eoe-5.017 should
log cabin republicans marry?
(LOS ANGELES, POSTED JUNE 27, 2005)
do you suppose spokane mayor jim no-longer-closeted west (who championed an anti-gay agenda when he was one of the most powerful republicans in the washington state legislature) is a log cabin republican? maybe he’s a closeted log cabin republican.
but just what is that?
looking back at my post on log cabin republicanism, it seems to me there are a couple of lines of thought ready to bear fruitful exploration, to really puree a metaphor (as well as split an infinitive).
walk with me on the page.
log cabin republicanism is not anything new. here’s what malcolm x had to say about it in his “message to the grass roots,” delivered november 10, 1963 in detroit:
there was two kinds of slaves. there was the house negro and the field negro. the house negroes—they lived in the house with the master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good 'cause they ate his food—what he left. they lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near the master; and they loved their master more than the master loved himself. they would give their life to save the master's house quicker than the master would. the house negro, if the master said, ‘we got a good house here,’ the house negro would say, ‘yeah, we got a good house here.’ whenever the master said ‘we,’ he said ‘we.’ that's how you can tell a house negro.
if the master's house caught on fire, the house negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would. if the master got sick, the house negro would say, ‘what's the matter, boss, we sick?’ we sick! he identified himself with his master more than his master identified with himself. and if you came to the house negro and said, ‘let's run away, let's escape, let's separate,’ the house negro would look at you and say,‘man, you crazy. what you mean, separate? where is there a better house than this? where can I wear better clothes than this? where can I eat better food than this?’ that was that house negro. in those days he was called a ‘house nigger.’ and that's what we call him today, because we've still got some house niggers running around here.
this modern house negro loves his master. he wants to live near him. he'll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near his master, and then brag about ‘i’m the only negro out here.’ ‘i'm the only one on my job.’ ‘i’m the only one in this school.’ you're nothing but a house negro. and if someone comes to you right now and says, ‘let’s separate,’ you say the same thing that the house negro said on the plantation. ‘what you mean, separate? from america? this good white man? where you going to get a better job than you get here?’ i mean, this is what you say. ‘i ain't left nothing in africa,’ that's what you say. why, you left your mind in africa.
this is a sickness of spirit. this is some class-scale sociological phenomenon similar to stockholm syndrome, where hostages begin to assimilate into the community of their captors by identifying with and ingratiating themselves to them. (named after the city in sweden where in a 1973 bank robbery, a hostage became romantically attached to one of her captors. psychologists say the abused bond to their abusers as a means to endure violence.)
stockholm syndrome reveals this about us: our need to survive is stronger than our impulse to hate.
in war, it is desperate whoring.
and collaborating—cooperating treasonously with the enemy. betrayal.
in politics and biblical mythology and shakespeare as well.
are log cabin republicans to be taken seriously as partners in a body politic?
no.
they are self-confessed agents of the enemy.
and the name of the enemy? the name of the disease?
healthy straight white wealthy male privilege. (just so you know i knew.).
more later.
SHORT LIST
coming up: a series of poses on tattooed soiciety
responses to d-life's reader survey
response on jonathan's hiv blog: hiv/diabetes comparison thread
RESOURCES
text of eoe5-016 should log cabin republicans marry? © 2005 by richard kearns. text of message to the grass roots by malcolm x.
RECENT POSTS
coming up: a series of poses on tattooed soiciety
responses to d-life's reader survey
response on jonathan's hiv blog: hiv/diabetes comparison thread
michael mooney, deep point man
c2ea: response to aatom et al. on aatombomb: cluck cluck
c2ea: letter to congressman waxman on international needle exchange funding
c2ea: letter #2 to senator boxer
c2ea: letter to senator feinstein
mike's comment about 6/27 goldberg article & my response
aatomsmith's comment about 6/27 goldberg article & my response
letter to washington times about 6/27 op-ed piece "stealing us drug patents." by robert goldberg
psalms of captain saint lucifer: 1. a rose
should log cabin republicans marry?
log cabin republicans are political barebackers
cultural crisis: what better chains bind us?
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
american heritage dictionary--english
american heritage dictionary--spanish
qi journal interactive acupuncture model
basic tips on understanding medical terminology
drug interactions glossary of terms
re-thinking hiv/aids terminology
conversion calculator (weights & measures)
xx
xx
xx