I have just returned from a short stay at a friend’s house, but I had left my computer behind. Fortunately, there is still time to send Christmas greetings to all of you, my very dear readers.
During the Baroque era in music (1600-1750), the Folia, a musical piece that probably originated in Spain, became very popular. I did not intend ever to mention the Folia until I went to my WordPress Reader yesterday and found myself reading about instances of genuine folie or madness. There is nothing mad about the Folia, but there is madness among Republicans. Let us look at two events I found “unsavoury.”
The Camerawoman Incident
Reading through various posts, I learned that two women attending the RepublicanNational Convention, in Tampa, Florida, had thrown nuts at an African-American CNN camerawoman shouting “this is how we feedanimals.” For details, see CNN Camerawoman Hit With Nuts (EnStarz). Needless to say, I quickly reworded the headline so it would read CNN camerawoman Hit by Nuts,” using nuts in its pejorative acceptation. Folias in music are lighthearted, but throwing nuts at a coloured camerawoman and calling her an animal shows genuine folie, madness, not to mention sufficient bigotry to sink a battleship.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (29 August 1809 – 7 October 1894) stated that “[t]he mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.” That definition would apply to the nut-throwing incident that took place in Tampa. The bottom line here is that we are witnessing bigotry and racism.
The Voter Purge Incident
As I continued reading your posts, I learned that a woman would not be permitted to vote because she could not produce the photo ID (identification) Florida (R) and perhaps other states are now requiring of voters. Does exercising one’s right to vote require of voters that they possess a driver’s license or a passport? Some persons are too poor to own a car and therefore do not have a driver’s licence. Moreover, some persons are also too poor to travel. Consequently, they do not have a passport. Demanding a photo ID therefore seems an unreasonable request and voter suppression could prevent President Obama from being re-elected, which would be a catastrophe.
This second incident, the photo ID (identification) incident, demonstrates that Voter Suppression is not only unreasonable but that it constitutes a discrimatory practice that could keep away from Election Polls the elderly, the disabled, the poor and persons, in particular coloured individuals, who may feel their social status does not allow them to exercise their right to choose a leader, a misconception voter suppression is bringing to the fore. These people were slaves and two idiots threw nuts at them calling them animals.
In fact, Voter Suppression may well be in direct violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 “a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.” (Voting Rights Act of 1965, Wikipedia) Voting is an unalienable right in the United States of America.
But enough is enough. Let us hear a Folia that is not madness: folie. The Folia moved beyond Spain, so we will listen to a Folia Variations composed by Arcangelo Corelli (17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713), an Italian violinist and composer of the Baroque era.[i] Our main performer is Russian violinist Nathan Millstein (13 January 1904 – 21 December 1992).
© Micheline Walker
24 December 2012
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