Our Civic Superpowers

-

 

Woody Guthrie was famous for displaying the statement “this machine kills fascists” on his guitars. But lest anyone interpret that sentiment as him wanting to literally kill fascists, please rest assured. I’m quite certain he was referring to the stories, joy, and camaraderie shared via his music being enough to squelch anyone’s perceived need to support authoritarianism.

With a nod to old Woody, I was thinking of titling this post “These Tools Kill Fascism.” However, I do try to stay away from any connotations of violence in my speech. Consider then what follows to be a description of our civic superpowers.


Mural of Woody Guthrie at the Woody Guthrie Center


Attention:

Our attention is our most precious thing. What we give it to becomes us. This has always been true, but in these days of “shock and awe” we need to be especially mindful of the news, entertainment, and media we attend to. Each new day brings with it some appalling new action, outrageous statement, or destructive executive order, and each new day brings a new flood of outrage, lamentation, and predictions of doom in response. By all means stay informed, but don’t let your peace and capacity for calm reflection be hijacked. Be judicious about how and when and from what sources you get your information.

“Shock and awe” is a tactic in war (blitzkrieg) and politics as well. Those subject to its power become overwhelmed, disoriented, demoralized, and prone to inaction. Don’t fall prey to it! Your attention is your superpower!    

Time:

Of course, our time is most precious as well. We must remain mindful of what we attend to so that we do what we intend to. When our attention wanders, we risk letting each new outrage carry us down a time-wasting path of either unfocused and unproductive action or depressed and demoralized inaction. You know what’s at stake. You know what you can do. Decide how best to use your time doing what you can to affect change most productively. Join a protest. Make calls. Write letters. Create. Let minoritized and oppressed people know that you see them and care about their wellbeing. And rest when you need to! Don’t squander your power!

Voice:

Don’t minimize the power of your voice. Shock and awe can instill fear in people and make them wish to remain silent and out of sight. Those who would abuse their power love for their opposition to be so cowered. Here’s the reality, though. Unlawfully used power relies on the authority given it by the populace. When you speak up and speak out, you give another the courage to do so, and so on. Your heartfelt words might inspire another to call their congressperson and another to run for office. Don’t resign yourself to silence just when people need you and your power the most!   

Money:

There’s no question that money is power in this society. A billionaire just bought his way into the orbit of the most powerful man in the world. But that doesn’t mean that our relatively paltry accumulation of wealth is of no consequence. Consumer spending is an economic metric for a reason. Make sure to use your power of the purse wisely by paying attention to where your money goes. There are companies doing away with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. If you disagree with this action, you can choose to take your business elsewhere. If the billionaire owners of companies are kowtowing to an authoritarian leader in ways that you think are harmful, take your business elsewhere.

In addition to deciding where not to put your money, be reflective on where you do put your money. Support organizations that further your values. Donate to politicians that will represent your interests. Provide assistance to those who have been harmed by the policies you disagree with. Use your power each day with the dollars you spend—or don’t spend as the case may be.

Vote:

And, finally, vote. Know what’s on the ballot. Know the candidates. Know what they stand for. You may research what candidates stand for by going to Vote411. Research ballot initiatives by going to Ballotpedia. Vote! Just vote!

Okay, there’s one more:

Organize:

Organization actually requires all of the above in appropriate measures. We must determine where to focus our attention and how we should spend our time. We need to bring our voices together and pool our money and resources to maximum effect. We need to lift up candidates, policies, and referendums and encourage others to vote for them as well.

On that note, let me close with a verse from the old folk song about the real-life worker/activist, Joe Hill. Joe Hill was based on a poem by Alfred Hayes and set to music by Earl Robinson:

 

And standing there, as big as life,

And smiling with his eyes,

Says Joe: "What they can never kill

Went on to organize,

Went on to organize."

  


Power, Practice, and Peace logo


This post is in the Power, Practice, and Peace series.

Find a running list of all posts in this series by clicking here.


Images

 

Manipulated by the author:

Photo of mural on the outside of the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma

by Gorup de Besanez via:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guthrie_03.jpg

 

Copyright 2025 by Mark Robert Frank

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dogen's 'Flower of Emptiness' - Part 2

-
Image
Dogen’s Shobogenzo contains a fascicle known as Kuge , or Flower of Emptiness . As discussed in Part 1, kuge is a term that is sometimes used to describe apparitions caused by cataracts or some other eye disease – ‘flowers in the sky’, so to speak. Within the context of a Buddhist discussion, kuge is sometimes used in reference to our obscured vision of ‘ things as it is ’ – vision which presumably becomes clarified over the course of our meditative practice. In Kuge , Dogen uses our more commonsensical understanding of ‘flowers in the sky’ as a means to discuss the true nature of emptiness , shunyata , as he understands it. Thus, the translation of Kuge as The Flower of Emptiness (Nishiyama, 1975). For those who have not yet had the opportunity to read Part 1 , I will reiterate the caution regarding interpreting in a nihilistic way Buddhist teachings related to emptiness . Without correct understanding of emptiness we might misinterpret the teaching that no thing...
Read more

A Buddhist Takes Communion / A Buddhist Take On Communion

-
Image
Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” – Luke 22:19-20, NRSV   Yes, at the risk of prompting the eyes of many Buddhist-leaning readers to begin glazing over (What, is this going to be a sermon or something?), and at the risk of prompting the eyes of many Christian-leaning readers to narrow in suspicion (What does this Buddhist know about Christianity, anyway?), I’m going consider how the Lord’s Supper might appear if viewed through a Buddhist lens. In doing so I hope that Buddhist and Christian alike will glimpse something that leads to deeper spiritual understanding within each respective tradition.       Perhaps a little personal background will assuage your curiosity as to why I’m even con...
Read more

That Which We Already Know: Introduction

-
Image
From That Which We Already Know . This passage is the introduction to my forthcoming book: The back gate of the very first home I ever knew opened onto a tract of land that I’ll not forget for as long as I may live. Ostensibly, it served as the nursery for nearby Gerhardt Gardens. By the time I arrived on the scene, however, the various plots of shrubs and saplings had become so overgrown as to seem more like wilderness to the child that I was. If not exactly wilderness, it was a crazy quilt of different habitats stitched together and overlaid with whatever weeds, grasses, and woodland succession plants happened to have put down roots and begun working their way toward the sun. Notwithstanding its state of near abandonment, we still referred to those 20-odd acres of beautiful wildness as the Nursery. If nothing else, it was a nursery for young minds. Cover Artwork A well-worn path headed east from that gate, through a dark patch of woods squeezed between the corrugated steel fence of a...
Read more