The Guy in Our Neighborhood Who's Beating His Wife
I'm taking a little break from writing about the Haight-Ashbury in 1965 this morning. My blogging pal, Spoke, up in Alberta, sent me an email expressing his anger and frustration about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and encouraging me to publicize Amnesty International's excellent site Eyes On Darfur, which I hereby publicize. Worth checking out.
I'm frustrated too. So many world crises and all so intractable and what can we really do? I just bought an electric lawn mower because it emits less CO2 than a gas one. Did that help?
Maybe we could change human nature?
Actually, that might work. I can't think of anything else at the moment, but it's hard to do.
So, in my frustration, I get silly and write foolish poems and pretend they're by some famous author you never heard of and I open the memory vaults to share other times and places I've known.
But, back to Darfur -- if I can stay on track for one minute.
Imagine a nice peaceful neighborhood in a small city like the one I live in. The neighbors have an uncomfortable feeling there's something wrong in that little house across the street. It's the screams and the thuds. In fact, they suspect Bill Jones is beating his wife black and blue every night, sexually abusing his daughters and kicking his boys to death.
So the neighborhood holds a meeting. We can't let this go on! What should we do?
They decide to form a delegation to talk to Mr. Jones and tell him he has to stop. Mr. Jones greets them with a big smile and says oh no he's not beating his wife and abusing his children. That's just the TV on really loud. You know these kids!
But the neighbors keep noticing Mr. Jones out in his backyard at night digging long holes and filling them up again. So they hold another meeting.
"I know. Let's see if Mr. Jones will let us send our own sons over to his house to sit in his rooms and keep watch on everything. That way he'll be too embarrassed to do anything bad."
So after a long time and much talk Mr. Jones agrees to allow the scrawniest, most nearsighted twelve year old in the neighborhood to come over and watch TV in his living room for an hour every night. Now the beating sounds and screams come from the kitchen and the bedrooms, but the living room is peaceful as a church for one hour a day.
Meanwhile, the neighbors are putting up signs in their front yards that say "Stop Mr. Jones Beating His Wife! Now!". Mr. Jones retaliates with his own sign, "My neighbors' comments are unfair. I am only a firm but just disciplinarian." And, to be fair, Mr. Jones sons do need some discipline. At least from Mr. Jones' perspective. They can imagine nothing better than kicking the old man out so they can run the house the way they want. Which may very possibly include beating up their mother and raping their sisters.
The neighbors decide to get videotape of Mr. Jones beating his wife. Then they'd really have something. So husbands start sneaking around at night videotaping through Mr. Jones' windows. And guess what? They get video of Mr. Jones beating his wife and raping his daughters and killing his sons. And you know what happens? Mr. Jones says, "Ha ha ha, it's for their own good. I will manage my affairs as I see fit."
So finally the neighbors go to the biggest, strongest, richest guy on the block and say, "George, You do something! You need to take that guy out!"
George, who is already involved in some wars of his own so to speak, is reluctant to take on yet another battle, even though he is big and strong. So instead he calls everybody to say he's going to reduce the business he does with Mr. Jones' company (which, unfortunately, isn't very much to start with). Maybe that'll stop him! The local newspaper ran a little story about George's economic sanctions. You can see it here and decide for yourself how effective they will be.
What are the possible ways to bring peace and love to Darfur Street? They can't call the police because there are no police. It's up to the neighbors. What's their next response?
So far the best they can think of is...call another meeting.
And, you know what? I can't think of anything else either. Maybe if all the businesses in town got together and refused to buy noodles from Mr. Jones' noodle factory? But, trouble is, there's a very popular Chinese restaurant in town - all the neighbors eat there nearly every night - and the restaurant really needs those noodles. And the neighbors really like eating there.
You got any ideas?
I'm frustrated too. So many world crises and all so intractable and what can we really do? I just bought an electric lawn mower because it emits less CO2 than a gas one. Did that help?
Maybe we could change human nature?
Actually, that might work. I can't think of anything else at the moment, but it's hard to do.
So, in my frustration, I get silly and write foolish poems and pretend they're by some famous author you never heard of and I open the memory vaults to share other times and places I've known.
But, back to Darfur -- if I can stay on track for one minute.
Imagine a nice peaceful neighborhood in a small city like the one I live in. The neighbors have an uncomfortable feeling there's something wrong in that little house across the street. It's the screams and the thuds. In fact, they suspect Bill Jones is beating his wife black and blue every night, sexually abusing his daughters and kicking his boys to death.So the neighborhood holds a meeting. We can't let this go on! What should we do?
They decide to form a delegation to talk to Mr. Jones and tell him he has to stop. Mr. Jones greets them with a big smile and says oh no he's not beating his wife and abusing his children. That's just the TV on really loud. You know these kids!
But the neighbors keep noticing Mr. Jones out in his backyard at night digging long holes and filling them up again. So they hold another meeting.
"I know. Let's see if Mr. Jones will let us send our own sons over to his house to sit in his rooms and keep watch on everything. That way he'll be too embarrassed to do anything bad."
So after a long time and much talk Mr. Jones agrees to allow the scrawniest, most nearsighted twelve year old in the neighborhood to come over and watch TV in his living room for an hour every night. Now the beating sounds and screams come from the kitchen and the bedrooms, but the living room is peaceful as a church for one hour a day.
Meanwhile, the neighbors are putting up signs in their front yards that say "Stop Mr. Jones Beating His Wife! Now!". Mr. Jones retaliates with his own sign, "My neighbors' comments are unfair. I am only a firm but just disciplinarian." And, to be fair, Mr. Jones sons do need some discipline. At least from Mr. Jones' perspective. They can imagine nothing better than kicking the old man out so they can run the house the way they want. Which may very possibly include beating up their mother and raping their sisters.
