The superior moral virtue of pressure politics

If I have to listen to one more NPR report touting the virtue of left-wing pressure politics, I think I'm going to vomit.

"Oh, look at how awful the world would be without me forcing the world to be good," I have to listen to a million liberal journalists on NPR tout every day.

"If it weren't for my superior virtue," I have to listen to liberals sounding like Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, "the world would never be such a good place."

Makes me want to vomit. Not least of which because it's bullshit.

I swear to God that every liberal journalist in the country, right now, thinks that they uniquely are responsible for every good thing this earth has to offer, so self-centered are they in their "superior virtue." There is no virtue outside of liberal pressure politics reason these radicals in sheep's clothing. "If it weren't for us," these liberals reason, "the world would be a cesspool of non-liberal virtue."

Makes me want to spit my guts up.

I appreciate liberals pressuring me to be politically correct as much as I appreciate conservatives pressuring me to morally upright.

What's disgusting about both camps is the self-righteousness of it all. There is noone virtuous outside of our camp, our group, our ideology, our activism. There is noone virtuous outside of us.

Noone has a right to my mind or my labor or my conscience. Fuck you. And on the stuff that matters, I will kick the living shit out of your piss-poor fuckin' expectations, liberals and conservatives.

Pox on both their houses, I say.

Being liberal used mean something to me. Now what it means is being a bully for pick your left-wing cause. And I want nothing to do with that ugliness.

Real progress doesn't come out of bullying.

Real progress comes from changing hearts and minds, as a real liberal, Martin Luther King, argued 40 years ago.

A million liberals think that they have somehow outthunk Dr. King. He was assassinated because he was such a pussy, these arrogant, self-righteous radicals reason. Dr. King just wasn't willing to kick enough ass, these nasty, narrow-minded little activists argue. He just didn't understand the power of Malcolm X's hate and spite and racism.

Love and thought and debate and engagement are all good and all of that, they reason. But really what we need is someone like Hugo Chavez or Noam Chomsky or Charlie Rangel to really kick some serious conservative ass.

The whole thing makes me want to vomit.

And definitely convinces me that I don't want to be a part of that gang anymore then I want to be a Blood or a Crip.

This is why liberals gain so little traction in the culture. Because so many liberals really don't respect that people disagree with them. Disagree with us all you want, reason so many liberals these days. But you're gonna do what the fuck we say.

And I say, "Fuck you, you fuckin' bullies."

And fuck everyone who reasons this way with no respect for my freedom and my conscience.

Love,
Ben

I need a partner

I've got a ton of work to do. I want to do it. And I'm feeling unmotivated. I need a partner in my life.

I guess what I'm wanting is someone to share my passion for my work with. Absent that, I just don't feel as motivated.

In the past, I've had coaches and teammates and friends and girlfriends and occassionally family.

Most people don't share my passion. For education. For politics. For people. For life.

And I just want someone to share it with me and to help me sustain it.

Maybe the passion of my red hot youth has passed from my life and now I'm entering a period of patient moderation, even in the passion I have for my work.

But I have to say that when I have kids and teachers and people committed, even in part, to ideals around education or politics or whatnot, that I feel far more committed than when I am on my own.

I like having a team. And I like best being around people who are highly committed to doing their best.

Things have gotten much better around Eisenhower since we got back from Thanksgiving Break. People seem to much more genuinely want to be here and to want to build relationships with kids and one another to do a good job. Which is great, because it's exactly what we need.

I will learn what I need to learn over the long haul if I take a more patient route.

But I would love to have the passion I feel when I have a team of people supporting me or when I have a girlfriend who shares my passion for life or when I'm in a room of kids and I'm feeling committed to brighter futures for them, even if they are only lackluster in their commitment.

It does feel lame feeling unmotivated for lack of support/commitment from others around me. But it's also been a reality of life for me that I've had a hard time escaping. I've always been more motivated than a lot of folks I work with, but I also feel much more motivated the more I am around people who want to do well, who like being good at what they do, who like to win, who take achievement and success seriously, even if it is not the end-all of life.

It is a really nice feeling to be around people who are committed to success and a great quality of life, no matter where they find themselves at. And it is a feeling that it easier to nurture the more we nurture it in one another as well as in ourselves.

Somehow, I've got to find that kind of partnership and support for my passion. I watched my Principal getting really heated with kids today in the lunchroom because they couldn't be quiet when they were asked and it was electrifying to see someone else care that much about this job.

And that's what I need in my life. Others in my life who care that much about this work and this life. So my life doesn't always feel like such an uphill climb.

Love,
Ben