Skip to main content

When the world is falling apart: Reclaiming the Tea Party

When the world is falling apart:
Nuclear waste is polluting the air and water, when governments are still insisting on building nuclear plants in their cancer plagued war-torn countries ... when leaders are killing their people, and people are killing each other, when there is no end in sight ... when the planets are at hard angles in the sky, the wind is throwing rocks at cars, and everything seems foreboding ... when you sit puzzled, not knowing what decisions to make or un-make, "oppressed by bonds that could easily be broken" (IChing, #47), when you're taking yourself too seriously ... when you should be doing a million and two other things ... you sit and write a silly blog under a pseudonym.

Reclaiming the Tea Party
(Setting: Alice @ the Doctor's office)

It angers me that they took the name Tea Party
It's from Alice in Wonderland, and that's my favorite book. I don't want to associate it with them.
My Tea Party is a bunch of loony toons sitting around a table with cups and saucers, drinking invisible tea ...
Put this way, I guess the name might actually be appropriate....
No, Carroll's tea party cannot be stolen by these right-necks, or is it wings? BBQ?
No thanks, I don't eat chicken.
Anyway, sure the mad hatter is mad, and the mouse is equally nuts,
but at least they have a sense of humor
Of course, it could be argued that Palin has it too,
She had people cracking up in the debates, they even made a bingo game after her....
But no, Alice's bunch are at least lovable.
Besides, tea party stealing Carroll's concept is no different than the Nazis stealing the swastika.
It's no different than the Christians 'appropriating' the cross, the Muslims the crescent moon, or the Jews the star ....
They took the tale and used it for their own benefit ... they're giving it a bad name.... the thieves!

"You're blowing things out of proportion Alice, and you might get yourself in trouble. Is it that time of month again?"

Dr Alice

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A letter: Interfaith marriage and crime

Where do I get my inspiration? Different places and times: Sometimes it's from personal experiences and events, sometimes it's from stories I hear or read, with a bit of pepper and salt. Sometimes it comes from nature, dreams, and news reports. Sometimes inspiration just comes, from a place unknown to me. Usually, it's a combination of all those things. Below is a paragraph from my latest performance, "In the Lost and Found", followed by the letter that inspired it. (I apologize for taking so long to publish it Leila .) The letter is set against the reality that in Jordan, as in several Arab countries, a woman cannot transfer her citizenship to her husband (while the man of course can). "They tell me I will lose my inheritance if I marry a non Muslim. He has to convert, otherwise the marriage is false, the kids are bastards, and the wife is an apostate, her "blood is permitted" - with no punishment to the killer. I am obliged to give my husban...

Challenging Tradition in a Traditional Society #1

There are some traditions that are worth upholding, but many have collected thick layers of dust so opaque that we can no longer see what was once beneath them. We mistake the dust for the essence, incessantly complaining about a'raf and wajibat, the rights and wrongs of our forefathers...but we play along to avoid ridicule and choose the chains of cowardice, prejudice, and misconception. Ignorance. I am not saying that all traditions are outdated and useless-far from it, in our Arab culture are jewels and treasures, and I am the first to call for preserving them. But let us stop for a moment and consider what we are heeding, rather than following blindly like grazing sheep. Sheep and goats: I am reminded of kindergarden and a song we learnt in school. The teacher would walk around the classroom singing: Ya Ganamati . And we'd respond: Ma Ma . ...Ghannou waraya : Ma Ma ..and so on and so forth. Very endearing, but also very telling. We grow up, Ma Ma-ing until we reach the gra...

The sky is purple

Man has always aimed to the sky KItes Planes Rockets And we dig into the ground with a shovel But rock stops us midway or less than mid way We stop sometimes we find a spring or well If we're cursed, we find oil Into the sky What flies is an extension of me There's a thread between us Translucent but sturdy like that of a web The spider crawls from beneath the carpet I squash it -just kidding, it's alive. Ode to the internet So what if it's a window into secrets A spying eye into the files of any self So what.... The way it makes me spy with my little eye something that begins with -You name it, and there it is. Life in 3D ... and the fourth? Five people and two dogs Cirque du soleil on the PC screen, on TV is National Geographic -Abu Dhabi edition On one, a women in red hanging from the sky The other, Omani men dancing with swords Repeat Life goes in a loop But we don't have to We can skip, from one hill to the next in a green car L;-