The neighbors decide to get videotape of Mr. Jones beating his wife. Then they'd really have something. So husbands start sneaking around at night videotaping through Mr. Jones' windows. And guess what? They get video of Mr. Jones beating his wife and raping his daughters and killing his sons. And you know what happens? Mr. Jones says, "Ha ha ha, it's for their own good. I will manage my affairs as I see fit."
So finally the neighbors go to the biggest, strongest, richest guy on the block and say, "George, You do something! You need to take that guy out!"
George, who is already involved in some wars of his own so to speak, is reluctant to take on yet another battle, even though he is big and strong. So instead he calls everybody to say he's going to reduce the business he does with Mr. Jones' company (which, unfortunately, isn't very much to start with). Maybe that'll stop him! The local newspaper ran a little story about George's economic sanctions. You can see it here and decide for yourself how effective they will be.
What are the possible ways to bring peace and love to Darfur Street? They can't call the police because there are no police. It's up to the neighbors. What's their next response?
So far the best they can think of is...call another meeting.
And, you know what? I can't think of anything else either. Maybe if all the businesses in town got together and refused to buy noodles from Mr. Jones' noodle factory? But, trouble is, there's a very popular Chinese restaurant in town - all the neighbors eat there nearly every night - and the restaurant really needs those noodles. And the neighbors really like eating there.
You got any ideas?
Labels: Darfur
posted by Christopher Newton at 7:48 AM
7 Comments:
How to help indeed? Endless rapes of women and children,200,000 known dead, millions displaced. How on earth do World Leaders sleep?
I grieve.
I tell.
I pray.
And I pray, too.
Chris, either you're too generous in your metaphor about the "neighborhood," or I'm too cynical.
I see a whole row of houses with "issues." I'm talking meth, gangs, wholesale violence and mayhem. The works.
Some on the other side of the street seem not to notice the problem. They're either ignorant or paralyzed with fear to do anything about it.
Others take a different approach. They'll wag their finger, make speeches, threaten to boycott, bluster and so on. "Tsk-tsk," they will lisp.
Then there are those will organize a posse, a roll-up-your-sleeves, no-nonsense, kickass, take names, badge-heavy, enforcement response. Heads will be knocked together, fines will be imposed and property will be confiscated, possibly bulldozed along with the raggedy ann dolls left behind. Tears will fall.
And then there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, and wringing of hands, and accusations against the enforcers. Their motives will be impugned. "You're from the red white & blue family!" bigots will cry. "Who made you the policeman?"
And the dovish types will continue to light candles and sing kumbaya, and the enforcers will retire from The Service at age 50 and continue to have post traumatic stress disorders and other ailments into their old age, and become a serious burden on society.
And the crack houses will rise again, only to be squashed again by the prayerful and the outraged.
Yup. Ted is too cynical. And I always thought that was my job.
The point of the metaphor, it seems to me, is to illuminate some of the truth, not necessarily give all the details. It is a parable about having to deal with evil. While there may be no silver bullet solution, an attempt needs to be made. To sit and do nothing is just that, nothing.
Darfur, as is obvious, is simply another place with the same face of evil. But sometimes hearts change. No promises, just a little hope. Remember Uganda? Nowhere near the same as it was in Amin's day.
Alas, here comes my optimistic cynicism. While changes happen, there will be no lasting peace until the man returns.
Maranatha
Actually I'm not sure what the.chronicler is talking about. My little story was an allegory about the international community. And specifically about its response to the Darfur crisis.
In my metaphor each house is a different nation. And they're rightly upset about what "Mr. Jones" is doing. But there is no international police force and no enforceable international law. And the kick-ass approach would equate to a declaration of war.
Is that what you meant about the "dovish types"? Do you think we should declare war on Sudan? In addition to the wars we currently have going on? Are you willing to pay for another war? In money and blood?
Or were you attempting to change the meaning of my little story? If so, then bad Chronicler! Mustn't change its meaning to serve your own purposes!
I still think that part of Chronicler's comments are to the point. The house indeed ain't in a great neighborhood, and it's actually not the neighbors that are complaining too much about the Jones', but more the guys from a few blocks away.
George's house is not on the same street, and for all intents and purposes, it may even not have been in the same neighborhood. It's in its own, little, fenced and gated community (let's call it Les Residences Occidents, LRO) which is designed definitely to keep the other rich neighbors in and the other rif-raf out. George couldn't care less about anyone outside the fence, as long as it doesn't affect his own family.
So now, Jones Street is in an area where the water mains doesn't have any pressure, there is no public sewage (and the cesspools are overflowing), electricity is on for only a few hours a day, and poverty is rife. Les Residences Occidents have non of these problems; they take care pretty well of themselves.
Now, the main problem is, that there is barely any incentive for the residents of LRO to do anything. Although they say that they "care of the wellbeing of other people", beyond the marketing value of that, "other" is narrowly defined to be their own neighbors in the gated community. Although they *are* dependent on deliveries and trade with some of the families in Jones St., there's definitely not much interest in the Jones family themselves.
So what can we expect?
- Intervention? Well, why should George or any of his neighbors?
- "Self policing" of Jones St.? How can a street that can't even take care of their own basic needs police themselves? Is this a reasonable expectation?
- Urban Renewal? I actually think that there is some hope with that, for the following reasons:
* Renovate the houses, and help the residents help themselves
* They will be better equipped to trade with the LRO neighbors, sell stuff to them and buy stuff from them
* But more importantly, the single rule of Real Estate is "Location, Location, Location". If our beloved gated community is no longer surrounded by slums, the value of it will go up. And that means, that George's Net Worth will go up as well!
Thanks for the metaphor...
Great response, Ramon. You've got me thinking about Darfur again - and America's place on the street.
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