One last thing about Reagan

[gordonzola]

I’ve been thinking about the reaction that many people had, getting upset at those of us who rejected mourning or called for celebration at Reagan’s death. It’s strange to me because, really, what is a more fitting honor for a man who dedicated his life to having people like us hate him. My reaction was instinctual*, not out of any desire to pay tribute, but that’s what he worked for. He chose his side, and it was against me, now I’m supposed to honor him? Fuck that.

HUAC snitch, union buster, destroyer of the environment, funder of death squads and terrorists, man who stood silent while tens of thousands were dying of AIDS.

Our little Reagan Memorial Stroll went well. It wasn’t super energetic or big, but we didn’t really expect it to be or try and make it that way. There are just some times a symbolic effort is enough to remind oneself that what the media is portraying isn’t the whole story. I mean, I have an analysis of the media, but there are times when it gets to me anyway.

We actually went around doing good deeds. We taped back up a memorial to the victims of AIDS on 18th and Castro that had fallen down in the wind. We righted a motorcycle using a cone in place of the broken kickstand. Our little march was greeted with some indifference, some supportive honking,**, a person or two who joined us who we didn’t know, and a fair amount of "finally!"s. But honestly, the whole thing was worth it just seeing a couple of older gay men who raised their fists and got teary-eyed as we passed by. I wrote this in a comment in someone else’s journal, but after a whole week of our truth being denied, it was a community service to publicly remember the "other" side of Reagan, the one most of us think of first.

Because of the hostility around the internet on this, I won’t out anyone else there. Out yourselves if you want to in the comments. It was nice to meet a bunch of you and good to see old friends. It was kind of like 1984 but we were dressed in suits instead of leather jackets. I’m not sure which era’s haircuts were better. Actually, I think I have the same one.

Oh and we must go to Zeitgeist again in full suits and ties! I don’t remember which LJer said it, but it was like in a Western when the saloon door opens and everyone goes silent.



*well, actually it was socially constructed, but you know what I mean
**We made the tactical error of walking with traffic instead of against it. It’s been awhile since I organized a march, so we mostly got attention when people were stopped at red lights and could see what we were up to.

Comments

[halfjack.livejournal.com]

In the immortal words of Carmaig DeForest, placing John Hinkley Jr. well within the ranks of evil inhabited by Jim Jones and Hitler,

"John you did a bad thing...when you missed."

[captain-grim.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's happy that the old man is gone. I'm tired of coworkers and friends telling me that I should shut up and be sympathetic and let people mourn. Fine, go mourn. But the man was the enemy.

[bebopmonkey.livejournal.com]

I think suit and bar night in general is a good. But most definitely at Zeitgeist, or another "rocknroll" bar. Post it up if it happens.

And yes, it felt good to get out and do something. I should point out that if it wasn't for the media's warped portrayal, I wouldnt have felt the need to go out and protest. In a sense, we were protesting the coverage more than anything else.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

It's funny to find myself on your side, but I do... there's a really sick "we have always been at war with Oceania" kind of feeling about the Reagan sanctimoniousness. I think I am having one of my big moments of realizing that tv really does rot people's brains.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

Oh please Big Scary Kitty Cat, we agree as often as we don't. I'm not one of those quivering lefties who need to be surrounded by KPFA yes-persyns and manintain a "safe space" around me at all times. You should know that by now.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

I think we disagree much more fundamentally than you want to admit, because of your deep and abiding love for me, but what's more important is we have common enemies.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

It's true that the love blinds me at times.

[vestalvixen.livejournal.com]

I don't understand how people can get all up in arms people speaking the truth about Reagan. It's some sort of "don't speak ill of the dead" shit gone mad. There's really something wrong with our nation.

[usedtobeme.livejournal.com]

and yet to hate him IS to honor him, no?

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

to hate him is to reflect the reality of the situation. It honors his power and image which lives on to hurt us today.

[flipping-hades.livejournal.com]

I am so</> down for doing a suit-and-tie thing at Zeitgeist. It would be kind of like guerrila freak bar, but in reverse...

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

maybe we should organize that next ... but I'd hate to be the first one there.

[flipping-hades.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yes, methinks one would want to arrive en masse, both for the bar-silencing effect and for feeling less like a lone jackass.

[kest]

I dunno, there's something in me that thinks it's sort of crass to rejoice at anyone's death. No matter how bad they are. Serial killers, child molestors, terrible presidents, whatever, they still likely had people who loved them. And if they didn't, that's more punishment than cheering their death could ever give them. My response tends more toward 'mm *grunt* good riddance.'

Wish I could have seen the suit and tie invasion of Zeitgeist though.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

what s/he said.

[rzr-grl.livejournal.com]

C'mon, you guys. You know we aren't celebrating the fact of death itself, or that his family is grieving. "Yay, Nancy must be devastated!" I feel like people are willfully missing the point.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

so do we.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

I think you can not rejoice and yet not canonize.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

I think "sort of crass" characterizes a lot of the Reagan White House's policies. Including his press secretary's jokes when asked about AIDS.

It's bizarre to me that speaking alternate truths about Reagan, even being glad that he's finally gone, is being conflated with rejoicing over his family's loss. I feel sad for his family in their grief. I feel a lot of anger at the ways Reagan's legacy is still perp'ing on us even today. I'm perfectly OK with holding both of those things at once.

[felicks.livejournal.com]

Word. Only, I don't really feel sorry for Nancy. Just say no? Nancy is not a nice lady.

[kest]

It's not so much about the family's loss to me, as it is something about basic human respect that I can't explain and so I use the family as shorthand. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all a Reagan fan, and other people can feel about it however they want to feel, I just don't agree. I think we'd be better off letting it go and turning towards the future. More than anything, I think I'd like to not spend any more time or energy thinking or talking about the man, one way or the other. He just ain't worth it.

