===================================================================== Stuck In Traffic "Independent Comment on Current Events and Cultural Phenomena"ÿ Issue #9 - December 1995 ============== Ancient Ritual There are still some of us who remember the ancient ritual, but not many. We performed this ritual every fall, while the trees and plants were dying, while animals retreated to their dens, while birds flew away, while the sun grew colder and colder. We celebrated not just death, but all of nature's dark, mysterious forces. We celebrated the super natural, the ethereal, and the undead. We paid tribute to them so they would be placated for another year. The ritual was not just a reminder that there are dark forces roaming the world, but that there are dark forces roaming within ourselves. Forces that can't be harnessed, can't be tamed, can't entirely be understood. No matter how spiritual, no matter how clean, no matter how civilized we become, we are inextricably tied to nature, pagans by fate, and therefore subject to nature's beautiful maelstrom. Our ritual acknowledged and celebrated this. Many people called this ritual "Halloween." Not me. Not anymore. Our forays in to the darkness on Halloween night have been smothered by reflective tape and shopping mall sales events. Our roars and screams have been replaced by "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You." Our plunder has been inspected and sanitized for our protection. Our Haunted Houses have been turned into charity events. Witches have been enslaved as door ornaments. Ghost stories have been perverted into morality plays. Newscasters tell parents how to "Take the Goblin out of Halloween." This does not bode well. The ancient ritual that once bore the name Halloween bears no resemblance to the event people today call Halloween. I'll have no part of it. To refer to both that time honored ancient ritual and today's subjugation of it as Halloween is a crime against nature. And I predict she will exact her revenge someday. I fear for civilization. Last year I resolved to not participate in Halloween the next year and I more or less kept my word. No costume. No candy on the doorstep. I made a point of not being home for Trick or Treaters. I just couldn't bear to hear one more kid tell me "Thank you" on Halloween night. By chance, I spent Halloween with friends. And although we did attend a costume contest at a local movie house, we did not participate. Why design a costume if you are going to admit up front that it's a costume? And although I couldn't bear the thought of participating in the false Halloween, I also couldn't help feeling an emptiness for not at least having tried to do Halloween right. As I drove home that night, shortly after midnight, the streets in my town were empty. Not a single ghost to be seen. Not a single monster lurking in the shadows. What shadows? There were streetlights everywhere. As I drove through my neighborhood, there wasn't a single sign of mischief. No one was roaming about. There wasn't even a single smashed pumpkin in the street. But something out there knew. Something out there knew that I had the right Halloween spirit. When I pulled into my driveway, there, on the darkened front porch, sat a black cat, very still. I wouldn't have even noticed it except that it's yellow eyes flashed back the reflection of my car's headlights. And as I pulled in to the driveway. It did not move. It just sat there, perfectly composed, watching me. I looked it over as I got out of my car and headed inside, but I did not approach the black cat. I did not try to pet it. That was my tribute to Halloween. ===================================== My Encounter With The Nation of Islam Watching Minister Farrakhan's speech in D.C. reminded me of a brief encounter I had with the Nation of Islam. A couple of years ago, I attended COMDEX, which is this huge trade show for the computer industry, in Atlanta. On the last day of the show, Farrakhan (or at least someone from high up in his organization) was holding a rally across the street from the convention center site. As I was leaving the show there was a flurry of activity around the building where the speech was being held. So I sat on a near by bench and watched. At that time I didn't really know much about the Nation of Islam and Farrakhan. To tell the truth, about all I knew about them was that they always dressed up when they got together and wore bow-ties as sort of a trademark trait. I had heard rumors that Farrakhan had made derogatory remarks about Jews and saw everything in terms of racial conflict. But the Nation of Islam had just never broken through my consciousness enough for me to pay any attention to it. In fact at the time I couldn't even think of Farrakhan's name. I gathered that the speech was currently going on inside and that when it was over, the speaker would be coming out. There was this group of about 60 men dressed up in Nation of Islam style apparently there to serve as a sort of honor guard for him as he left. Everyone was dressed up, very stern, and of course wearing the trade mark bow-tie. The thing that impressed me the most about these men was how organized, and serious they were. This was obviously a big deal to them. So the big moment came and the speaker did eventually come out. But from where I was sitting I couldn't see who the dignitary was. In any event, it went off without a hitch. There was a brief ceremony of sorts where the dignitary acknowledged the honor guard. Some words were exchanged, and then he was off in a big car of some sort. Whoever the organizer was then dismissed the men and they began to break up and leave. My initial reaction was that this was overkill. I'm accustomed to seeing this level of pomp and circumstance only at government events and other big institutions like Universities, etc. And then it dawned on me, that was the point. It's sort of a chicken and egg thing. On the one hand, big institutions create with them a mythology and protocol. But in other ways, the pomp and circumstance _creates_ the institution. It's an _opportunity_ for people to take the institution seriously. It's just that it seems so rare these days