remember, remember, the fifth of november
Nov. 5th, 2008 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krickets→ Writing. I signed up for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
mini_nanowrimo and have only written on 2 of the days so far. I haven't even posted my counts. Fail! And I only committed to 100 words per day. Epic Fail.
→ Unexpected gifts! Yesterday when I asked to be distracted from my own election-day anxiety,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gemjam wrote me this impromptu, and utterly amazing, Jack/Claire comment fic. *waves pom poms!* She is awesome with a side of super! Superawesome!
→ Thoughts and What-Ifs. Today has been a day for thinking. And I was thinking that the reason the movie V for Vendetta was always so effective to me was because I could honestly see a society like this one emerging in our country. To me, the threat of what England had become in the future world of this film felt like a very real threat for the United States. Obviously, nothing here is even close to that reality at the current time. And certainly one man isn't going to be able to set everything on a better path. But after last night, I'm a lot less afraid about our country's future.
"Good evening, London.
Allow me, first, to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.
There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way.
Why?
Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.
How did this happen? Who is to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.
Last night, I sought to end that silence. Last night, I destroyed the Old Bailey to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot."
- V, V for Vendetta
Well this fifth of November won't ever be forgotten either, but it's for very different, happy-making reasons.
→ Apologies. I do want to apologize for those of you who would prefer this kind of talk to be stuck behind a politics filter. I know a couple of you on my flist have mentioned something to that effect. I simply don't do filters. I don't even have any reading filters let alone any filters set up for posting. I find them too hard to maintain and I'm lazy that way. Not to mention the fact that I keep some of these posts public (like this one) so filters would be of no use anyway. I do feel that this is coming kind of late, since the elections are over with (and you've heard the last out of me about them, I swear!) But I didn't realize it was a problem for people until the past week.
mini_nanowrimo and have only written on 2 of the days so far. I haven't even posted my counts. Fail! And I only committed to 100 words per day. Epic Fail.→ Unexpected gifts! Yesterday when I asked to be distracted from my own election-day anxiety,
gemjam wrote me this impromptu, and utterly amazing, Jack/Claire comment fic. *waves pom poms!* She is awesome with a side of super! Superawesome! → Thoughts and What-Ifs. Today has been a day for thinking. And I was thinking that the reason the movie V for Vendetta was always so effective to me was because I could honestly see a society like this one emerging in our country. To me, the threat of what England had become in the future world of this film felt like a very real threat for the United States. Obviously, nothing here is even close to that reality at the current time. And certainly one man isn't going to be able to set everything on a better path. But after last night, I'm a lot less afraid about our country's future.
"Good evening, London.
Allow me, first, to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.
There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way.
Why?
Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.
How did this happen? Who is to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.
Last night, I sought to end that silence. Last night, I destroyed the Old Bailey to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot."
- V, V for Vendetta
Well this fifth of November won't ever be forgotten either, but it's for very different, happy-making reasons.
→ Apologies. I do want to apologize for those of you who would prefer this kind of talk to be stuck behind a politics filter. I know a couple of you on my flist have mentioned something to that effect. I simply don't do filters. I don't even have any reading filters let alone any filters set up for posting. I find them too hard to maintain and I'm lazy that way. Not to mention the fact that I keep some of these posts public (like this one) so filters would be of no use anyway. I do feel that this is coming kind of late, since the elections are over with (and you've heard the last out of me about them, I swear!) But I didn't realize it was a problem for people until the past week.