I was watching Sanford and Son the other day and Grady said “America is not America - America is the people in America.” I thought about how this fit in with what I am writing.
On the one hand, America IS Amerixa, or America, a Fairy Being - according to the Everything is Fairies theme, the theme that says Trump and Kim Jong Un are both hurt Fairy Spirits calling out for attention like the Whole Country’s main issue of the day. Nuclear Weapons are “his” problem - though our nuclear weapon habit is thousands of times as bad - and police brutality is “my” problem, even though I also have really terrible hair. I mean, even though we try to complain when other countries lock people up but are really bad about scrutinizing our own extremely racist and oppressive and brutal police and Injustice system.
But America IS America, this beautiful fairy who is everything good we’ve always dreamed of being and is really at her best when we live up to it - but also has bad moods and bad days and lifelong issues she has to deal with from a lot of trauma she has endured and caused in her life.
And so is North Korea - so is every country, the whole world, the moon and other planets and their moons, the astrological signs, etc - and “in the other direction” the wind trees flowers animals us and insects.
I have noticed in the last week that a butterfly flies in front of me at least once a day.
It reminds me of quoting that Muhammad Yunus guy who said An Yang Suu Kyi needed to rediscover herself and reinvent herself to come back to peace, how Gaga said something about reinventing yourself every day, how a science program on the radio last week was talking about how caterpillars already have their butterfly wing structures in their bodies and some implication that this means they “know” they will become butterflies -
All of these things make me ready for Transformation - for the world. But I’m not expecting the Burmese or American or North Korean leaders to change their minds and transform - I mean, it would be awesome if they just “did that on their own” - but I can change myself. I can transform myself and know that it will help the world.
If I really do make a change and then see that change reflected in these leaders that will show that the worldwide connection magic side of this works - and if I make a change which improves myself and my life that helps the world even if some assholes mostly blow it up the next day. But how am I to say that the change I make today isn’t the turning point?
It could be a change I’ve known I need to make and keep putting off - I need to make some art. It could be a change I keep misplacing my direction on, a change I don’t need to make at all, just a course I’m already on that I need to follow better - falling in love all the time.
So I will make that change, today -I will make art again. I will fall in love however and stop trying to catch myself or be “cautious” or take any control of it - which means I will most likely be shy and artistic because that’s my best most natural response to those feelings.
What would happen if Trump was a little more shy and artistic? I spent many years hating George W Bush for all the people he killed and the terrible ideas he promoted. But his art is sweet and simple and childlike and people forgive the murder and evil when they can say “oh, how sweet!” and there are ways to say that about anyone.
I’m going to make that kids picture book about Kim Jong Un, Bright Morning Star, since that’s the kind of things I’m talking about, the cuteness coming through and saving the world.
America IS America, a Pure Fairy of good ideals. But Grady was right - America is NOT just some idea of America, the Country - he was defending why he wasn’t sending his duplicated Social Security check back because “America” is not a person but a collection of everyone, in response to Lamont saying he was hurting America.
Like I said, i can see it both ways - America is All of Us, and I mean ALL OF US - and it is ALSO “One Being” - but only when seen from a Fairy perspective, only when seen as a moody, needy, dreamful yet traumatized being - like all of us - who can make mistakes, who needs attention and help to grow.
When seen as a Fixed, Pure, Unchanging Being, America is simply evil and a really bad idea -any country seen that way becomes evil and really bad ideas.
That’s the real struggle going on now in this country - in this world, and Magically, “ironically” (this means you can iron all the layers down at every scale and they fit the same pattern) in personal relationships.
In an argument or dispute we treat ourselves like a Fixed Being, “I’m the one whom your actions offended.” We expect the other person to change - that’s why we argue with them. If we wanted to change ourselves the conversation could go very differently.
I’m going out for a smoke.
When the basic foundation of every argument, between people, between nations, between ideas (or angels or demons or fairies) is “I refuse to change and insist that you change instead” then the solution to every argument is to consider “how can EYE change (how can I change ME) to save or improve this relationship?”
This is the true essence of compromise. It’s not what politicians call compromise - it’s not “what in my agenda can I put off for now and then insist upon later?” It’s really “what can I change about myself and my perspective to better understand and help the ones whose needs are in conflict with mine?”
No one really needs nuclear weapons, it’s really a bad idea for everyone. America just has no place telling other countries they can’t have them until we get rid of our own - none of the nuclear armed states have any room to talk. But there are many more countries who don’t have nuclear weapons - instead of the whole world being about who can break into that club - and North Korea and Iran CAN, they have proven themselves capable of doing this in spite of crippling sanctions and suffering people.
