Southpaw Jones

My mother once told me that as I grow older, I’ll begin to appreciate something called grace. Now that I’m thirty for real, and now that politics are a hot topic again, I wonder if it’s happening.

I used to be an angry young man. Very young. Very angry. I could not tolerate intolerant people. I cringed every time I heard someone long for “the good old days.” I couldn’t stand it when older folks tried to pretend that American values were somehow stronger or better fifty years ago. You know, before civil rights, gay rights, and equal rights. Before it was acceptable to tell someone that you were abused by a family member or a priest. Before the internet. Before The Beatles! Before anyone ever thought to investigate a president!

Ok, I can still get worked up about that stuff sometimes.

But this election year, I feel I can see through politics better than my younger self could. I think it has something to do with a realization I made: I have never in my life seen an adult change his or her mind as the result of a political discussion, especially regarding specific candidates. It seems to happen in polls, but I never see it happen in real life.

Every election cycle, we hear about undecided voters, but I’ve never met one. I suspect every person on the street could tell you their favorite among Obama, Clinton, McCain, Romney, and Huckabee. It’s just there in their hearts and heads as a result of upbringing, education, geography, economic class, and/or religion.

If someone were to approach me and openly ask for my brilliant political advice, sure, it would be exciting. I would tell them why I believe Barack Obama is the best choice for the times. [I might also mention that my politics fall more in line with Kucinich and Nader, but those two are so rabidly anti-corporate, the blatantly corporate media has turned them into laughing stocks.]

However, such inquiries never happen. Everyone has their alignments and their reasons, and they aren’t likely to have an epiphany as a result of arguments or evidence I provide. One’s personal politics are like one’s religion in this way. Hence, politics and religion are considered uncouth in polite discussion.

While it is perfectly acceptable and expected for the candidates themselves to debate and argue all day long, I wonder what use it serves us civilians on the ground. I do believe in democracy, and I certainly intend to vote, but pushing a candidate in someone’s face feels like a socially acceptable, covert way of saying, “I know better than you, and I am better than you.”

Perhaps that is why Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” In other words, be graceful, be considerate to each other, and let the psychos in power do their psycho thing without becoming psychotic yourself.

Having said that, where Oprah leads, I’ll follow.

as reported in The New York Times

February 7, 1908
SHAKESPEARE UNDONE AGAIN.
Milwaukee Ministers Denounce “The Merchant of Venice.”

One clue whose answer consists of two rhyming words:

That illusionist accidently cut his assistant in half for real! Oh my god! That’s not entertaining, it’s awful! Take me away from this…

Highlight here for answer: [tragic magic]


Wild Animals by Kent Rogowski
[stuffed animals inside out]

I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.
Albert Einstein

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2008
9:00 PM
Matt the Electrician & Southpaw Jones
Anderson Fair
2007 Grant
HOUSTON, TX
713.528.8576
www.andersonfair.com
Doors open at 8!
________________________________________________________________

EVERY DANG THURSDAY
with Matt the Electrician
8:00 PM
Flipnotics at the Triangle
4600 Guadalupe
AUSTIN, TX
(512) 380-0097
http://www.flipnotics.com

Rob’s Super Bowl leftovers, February 3, 2008.