This seems a black or white mischaracterization, as both inter and independence need to be honored.
Independence Day from ruthless British rule is valid; that's what today celebrates. Today does not promote separation from life-giving, loving connections.
Interdependence is how we must live day to day, to remain *independent* from tyranny, as our forebears did.
When you write, "So if you’re short on ideas this weekend to resist all the ways that “independence” strips us of our humanity" and "We will only get out of this horrendous mess we have made together" I am not sure how you miss that the fight is for *Independence* from "the mess," for which we must cooperate interdependently.
I get what you’re saying, but I don’t think we can romanticize the Revolutionary War as freedom from tyranny without acknowledging (a) the role that rugged individualism and Protestant work ethic drove ideas of what “independence” meant and (b) what forms of tyranny (slavery, genocide of indigenous peoples) we were perfectly fine with.
The answer to tyranny isn’t independence, it’s liberation. When we settle for independence, only some people get it.
Your a) and b) are red herrings, and I have no issue with them. The issue is to acknowledge what this day actually celebrates and the importance of both independence and interdependence. Black or white framings are usually unhelpful.
And "liberation" is a form of independence, and it doesn't inherently exclude others because independence does not have to exclude interdependence, as I shared above. Anyway, maybe just try to hear the common sense point...
I was respectful in my response, but you’re being very condescending. Why not simply read my post as rebuking the extreme elevation of independence rather than rejecting it altogether? My point is, clearly, that the way Americans conceive of and practice independence has little to do with freedom and instead belies a hyper individualism at the expense of the other.
I didn't rebuke your post altogether, if you notice in both my responses I abide both independence and interdependence. And I have not been disrespectful or condescending, that's not an honest framing. It's an ad hominem attack, ironically enough, which is actually disrespectful. anyway, a friend sent me your post and it made me recoil, so I have tried to make a simple point, which you can hear or not. Take care....
Thank you for this! As a retired history teacher, one of the more “shocking” concepts for my students to grasp was that the founding / revolutionary fathers “preached,” and practiced the true spirit of republicanism, which they, as historically knowledgeable folks, understood to be everyone giving of themselves for the betterment of their community. We lost this long ago as a nation . Reviving it would go a long way to restoring our basic ideals.
Your post reminds me of this quote from Martin Luther King Jr.:
“In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
❤️
This seems a black or white mischaracterization, as both inter and independence need to be honored.
Independence Day from ruthless British rule is valid; that's what today celebrates. Today does not promote separation from life-giving, loving connections.
Interdependence is how we must live day to day, to remain *independent* from tyranny, as our forebears did.
When you write, "So if you’re short on ideas this weekend to resist all the ways that “independence” strips us of our humanity" and "We will only get out of this horrendous mess we have made together" I am not sure how you miss that the fight is for *Independence* from "the mess," for which we must cooperate interdependently.
I get what you’re saying, but I don’t think we can romanticize the Revolutionary War as freedom from tyranny without acknowledging (a) the role that rugged individualism and Protestant work ethic drove ideas of what “independence” meant and (b) what forms of tyranny (slavery, genocide of indigenous peoples) we were perfectly fine with.
The answer to tyranny isn’t independence, it’s liberation. When we settle for independence, only some people get it.
Your a) and b) are red herrings, and I have no issue with them. The issue is to acknowledge what this day actually celebrates and the importance of both independence and interdependence. Black or white framings are usually unhelpful.
And "liberation" is a form of independence, and it doesn't inherently exclude others because independence does not have to exclude interdependence, as I shared above. Anyway, maybe just try to hear the common sense point...
I was respectful in my response, but you’re being very condescending. Why not simply read my post as rebuking the extreme elevation of independence rather than rejecting it altogether? My point is, clearly, that the way Americans conceive of and practice independence has little to do with freedom and instead belies a hyper individualism at the expense of the other.
I didn't rebuke your post altogether, if you notice in both my responses I abide both independence and interdependence. And I have not been disrespectful or condescending, that's not an honest framing. It's an ad hominem attack, ironically enough, which is actually disrespectful. anyway, a friend sent me your post and it made me recoil, so I have tried to make a simple point, which you can hear or not. Take care....
✌🏻
Thank you for this! As a retired history teacher, one of the more “shocking” concepts for my students to grasp was that the founding / revolutionary fathers “preached,” and practiced the true spirit of republicanism, which they, as historically knowledgeable folks, understood to be everyone giving of themselves for the betterment of their community. We lost this long ago as a nation . Reviving it would go a long way to restoring our basic ideals.
Your post reminds me of this quote from Martin Luther King Jr.:
“In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
Thanks for sharing your stories on homelessness.