The town of Cold Rock is smothered in poverty. Like many small American town's it was build around exploitation of labor and mining of resources. Long ago, there was a vibrant town. Works woke up early and stumbled to the mind to dig. Most of these workers were children, and some of them were adults. Children were used in cold mines because their tiny bodies allowed them to reach or fit into places that adults couldn't. But in Cold Rock, the mind has closed down, and adults are forced to travel to cities to find work. Children are wandering the streets and there doesn't appear to be a school in the town. The early shots of the town that pan over children and homes remind me of even poorer nations than the United States. This is not to say that there is some patriotic underbelly here, but that poverty isn't just locally systemic but globally systemic. So what do we do when children are trapped in cycles of exploitation and abuse? The great organizer Mother Jones's answer was to organize! I have two vivid memories of reading Mother Jones's autobiography. The first is when she organized the wives of miners with their brooms to chase the scabs out of the mines. The second was when she rallied the miner children and marched them out to Washington DC, where she had them in cages while she gave a speech about the evils of child labor.
But, echoing Lenin, What must be done? What must be done when the spirit of the town is broken? When they don't heed the cry of the organizer? When they are so physically and morally strained that thinking outside the status quo is an impossibility? Tall Man argues, when the community becomes hopeless than the children need to be removed and given better opportunities. This is more than a little controversial, and it probably should be argued that this is a crime against humanity. But what if it works? What if by systematically removing children from homes of poverty and placing them in homes where there's cultural, morale and fiscal resources work? What if what is needed is to let a poisoned social group die out? This is the argument of Tall Man.
One must remember that this is exactly what white European American tried to do to the First Nations People. I almost want to call it cultural integration to death. The American idea was to pull First Nation's children out of reserves and place them in white American school settings to deconstruct their culture of origin in order that they could be smoothly integrated into white American society, and thereby eradicating their culture of origin. Luckily this was not fulfilled.
"The system is broken, it doesn't work. There's no where to turn, no support. I've seen it all over the world, it's just easier to give up. I'm not any better than you, Mrs. Johnson, I've just seen more. It's not a matter of being a good person or being a bad person, it's about how you cope. We're so limited. But the eyes of every child are filled with potential and hope, and we need to embrace and nourish that potential. But we don't, and we continue to make the same mistakes, and we continue to let the children grow up broken and lost, just like their parents." (Source)
Let's consider the Department of Children and Family Services for a moment. If a family reaches a certain level of violent dysfunction and is deemed hazardous to a child's health that a child is removed from a home and a new placement is sought. DCFS ideally seeks out first a close relative, or family relation that could provide temporary or long term care for a child. But, what is the geographical and economic placement situation for the new placement? There is a likelihood that the closest relative lives nearby and is in a similar or lower economic status. Is culture and/or family enough to raise the likelihood of a child's success in life?
Thursday I presented on the Id, Ego, and Superego for my Clinical practice class. My plan was to explain the Id, Ego, and Super ego via psycho. I began by drawing the Bates's House on the whiteboard with a blue dry erase marker. I turned to the class and asked if anyone had scene Psycho. A handful of ladies raised their hands. I called on a couple people to explain the plot. Then I explained that in some psychoanalytic film theory floors of the home are designated by Id, Ego, and Super Ego. I wrote the word Super Ego next to the second floor of the house where I had drawn the silhouette of Norma Bates. Norma is up there overseeing and regulating Norman's moral compass. Pushing guild and savage categorical imperatives to support his disassociation and demonetization of women. This constant pathological voice compelling him via guilt is Normans superego. Norman is most 'normal' when he is on the ground floor of the house, but he is having difficultly managing the pushes
Caroline is a girl who is unhappy with her parents. They aren't paying attention to her. Looking out from her beady eyes, Caroline sees a world populated by adults lost in the projects who push off play time into the future. Impatient Caroline wishes for more caring parents that give into her narcissistic only child dreams. Caroline wants to be the center of everyone's universe, and cannot feel normal without the constant self-affirming gaze that verifies her importance. Coraline finds a door which opens to a brick wall. Her mother reason's that the wall was build when the building was split into three apartments. But as Caroline notices this does not sufficiently explain the wall. “Why is the door small then?” Or, why would they build a wall to separate apartments when the apartments were separated vertically rather than horizontally. What's with the door and what is the its purpose? Is a justified question due to illogical architecture.
What is vengeance? Reparation or ego? When a wrong is committed and individual is harmed most bring their problems to the legal system in order to seek reimbursement and/or justice. The court’s ruling is enough for the average person. After the hammer falls justice is hashed out. The parties involved may feel slighted, yet they shake hands and go about their lives. What kind of crimes or slights against the social contract opens up the field for DIY justice? Vengeance in this sense is akin to the justice one may receive through the courts, but is rooted in the righteous declaration that the individual righteousness to judge and deal out justice. What gives an individual the right to create justice? Let’s take a step back and saw off a different chunk. What justifies the authority of a judge in a courtroom? While the judge’s seat might provide her the highest point from which to look into the courtroom, there is nothing intrinsic about this perspective that authenticates that a judg
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