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Wednesday, July 13, 2016

"Frog Hospital" And "Pax On Both Houses" Discuss The Publication Of Images Of Dying People

Dear Fred,

Thanks for Frog Hospital.

I have changed my mind about publishing images of dead - and dying - black people.

I have done this with no clear conviction of being "right."

But it is increasingly clear that the ease - indeed, the reactionary "righteousness" - with which many white people approve "the peculiar institution" of 3rd millennium lynching distills to a refusal to "see" black people and the constant context of prejudice -- if not palpable oppression -- in which they live.

Whites Think Discrimination Against Them Is A Bigger Problem Bias Against Blacks

Here are two views. 


It may be that making "the dead and dying" visible will contribute to "the problem." 

However, "death images" -- like death masks (whose revival I encourage) -- oblige people to shed a significant measure of ego armor so they might "see" what they've never seen before. (A month ago I stood inches from Abraham Lincoln's death mask "It got me thinking.")

Images of "the dead and dying" hang at the interface of "this shore" and "that," stark features in a twilight reality whose existential intensity unsettles long-held assumptions.

In the case of "police-involved shootings," images of the dead and dying are a final plea - a Morley-like supplication from beyond the grave - the only way "the slaughtered" can seek redress on their own terms.
***

Looked at from another angle, consider how jawdroppingly easy it would be to prevent many "police-involved" killings by mere fiat.

I probably shared my startling - and, at first, unbelievable - epiphany from last year's trip to Spain and Portugal. 

If not, it's worth reading. 
How Cops And Citizens Should Handle "Pullovers"

Just by deciding to be "smart" -- rather than prolonging (out of sheer cultural momentum) the nation's puerile passion for "cowboys and Indians," "cops and robbers," "white hats and blacks" -- we can, with the certainty of tides, prevent a great deal of needless slaughter. 

Scores of people - perhaps hundreds per year - will no longer be sacrificed by the policing rituals we've normalized. 
Walter Scott and Philando Castile were killed when pulled over for faulty tail lights.

There is no need to kill people over faulty tail lights.

The Ferguson tragedy began when a cop cited Michael Brown for jaywalking and then got angry because Brown would not obey the officer's order to get off an infrequently-trafficked suburban street. 

In Michael's shoes, I would not have obeyed the absurd order either.

If I Were A Young Black Male, I Can Easily Imagine Myself Turning To Race-Based Violence


There is no need to kill people over jaywalking. (Can you hear that America? NO KILLING OVER JAYWALKING.)

Eric Garner was killed when challenged for selling cigarettes on the streets of New York.

There is no need to kill people for selling cigarettes.

Freddie Gray was murdered (according to the coroner) in the back of a Baltimore police van after being picked up for what cops called an "illegal switchblade." In a nation where Tom, Dick and Harry can "open carry" weapons of mass destruction, there is no need to kill people over "illegal switchblades."

The litany continues. 

Ad nauseam.


If these killings had involved white victims, incandescent outrage would have forced "the authorities" to impose immediate, effective remedy. 

Confronting so much pointless bloodletting, I ask myself if we white Americans NEED dark-skinned scapegoats as placatory sacrifices to the Deities of Self-Terrorization.


On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 2:47 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

FROG HOSPITAL -- July 12, 2016 -- unsubscribe anytime
We're stepping up the pace at Frog Hospital, so this is a good time to unsubscribe from the mailing list if you have better things to do.