In a Fairy Argument between nations, telling North Korea and Iran “You Can Not Make Nuclear Weapons” - when they obviously CAN, and can do it no matter how hard you try to stop them - you are just challenging their capability: “I know ONE way you can’t grow, you can’t become a nuclear armed state!” OF COURSE someone is going to try and prove you wrong if you challenge their capabilities - you’re creating the problem because you refuse to acknowledge how at the heart of it you ARE the problem.
Instead of telling North Korea and Iran “You Can Not Make Nuclear Weapons” why not try this approach: “Why would you want to have nuclear weapons? That’s really stupid.”
That would be a hard thing for America to say, with thousands of nuclear weapons. But hundreds of countries could say that completely unironically. And they could say that to America.
The reason we can’t ask the question that way is because we are such hypocrites - “Where did you get this stuff?!?!?” “I learned it from YOU, Dad, I learned it from watching YOU” for anyone who doesn’t remember Mario’s previous career as Junkie Dad on the Say No To Drugs commercial. But if EVERYONE else was asking “Why would you want nuclear weapons? That’s really stupid” then we would start to feel really stupid, like wearing something horribly out of fashion.
Whoever get’s RID of nuclear weapons first will be the Cool Kid of the new era - since we have the most we COULD be the Coolest but only if we really hurry. Most likely we are going to think we are the coolest because we have a sportscar and everyone else will be in jetpacks. And there will be that one REALLY cool kid with the cool haircut who decided not to make a nuclear bomb and make the first jetpacks, instead, who set the new trend.
But mostly everyone will be friends and see each other as equals, because jetpacks will be cheap, and maybe laugh at whoever still thinks a sportscar is cool but they won’t be mean to us and it will only b our own ego holding us back from going jetpack, too.
“Last night” I knocked on someone’s door and he opened it saying “that’s the same knock I use” (Super Mario Bros) and we hi-fived.
“Last night” I realized how I’ve been stuck in the magic of this gagablog for over a year, how I’ve let the magic get stuck, in a way - at least regarding Gaga. In recent months it’s been intentional, using the sticky magic this has become, to slow any progress towards war with North Korea - I’ve taken my time getting through the Shirley Fairies just because I said I would do it, I was ambivalent at first. And I said I would write all my own interpretations of Artpop lyrics and got halfway through and still haven’t heard Joanne because I thought at this point I should finish that and “earn it” but maybe I need to forgive and change my perspective and allow myself that blessing -and still write about Artpop but don’t make a job out of it.
And I got diverted from finishing Sexxx Dreams -and never had a sex dream which I hoped would be the clue to finally writing about it - but I do feel like I’ve been living out the themes of it this whole year - so I’m ready to change myself mostly by finishing the gagablog about that song I have been putting off all these years, now, when I think about it it could be two.
And maybe I will finish my notes on the Shirley Fairies, if I can find the cord or another DS which is charged - but for now I will just say I’ve started reading a book I was lucky to find at the thrift store, Ram Dass’s “The Only Dance There Is.” I’m only 32 pages into it but the part about being stuck in the 2nd or 3rd chakra, of Jung only venturing into the fourth but being scared of going further, reminds me how I wish to go further, to include everything and leave nothing good behind but also to rise to the occasion I’ve been called to be.
And I think that is the lesson for world events, too -America needs to be what it CAN be, not what it is.
America is NOT America -it is NOT the land it claims to be. THAT is the reason why the NFL protest and all protest against police brutality is so important: it points out the most striking injustice, the biggest proof that America is not it’s ideals - yet.
And we could be: bad mentality in the Military AND NFL are large parts of what hold us back -the mentality those are shades or examples of, too. I didn’t really want to fall for the whole “NFL vs. America” or “NFL vs. The Military” narrative they were trying to make when I wrote my last gagablog - I was trying to make a point that when they make it that way, their Evil Unchanging Idea of America versus our Hopeful, Growing, Improving Idea of America - We win. Anyone who comes over to our side wins. Because ours is really the only side -you can’t just hold on to bad ideas, they are eventually proven wrong and die out, even amongst the most stubborn.
The Military - the idea that we will always need a military, etc - is one of the most stubborn institutions for keeping the status quo. It’s the embodiment of one of the worst ideas we have that just needs to die out already, the idea that we have to solve some things with violence.
I said last time that I’m fine with a military that is transformed entirely into a Disaster Rescue Squad to help aid and relocate people in times of crisis. I know it seems like a far-off dream, to some, that this transformation couldn’t happen for many years. But I would point out it is part of the power of magic, as I mention here, that the next day or two after I wrote that there was a news report that they are considering training military troops specifically for disaster response, now - it begins! Tra-la-la-laf - al-doo!
The NFL has also been one of the most stubborn upholders of the status quo - and close partners with the military. More news reports have pointed out other details of the relationship between these two - but all of this IS a distraction, except in the sense that it is good for the NFL itself to change, to respond to the concerns of the people - and it would be good for the military to do this, too.