[felicks.livejournal.com]

The looking forward thing is interesting. I'm kind of a history nerd, so I actually enjoy learning about the past. But I also think remembering the past is pretty important for making change now. Ronnie for example really created the environment that makes George W. possible. He moved the Republican party to the right and increased the party's popularity. He (and his minions) created the idea that conservatives are the real down home Americans while lefties of any type are latte sippin' elitists. Further, his reign was so recent, it still has a huge impact on so many people who are alive today. So for folks who lost loved ones in the AIDS crisis, or who saw their villages distroyed, or were in other ways impacted by Reagan, it's not the past - it's the present. I don't want to give the guy power, but the fact is, he had it, and his influence still has a huge impact on my life.

[freshwater-pr0n.livejournal.com]

My beef with Reagan is personal, rather than political. I was a very young child when Reagan was elected, and every anti-child thing he ever did or said felt like a slap in the face.

It's hard to be sanctimonious when I see my boyfriend's schizophrenic, mentally retarded brother cast out into the world without the care and round-the-clock supervision he needs. Reagan is responsible for that.

Pop psychology and Christianity tell us that we should forgive everyone who harms us. I don't buy it. Some people are so evil that they don't deserve forgiveness or civility, even in infirmity or death.

[walktheplank.livejournal.com]

Anyone who actually feels sorry for that bastard had better read up on the history of the El Mozote massacre. Or the American church women who were murdered in El Salvador thanks to the policies of the Reagan administration.

I only wish that I was there so I could dance on his grave.

[unemployia.livejournal.com]

that sounds like a good thing you did.

[whimsicalpops.livejournal.com]

I was there with you in spirit.

Being around radical kinky fairies without phone, tv or radio helped me not rage against the "mourn the great man" media hype. I left the tributes behind on Wednesday and returned after they were over. Thank god or whatever.

I called my Mom and told her I loved her. She was brought up in front of and blacklisted by HUAC in the late 50's. Her and Dad toasted each other when they heard the news.

what I owe reagan

[mark27.livejournal.com]

"Ronald Reagan made me the
scratchy, anarchistic malcontent I am
today. Without his influence I might have subsided
into the decent-minded futility of the party-line
Democrat. It took the Great Communicator to
communicate to me the real message of the modern
conservative: fuck you."

from
What I Owe Ronald Reagan
The Brylcreemed Bullshitter
By BEN TRIPP

[slanderous.livejournal.com]

it was fun, and worth it. and yes, suits at zeitgeist!!

[maria-sputnik.livejournal.com]

yeah, watching the coverage on TV made me feel this terrible disconnect between what I know as reality and what seems to be the reality to the people on television. I don't know anyone who felt bad about Reagan. My grandpa used to vote for him but my grandpa has Altzheimer's, too, and I'm sure the whole media debacle just passed him by. It had a serious "we've always been at war with Oceanania" vibe to it and it also made me feel TOTALLY PSYCHOTIC because I grew up totally hating Reagan and believing I was going to die in a thermonuclear holocaust (etc) and that definitely had a major effect on my psyche. Maybe not as good as the effect it had on the psyche of the guy above me, though!

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

I am adding you due to our making the same identical comment. Look upthread. We are so smart.

[superchones.livejournal.com]

aw that's too bad i missed it. :(

i was heavy with grocery bags whiling away time waiting for a cab, about fighting with folks to get one.

walking with traffic? you funny things, you's. in orange county someone would've hummer'ed your asses right down into the pavement, you know.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

He chose his side, and it was against me, now I’m supposed to honor him? Fuck that.

I (less than) (three) you.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

It took me awhile, but I got it.

xo

[constintina.livejournal.com]

wish I coulda been at your memorial stroll...i'm not aware of any similar thing that's happened in NYC, though I'm sure there's probably been something I missed...it would be nice to join in some collective public expression of disgust, rather than just cracking jokes with my friends.

eerily, I did recently watch the reagans miniseries with nuncstans and superchango . this viewing occured less than a week before the gipper kicked it, so he'd definately been on my mind and frequently the subject of my rage in conversation already.

the fact that our anger is "controversial" is such bullshit.

I've been LJ-lazy as of late, but your post may have inspired me to finally write a much-procrastinated-upon reagan-related entry.

[psoup.livejournal.com]

You know what pisses me off? That Ray Charles died, and his death was a mere footnote in the paper media (don't have TV cable right now). I loved Ray Charles, man.
Hey, I will be in the Bay Area from June 24th to Aug 2nd (with the girls) We got to hook up!!!!!
And, I never thanked you for sending my faux furry hat back - thank you, Cheezman!
Love,
Pegs

Thank God for you and your friends.

[culturalvacuum.livejournal.com]

I've been overseas for the whole Reagan Death Show, and watching the worshipful coverage that CNN is spreading around the globe has made my stomach turn. It was entertaining, however, to switch between their coverage and the BBC's during the "Dragging Reagan's Corpse Through The Streets of Washington" festival, and actually hear a little bit of critical commentary from time to time. I can only hope that now that his body is finally moldering in the ground we'll actually see some clearer-eyed appraisals of his "legacy".

Re: Thank God for you and your friends.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

Well, he's apparently in a tomb, or in fact a tomb in his library, and one would not be at all surprised if he was cryogenically preserved so the masses could file past like Lenin's corpse, but... yes, I agree.

[andypop.livejournal.com]

I salute you, sir.

[dcart.livejournal.com]

I wish I coulda been there for that.

Fuck Reagan.