No New Jokes
By Fred Owens
This young man I know is working out as a stand-up comic and making the rounds of comedy clubs in Los Angeles trying to get a laugh. He said, I don't know if I can ever make something of this, but I just want to be authentic.
I snorted in reply. Authentic? Nobody cares. What matters is are you funny? People come to the club to get some laughs, so give them some laughs. There are no new jokes, only jokes they haven't heard before. Forget authentic. Forget about being yourself. Forget original. All that matters -- is it funny, and you don't decide what is funny, the audience decides that. If they think it's funny, it's funny. Otherwise, it's not funny. If you believe in your material and they don't, you're dead.
My advice? Steal. Steal from the best. Steal from the old comics because they were masters, and because the young kids haven't heard that stuff. Steal from Jack Benny. Imitate his timing and his dead-pan look. Wear the same coat and tie. You're going to end up being yourself anyway.  But if you can get them to laugh  -- then you're a blessing for humanity. Get the laughs, forget about yourself.
Leading Ladies.  We will soon have three leading ladies  -- a surplus of competence and practical planning -- Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, Theresa May, Prime Minister of England, and our own Hillary Clinton, President of the United States.
Angela, Theresa and Hillary  -- not majestic like Indira Ghandi, nor regal, nor queenly like Margaret Thatcher -- but competent, measured, careful....... unremarkable in appearance... not like Golda Meir, whose face told the story of a thousand years..... no, our new leading ladies are the plain truth -- what you see is what you get -- no maternal warmth, no beauty, no creative imagination.... only the plans, and the meetings -- the long, long meetings -- and the policy papers, single-spaced and endless. They are all three too much the same and for that reason they might hate each other, as if looking in a mirror and you don't like what you see.
Angela, Theresa, Hillary -- they will be celebrated for putting things in order  -- no daring, no heroics, no drama.... we will be bored beyond relief, but it seems necessary and we might even be grateful that they were willing to take on this job.

Angela Merkel Is Not So Smart. She is admired for her stubborn intelligence, but Merkel loaned billions of euros to the Greeks and believed they would pay her back. We could almost fall down laughing -- you loaned money to the Greeks? And you thought they would pay you back?
Then Merkel welcomed a million refugees from the Middle East and she thought her neighbors would not mind. They did mind.

Quick Decision. A scant three weeks after the surprising Brexit vote, the English people have selected a new Prime Minister  -- Theresa May. Various pretenders launched campaigns, tested the waters, found support lacking, then gave way,  offering resignations with remarkable dispatch. In America we admire this brusque efficiency. Our elections last forever We wish that some of our politicians would resign -- by the dozens.
For news of England, I go to the Economist and the Guardian.  The Economist is free trade and conservative. The Guardian is leftish. Both publications favor remaining in the European Union.
Clinton and Trump. Meanwhile Clinton and Trump slog it out through the humid summer months. I cannot stand it.
"Are We on the Path to National Ruin?"  No, not in the least. But that was today's headline in the New York Times, copied verbatim from David Brooks' column. You can get scared and stressed out by reading the news. You need to pause and look out the window. The sky is not falling. The nation is whole, and it's you and me that make it whole, not these idiots who give speeches and write columns in important newspapers. I am not on the path to ruin, are you?
Four Cops Murdered in Cold Blood. This happened in a suburb of Seattle in November of 2009. But there were no smart phones recording the video. So it didn't really happen. President Obama did not come and lay a wreath.  The four cops were white and the killer was black, but there was no video.

It only matters if we get the video. Social media, live streaming on Facebook, is praised for immediate access to murderous events. There is some good to that, but it can stir passions beyond control, and it offends the dead.
Death is private. That has been our custom for ages. We do not watch people die, unless we are family, unless we are invited. It was an offense against the men who got killed in Minneapolis and Baton Rouge to broadcast videos of their dying moments. Regardless of the crime, if it was a crime, as it seems to be  -- but we are not privileged to watch this. More recent re-broadcasts of the video show the victim's image pixilated, as if a shroud had been passed over him, which is the decent thing. But beware of Facebook and smart phones -- they are powerful tools which can lend witness but also cause great harm.
 A Young Man I Know.  A young man I know seems to be breaking up with his girlfriend of several years. This can be hard going. I don't think the young man did anything wrong -- just my instinct here -- and I only said one thing, "Don't do anything stupid." God, that was brilliant. Don't do anything stupid. I wish somebody had told me that when I was young.
Frog Hospital is waking up and picking up the pace. There is work to be done.



Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens
My writing blog is Frog Hospital



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