Bridging the Gap
One of the top trending pastes on the site Pastebin.com for the last 48-hours has been one called “We, The People.” Penned by myself, and inspired by a friend who’s deeply identified with Anonymous, it’s really a simple plea to any who will listen, that We, The People need to come together at this time, more than ever. I’ve shared it a fair amount in the last day and a half, as has my friend. While on my side of things, the post hasn’t seemed to generate nearly as much conversation as I had anticipated, it certainly has for my friend.
Many on his side, who are also affiliated with Anonymous, have found what we presented in that simple post on Pastebin to be a worthwhile idea. Others, unfortunately, have expressed contempt and derided my friend for even suggesting such a thing. And that’s okay.
This is just the first step in what will likely be a long process, but I’d say the reaction he’s received, coupled with the fact that nearly 2,000 people have viewed the post since it was put online yesterday, are probably a good indication that the idea of right and left uniting together, is an idea who’s time has come. We all know it’s broken. We all know those we’ve chosen to fix it seem completely uninterested in doing so. We also know that many of the media, old AND new, have a vested interest in keeping the divide as wide as ever, as well.
Something really interesting, to me at least, was a tweet I received in reply to one of the times I posted the paste to my Twitter in the last 24 hours. It was from a profile obviously aligned with Anonymous, but it was spreading awareness of what they termed #OpELE, or Operation Everybody Love Everybody.
And with it, was this pastebin. A short excerpt from it :
#AmeriSec believes that “Everybody should Love Everybody”. This op evolved organically out of a conversation between several of our members. We are deeply aware of the fact that, too often, people are sad, lonely, or in need of assistance from their community. To address this issue, we plan to dedicate a minimum of one day per month in which ALL AmeriSec Anons are showing their love for others. This can be done in countless ways, such as cleaning up a park or other public space, volunteering at a soup kitchen, planting a garden, repairing a play area for a school, gathering toiletries for a homeless or battered women’s shelter, or simply hugging people on the sidewalk. There have (been) similar, service-based Ops in the past, and Occupy Sandy is still in need of support. We encourage you to reach out to existing Anon Ops or Occupy movements if they are in your vicinity (AnonSolidarity = ELE!). The most important thing here is that Anons are showing their love and Everybody is Lovin’ Everybody!
Sounds like something you’d expect conservatives and the religious right to be preaching, doesn’t it? Work at the local level, truly help those who need it, and try and be a force of positive change in other people’s lives.
The commonalities are greater than the differences, and if we can rally around those things we all share alike, it certainly seems like we’d be capable of finally fixing some of the problems we find ourselves still struggling with on a daily basis.
I think we’re up to it.
Do you?
