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do the problems of the past belong there
So many issues now that need to be solved. How much does the clinging of past turmoil fuel today's . so long since an American was a slave or an owner of a slave and yet so much animosity still exists..
events like pearl harbor day and Martin Luther King day and others remind us of past wrongs. Not that we shouldn't remember. I'm not suggesting that. That would lead us to make the same mistakes... And forget the sacrifice of others that must be remembered.
I have an uncle at the bottom of the harbor in Honolulu in the arizona memorial. I don't hate the Japanese for what their grandfather's did. Every year I'm reminded and my dad goes out and kicks a Datsun.
What about trying to shed some hate by remembering the good. What about freedom day. A day to remember when good kicked evils ass and ended slavery. How about a 19th and 20th amendment day to remember when white men pulled their heads out and voted of their own free will, not at gunpoint to give equal voting rights to those that would not have gotten them by violence.
My poetry is mostly filled with anger. Anger about racism and sexism and politics. I wasn't always like this and there is still just a small ember of hope in me.I could use a day that made me feel good.
To see the me that still has hope, there are only a few poems. Most I am what I call reactionary racist, my feelings about my oppression from racism, or reactionary sexist, from my personal experiences of descrimination against me.
My poems of hope:
Not some
Plural
Share your feelings about letting the past go or not or tell us about your personal story about oppression now...
events like pearl harbor day and Martin Luther King day and others remind us of past wrongs. Not that we shouldn't remember. I'm not suggesting that. That would lead us to make the same mistakes... And forget the sacrifice of others that must be remembered.
I have an uncle at the bottom of the harbor in Honolulu in the arizona memorial. I don't hate the Japanese for what their grandfather's did. Every year I'm reminded and my dad goes out and kicks a Datsun.
What about trying to shed some hate by remembering the good. What about freedom day. A day to remember when good kicked evils ass and ended slavery. How about a 19th and 20th amendment day to remember when white men pulled their heads out and voted of their own free will, not at gunpoint to give equal voting rights to those that would not have gotten them by violence.
My poetry is mostly filled with anger. Anger about racism and sexism and politics. I wasn't always like this and there is still just a small ember of hope in me.I could use a day that made me feel good.
To see the me that still has hope, there are only a few poems. Most I am what I call reactionary racist, my feelings about my oppression from racism, or reactionary sexist, from my personal experiences of descrimination against me.
My poems of hope:
Not some
Plural
Share your feelings about letting the past go or not or tell us about your personal story about oppression now...
It does seem to be that history remembers the injustices and past hatred, but not so much the times of peace or even the events that ended the injustices and hatred.
One example is of WW2, of it being the good 'ol USA against evil German Nazis, when actually there was one point where it all got a bit topsy-turvy and daft, with USA troops, freed French prisoners and German troops fighting against other German forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Castle_Itter
A truly interesting account that not only shows the daftness of war turned up to 11, but how the bad guys are not always bad guys.
I suppose it doesn't help that often we are not taught the full history. My (non-optional) history lessons in school seemed to be mostly about Egyptians, Romans, Tudors, Saxons, WW1 and WW2. Completely ignoring the history of the world, let alone the British Empire's glory or the exploitation and faults of the British Empire.
I think if anywhere could do a freedom day, it would be the USA, not because it fits the America-Hell-Yeah approach but because it would be done whole hog to fully celebrate the idea, whereas more European countries would make 'Freedom Day' seem more like a chore and piece of legislation.
Very interesting and provoking ideas indeed!
One example is of WW2, of it being the good 'ol USA against evil German Nazis, when actually there was one point where it all got a bit topsy-turvy and daft, with USA troops, freed French prisoners and German troops fighting against other German forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Castle_Itter
A truly interesting account that not only shows the daftness of war turned up to 11, but how the bad guys are not always bad guys.
I suppose it doesn't help that often we are not taught the full history. My (non-optional) history lessons in school seemed to be mostly about Egyptians, Romans, Tudors, Saxons, WW1 and WW2. Completely ignoring the history of the world, let alone the British Empire's glory or the exploitation and faults of the British Empire.
I think if anywhere could do a freedom day, it would be the USA, not because it fits the America-Hell-Yeah approach but because it would be done whole hog to fully celebrate the idea, whereas more European countries would make 'Freedom Day' seem more like a chore and piece of legislation.
Very interesting and provoking ideas indeed!
I think, take history out of the curriculum altogether. there's libraries and the internet for anyone who cares for it
they say, winners write history. and I believe it, so history is compromised. a true weapon of (continued) mass destruction
it gives pride, anger, shame
turn remembrance days to Please let us forget this shit and start moving as one
have a monthly Send marching bands down the street and have the craic. just because.
don't celebrate one person or movement or day.
celebrate everything as one, all the time.
they say, winners write history. and I believe it, so history is compromised. a true weapon of (continued) mass destruction
it gives pride, anger, shame
turn remembrance days to Please let us forget this shit and start moving as one
have a monthly Send marching bands down the street and have the craic. just because.
don't celebrate one person or movement or day.
celebrate everything as one, all the time.
Viddax said: My (non-optional) history lessons in school seemed to be mostly about Egyptians, Romans, Tudors, Saxons, WW1 and WW2. Completely ignoring the history of the world, let alone the British Empire's glory or the exploitation and faults of the British Empire.
Viiddax, after a career in education, my own impression is that in the UK today, the History curriculum is designed to inculcate in pupils the belief that throughout its history, Britain never did a single thing that was good, or worthwhile, or done from honourable motives. The left-wing view of History is the one that seems to prevail, and according to that, Britain, and particularly England, are hateful entities, responsible for pretty well all the ills of the world, including the modern ones such as global warming. I think the notion that History lessons promote the glories of the British Empire has long since passed. It's not that long since the current Shadow Foreign Secretary, Emily Thornberry, was taken to task for a tweet in which she sneered at a man in Rochester, Kent, for being a white van driver and displaying the flag of St. George.
Viiddax, after a career in education, my own impression is that in the UK today, the History curriculum is designed to inculcate in pupils the belief that throughout its history, Britain never did a single thing that was good, or worthwhile, or done from honourable motives. The left-wing view of History is the one that seems to prevail, and according to that, Britain, and particularly England, are hateful entities, responsible for pretty well all the ills of the world, including the modern ones such as global warming. I think the notion that History lessons promote the glories of the British Empire has long since passed. It's not that long since the current Shadow Foreign Secretary, Emily Thornberry, was taken to task for a tweet in which she sneered at a man in Rochester, Kent, for being a white van driver and displaying the flag of St. George.
It is almost as though the British never did anything at all! The whole time of Empire is washed over as though it never happened. As though it went from a few angry Celts to some medieval nonsense with a Church of England, and then the wars against evil evil Germany which we won both of. As though the time of colonisation; of new countries (USA) and ancient people (India, Africa, China) and a global world not just a European one never existed. It was only recently in the past few years that I realised the UK still had an empire by the time of WW1.
Nevermind the flag of St. George, the flag of St. David needs some love, if only because it has a colour scheme similar to a bumblebee which is not all that prevalent in flags.
Nevermind the flag of St. George, the flag of St. David needs some love, if only because it has a colour scheme similar to a bumblebee which is not all that prevalent in flags.
