Transcript

Normalcy · Mechonomist Podcast

0:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, in a time of transition in my life between running the automotive free clinic and being a stay at home dad, I got about a month left at the AFC and got just about everything transferred over to the new leaders of the organization and they're moving, they're getting on with it and I think the AFC is going to be fine.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Just, you know,
0:35
SPEAKER_00: I went to a volunteer meeting yesterday and there were people there who knew me who I didn't know and I always feel weird about that and I always try to engage them in some type of personal conversation to get to know them and they never want to they never want to have that conversation and you know I have a bunch of friends I have
1:05
SPEAKER_00: I have tons of friends and I'm very blessed.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: The church and through organizing and activism and academia.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: But the people who I'm truly myself with are probably a dozen people who I'm truly myself with.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: And the things that really matter to me are spiritual.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: They're about accepting
1:35
SPEAKER_00: The path of life that I'm on and the things that I can't change and living with grace and forgiveness and sort of just being in the moment as much as possible.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of a hard thing for me.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of hard for me to be in the moment as much as possible, but I truly value my friends who treat me
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Not like I'm a visionary or a leader or a prophet but who treat me just as a normal human being with problems and hopes and dreams and just easy shit.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Easy shit just to be a normal person and I really struggle with that.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: There were some things that happened in the AFC recently where a funder didn't want to
2:36
SPEAKER_00: It's so stupid.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: It's so dumb.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm just a person.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have radical political views, but to me those views are just normal.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: They're from years of study and analysis.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: They're not intended to make people uncomfortable.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: and they're just opinions you know every something we say redneck say is opinions are like assholes everybody's got one and you know i don't i don't believe i have any special power to get my opinions accepted by the world any more than anybody else does i don't have a big platform um i'm not that influential um
3:27
SPEAKER_00: in the grand scheme of things.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm influential in some circles, and I'm blessed to be able to be influential in some circles, but you know, I don't have a huge Twitter following where I can communicate with 11 million people like Taylor Swift or anybody like that.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I'm just a dude, and sometimes it's just hard, which may change.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Things may become different as far as that goes.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: I may have more influence because there's a documentary coming out on, I think it's on me.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen it yet.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: But the rough cut is done.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: It does have a producer.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: It's possible it may make the rounds at film festivals.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, the director told me last week that it says something about the world, which is all I want to do is to say something about the world.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: about the way the world is that's true and that resonates with people.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: But I'm just a regular dude.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: I like cars.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: I like my redneck convertible, which I'm looking at right now.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: I like the Babylander.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: I like getting in the zone and working on cars and all of this other accoutrements kind of fade away into the background.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: The politics and the maneuvering and the power just don't really exist.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: And that's the one thing that I love about the shop is that in every shop I've ever been in, the politics, the power and the maneuvering don't exist.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: It's just about working together.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: And to me, that's solidarity.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's my little thoughts for today, you know,
5:22
SPEAKER_00: What am I?
5:24
SPEAKER_00: You know?
5:26
SPEAKER_00: What am I that somebody who I don't know would say they don't want to support the AFC because of my politics?
5:38
SPEAKER_00: It's so petty.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: It's so petty.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: It's so juvenile and immature.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: People are allowed to have different ideas.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: People can have any ideas that they want to have.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: Why are we canceling people for their ideas?
6:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, if somebody does something bad, an action that is, you know, harmful, yeah, they should be held accountable.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Just because somebody has a weird idea, why do we want to take them down a notch?
6:16
SPEAKER_00: Why can't we just be like, why does that person have that idea?
6:19
SPEAKER_00: Where did it come from?
6:20
SPEAKER_00: Did it come from an honest place?
6:23
SPEAKER_00: You know,
6:25
SPEAKER_00: And my ideas come from an honest place.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Come from a lifetime of experience in dealing with politics and looking at institutions and trying to understand how the world works.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: And seeing the world, especially America, devolve into chaos.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: And people just add to the chaos by saying, I want to support you because I don't like what your opinion is.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: It's so stupid.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: It's the dumbest thing in the world and it's destroying our country.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't put people up on pedestals in the first place.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: And if we do, we're just going to be disappointed or we're not going to work with them because we think they're special.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's special.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: There's no special people.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's just a soul and blood and oxygen and water.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: And I'm definitely not special.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: And I'm tired of people treating me that way.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: Honestly.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm tired of people treating me like I'm special.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: I want to be treated like a normal person.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, that's my rant for today.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Peace y'all.