for people to be that formal for anything not related to the state. So the show was over and I headed for the subway to go back to my hotel. As it turned out, I shared a subway car with several of the honor guard and a whole bunch of people who had attended the speech. I was the only white person in the subway car. Did I feel scared? Did I feel uncomfortable. No. Well yes, sort of. Not because I was the only white person in the subway car, but because I was so _underdressed_ compared to everyone else. If you've ever been to one of these trade shows, you know that they are _huge_. You spend a lot of time walking down aisle after aisle of exhibits, milling around in crowds, getting hot and tired and thirsty. So dressing for comfort is a must. I was wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt, lugging around shopping bags full of brochures and free stuff I'd scammed at COMDEX. Everyone else in the subway car was dressed in their Sunday best. But aside from the way people were dressed, the fascinating thing about my subway ride was just how _civil_ everyone was to each other. Now, even though all these people had been attending the same speech, they really didn't know each other. It was about like church. You may know a few of the people you were with, but most people are vague acquaintances at best. People were chatting softly to each other. Helping each other on and off the car, waiting patiently for their turn, etc. There were two men sitting next to me. One dressed up in Nation of Islam style and the other in his Sunday suit. The fellow in his Sunday suit struck up some sort of conversation with me about COMDEX, what it was etc. And we chatted about it for a while. I could tell the guy in the bow-tie was listening, but he didn't say anything. Eventually the small talk ran its course like small talk is apt to do and I felt some sort of obligation to return the interest that had been shown to me. But, frankly, I couldn't really think of anything to say. I simply did not know enough about the Nation of Islam to make any sort of comment or intelligent remark. I wanted to comment on the fact that everyone was dressed up on a weekday. But, in a rare spark of diplomatic sensibility that never comes to me except at the most crucial times, I didn't. I sensed from the crowd in the subway car that everyone wanted to maintain the sense that dressing up on a weekday was not the least bit unusual and that being on one's best behavior was a normal, everyday thing. So I wasn't going to dispel the good feelings. Finally, I decided to had to bluster my way through this somehow. It wasn't a matter of fear in any way, but an overwhelming desire not to be rude. I asked the fellow I had been chatting with if he was with the Nation of Islam, and he said yes. And oh boy, all of a sudden I felt eyes on me from all over the place. People were still talking amongst themselves, but I could feel the eyes. If I had known then what I know now about the Nation of Islam, I would have understood why everyone was all of a sudden interested in what I had to say. But at the time, I didn't have a clue. All I knew was that it was some sort of black empowerment organization. So next I said, "It looks like you had a great turn out" in a positive tone of voice and he said yes it was a great speech. And the fellow on the other side of me dressed in his Nation of Islam outfit was still listening in, paying attention. So I said to him, "Were you in the honor guard?" The term "honor guard" seemed to take him by surprise but I thought it was an appropriately generic term for what I had observed. In any event, he said yes, and didn't mention what he thought the correct term was. I asked him how he got to be on it and he said that they were selected from members of the local organizations. So I said, "Congratulations!" in an upbeat and hopefully sincere tone of voice. Well, that broke the tension on the subway car and I sensed mass relaxation. I didn't know why people had tensed up in the first place and I didn't really know why everything was all right now. But it was. I got the impression that the honor guard was sort of a civic leadership thing, a community leader type. Not having a clue about what to say of the Nation of Islam, I decided to play on the sense of community I was picking up. So I changed the subject and asked his advice as to which was the best stop for me to get off of to get to my hotel. And I wasn't just making this up, I was a little confused because the subway maps are never drawn to scale. And he told me and we talked about the places to eat nearby etc. etc until I got to my stop. I didn't say "Goodbye" or "Nice talking to you" or anything else when I got to my stop. I just said, "OK, thanks." and left. I got the feeling that anything else would have been too much. It's amazing how enjoyable a subway ride can be when everyone acts civilized and minds their manners. So I find it a shame that Minister Farrakhan is such a racist. So many of the things he says are good. He talks about self-respect in very real and concrete terms. He talks about self-responsibility and chastises people for whining about their lot in life. He talks about taking an active role in your community. The man oozes with Family Values, though his views of gender roles, I think, would strike most people as a few decades out of date. But in so many ways he is positive, motivating, and inspirational. Based on my experience on that one brief subway ride, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Farrakhan has had a tremendously positive effect on the lives of many black people. I find it equally shameful that the press tends to focus on only the racist side of The Nation of Islam. Yes, Minister Farrakhan's remarks need to be exposed to the light of public scrutiny and judged for what they are. I'm not suggesting that the press should overlook his tendencies. Far from it! But the press could also show some of the positive effect he has had on blacks as well, but they haven't. They will talk about it a little every now and then, but only in the vaguest of terms. And that's a pity for two reasons. First, because the story of how some blacks have