VOGUE copyright Conde Nast
© 2013 h2omeloncholy@blogspot.com
© 2013 KM Fikes
Citizenship and Consumerism have long since been the strangest of bedfellows. Please see Transatlantic Slave Trade for specifics. One may think oneself patriotic for keeping steadfast to cranberry sauce on November's last Thursday. Alas, it is the following day, gentlesoulfolk, that validates your loyalty to our democracy. Upon this Black Friday, perchance MasterCard-s will hit their max. Might such honor the stark adversity of the Pilgrims befo' us - inspired by yon 'debt' owed to Indigenous Peops? Let us then revert to the last line of the credit commercials. How 'Master' ad execs manage to wed merciless sentimentality with commerce. A single-word prayer, if ye will:
"Priceless."
The 'priceless' pre-holiday moment for H2Omelon moi is no sale - brick n' mortar, on-line, nor catalogued. Rather, the tantalizingly subversive Norman Rockwellian poster of POTUS - notorious for his mythological Kenyan citizenship - turning to silence undocumented immigration activist, Ju Hong, deserves a gilded frame over a crackling fire upon our national hearth.
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/11/27/my_family_has_been_separated_for
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| IMAGE CREDIT:Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo |
One is unaware if the Affordable Care Act web engineer may have also chosen to place the organized DREAMer behind the podium o' POTUS. Such an esteemed position results from White House invitation. Might the egregious error possibly be a symptom of the worst of dissOrientalism? Twenty-four year-old DREAMer from UC Berkeley, Ju Hong has a public record of vocal dissent. A stereotype has been blown wide ope: that of a docile Asian presence - mo'ova flattered to be 'chosen'. South Korean Ju Hong? He done gone rogue.
Pilgrims, Colonists, Slaves, Ellis Island-ers, Veterans, Freedom Riders, DREAMers (Development, Relief, and Education for 'Alien' Minors), Et Cetera. Those Et Cetera are by no means less brave and commended for the tenacity of their conviction despite their invisibility. All are championed, if not as Founders, as chief contributors to the union as it stands today. POTUS chose to lecture Ju Hong in this holiday week punctuated by a feast in commemoration of immigrant survival and native exploitation. Mr. Hong was encouraged to slog thru the inept legislative process instead of "shouting". His protest, howe'er? It sho' nuff be 'Mericana personified. As an undocumented activist, removal from that Bay Area hall was the least of his concerns. Deportation for Mr. Hong - and over a million more - remains a daily threat at any moment's whim. What inconvenienced or even insulted POTUS was an Act of Resistance with consequences too grave for contemplation by those who may take their nine digits of existence - socially secure - for granted.
One suffers bouts of nausea from a visceral ick to certain displays attempting - albeit failing - to stain this historic presidency. Gubernatorial, blonde hair on end, wagging a finger at POTUS on an airport tarmac. Shouting "You lie!" as the Commander-in-Chief addresses a joint session of Congress. Or...Or...Pick thy diss - any diss...One shall halt there, conceding - sadly - that the list is only shorter than Santa's frost-bitten hemp scroll dangling past his sleigh and precariously trailing under a hoof of Rudolf.
Nevadaless, for the first time, in quite a ripened H2Omeloncholic™ turn - effortlessly theatrically absurd - one, well...one...ah hell, I...stood. Surreal as surprised. I stood with Ju Hong. He put not only his opinion but his very life on the line. That opinion, coincidentally, happens to critique the glass 'Merican Dream as it shatters from the random removal of bread-winning, border-crossed parents from their children.
Arguably, the Hongian dissruption is not the official offense in the contentious 'exchange' almost upon Thanksgiving Eve; that charge is reserved for the present administration's deportation 'record'. 'Record'. Indeed. Outta respect for the current administration and quasi belief in its redemption on this despairing issue, one refrains from printing the unnerving number of our fellow humanity disscounted as deported since the inauguration of POTUS. A precedence, though, continues to set itself - oddly apropos for this time of year:
For as long as this blog draws H2Omelon-ed breath, one shall not begin to comprehend why Truth2Power speech is mo' oft than not a dissturbing confrontation. If da Status Quo is stable, 'twould seem it could betta tolerate a challenge in the form of conscious kinetic discourse. When the façade of certain socio tropes - like POSTness - breaks, reality floods forth in catastrophic force as if from ill-constructed Louisiana levees.
