2016-12-29 Reply to Gerald: the Election of Trump will help us. A sea-change into something rich and strange.

Continuing with reactions to  2016-12-24   I wouldn’t like to wish you peace if there was no hope for it.:

And related to the conditions for successful revolutions, Derek’s question . . .. 

Gerald captured what others also expressed.  His words:

Thank you so much my friend,   I am still hunkered down in psychic fear of what happened south of the border so your message was especially welcomed.  thank you

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Sandra speaking.

I have looked at it this way, Gerald:

We are in dire straits on a number of fronts.

The election of Clinton might have been worse than the election of Trump because it would not have caused the upheaval by citizens that comes with Trump.   We need the upheaval.

More of the status quo in the corrupted  political, financial, educational and justice systems is a doomsday scenario.

To me Trump has exploded the walls that concealed the rot.   Now that it’s laid out for all Americans to view,  there is at least the potential for moral and creative leadership to rise to the challenge of using the varied talents of good people to re-build.   We need replacements, not amendments.   And urgently.

The election of Trump should focus the revolution on what it is that Trump represents.  Which is a big part of the problem.    Hollywood America deals in illusion.  A citizenry steeped in propaganda; they do not know their own country, reality versus illusion  (not any more than Canadians know the extent of and collusion with the intrusion of the American military-industrial-surveillance-Government complex into Canada and how that manifests itself in reality.)

I was thinking about the word “arrogance”.   You would know much better than me the Eastern or First Nations understanding about the relationship between arrogance and knowledge.   It is understood that the more you learn, the more knowledgeable you become,  the more you become aware, the more humble you become.   You understand how little you actually know, how much more there is to learn.

An arrogant person or society believes they, their intellect and their ways are superior to others.   They wear blinders, seeing only the path directly in front of them.   Their learning is inhibited.    An older friend who has studied Buddhism told me that the definition of arrogant is to be ignorant of the fact that you are ignorant.   That is valid (as I understand things), although not an understanding communicated by dictionaries of English.

Hopefully that is another trait that Americans can recognize through seeing themselves (a collective self) reflected in Trump.  Once recognized, it can be addressed.

A nation built on propaganda and illusion produces ignorance.   I don’t see how we can hope to collectively find solutions to climate change and other threats to our survival IF the citizenry is kept in a state of widespread ignorance  (thank goodness for the internet).

I do not mean to say that Canada is much better.   We are lacking.   Our educational institutions falter – – it seems to me that most universities are clueless about their responsibility to ensure that the students they graduate, at a fundamental level MUST have the skills and knowledge to understand and actualize the role and responsibilities of a citizen.

And there is a bias which to me reflects a worrisome ignorance about the role of creativity in a society (University cuts to the Arts and Soft Sciences).  The importance of impeccable role models; incestuous relationships; unchallenged systems; the use of “spin” – –  all connive to mock critical thinking.

Keep talking Gerald!   Create the sea change.

/S

P.S.  I have been curious about the origin of the phrase “sea change:.   You may be interested.   It identifies an element we need.  I think it happened to Wesley Clark Jr at Standing Rock.

First, Sea-change from Wikipedia:

Sea-change or seachange, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, means “a change wrought by the sea.”[1] The term originally appears in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest in a song sung by a supernatural spirit, Ariel, to Ferdinand, a prince of Naples, after Ferdinand’s father’s apparent death by drowning:

Full fathom five thy father lies,

Of his bones are coral made,

Those are pearls that were his eyes,

Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea-change,

into something rich and strange,

Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell,

Ding-dong. 

Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong, bell.

The term sea-change is therefore often used to mean a metamorphosis or alteration.[2][3] For example, a literary character may transform over time into a better person after undergoing various trials or tragedies  (e.g. “There is a sea change in Scrooge’s personality towards the end of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.”)  As with the term Potemkin village, sea-change has also been used in business culture. In the United States, sea-change is often used as a corporate buzzword. In this context, it need not refer to a substantial or significant transformation, but can indicate a far less impressive change.[4]

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Powerful words spoken by Wesley Clark Jr are recorded in  Why I Kneeled Before Standing Rock Elders and Asked For Forgiveness, Yes! Magazine. (former Army Lt. Wesley Clark Jr., son of Gen. Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.)

Near the end of the article Wesley Clark describes his experience at Standing Rock.  He could have been a character in Shakespeare’s  The Tempest, his lines:  a sea-change,  into something rich and strange.

You might like to read the article in Yes! Magazine at the above link.