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Wednesday, March 30, 2011
EDITORIAL
A Fasting Hungry Guy Gobbles
Up A Beast Of Burden
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Wednesday,
March 30, 2011
I had listened to Mike Malloy's radio program last night and heard about Matthew
Schauenburg. Mr. Schauenburg is a man, a Wisconsinite, an American, who
was outraged at his state's governor Scott Walker. Outraged enough to
starve himself.
Starve himself to death, if he has to.
"Day 24", it said yesterday on Mr. Schauenburg's blog
"Hungry Guy". Twenty-four days in
America without food.
Matthew Schauenburg has decided to forgo food not because he can't afford it,
but because of a principle.
No lionizing here or appeals to righteous fervor. Apparently though, Mr.
Schauenburg is willing to die for what he believes in, a throwback to the 1960s
in the mold of a Dr. Martin Luther King, who was assassinated on April 4, 1968,
while in Memphis supporting the strike of garbage workers there, 43 years ago
this coming Monday.
And do you remember
Rachel Corrie, an American crushed to death by
an Israeli tank while protesting Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip on March
16, 2003, three days before the invasion in Iraq began?
"Miral" is Julian
Schnabel's new film, based on a true story about the
Israel-Palestinian conflict. It opens very soon in select U.S. cities.
(Friday in New York City.) Dare I say it: I think some may be more upset at
"Miral" than they were Ms. Corrie's untimely, awful death.
Martyrdom schmartadom
By the way, I don't think Matthew Schauenburg is trying to be a martyr, but then
again, so what if people think he is? So what if he is?
"Thinking isn't knowing", Gregory Peck's Sam Bowden character once said in J.
Lee Thompson's 1962 film "Cape Fear".
And how is dying for a cause a bad or a stigmatizing thing?
I know I don't have -- and many reading this fragmented, convoluted editorial
probably don't have -- the stomach to starve to make a point about legislation
that cripples working class and middle-class workers and their rights to
organize, bargain and unionize for health benefits, wages and myriad other
vitalities to keep roofs over heads, food in bellies and clothes on bodies.
But many Wisconsinites could be starved as a result of the actions of their
governor. Part of me wonders how on earth people voted for Mr. Walker in
the first place. (Some probably wonder the same about the current
president.)
Perhaps because all of this happened in Wisconsin, all of this stripping away of
human rights and dignities happened in that so-called "cheesy" Midwestern
(cheese) state of Super Bowl champions, few, with the exception of the hundreds
of thousands of protesters, cared.
And there's Michigan. What if legislation like this Wisconsin debacle was
passed in New York? Or in your state?
If every state in the U.S. had legislation like Wisconsin's, would what happened
in Egypt last month happen here?
A little voice within asks: are we slowly but surely being pushed to the brink?
Wars, lousy economies, Wall Street heists, unemployment, no accountability.
Survey says: "not a recipe for social comfort."
That is troubling, yet true. Peace of course, is the best and only way.
People are being arrested in Michigan and Wisconsin today for merely exercising
their free-speech First Amendment rights.
"You remember the law, don't you?", Denzel Washington's on screen character once
said in a film.
Fame: Part nothing
Nowadays people are famous for absolutely nothing at all. I don't even
think Andy Warhol envisioned the specifics of what he once said to be quite like
this, though. Famous purely because of "good looks" (and zero talent?)
Famous because you don't raise critical questions, existing as a hired
empty-suited buffoon instead?
Why isn't Matthew Schauenberg famous?
I think you know why.
With three wars going on and the U.S. mainstream media deciding to look
elsewhere for a story -- since this one wasn't sexy enough (hint: it didn't
bleed) -- one of the very least things a soul could do was tweet
this.
Most of the responses were favorable, like
this one. Some were not.
If you think Mr. Schauenburg is
not brave, if you think he is a
"loser", then what do you make of Wisconsin
governor Scott Walker?
After all, Mr. Walker signed legislation that strips away bargaining power for
salaries, health benefits, and union organizing for workers of the middle class
and working class.
Is that brave?
The negative responses did not address this as they denounced Mr. Schauenburg
for his response to the governor's heartless actions.
The level of anger of the negative tweeters was palpable though unsurprising.
We've been socialized in this 21st century climate to look at sacrifice as an
irritant or an inconvenience. Some of us are entranced by our cellphones
to the point where a good number of us drive cars while talking into them,
nearly hitting people in the process. And the word on the street is, don't
you dare call me -- you just text me instead.
Automation is our groove. Sanitization is the move. No risk.
No pain. All reward.
TMZ Chimpanzee.
No disrespect to Mr. Levin -- for he has shrewdly tapped into a market and made
a kazillion dollars in it. That's as American as you can get, no?
TMZ, once an utter laughing stock, has become more respected by some than the
news organizations once considered the pillars of the Fourth Estate.
Truth is, TMZ is probably more likely to cover Matthew Schauenburg than The New
York Times, which is now charging customers money to read its articles online
and elsewhere.
Ignore this: In re Twitter Patter
Thanks, New York Times, for charging us to read the news -- and thanks for perhaps plagiarizing my
phrase
"Twitter Patter", which I
foolishly thought I had invented.
You should have trademarked it, buddy.
"Thumbs Up" is a great trademark, and Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were smart
enough to do the right thing. Today, many years later, that phrase remains
pure gold.
If I had trademarked "Twitter Patter" -- and from a legal point of view Twitter
would likely have the exclusive rights to the phrase anyway -- would that have
stopped the Times? I don't know that I came up with "Twitter Patter" first
in the whole wide world, perhaps even before Twitter -- but I'm almost sure I
did before the Times did.
"Aw, quit yer bellyachin', fool!"
What have I learned today?
At the end of the day, Scott Walker isn't the issue. Matthew Schauenburg,
bless his heart, isn't the issue. Both are doing something. One took
a negative step and with a stroke of a pen affected millions of lives. The
other took a brave, bold and inspiring step to make a point and seems willing to
lose his life unless governor Walker has an attack of conscience or an epiphany,
whichever comes last.
Previous editorial:
The Lion, The Witch and The Warlock
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