But mostly it would be good for the police to do this and see that it is not truly against their self-interest to be on the side of the people. It IS against their self-interest as they imagine their self-interest to be, now, because a lot of them are guilty of abusing power and terrible crimes and the rest are guilty of covering for those - but the self-interest of hiding guilt and “getting away with it” is not your TRUE self-interest. It’s hard to do but when you can admit where you were wrong you have a chance to change, to grow. When you look at it that way, the cops COULD be brought to justice by investigations, etc, but Obama wasn’t really doing it and whatever he was doing Trump is undoing, anyway. Really they need to come to Jesus and seek forgiveness so we can all move on and get the police and people back together, on the same side.
It’s really the rule of force that is the problem - if you can’t persuade folks to act like you want with enticements maybe you just have bad objectives. We can’t oppose the rule of force in some countries and not root it out of our own, or ignore countries like Myanmar where they are having a terrible genocide just because we want to be “friends” with their leadership or cultivate their infant “democracy.” “Democracy” that allows genocide isn’t Good, it just shows there are some real problems that need to be addressed on a soul level - the soul of the country, the soul of the people.
The leader of countries represents that Soul, however they got there. Anyone who enables and supports genocide cannot have the support of The People - if we fail, as a country, to condemn it and do something about it then it reveals that we are, currently, more a country of Genocide, still, than the country of The People we aspire to be.
So we need to change. We need to find peaceful ways to help change other countries and to do so we need to change our own, we need to live up to our promise and claims.
And we can’t do that if we try to silence the people who point out our flaws, we need to celebrate them and listen to them and use their perspective to improve and grow.
Grady was right when he said America is not America, an idea, it is the People in America. Most importantly it is ALL the People, not just certain ones. The big debate in the media is how much we should discriminate against people with such and such legal status - but this question, as important as it is, seems to presume that if people are citizens they will THEN have equal rights. This is so untrue and when you see all the opposition to TALKING about it, when we can talk about where to move the bar on oppressing immigrants on a daily basis, you can see that they are using the focus on one problem to avoid the deeper issue of racism and classism itself.
The right refuses to talk about police brutality, they want to dismiss it and set up the NFL protest as anti-military. The media goes along with this, just like they go along with the idea that there is a “debate” about global warming when all you have on one side of it is Stupid. So we avoid talking about the real issue, police brutality, racism, and injustice, by talking about all these “side-issues” brought up by people who can’t face the harsh reality that America, as it is, is not fair and is extremely oppressive to certain groups of people.
In the last week there have been referendums in Kurdistan and Catalonia, and maybe other places, to break away from the countries the are in. The Kurdistan one has all sorts of opposition from it’s neighboring countries of Iran, Turkey, and Iraq, all of which have big Kurdish populations and areas they fear would break away and join Kurdistan, presumably - and Iraq / America want the oil that is there. America is trying the whole “you’re disrupting the fight against ISIS if you take this vote!” approach which shows how lame we are: You aren’t fearing the fearful situation we created enough to do everything we say, you are trying to act out of other emotions than fear, how can we scare you some more?
It gets so old being the bully, teaching other countries to bully, making a Bully Down Economy of authoritarian power. If we just had a change of heart and became a Good Person….
We could lead the movement to make all countries Good People - like we claim to do, but actually do it by setting an example. An example that doesn’t have exceptions that people are afraid to talk about, to recognize - it’s now 1 PM on Tuesday, October 4th.
I left this “open” after “become a Good Person…” and since then a few things happened I should mention, then I should end this and write another one for the last notes of Shirley before letting this whole spell go.
Then I should write about Sexxx Dreams and let that whole spell - suspended for two years - go.
Then I whould write about the rest of Artpop, fast as lightning, and then listen to Joanne and maybe write about that, too - but all the while I need to write my creative work.
A few things happened I wanted to mention in the last few days since I last wrote this - I think it was Saturday that I wrote the first part, mostly. Denver Pagan Pride festival was awesome and my Fairy Magic workshop was okay.
They had that vote in Catalonia and the Spanish police were sent in to try and break it up. There are images circulating of injured civilians, old ladies with bloody faces, Catalonian firemen in uniform lining up to take the blows from Spanish policemen who are trying to beat the voters - really bad scenes in my opinion and I have not paid much attention to the news about it. They said that the police beat 900 people, that over 900 injuries were reported from the police beatings, I should say.
We had another mass shooting in America, I could probably write another whole edition about it but I already have. It took all the media attention.
Trump is going to Puerto Rico, he’s probably there now and he says he will go to Las Vegas, where the most recent, so far, mass shooting was, tomorrow.
There is a reason all of these stories, including Kurdistan and Catalonia, are in the “America is not America” edition of the gagablog: it’s all about What National Identity Means.
