Oracle and Shadow | Mark Lindsay
It's been a rough couple of months for almost everyone I know. It's in the air. The elections seem to be sucking us all into the shadow. Deep in the shadow we find the opportunists, who like to stir things up at exactly this time, every four years. There's money in them thar stirrings. Ratings. Fame. Attention. I suspect attention is the most important motivator for the loud-mouthed pundits and politicians. "Look at me. I'm here. I matter!" Sadly, a fool attains attention more easily than a sage. It's just the way things are.
I'm overly sensitive—always have been. I tend to take this stuff to heart. Economic strife, social unrest, and fighting politicos make my stomach churn and my heart heavy. Today I am looking for a sign. I need something—somewhere, somehow—to tell me that everything is going to be okay. Don't we all crave that sometimes? Isn't that what we look to our leaders to do? They take the place of a parent who pats our back when we're sick, holds our hand when we're feverish, tells us that everything is going to be okay.
So why, then, do fear-mongers who masquerade as leaders seem to rise to the top of the septic tank? Spiro Agnew, a fear-monger himself, knew them when he saw them, and came up with the priceless: Nattering nabobs of negativism. Indeed. I guess he'd know a nabob of negativism if he saw one.
I just want to say this and get it off my chest. I don't like it. I don't like it when these so-called heroes and leaders and patriots hide behind flags and lapel pins and slogans and lies and try to scare good people. Like Howard Beale, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it. This is an art blog, it's not about politics. But, as an artist, I feel the energy around me and I know that it needs to shift. So, today's blog is a simple request that we see the good in one another and try to make a positive difference in the world. The day-after-election-day is coming and the hangover won't be pretty.
Someone give me a sign…and tell me that it's going to be okay.