but that's not what I want to talk about. what I want to talk about is: did you see this poster?
i find this highly engaging and amusing and bemusing and interesting. first: what, you have to co-opt the famed Apple ad style in order to resonate these days? if you're indymedia, I thought you're supposed to be all No Logo on that tip, ain'tcha? guess it's not okay to just have a message and a groundswell of mass action. but then the usage is pretty, y'know, heh heh, clever: "iMigrate". immigrate/I migrate. but with the capitalization funny. haha! that's great. immi-great. yeah.
and then: what the heck is going on in that picture? looks like someone jumping over a barbed wire fence with wire cutters slung through their beltloop. right? so why the hell aren't they using the wire cutters to cut through the fence?!?!?!!??!?! I mean, on top of that, they're not actually jumping over the fence -- they're failing miserably. they're giving a miserable effort -- I mean, look, it's not even close.
now, don't get me wrong. one could read into the metaphorical imagery here. there are wire cutters available to a possible migrant ("a green card"), but who wants to deal with the hassle of trying to cut through fence after fence after fence ("the citizenship process"). so, the fence is there, and they are caught in the barbed wire, symbolically looking back with an expression of being trapped. or stuck, in-between their homeland and here.
okay, one could read into it in this way -- but why go to such symbolic depths for a poster that is just really meant to rally support to the streets? won't people look at it and wonder where they can get their very own iWireCutters? or just want to know what the deal is and why they should care? which, I think, most middle class (white) Americans are kind of doing right now. they just don't know the proper, judicious attitude about this inflammatory subject. they want to do what's right, but they like getting their house cleaned. and barbed wire scares them.
so I think it's great that this is becoming a national issue, even if it is dicey and complex. dicey and complicated things should be made into a national issue more often -- everything isn't cut and dry and five minutes later okay to move on from. so it's great that people are having to look at it and discuss it. because it's been the shadow fact of life for so long that now people are having to address this societal structure, and are being confronted with real questions about goodness and humanity and equality. not that I really believe this idiotic legislation will be enacted, or if it somehow is, that it will be obeyed or even remotely possible to enforce. not that real change will come, not with the way the American -- and world -- economy works right now.
but hey, at least there is some acknowledgement. at least voices are being heard. I don't know if this is a civil rights issue -- I don't know if anyone knows if it is. but it could be. and anyway, I'm thinking that there are just a whole lot of people in this country, all different types, and we're all tied together in this enormous kettle -- or pot, if you will. it's as if everyone has all melted together, and here we are. I know it sounds strange, but stick with me. yeah, it's as if we all live together in this giant melting pot -- every ethnicity and class -- and we all struggle to get by, some struggling more than others, others still finding their place in the recipe. but the giant stew is constantly brewing, with sometimes some sweet flavors and sometimes some foul stench. but I guess the real question is: what do we have to do to make the stew most tasty? and: will the pot boil over before we get there?
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