We tend to revere actors and covet their notoriety.
Celebrities are placed upon pedestals whether or not they are deserving of such
praise.
Occasionally we ourselves listen to their opinions and
may even change ours to mirror our celluloid heroes.
But one thing we must always remember, actors act. In
fact the act of acting means doing something not essentially
real.
The better the actor the more we forget they’re just
acting!
We also use the word in many different
ways.
For example when a director of a company or manager of a
team steps down or is let go the person who succeed is
known as an interim or acting manager.
In politics the word is generally used to define a law
or at least a ‘sort of law.’ And by that I mean you may not risk jail time
should you not agree and follow the act but there may be
consequences.
A political act is nevertheless as close to law as you
can get without having something written into the
constitution.
Sadly in our currently divided divisive political
climate words no longer have their usual and customary meanings. And the word
‘acting’ or just plain ‘act’ could in many cases be replaced by the slang
expression, NOT as in "I really
think you’re great, NOT!"
A prime example of this type of obfuscation and reverse
usage of logic and fairness is DOMA.
For anyone who does not read or stay apprised of the
world of politics and the conservative push against anything that might make the
lives of Americans better DOMA stands for the Defense of Marriage
Act.
But as the word 'NOT' implies DOMA is actually against
marriage in that it seeks to limit the number of human beings being able to
avail themselves of that peaceful union between two loving individuals. (Sorry
Mitt but this is my post and therefore I am limiting marriage to two
people.)
 |
Seriously ladies, you do
know you married
outside your species! |
In the case of DOMA proponents use hyperbole such as
claiming to be worried that if they don’t act marriage could deteriorate into
unions between people and say pigs.
 |
This creature is far better
than
our Newtster! |
(Some might argue that that has already
happened and point to some women who have joined with political figures like
Newt but I will not devolve into that herewith.)
Naturally humans are not generally lining up to marry
other species and while it might be fun to posit otherwise this particular
argument should not be allowed any quarter.
We as humans decide the laws by which we wish to be
governed and in America, at least for now the will of
the majority is given more weight.
And that brings me to act two.
With a recent, incredibly short-sighted and terribly
wrong 'opinion' driven by political expediency and possible bribery the so-called
Supreme Court of what used to be The United States of America decided to allow
corporations all the rights of individual citizens.
This act is formally known as the Citizens United act or
ruling. And once again the words belie the meaning and 'NOT' could easily be
added.
The word ‘Citizens’ implies individuals but in fact
describes large multi-national faceless corporations with political agendas and
the wherewithal to see to it that they get their way regardless of how many
individual lives they ruin in doing so.
One of the first outcomes of what may prove to be our
country’s worst era came last week when an entire state of wounded citizens
(actual real people, not corporations) from Wisconsin tried to mobilize against the
political machinery of the Conservative Koch brother billionaires and their
cohorts to oust anti labor, anti-middle class, anti-human rights Governor Walker.
Naturally the people lost and whether or not they
actually did lose or the vote was bought as has happened in the past is immaterial. What must be taken away
from this debacle is that corporations are well on their way to taking control of
the entire country.
How long before we see signs on Ellis Island touting
America as a wholly owned subsidiary
of Exxon Mobil, or some other obscenely wealthy profitable non-tax paying
corporation?
One wonders if the ruling means the census is now
incorrect and we must add many more people to the rolls.
Which State would
get which corporation and how many more seats would that give them in the
House?
I would like to know how an entire corporation gets into
one of those tiny voting booths.
When a corporation goes bankrupt does it get on line at
the unemployment office?
Of course the answer to those questions is moot since
corporations are not people my friend but they do get their votes counted. And
those votes carry far more weight than any individual vote.
Okay, a vote is still a vote but when a corporation
decides it wants one candidate or act to be placed into law they have
tremendously large wallets from which to draw political capital and see to it
that their side is the only side that gets heard.
Clout exists and whether or not we like to believe it
money decides elections and elections turn countries around.
These are but two ‘acts’ that are changing life from
reality into some irrational bizarro world run of, by, and for the wealthiest
few.
But as all actors will say you must wait for the final
curtain before understanding what the film was really about.
America
has had more than its share of acts during our day on the world stage.
This country’s opening act saw a rather violent
morning.
Our early afternoon act was somewhat violent as well but
had long stretches of peace and prosperity.
Let’s learn from our yesterdays and not be headed toward
dusty death.
 |
This ancient Greek playwright
never met our Congress |
As we move into late afternoon and on into evening let’s
hope we can survive these actors, these poor players who now strut and fret
their hours upon our stage; these idiots telling tales signifying nothing but
doom until we can proudly say they will not be heard anymore!
As one who knew a thing or two about acting and actors,
Sophocles once said, “One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the
day has been.”
So at the end of the day let’s unite and once again make America great
for all real citizens!