turned their lives around by following Farrakhan's role model is such a positive story. But second, and more importantly, the _real_ story in Farrakhan's Nation of Islam is the paradox between the values he encourages people to practice and the motivations, i.e., his racism, that he uses to motivate blacks to adopt those values. Hopefully the men who attended Farrakhan's rally will be able to sort the good part of his message from the bad. I'm optimistic that they will. ==================== "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." -- Francis Bacon ================================== Another of Life's Little Mysteries If heat rises, why do refrigerators always have the coldest part on top or on the side? ========================== Some Thoughts On Christmas Like a lot of people, I get really tired of Christmas. I would enjoy the Christmas season a lot more if it were a lot shorter and a lot simpler. I get tired of the build up to The Big Day. I'm sick of hearing Christmas Carols turned into sales jingles. But I'm equally tired of hearing people complain about how bad Christmas is. I don't appreciate their smug holier than thou attitude when the pooh-pooh the commercialization of Christmas. I believe that most people really do have the right Christmas spirit deep in their hearts and the fact they get caught up in the Christmas Buying Frenzy doesn't change the fact that they are doing it for others. Let's face it. Most of us feel like we aren't kind enough to our fellow man often enough. Not that we don't mean to. But the urgent things in our lives tend to obfuscate the important things in our lives. It's an affliction of the modern life we lead. Christmas is like a naturally occurring antidote to this modern malady. It comes around once a year and demands attention from us. It gives us an opportunity to spend time on important things like show our loved ones how much they mean to us and spending some time and energy helping others in need. Some people do this in a very commercial and material way and others don't. So to the people who are really into the Christmas Season, I say, "Great! Go for it! Do it up big!" To the people who don't care for "the commercialization of Christmas" I say, "Fair enough. You aren't required to participate." But I don't believe there is any correlation between one's devotion to the spirit of Christmas and how much or how little they participate in the commercial trappings of the season. ============ The Shutdown The fun side of the shutdown was the media coverage because it gave lots of people the opportunity to make fools of themselves. My favorite gaffe, was the post office spokesman reassuring people that social security checks would be delivered on time because the post office is "independent" of the government and not affected by the furloughs. Excuse me? When the government pumps hundreds of millions of dollars a year (I don't think their into the billions yet) in to the post office system and they _still_ lose money and when the government prevents other companies from competing with the post office by preventing them from putting things in a mailbox, then I have to conclude that the Post Office is totally dependent on the government for their very existence. Another favorite faux pas heard during the government shutdown was that government retirement pensions were being used to give the government enough cash to pay its debts during the shutdown. I'm not an expert in government accounting but it is my understanding that the government retirement pensions are already being used to "offset" the debt and make it look smaller. So the government effectively used the retirement pensions twice. While it is apparent that the Treasury Department did this in order to make the shutdown look more severe and thus generate pressure on the Congress to settle the budget matter, I think the public will remember this incident as an example of how the government will do anything in he name of expediency no matter how wrong. How are all these government employees going to feel knowing that the government, in a matter of hours, could zap their retirement pensions for whatever purpose it wants? If I were a government employee, I would be terribly concerned about the security of my retirement. On the first day of the government shutdown, all the major networks had this as the big story for the day, of course. One of them, I forget which, showed the "debt clock" on TV that day. The debt clock is this big sign in some major city, New York I think, that continually flashes what the current national debt is. It's this huge number and the number increases so fast you can't read many of the digits. But when the government shutdown, it literally could not borrow any money and to reflect this, the debt clock was stopped. So during those couple of days that the government shutdown, the national debt was not increasing. The amusing thing about all this was that the new broadcaster was trying to make this sound awful. They were showing the debt clock on TV and the newscaster was speaking in borderline hysterical tones about how the government could not borrow any more money and therefore the clock was shutdown. Frankly, I thought it was something worth dancing in the streets for! I'd call this a positive side effect of the shutdown! At first, there were some glib comments from the media about furloughed workers getting "unplanned holidays" but they quickly changed their tune to "forced holidays" and talked about how federal workers were not getting paid. And there were at least some federal workers in our area that volunteered their time off to do community service for various organizations in the area. Of course this got lots of media coverage. And I'm glad they did. It's good to see people doing some good for the community for a change. The real net effect of the shutdown was actually very minor. I believe it was mostly political wrangling between the Congress and the President. It made for great TV for a couple of days but that was all. However, as the country's financial crisis gets more and more urgent, I can foresee a day when there is a government shutdown every year while the budget is