{"id":5085,"date":"2015-06-20T15:47:14","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T20:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=5085"},"modified":"2015-08-25T15:34:55","modified_gmt":"2015-08-25T20:34:55","slug":"hang-separately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2015\/06\/hang-separately\/","title":{"rendered":"Hang Separately"},"content":{"rendered":"

America is not a nice country. Hardly any of the other countries think so. If they say the U.S. is a nice nation, that’s for show, to stay on our good side. It’s just to be nice.<\/p>\n

\"Animation<\/a>
Click for animation. John Roland Hans Penner, Wikipedia Commons. Creative Commons 3.0 license<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We are a nation led by elected officials, often compromised by “contributions,” as we call them.<\/p>\n

We are a nation of laws tented by a tarp of unalienable rights. If Americans love to love its laws, we continuously labor to subvert those proclaimed rights. Our truths turn out not to all that self-evident in each generation.<\/p>\n

We are a nation of immigrants, all of whom on occasion fall into reasons to hate. (Blacks are descended from non-voluntary immigrants. The earliest migrants forded the Bering Strait.) After all, my mom can whup yours, my family is better, my clan is tops, my tribe has it down, and America Tis of Thee right or wrong love it or leave it, pry the flag pole from my cold dead hands.<\/p>\n

When in the course of trying to figure things out, the democratic preamble rambles.<\/p>\n

This mess of trouble will get worse. The lone gunman’s terroristic shooting up of historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in historic Charleston, South Carolina, during Wednesday evening Bible study June 17, 2015, is merely the latest attack.<\/p>\n

It’s not just them.<\/p>\n

It’s not just us.<\/p>\n

Nine died in Charleston. Three people were killed April 13, 2014, in the shooting spree of a lone gunman outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. Another long gunman is awaiting trial for the Feb. 10, 2015, slaying of three young Muslim adults in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The KC suspect killed no Jews. The North Carolina suspect found rationale with parking.<\/p>\n

Lone is the only number you’ll ever do. Just because these are not conspiracies doesn’t mean mass delusion isn’t real enough to cowboy up.<\/p>\n

This doesn’t explain why a few police officers, scattered throughout the country, exercise their duties irresponsibly, at times with needless violence. I read that all of the U.S. racial riots or near-riots in this or the last century — with one exception — were incited by anger over police racial violence. The exception was the unrest following the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n

LGBTQ\u00ad\u00ad\u00adACDEFHIJKMNOPRSUVWXYZ leaves no one out.<\/p>\n

Within the fortnight, the U.S. Supreme Court will announce a decision on the rights of non-heterosexual couples in Obergefell v. Hodges<\/em>. In recent years, expanding marriage — with its privileges, rights and responsibilities — to gay folks has moved into the rights arena where a generation go (1967) interracial marriage was allowed, having been banned in many states and generally derided in all.<\/p>\n

I believe in love, that long-lasting love between people is real no matter who they are.<\/p>\n

Gay marriage, gay rights overall, the fact that American business owners forget that enterprises have been regulated since Colonial days, could well be a recent part of this tipping point for mass confusion over differences.<\/p>\n

Closeting sexual with racial and religious bigotry? We can’t argue with headlines clambering one on top of the other here in the aught-teens.<\/p>\n

Could these beweaponed freaks see their days of rage as numbered, moving more of them to act on fantasies of paranoia? Possible.<\/p>\n

Pick a decade, though, and find mayhem. Just because we don’t hear about it in some far corner of the round Earth doesn’t mean blood is spilled for scant reason. It is, lakes of blood, year round.<\/p>\n

Yet here is this sunny June Saturday. The roar of mowers rake the air. The recession has ended, though recovery is slow. U.S. military action is low and continues to decrease. Guns and butter? How about beating swords into weed whackers, drones into kites?<\/p>\n

For the second year, the government of Fayetteville, Arkansas, is proposing more universal regulations to remove discrimination<\/a> — citing gender in particular — surely inspiring another campaign of hit-or-myth fearmongering.<\/p>\n