I stand with Ju Hong now. And all those drowning as damned. DREAMers - most Milliennials - are superheros. One does not gush in usage of the term. How else do we dare to understand adolescent phantoms who thrive academically in challenging circumstances only to emerge from dire protective shadows for nuttin' but the distant sake of raw Justice?
I have no other choice but to take this stance if Da Founder's intent - as flawed as conflicted - is to be observed in its finer possibility. In so doing, I stand for all our states united. One writes not of 'Merica as she currently conducts immigration policy. Contrarily, one envisions a culturally, ethnically enriched land - mine - that one suspects a justifiably offended POTUS, too, supports.
At least as much as our economy.
Black Friday. Bargains galore.
What is priceless to you n' yours? What cannot be bought nor sold nor even discounted? What is too immense in its import to affect a credit score or be wrapped in holiday ribbon? One does not believe in speaking for others. Yet n' still? One might consider placing an undocumented bet on Ju Hong's answer.
Pilgrims, Colonists, Slaves, Ellis Island-ers, Veterans, Freedom Riders, DREAMers (Development, Relief, and Education for 'Alien' Minors), Et Cetera. Those Et Cetera are by no means less brave and commended for the tenacity of their conviction despite their invisibility. All are championed, if not as Founders, as chief contributors to the union as it stands today. POTUS chose to lecture Ju Hong in this holiday week punctuated by a feast in commemoration of immigrant survival and native exploitation. Mr. Hong was encouraged to slog thru the inept legislative process instead of "shouting". His protest, howe'er? It sho' nuff be 'Mericana personified. As an undocumented activist, removal from that Bay Area hall was the least of his concerns. Deportation for Mr. Hong - and over a million more - remains a daily threat at any moment's whim. What inconvenienced or even insulted POTUS was an Act of Resistance with consequences too grave for contemplation by those who may take their nine digits of existence - socially secure - for granted.
One suffers bouts of nausea from a visceral ick to certain displays attempting - albeit failing - to stain this historic presidency. Gubernatorial, blonde hair on end, wagging a finger at POTUS on an airport tarmac. Shouting "You lie!" as the Commander-in-Chief addresses a joint session of Congress. Or...Or...Pick thy diss - any diss...One shall halt there, conceding - sadly - that the list is only shorter than Santa's frost-bitten hemp scroll dangling past his sleigh and precariously trailing under a hoof of Rudolf.
Nevadaless, for the first time, in quite a ripened H2Omeloncholic™ turn - effortlessly theatrically absurd - one, well...
Arguably, the Hongian dissruption is not the official offense in the contentious 'exchange' almost upon Thanksgiving Eve; that charge is reserved for the present administration's deportation 'record'. 'Record'. Indeed. Outta respect for the current administration and quasi belief in its redemption on this despairing issue, one refrains from printing the unnerving number of our fellow humanity disscounted as deported since the inauguration of POTUS. A precedence, though, continues to set itself - oddly apropos for this time of year:
"No room at the inn."
I stand with Ju Hong now. And all those drowning as damned. DREAMers - most Milliennials - are superheros. One does not gush in usage of the term. How else do we dare to understand adolescent phantoms who thrive academically in challenging circumstances only to emerge from dire protective shadows for nuttin' but the distant sake of raw Justice?
I have no other choice but to take this stance if Da Founder's intent - as flawed as conflicted - is to be observed in its finer possibility. In so doing, I stand for all our states united. One writes not of 'Merica as she currently conducts immigration policy. Contrarily, one envisions a culturally, ethnically enriched land - mine - that one suspects a justifiably offended POTUS, too, supports.
At least as much as our economy.
Black Friday. Bargains galore.
What is priceless to you n' yours? What cannot be bought nor sold nor even discounted? What is too immense in its import to affect a credit score or be wrapped in holiday ribbon? One does not believe in speaking for others. Yet n' still? One might consider placing an undocumented bet on Ju Hong's answer.
a clever as compassionate critique
on the implausibility of
POSTness
Til our next 'post', feast upon produce in season...
© 2013 KM Fikes
© 2013 h2omeloncholy@blogspot.com
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