Back to Basics

I blog a lot about movies, music, and television, but my first love is literature. Currently I am reading a book by Zora Neale Hurston titled Moses, Man of the Mountain. As I am reading along in a book, I like to write down quotes that catch my interest. Sometimes it's because I think they hold great truth, and other times it is just because I feel the passage is beautifully written. For this post I'm going to comment on a couple of quotes I have written down so far from Moses, Man of the Mountain.

"So! The will to humble a man more powerful than themselves was stronger than the emotion of gratitude. It was stronger than the wish for the common brotherhood of man."

This quote really makes me think of the human relationship with God. As humans we often let our pride encourage us to go against God in some false sense of power over Him. I think the idea is that if God wants us to do something and we refuse, then we think that means we have power over Him because we defied or denied Him. In reality we are only denying ourselves. God tries to bring us together in relationship with Him and our fellow human beings. We are lost without this relationship. Our pride only conceals us from truth and happiness.

"They wish to destroy me, and so they have quit using sense and taken to using phrases. Slogans can be worse than swords if they are only put in the right mouths."

This is a concept that goes back to the Bible. Shakespeare dealt with it famously in Julius Caesar.  Deception is a strong force. As this quote says, all it takes for a mass of people to be led into evil actions is a well formed slogan. It has become the basis of American politics. We no longer pay attention to what candidates stand for or believe in. All we hear now is rhetoric. The company line. Politicians are always working to say "the right thing" instead of what is honest. In the 2004 election Bush spread the famous "flip flop" in reference to his opponent. Similarly, in the 2008 election Obama used focus points like "Yes We Can" and "Change" to win votes. These slogan mean nothing. Flip flop? That tells me nothing about what you believe or stand for. Same goes for "change" and "yes we can." Obviously that election would bring change, cause Bush had served his two terms. That doesn't actually tell me what Obama's ambitions as president are. Slogans misguide the masses into compliance. They sound good to people, and lead people to just take candidates at surface level.