Jessie: "Here comes trouble!"
James: "Make it double!"
Jessie: "To protect the world from devastation-"
James: "To unite all peoples within our nation!"
Don't worry, my days centering blog posts around Pokémon are over. Let it be known, however, that there will be some relationship once more between Team Rocket and Political Theory.
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"This week is about trouble-makers," said Professor LaVaque-Manty.
Trouble. How troubling. I zoned out for a minute or two thinking about the significance of trouble. What does it really mean to us?
Trouble is undoubtedly negatively connotated.
As children, we would grow weary when we heard our parents say, "You're in trouble, mister!"
As Aaron Rodgers drops back in the pocket to do his thing late in the third quarter while trailing, and as the Packers' offensive line ONCE MORE collapses and lets the Giants pass rush through, we hear the sports casters inform us, "He's in trouble back there!" right before he's sacked again, forcing a punt (touchy subject).
As I search "trouble" on CNN, the text in articles say things like:
- John McAfee's name is synonymous with computer security, but the man whose anti-virus software has saved many a PC has found himself in big trouble in Belize.
- When world leaders arrive for the G8 summit in Northern Ireland next June, they'll be in a land of trouble.
- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who gave Mitt Romney some trouble in the Republican presidential primaries, said the GOP would have to make big changes before he'd consider another White House run.
Trouble. People find themselves in it, heck, even in lands of it, and can even give it to one another?! Nobody wants to be associated with this gosh-darn trouble, but it's frankly inevitable.
Think back to your senior year of high school. If you were even a little bit like me, your November must have been pretty troubling, right? So many things are up in the air. Into which colleges will we be accepted? How am I going to pay for college? Hell, what do I even want to do?! These were the times that tried my soul. Life brings so much uncertainty, and it's frankly troubling. But trouble, as we've found out for years, is only natural. It's uncontrollable.
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"...and I believe in action on all fronts by whatever means necessary" - Malcolm X, 1964
Since our country's conception, our government and our people have faced considerable trouble. From the concerning terrorist attacks in 2001, to the recession of 2008, to the denial of suffrage to large masses of people, life as an American, for most, has been far from a cakewalk. But where would we be without this trouble? Where would political theory as a whole be without this trouble?
In his famous "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech, Malcolm X approached the issue of blacks' influence in American politics. He even went so far as to say that he doesn't even consider himself an American. He embraced the trouble that he, among many others, has experienced. He knew that this troubling situation wasn't being solved, and he had to do something about it. Had society gone through all of this without even a premonition that what was being done to these people was cruel, and troubling, would he have done anything to fix it? Would he have delivered this speech, encouraging political mobilization to combat this trouble?
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| "I am not a politician, not even a student of politics; in fact, I'm not a Democrat, I'm not a Republican, and I don't even consider myself an American. If you and I were Americans, there'd be no problem. Those Honkies that just got off the boat, they're already Americans; Pollacks are already Americans; the Italian refugees are already Americans...As long as you and I have been over here, we aren't Americans yet." (http://cdnl.complex.com/m.php/CHANNEL_IMAGES/CITY_GUIDE/2012/11/15-reasons-you-arent-voting/malcolmx_resize_372631.jpg) |
In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", MLK justifies his nonviolent approach to the question of segregation. In jail for his civil disobedience, he says that civil disobedience in a situation like this (standing against unjust laws) is just, and that it's a responsibility to stand against these laws. MLK faced this trouble quietly, but his efforts lasted through to the end.
Both of these men have gone through so much emotional toll to achieve what is, in the end, the right thing. Malcolm X saw family members lynched by white supremacists. MLK was put in jail for his peaceful protests, fueling the fire that already burned within him. Both men were assassinated after all of their efforts to overcome their troubles and save the future generations.
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| "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere...For years now I have heard the word 'wait!' It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.'" (http://seattletimes.com/art/mlk/index.jpg) |
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I'm big on hypotheticals. Enough to the point where my friends often get frustrated and shut me down, saying things like, "THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN."
That being said, I still love to consider the what if s in life.
What if. What if we hadn't perceived the infamous recession as troubling, for whatever reason? What if nobody saw it as a feasible threat, so we all kind of shook it off? Where would we be now?
What if. What if we thought that the terrorist attacks were just a mishap, or something like a government conspiracy? What if we didn't beef up security and stand hand-in-hand, one American to another to help each other through what we had witnessed? Would we be in even more shambles, looking for even more answers?
Thus, this sense of trouble is always necessary. We've needed this sense of uneasiness and instability to make sure we're stable today, and we'll continue to need it. Humans aren't perfect, and we're going to constantly find things that need improving. Malcolm X and MLK knew this. They saw that this trouble was too far, and that it wasn't the right way to function as a country. These two were among many others who, on many different occasions for different reasons, stood up to injustice, looked trouble right in the eyes, and told it, "That's enough." They needed to; somebody needed to.
Yes, times are troubling indeed, but thank goodness they are. It's all a cycle. It's all humanity.
But wait, Tristan! The Pokémon reference!
That being said, I still love to consider the what if s in life.
What if. What if we hadn't perceived the infamous recession as troubling, for whatever reason? What if nobody saw it as a feasible threat, so we all kind of shook it off? Where would we be now?
What if. What if we thought that the terrorist attacks were just a mishap, or something like a government conspiracy? What if we didn't beef up security and stand hand-in-hand, one American to another to help each other through what we had witnessed? Would we be in even more shambles, looking for even more answers?
Thus, this sense of trouble is always necessary. We've needed this sense of uneasiness and instability to make sure we're stable today, and we'll continue to need it. Humans aren't perfect, and we're going to constantly find things that need improving. Malcolm X and MLK knew this. They saw that this trouble was too far, and that it wasn't the right way to function as a country. These two were among many others who, on many different occasions for different reasons, stood up to injustice, looked trouble right in the eyes, and told it, "That's enough." They needed to; somebody needed to.
Yes, times are troubling indeed, but thank goodness they are. It's all a cycle. It's all humanity.
But wait, Tristan! The Pokémon reference!
Jessie: "Here comes trouble!"
James: "Make it double!"
Jessie: "To protect the world from devastation-"
James: "To unite all peoples within our nation!"
At first, I was confused by this. If they're trouble, how are they protecting the world from devastation? How are they uniting peoples within their nation? They're gersh dern Team Rocket! They're a crime-driven cult! Trouble can't protect the world in the long run, can it?!
Then, I wrote this blog.
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| "Meowth, that's right!" http://arkeis.com/images/pokemonfactory/meowth.png |
Tristan, wow this post definitely gives your reader a lot to think about. As someone who remembers hearing the catchy little rhyme in the original Pokemon episodes in grade school, I had never even thought twice about the lyrics. I have no idea how you managed to tie them into the teachings of MLK and Malcolm X so seemlessly but I congratulate you on it! Your theory of trouble being necessary is definitely a very interesting approach to take on society and one that I had never really thought of before. That being said, do you believe that since there is this constant need for uneasiness that we as Americans (or even as humans) can ever achieve a society where we aren't in constant fear or worry? It is kind of an unsettling thought that we might not be. I think it would be worth looking into the works of Marx or Sir Thomas More and their visions of a utopia or perfect society. It might be interesting to see how their views work to contrast your theory. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI don't think we'll ever be without worry. It sucks to think about, but it's just too natural. We need trouble to grow. I'm in constant fear. How is my final essay going to be? How will my birthday be? What will my job be? It's all too too scary. Good call on looking at Marx, I didn't really think about tying it back any further. Thanks Amanda!
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