hammered out. And as the crisis grows and grows, the political stakes in the budget battle will get higher and higher. The more heated the battle of over the budget becomes, the longer these government shutdowns are likely to be. And the government shutdowns might start being long enough to cause actual problems. So while the recent shutdown was not very important in terms of actual effects on the nation. It is perhaps an omen of things to come. The recent government shutdown doesn't just show that the government is broke; it shows that the government is broken. ========================= The Bosnia "Peace" Treaty These modern times sure are complicated and confusing. Why is it that during the war in Bosnia we could not, would not send in troops, but now that there is a "peace treaty" signed, we can send in 20,000-40,000 American troops, and tens of thousands of troops from other NATO countries in to Bosnia to "keep the peace"? It's absurd. If the warring factions in Bosnia were really interested in peace, they would have settled their differences way back in 1992 when they negotiated their last treaty. But as the world can see from their actions since then, the various factions in Bosnia are more interested in blowing each others' brains out than in peaceful coexistence. And if the peace treaty had any hope of being successful I don't think it would take thousands and thousands of military personnel from around the globe to "keep the peace." I can see the validity of a peace treaty that calls for a small number of neutral observers from other nations to come in and observe each side to see that they are abiding by the terms of the treaty. But the scale of our military commitment to Bosnia is nothing short of a military invasion. If it takes this many thousands of troops to make sure that the treaty is enforced, then I have to conclude that the treaty is meaningless and the two sides are intent on continuing their war. I'm afraid this does not bode well for our American and NATO "peace keepers." Rather than acting like impartial international observer checking on treaty compliance, they will be acting like a third person trying to break up a fight between two other people. I am scared that it won't be long until the American and NATO troops are viewed as much as the enemy as they are viewed as peace keepers. It seems quite obvious to me that Bill Clinton has been intent on making the war in Bosnia an example of his foreign policy leadership. Watching the news from the Ohio peace negotiations, it was clear to me that the Clinton administration simply would not take "no" for an answer. There was absolutely going to be a treaty signed no matter what so that Bill Clinton could score some points on the campaign trail. And he got a treaty, though even the national media has to admit that it's a "fragile peace" at best. But it is a treaty nonetheless and Bill can cite this as proof of his leadership for the `96 campaign trail, at least until American soldiers start getting killed over there. I'm sure Bill hopes that doesn't start until after the elections. So now Bill has two military invasions to his credit. First there was the Haiti invasion. And interestingly enough, no one in the Clinton administration talks about what's going on in Haiti these days. I wonder why not? How peaceful is the peace down there? Now there is the Bosnia invasion to "keep the peace." And one might credit Bill with the Somalia invasion because, while he wasn't the one who initiated it, he was the one who managed it. In any case, I believe we have ample evidence of Bill Clinton's style of leadership as Commander In Chief to make a judgement for the `96 elections. But what about the opposition? Where have the Republicans been? Are they for sending troops to Bosnia or not? It's been very difficult to get straight answers from any of them. Even Bob Dole has been uncharacteristically wishy-washy on the issue. Some days it seems he supports it and some days it seems he's against it. Most Republicans however seem to try to avoid taking any stand at all on the worthiness of sending 20,000 military troops to Bosnia. This is inexcusable. When the nation is faced with a military operation of this magnitude, when this many lives are at stake, I believe it is a moral _imperative_ for our representatives to voice a clear opinion on the issue, either for or against, so that there can be a national debate. But the Republicans have not done so. Instead, they make half-hearted complaints that Congress has been bypassed by the President and that the President is not supposed to send troops off to a military operation without getting Congress' approval. Which is true enough, but it shows the depth of their hypocrisy. They certainly didn't complain when a Republican President was sending troops all around the world without getting the approval of the Democratically led Congress. If the Republicans had any backbone at all, they would be taking a stand on the issue. And if they decide that they are opposed to the military invasion of Bosnia, they could be exerting a lot of pressure on the President to pull out. All this whining about Congress being bypassed by the President is just a distraction to avoid having to take sides on the issue. ====================== About Stuck In Traffic Stuck In Traffic is a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to independently evaluating current events and cultural phenomena. Contact Information: All queries, submissions, subscription requests, comments, and hate-mail about Stuck In Traffic should be sent to Calvin Stacy Powers preferably via E-mail (powers@interpath.com) or by mail (2012 Talloway Drive, Cary, NC 27511). Copyright Notice: Stuck In Traffic is published and copyrighted by Calvin Stacy Powers who reserves all rights. Individual articles are copyrighted by their respective authors. Unsigned articles are authored by Calvin Stacy Powers. Permission is granted to redistribute Stuck In Traffic as long as it is redistributed as a whole, in its entirety, including this copyright notice. For permission to republish an individual article, contact the author. 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