My apologies for putting a blogger's name in the title, but I have to suggest people read her fantastic post. The writing conveys her experience so clearly and personally. It is a masterpiece. Then read the comments. I was amazed at how people related to her situation, supported her, and each other. It revealed how this place here, the TPM Cafe, is really something unique. This is a heartfelt place where people truly come together and meet on so many levels. This is a real community, a community like one this nation once had that is slowly evaporating right before our eyes.
Or maybe, that is my own imaginings of times past, told in stories of events selectively described. But we do all refer to a time past as having been of the greatest generation. So what was it about that generation we have all somehow come to agree was so great? If one listens to people, there are many suggestions. From the Right, it is because we fought in World War II, we were the reason the Axis Powers were defeated, and the US came out on top. From the Left, one might say we became great as we dug ourselves out of the Great Depression, where we relied on our government to provide work and income, channeling dollars into the pockets of the poor until they were able to support themselves again.
What both sides, (and I know there are many, many sides,) have in common, is that whether it was the Great Depression or the War, the change was brought about because we came together. We became a community with a common purpose and we let go of our petty differences to achieve a tremendous result. One might also propose that the GI Bill was a big part of our development. We educated our soldiers who had been provided a sense of self-discipline in the military and shared struggle from the Great Depression, who then entered the business world with an ethic that understood raising the least of their fellow men (and women) raised the nation. We all benefitted even if there was a sacrifice by some to do so. They became willing to sacrifice.
So, why is this related to Rowan's experience? One more piece to bring this together. We are engaged in a momentous battle for nothing less important then the soul of this country. I'm not going to bring religion into this, but I would appreciate some latitude in my discussion such that we might acknowlegde soul. We are in what I would consider an epic struggle with ourselves whether we will allow ourselves to dismiss our involvement with torture. It is unbelievable the propositions are being made to excuse this horrific practice. In the quest to expand "private enterprise" and dismantle government being waged by some, we have allowed a business to develop providing torture services. Where is the outrage for that simple, obvious creation? Where is the outrage that a security company is not providing defense, but offense in the name of private enterprises? These companies, offering these kinds of services, should not exist in a civilized society. Yet here they are.
People are parading their partisan loyalties to the detriment of their own humanity. Defenders of these deplorable deeds stand up and are given respect for their declarations they did no wrong, it was a national emergency, when it is now clear it was not, still they perpetuate thier defense.
It was on Rachel Maddow, a Janey-come-lately commentator, that the most critical piece of information has recently emerged. Cheney was pushing torture to create false intel to support a war we had no good reason to initiate. Info that never came. Info that people knew would never come. Why IS he a free man and why are we not demanding his arrest? We have been so deluded by the MSM, that the people who held this info decided to make their news on Rachel Maddow, not CNN, none of the Big Three, and of course, not Fox. For me, this is a sign of how far we have fallen, that our major networks are so distrusted, the newmakers avoid them.
Now we can relate all this to Rowan. She shares with us so eloquently her experience coming out of a drugged state, the result of mismanged prescriptions. She shares with us the flippant attitude of the providers, "Oh, we knew that might happen, we have a lot of other options though." Because the abyssmal results were so horrible was dismissed as it was not unexpected. But it is unacceptable! Our present situation related to torture is unacceptable!
There may come a day as a nation when we can lose the drugged trance we have been in as a people. I feel that TPM is a place where we have escaped the trance to see how things are and to acknowledge they are unacceptable. I hope the people of this nation can rise to the occassion and declare the same. Is this really something we should reduce to a partisan issue, some political gotcha game? The sooner Republicans admit that people in their party, leaders of their party, had abandoned any pretense of law and committed heinous acts, the sooner we will resume being human and we can recognize we are a community again. We can disagree, but we will see things clearly and that will feel so amazing. To know we share a commitment to a society that abhors torture, regardless of the situation, we will not torture, will surely open our hearts to each other. Oh, yes, that would be a moment near to ecstasy I believe, and right now, we are not managing our pain very well as a people.
Thank you Rowan. Your sharing your experience really opened up for me my desire for a feeling of freedom and clarity. I am not encouraged that our politicans from either party will do this for us, but I will say, "Yes we can." I want that!!!
