I remember clearly when it hit me that the Afghani campaign of the War on Terror was a debacle, maybe you remember it too. The DoD had just bombed the hell out of everything in Afghanistan and in the rising tide of the civilian exodus and impending humanitarian crisis; someone made the brillant decision to blanket airlift peanut butter packets to the starving refugees and civilians of Afghanistan.
A firestrom ensued. The U.S. spent $40 million to drop peanut butter food packets that the starving Afghanis were feeding to their donkeys. I remember watching CNN, thinking OMG,that is like the French air lifting Foie Gras to Americans and unknowingly we would wonder why they,the French, would shower us with cat food. I remember going online and suggesting we airlift happy meals next, so we could feed all the Afghani dogs while propping up American Corporatism.
My suggestions of rice and beans were met with a cacophony of right winged indignations, that they could all starve to death if they were too good to eat peanut butter.
I remember thinking that the age of vulgarity is now in vogue.
So I am dusting off my poetry books and will attempt to reframe the high road, as I understand it, for those of us groveling in the gutter of vulgarism. Call me arrogant,a Philistine,pretentious or vain...just don't call me vulgar.
From Wikipedia: (sidenote...and I went to Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam Webster, and the Encyclopedia Britannica and could not find a definition more complete or concise as this one from Wiki. Sorry.)
Vulgar(ism) derives from Latin vulgus, the "common folk", and has carried into English its original connotations linking it with the low and coarse motivations that were supposed to be natural to the commons, who were not moved by higher motives like fame for posterity and honor among peers — motives that were alleged to move the literate classes. Thus the concept of vulgarism carries cultural freight from the outset, and from some social perspectives it does not genuinely exist, or — a perhaps this amounts to the same thing — ought not to exist.
Now I consider myself common folk. I like to think that I write for the common man. I am part of the working class arm chair elite who tries to maintain a lttle dignity and self respect in this age of vanity and vulgarity. I carry a sense of propriety and I can detect that which is truly vulgar from that which is not.
As a child I was taught: If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
Later in life I was introduced to the more refined Hindu thought of enlightenment.
Salutation to the Dawn
Listen to the exhortation of the dawn.
Look to this day for it is life.
The very life of life!
In your life's brief course lies all the truths and all the the realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty!
Yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision.
But today well lived makes yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day.
Such is the salutation to the dawn.
-Rig Veda
Beautiful n'est ce pas?
We have been through a very ugly period of time in the last six years. We have experienced the Bush Doctrine. There are many deniers of what this is or what is happening, and a lot of people are angry about it either way. Many are hurting. But we have had great leaders inspire us to higher ideals. Leaders who redefine the presumed vulgarities of political thought and action.
Liberalism is our best and only hope in the world today. For the liberal society is a free society, and it is at the same time and for that reason a strong society. Its strength is drawn from the will of free people committed to great ends and peacefully striving to meet them. Only liberalism, in short, can repair our national power, restore our national purpose, and liberate our national energies. What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label 'Liberal?' If by 'Liberal' they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then let the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal' JFK
Liberalism...now there's a vulgar word for a lot of people...it signifies an acceptance of everyone's ideas. A willingness to listen and discuss.
I hope in the vanities of success and fame, we as a community don't fall victim to the vulgarities of the lowest common denominator. I hope we don't become Republican lite.
Meditate on Peace and understanding. It might do us all a world of good.