“IT IS SO ORDERED” is, for the record, a bad ass way to sign your final ruling, Judge Walker. Major props.

The above video is from DC, and I was in Seattle – but the attitude towards race here was the same. It would have been a non-issue, were it not for those misrepresenting the movement. Those across the sidewalk protesting the tea party shouted, “Fascists, Nazis, KKK. Racists, bigots, anti-gay… tea party go away!” But those actually attending the tea party showed them that they would define their own movement. The volunteer organizer got on stage and railed against racism, not in response to the chants, but before they had even started. She said there was a no-tolerance policy against racism, and that everyone was welcome – no matter what race they were, how much money they made, or what their family looked like. The crowd cheered in support.

A majority of the folks on stage were women community organizers, and the founder is a teacher for low income adult learners at a local non profit, and has a Latino heritage herself. Speeches I’ve heard at tea parties, both in Seattle and DC, have been given by non-white speakers, and received by a crowd full of support and admiration for them. I saw tea party signs in English and Spanish, and one sign that even said “Not just angry white people, angry Asian people too” – held by an Asian woman.

Photo of speaker Jennifer Burke by Don Ward

There were some offensive signs, but they were outside the event. There was a group of Lyndon LaRouche folks with their standard, sickening Obama-wearing-a-Hitler-mustache signs. A bunch of twenty-somethings with the tea party stood next to them with signs with arrows that read: “Caution: Not everyone here represents the rest of us”! They argued that though they didn’t agree with the president politically, he was deserving of more respect, and couldn’t be compared to Hitler – the signs were downright disgusting. A few non-tea party folks tried to pose as if they were in the group and then make idiots of themselves – one stood at the front, drinking, and yelling, “Bring back Bush! Bring back Bush!” For all his trying, he could not get anyone to join him in the chant. Many at the tea party were very critical of the policies of Bush as well as Obama.

Photo by Don Ward

On that note, I spoke to an observer who exclaimed, “Bush was a part of the problem!” I told him I agreed, we should have been more vocal about it then. “But,” I added, “I don’t understand how people can say, ‘The spending problem is old. Where were you then?’ and not expect me to reply, ‘Where are you now? If you agree, why don’t you stand with us now that people have finally woken up? The problem still exists!’ ”

Partially, it’s because the movement has successfully been defined by people outside of the movement, and though I saw nothing but neighborly love between tea partiers of many races, ages, and genders; and even though I saw nothing but outright rejections of racism yesterday – the people there kept insisting we were racists, because that’s what they’ve been told to believe. Even friends of mine keep believing what people outside the movement tell them about it, rather than their friends who are actually involved. People are literally purposely showing up at tea parties with awful signs to discredit the movement – there are web forums dedicated to organizing people around this idea, and I saw their shady tactics multiple times yesterday. Rather than fight on the issues, they are willing to make fools of themselves in hopes that it will discredit us. It’s downright lacking integrity. It’s no wonder people see mostly white people at the events, when everyone else has been told “they don’t want you – they are the new KKK.” Most of the people protesting the tea party itself were also older white people, however, that doesn’t make me assume they are racists or start telling others that theirs is a KKK event, because that would be a huge logical jump to take (and make me an irresponsible jerk).

If you disagree with me politically, that’s honestly fine (90% of my friends do). But do it with integrity. Fight on political philosophy – not on this immature rumor peddling and fear mongering about the Tea Parties being all about race. Please, let’s give each other and this country a little respect.

Me neither!

(Spoiler Warning!)
People say the plot is basically “Trees good! Capitalism wrong!” and there are plenty of right-wingers freaking out about the message, if not for the supposedly anti-corporate one, for the “new agey” religious message. But really, James Cameron is a friggin’ genius. He has cleverly disguised a movie that is at it’s roots totally in love with conservative thought as leftist propaganda. Why do I say this movie is a bastion of conservative thought?

Please consider the following:
1.) The whole movie is about property rights
2.) Everyone has weapons on Pandora
3.) Everyone on Pandora hunts (and does it well)
4.) It’s obvious in this movie that if there is a U.N.-like structure around, it does nothing
5.) The Na’vi culture is uber-religious, mate-for-life types

Okay, I’m mostly joking about many of these points, but seriously when I walked away from this movie I did say to myself, this is all about property rights. Capitalism as an ideal is a trade system where both parties come to mutually agreed upon terms to exchange goods for currency. It must be a win-win situation, by at least some margin, or else one of the parties would refuse the trade. In this system, property rights must be respected. Taking by force is anti-capitalist in it’s nature. How can you have a trade market if people may simply take by force?

This is not to say that there are never those in a capitalist system that use violence and coercion, but it is morally opposed to the capitalist ideal. The whole idea of being civilized grown ups is living in a world where you must work and pay for what you desire, you cannot just take it from others like a schoolyard bully. In this movie, the bad guys were corporate mercenaries who had driven off a moral cliff like a bunch of lemmings – in fact, they were exposed as merely thieves with serious resources. Of course it’s natural that we should come to loathe them in the movie, despite being the human characters, for they are morally corrupt. They stand squarely against the foundations of a capitalist society – that you must trade not take, and that each party must decide what is beneficial for themselves.

Because the evil-doers in this movie happen to be from a corporation, people think it’s leftist propaganda. But what if the mercenaries were still Marines and they were claiming the resources under eminent domain? I would find it intriguing to read those reviews. The problem is not the organization they happen to be working for, it’s the use of force to steal resources from another. It all comes down to property rights.

As of twenty hours ago, Avatar has made $659.6 million for News Corp (yes, that News Corp). Don’t let James Cameron fool you into thinking he’s some sort of anti-capitalist proletarian. His movie just made two very big statements: 1.) no one has the right to disarm you of your property, even if you’re blue, and 2.) I am so rich I swim in money like Scrooge McDuck.

As a side note, if Jake has just jumped on the giant pterodactyl thing towards the beginning of the movie to show the people he was the sixth chosen one who would bring balance to the Force, he could have easily convinced the Smurf tribe to move to Timbuktu, married Pocahontas, and probably negotiated some sort of clean mining process for Fern Gully. Also, the movie would have only been about an hour long and I’d have two hours of my life back. I’m still never seeing Titanic. That is, unless it’s re-released in 3D. ;-)

Please spread the word on this, this is an excellent retort – and hilarious!