Pensees for Peace and Progress

By Cate Lunt | Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Why don’t people more often just stop and think? I mean really think. The military-industrio-media machine is a hard nut to rage against but, if not us, who? If not now, when? To get the ball rolling, here are some subversive thoughts.

THOUGHT: Are vending machines racist? I feel that in some way they must be, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. (I mean uniquely racist, not as an outgrowth of their classism, like duh.) Little help, anyone?

THOUGHT: As a comp-lit major, I am constantly stretching the boundaries of my imagination and stepping outside of my comfort zone. Yet to get an ‘A’ in an econ class, all a hungover frat-boy has to do is recite verbatim the heteronormative discourses dispensed by ExxonMobil, Enron, and the Carlyle Group. Someday, there will be a reckoning.

THOUGHT: Let’s pop the bubble! At other colleges, they eat, sleep, and eat important issues, like war, genocide, AIDS, and climate change. Practically everyone I know in New York knows what these are (bad) and what to do about them (stop them). Yet, here, few speak out. As a poet and womyn, I was appalled when only 1,000 people joined my “END WAR AND POVERTY NOW” facebook group. What does that say about the other 5,000 students at this school? Could this apathy be the root cause of the world’s problems? Gee, take a wild guess.

THOUGHT: What’s all this talk about so-called “freedom”? What is “free” but a term that defines itself against “not free”? Is “not free” free to be “free”? Clearly no. And what is “free speech”? Speech is not a commodity, just constructed as one. Yet self-referential speech signifies, and, as a corollary, as in this case, commodifies its own commodification. Where’s the beef? Therefore, we must conclude “free speech” is just nonsense, gobbledygook, completely unintelligible. Learning this is hard but ultimately rewarding, take it from me.

THOUGHT: As a womyn and comp-lit major, I am constantly amused when people seem to like Baker Tower. Don’t they know it’s just a big phallic symbol? Gotcha!

THOUGHT: As a citizen of the planet Earth, I’ve explored many religions, not just Western ones. The Eastern religions are much better, I’ve found: less about judging people and creating hierarchies, more about relaxing and just being yourself. If everyone meditated as much as me, this campus would doubtless be a real “nirvana,” which is not just a cool band, but also a word that literally means “enlightenment” in the rich language of Hindu. Still, that’s a tall order: I meditate at Level 9 for nearly four hours every morning. Hope springs eternal, though.

THOUGHT: Lots of provincialism in this country. I visited over 200 countries during my year off between high school and college, and in the process found myself and appreciated a whole host of amazingly rich cultures. Yet lots of red staters are what I call “thumb people.” A thumb person, to explain, could press down his thumb on his hometown on a map and say (usually without shame) that he has never set foot out of the area covered by his thumb. What gives, thumb people?

THOUGHT: If you’re afraid of multiculturalism, you’re probably afraid of me. Here’s something that might shock you: one day during break, I ate Middle-Eastern for breakfast, Thai for lunch, and Italian for dinner. Then, I saw a French movie and read a Spanish novel. I was raised by a South American nanny and have a black friend. Sometimes I go to Chinatown, alone, at night, just for the sheer thrill of it. Yet some people are afraid of this diversity. I’ve never been, but then again justice runs in my family.

THOUGHT: Subversive joke: How many selfish people does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Who cares? I’m too busy changing the world for the better.

THOUGHT: When I spent my off-term creating letterhead for a sex workers union in Thailand, my plan backfired, because the sex workers just used the paper to roll their own cigarettes. Did I give up, though? Hell no. Made the letterhead again with non-flammable paper. Now they’re free to write to whomever they choose. Boo-yah!

THOUGHT: Vagina! Vagina, vagina, vagina. There, I’ve said it. Meanwhile, so many others are afraid to use this beautiful and subversive word. I recommend dropping the v-bomb around corporate fat-cats, frat boys, neo-cons, and other such vermin. They’ll jump out of their skins! It’s like kryptonite for conservatives. Here’s the latest right-wing talking point on the matter, however: saying “vagina” isn’t really that brave. As if! This betrays a lack of understanding of the history of the word. Someday, if we try hard enough, “vagina” will enjoy a level of prestige equal to that of the much-lauded “penis.”

THOUGHT: I’m hard to pin down politically. People say, “Oh, so you’re for XY.” I say “No,” and their jaws just drop. Sorry, that’s what free-thinking is all about. If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Pensees for Peace and Progress

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