In one single “feverish episode,” fiction writer Walter Mosley – yes, Mosley of “Easy Rawlins” fame – tackles American political apathy in a thin, rambling reader: Life Out of Context, a moving tract regardless of its brevity.
The upshot of his meandering, overarching argument – totally inspirational in some respects and alienating in others – is that we have lost all sense of sociopolitical context. We have become totally disconnected not only from the political process, but also from our own communities. We are, he follows, totally oblivious to the international community and are “unmoved when confronted with atrocities, numbers of dead, obvious inequities.” Such values will not be shared by all readers: “There are people dying and being tortured” because Americans support wrongdoing transnational corporations, because Americans voted for a war-mongering president, because Americans drive large automobiles that suck foreign oil, and because Americans wear garments “that were made by slaves.” He does give folks a break: Low salaries and poor medical insurance – the rat race in general – keep the multitude from questioning anything. That's no absolution, however: “We are culpable for our nation's actions,” he cautions.
The non-violent takeover Mosley suggests is a movement in which many political interest groups are created to transform the two-party system into a sort of assembly. Current leaders, he writes, falsify information, creating fake enemies to tie us together in fear. Combat this, he writes, by showing up, by becoming involved. “One of the most important things we can do for our community is to show up,” he writes. “You may not have been invited, but that's not a problem. ... By the fifth meeting, you will be holding your own.”
“I do believe,” Mosley wraps, “that we need to build a table and sit at it together, including as many people as we can to develop our policies, our agendas, and our goals. Economic globalism has pressed many lives out of context. It's about time we push back.” – Jeanie Straub