity, individual rights, resistance to discrimination and bigotry, and issue suppression.

That makes for a bitter drink

[Veilex]

5. "...and issue suppression"

I'm proposing propping each other up rather than suppressing issues, as you suggest.
This is not a case of belittling the issues we all have...quite the contrary... its a call to acknowledge them!
If we all accept there are issues that need tending to, it makes it quite difficult to use those issues against us in a divisive fashion.

Perhaps its a bit too egalitarian an idea... but then, I'm an Egalitarian

[liberal_at_heart]

6. I agree with you. Economic Inequality=Social Inequality

We cannot fight one without fighting the other. They are one in the same.

[Veilex]

7. Absolutely!

[LiberalEsto]

8. Just a wee FYI

I like most of what you wrote in your post.

However, the word goomba is a slur against Italians. It's rarely used these days, but I remember hearing people say it about Italians back in the 1960s. I'm not Italian myself, but grew up in a neighborhood with many Italian families, and my first husband was Italian.

Goomba comes from the word compare which in some Italian dialects is pronounced goom-BAH-ray. It means godfather. Godparents are considered extremely important members of the extended famiiy.

[Veilex]

9. Interesting. I didn't know that.

Obviously I was referring to the mushroom from Super Mario Brothers rather than using a racial slur... but I definitely take your point.

Thanks for the heads up