A-list message, [A-List] Agit-Prop/Class Struggle

Indeed opportunities for a little "agit-prop" and class struggle abound everywhere if we only seize the moment.

I just got in from up north (Canada) and my long drive south to the other Vancouver, on the Oregon border, involved mostly driving through some blinding rain. Well around just south of SEA-TAC airport, the rain was particularly blinding and almost all cars slowed to about 30-40 mph due to the extreme conditions and inability to see much. Almost all cars slowed down that is. In the diamond lane, came this huge, gas-guzzling, possibly-small-penis-compensating, SUV that was truly a cliché incarnate: full of bumper stickers, two American flag decals (means the person is at least TWICE as "patriotic"), a Bush sticker, a "Support-Our Troops" sticker, and a large open-mouthed fish that said "Jesus" swallowing a smaller fish with legs that said "Darwin".

As the guy passed everyone, doing at least 70 mph, while everyone else was doing 30-40 mph, he left a wake of water that was blinding and I and others almost lost it. He obviously cared nothing about endangering others as well as himself. If I had been driving that "James Bond" Aston-Martin, with rockets and machine guns, he might well have been toast.

Well about 10 or so miles up I-5, traffic slowed to a slow trickle and what do I see but this same SUV rolled-over on its side (luckily more toward the side of the freeway), very damaged, with the driver and his female companion standing out in the rain trying to wave down traffic passing them by; the Washington State Patrol had not yet arrived. I pulled over, mainly to see if anyone else was injured, and pulled up to the guy and lowered my window. The guy asked me if I had a cell phone and I told him no. He then asked if I could wait for the WSP in my car and get out of the rain.

I told him that: "I am on the horns of a dilemma, or a paradox or a contradiction and maybe you can help me out with it." The guy said: "What are you talking about, what do you mean?" I said to him: "Well as a fellow Christian, and by the way I just love your big Jesus fish swallowing the small Darwin fish, I am driven by my faith to care about and help all of those who are less fortunate, oppressed or in distress no matter how they may have gotten that way; On the other hand, as a fellow Conservative, and by the way it's so great that you support our president and our troops, I believe in--and practice--'the virtue of selfishness', 'dog-eat-dog', 'take care of number one--me', SOCIAL--that's SOCIAL--not BIOLOGICAL--Darwinism, and most of all, each person taking personal responsibility for and accepting the consequences of, personal behaviors and choices." The guy just glared at me. I then said: "You know, about 10 or so miles back, while everyone was driving at around 30-40 mph because of the hazardous conditions, you flew by at over 70, caring nothing about endangering others as well as yourself, spraying everyone with blinding water spray, and by the way I almost lost it and my little 9-year-old daughter could have easily wound up without a father, and now you need to accept personal responsibility for--and the consequences of--your present situation of your own making; you need to continue to stand out in the heavy rain, and I only stopped to give you that message and to see if anyone other than you had been injured. I guess my conservatism trumps my Christianity today--as was the case with you and your self-indulgent and reckless driving and behavior." Also I said that:" I cannot not even let you wait in my car as you both are too wet, you made this mess you are in, and I don't want to get my car interior and seats wet--sorry, but I have to think of "number one", you know how it is as a fellow conservative eh?"

Of course the guy got pissed and started screaming all sorts of "un-Christian" epithets and language. As I drove off I noted to him that also he should also consider, as a conservative and supporter of our president and our troops, that, as former hard-core conservative Arianna Huffington has noted in her TV ads, those who drive these gas-guzzling, macho and self-indulgent SUVs are as complicit in supporting terrorism and all sorts of nasty stuff as those who buy dope from dope dealers."

As the character "Hannibal" used to say on the old TV show "the A-Team": "God I love it when a plan comes together." On the way down, there were three more traffic-stopping wrecks before Vancouver.

Jim Craven

James M. Craven

Blackfoot Name: Omahkohkiaayo-i'poyii

Professor/Consultant,Economics;Business Division Chair

Clark College, 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd.

Vancouver, WA. USA 98663

Tel: (360) 992-2283; Fax: (360) 992-2863

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~blkfoot5

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