I have a friend in another state who likes a logo T-shirt that reads, “I might be gay.” The intent is noble, but changing “I am Spartacus<\/a>” to “I might be Spartacus” flags the intent.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago I found a meme I would wear.<\/p>\n

In the May 11, 2015, issue of The New Yorker<\/em>, cartoonist Alison Bechdel was profiled in a Talk of the Town snapshot “Finish Line<\/a>.” A stage musical of her graphic (that is, rendered by illustration) memoir Fun Home<\/em> weeks later won five Tonys. Both concern Bechdel’s sexuality and her family.<\/p>\n

As a closing quote, reporter Judith Thurman chose from Bechdel’s interview: “I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that we\u2019re all queer — there is no normal.”<\/p>\n

Who am I to predict this three-pronged national hullabaloo? Just a white panreligious Jewish hetero whose head hasn’t quite grayed out.<\/p>\n

My T-shirt would read:<\/p>\n

We\u2019re all queer. There is no normal.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Copyright 2015 Ben S. Pollock Jr.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America is not a nice country. Hardly any of the other countries think so. If they say the U.S. is a nice nation, that’s for show, to stay on our good side. It’s just to be nice. We are a nation led by elected officials, often compromised by “contributions,” as we call them. We are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-spin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":354,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/09\/our-nation-changed\/","url_meta":{"origin":5085,"position":0},"title":"Our Nation Changed","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\"On that day, our nation changed.\" Promotions, teases and lead-ins to broadcast programs or segments about today's sixth anniversary of the 9\/11\/2001 terror attacks often have had this or a similar phrase. Hosts on shows so far repeat the statement and precede it with, \"Everyone knows that. \u2026\" No, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6064,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2018\/05\/2020-vision-in-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":5085,"position":1},"title":"2020 Vision in 2018","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember Conner Eldridge? He was the Democratic opponent to Republican Sen. John Boozman in the 2016 general election. Because Republicans are hot stuff these days and it\u2019s tough to tackle an incumbent he lost. He\u2019s back to lawyering. There\u2019s any number of good people like Eldridge who at least for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Arkansas flag","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/68E60AA6-8967-4CE1-BED4-D7B3EF7BBCE2.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8017,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2025\/01\/jews-not-white\/","url_meta":{"origin":5085,"position":2},"title":"Jews Stopped Being White This Year","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This Is Good for the Jews At dusk on Halloween, in the vicinity of 34 years ago, about 1990, my cat B.C. and I happened to be looking out my front window, and she jumped, leaving the window for mid-floor. I saw a young man halfway up the Little Rock\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Favorite yarmulke skullcap and tallit prayer shawl","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tallitt-yarmulke-1920x1080-010125.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tallitt-yarmulke-1920x1080-010125.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tallitt-yarmulke-1920x1080-010125.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tallitt-yarmulke-1920x1080-010125.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tallitt-yarmulke-1920x1080-010125.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tallitt-yarmulke-1920x1080-010125.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2857,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/05\/axis-of-nice\/","url_meta":{"origin":5085,"position":3},"title":"Axis of Nice","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The following is my president\u2019s column for the May 2011 edition of the monthly newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Had a bizarre dream the other night, that World War III had started. I saw Dianne Feinstein, she having moved up from senator to secretary of state or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":190,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/05\/double-nickels\/","url_meta":{"origin":5085,"position":4},"title":"Double nickels","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"In a televised address to the nation, President George W. Bush tonight is expected to announce an executive order reducing the maximum highway speed to 55 mph. You heard the speech was to be about immigration? Well, we will see. Another two-term Republican, Richard M. Nixon, created the first 55\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/11\/a-long-night-just-ended\/","url_meta":{"origin":5085,"position":5},"title":"A long night just ended","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004. It is, absurdly, nearly 3 in the morning. My newsroom did not bring in boxes and boxes of mediocre pizza but decent barbecue for the Election Night crew. Unfortunately, I don't eat meat, so the slaw and beans kept me going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5085"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5145,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions\/5145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}