In the media coverage of the lack of assistance reaching most people in Puerto Rico they had the governor on the radio and the last thing he said was “I want to remind everyone that Puerto Ricans are Americans.” This upset me in a number of ways - first, that it implies being American deserves consideration and assistance and therefore not being American deserves less compassion - and I don’t want to get sidetracked but I know this IS a “thing” in America, I just hate that thing so much I prefer to hold us to some kind of compassionate ideal. It’s just feeding that belief: because we are American we deserve help, if we weren’t we wouldn’t. And then it offends me that he feels like he has to say that, like he has to remind people because generally “America” is so racist against Puerto Ricans that “she” would not think that way unless reminded (America is not America, remember - that’s not “really” her, or that’s her in her racist phase but not her True Spirit when she grows up)
This is the question in Kurdistan, too, in Scotland - though they voted against independence, I guess - and in Catalonia - though who can tell how much of this is “Good” - meaning about rights and self-determination, liberty, and how much would be taken “too far” to oppress minorities within the created states, as Russia claimed was happening in Crimea?
Maybe that never actually happens, though, maybe the oppressed people, once liberated and in their own state, DON’T oppress other people? I don’t know - what happened in Israel? Seems like a lot of oppression but maybe it is “certain people” taking advantage of the government, just like in America -it’s not like All Americans want to bully the world and have cops shoot black people. What happened in South Africa? I really don’t know enough history, but recent news seems like the current situation is the Guptas, from somewhere in Asia, taking advantage of the whole country -so an oppressed people were liberated and maybe oppressed each other, afterwards, but apparently a New Challenger Has Arrived, a New Oppressor is on the Scene.
Because they have a lot of money, apparently.
The ability to have a lot of money and do bad stuff with it is Pro-Level Oppression.
So the American Military is a pretty big oppressor, so are a lot of American Institutions -the NFL is one of them but it MAY have to shed some oppressor skin and help lead a change, if we hold them to this new tinge of conscience.
Rednecks, country music fans, etc, may have to accept the fact that unrestricted gun access is really not good for anyone except serial killers and stop obstructing efforts to change this - though far too many of them will probably see it all as a conspiracy to get them to wise up and refuse to do it, etc -I don’t want to write about the enforced, well funded stupidity of “Gun Rights” I really don’t care about that stuff, it produces “Gun Nuts.”
They say this killer had no criminal record. He was just a Rich Guy. A Gambler. Who could afford and had a lot of guns.
I was going to write about this last night but ended up doing other things including watching a rerun of 227 - it was the second part of a two-part episode where they all go to a casino and Rose is going to get married there.
I was going to write about this last night but ended up doing other things including watching a rerun of 227 - it was the second part of a two-part episode where they all go to a casino and Rose is going to get married there.
I just turned on the TV to see any new information and it was TMZ Live interviewing some girl who had pink hair, I assume a performer of some kind, who was pro-2nd Amendment, was there in a bar when the shooting occurred and was told there were 3 shooters, that one had been neutralized, and she was scared even more because only one person, her friend, in the room had a gun and only had 7 rounds, the off-duty cop took the gun to protect the bar full of 70 people, believing there were multiple active shooters running around, and were scared there was only one gun amongst them.
So of course her and her second amendment, pro-gun friends decide that the answer is “More Guns.” When asked about why anyone would need a machine gun she could only say “hunters” and hunting a boar was the reason she gave - it sounded like she was being coached from someone in the room. She said it should be about the victims.
They responded that in two weeks people would not be as engaged, that this was the time to talk about the issues around mass shootings - I feel like sadly it will happen again and again, until we really do something about it.
Ideas based on fear - so that the 2nd Amendment is your most important belief to you - are what drag us all down. These “tragedies” are just the just desserts of the recipes we make with so many people paid to promote the Gun Nut mentality - it will keep happening until we end the whole fear-based way of thinking.
And the same thing goes for war and police brutality - it will keep happening until we end it, from the inside, by rooting that mentality, fear, out of all humanity - every individual and institution.
And I believe in solving all the problems at once, by living up to the dream so that America IS America, all the Good things about America that we claim to be. The votes for independence are all about Who We Are - our protests against police brutality, our calls to end global warming, all of these issues are about Who We Are -ALL of us, not just SOME of us or Corporations Only.
I’m excited to read more of this Ram Dass book. I’m on page 42 and he’s making the point about working on yourself, making more consciousness. Wayne Newton was on TMZ Live as I was reading that page again, finding my place, talking about entertainers duty to provide people with an escape, a release.
I will “finish” this, put it aside, and write and publish fairy tales, picture books, poetry, and coloring book.
And more music, back to fairyland. Let’s Make America America, Again - like it is in Oz.
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