TIME FOR OUTRAGE

    By Dennie Briggs on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 2:33pm |

     

    I recently asked what has happened to awareness, responsibility and, most of all, to the spirit of American youth over the past half century? Today's response to social, economic and consciousness concerns is too often indifference, acceptance and apathy. Although there are fleeting evidences of social concerns by youth, what could bring about a larger awareness, both inwardly and, by its extension to others—to humanity?
     
    Where and how do youth find that arousal, that vitality, that commitment that makes life human?
     
     
    Stephane Hessel is such an awakener and has some clues. In his tiny pamphlet-like book, Time for Outrage, he lets us in on insights gained from his 94 years of active participation in the struggle for justice, human rights, and ethical standards. His arguments aren't from academia but emerge from surviving imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, followed by joining the French Resistance in World War II. And then as a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, drafting its universal Declaration of Human Rights. 
     
     
    Interview with Stephane Hessel on PBS Newshour
     
    If there ever was a Clarion Call for Action, Stephane Hessel’s slim volume ranks high on the list of scenarios. 
     
    • Indifference. "Adopting this mindset will deprive you of one of the fundamental qualities of being human: outrage."
     
    • Protest is a fundamental quality of being human. Feel furious about violations of human rights, indignities, tyrannies, both those that are obvious and others not so visible.
     
    • See and you will find! Look around you and you will find the themes to justify your indignation. You will become aware of situations so deplorable they simply demand civil action. 
     
    • You must engage—your humanity demands it. Our capacity for protest is indispensable, as is our freedom to engage. "My indignation was born less of emotion than of a deep desire to engage." Answer with outrage, provoke indignation, a determined will; use non-violent engagement, take responsibility (for what has to be done), maintain a "watchful patience." Formation of networks. (Time for Outrage was published before the Arab Spring and subsequently Occupy Wall Street.)
     
    • It's time to take over! A determined will. As it's time to get angry, Mr. Hassel reminds us that, "The true fabric of our society remains strong," and that "Politicians, economists, intellectuals, do not surrender! Let us not be defeated by the tyranny of the world financial markets that threaten peace and democracy everywhere. . .  not a structure freed from the dictatorship of executives that is but a replica of a fascist state.  
     
    • To Create is to resist. To resist is to create. Call for: ". . . a rebellion—peaceful and resolute—against the instruments of mass media that offer our young people a worldview defined by the temptations of mass consumption, a disdain for the weak, and a contempt  for culture, historical amnesia, and the relentless competition of all against all."  
     
    • Work toward a world of ethics. Ethical standards, basic values, seek out unclear goals, challenges, work toward "universal human rights."
     
    • Hope. "What we need today. . . is for a segment of the population to rise up in protest. A minority is all we need, like yeast to the dough. . . the Arab Spring promises democratic change that all of us throughout the world should passionately encourage."
     
    Finally, "I wish all of you to find your reason for indignation. This is a precious thing. When outraged . . . you will become militant, strong, and engaged." 
     
    Whether you view Stephen Hessel's understandings as further spread of the "Great Disruption," or the "Great Shift," of dysfunctional institutions and systems, he has given us crucial human underpinnings that will enable us not only to survive but to contribute to the next phase of humanity. Not only that, but this compassionate soul has laid the foundation for a new psyche which, despite the many adverse indications, is emerging from that nethermost region—the unconscious, about which Carl Jung said: 
     
    • “We are living in what the Greeks called Kaipos—the right time—for a metamorphosis of the gods. The peculiarity of our time, which is certainly not of our conscious choosing, is the expression of the unconscious man within us who is changing.”
     
    Cross posted from Dennie's Blog

    Comments

    We've all seen and heard of the "Little Red Book",  hows this one different?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotations_from_Chairman_Mao


    by Resistance on Mon, 10/17/2011 - 7:13am

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