So the house is on fire. Then what is the fire?

[Az]

Arriana in her latest book and on the Daily Show the other night mentioned that when your house is on fire you don't start remodeling. So what is the fire? Perhaps the problem we are having is we do not all see the same fire.

For me the fire is the destruction of our society and way of life at the hands of Corporate entities enabled by conservative religious institutions. These two factors have combined to take away our rights and our ability to defend ourselves from their preying upon the people.

Thats my opinion of what the fire is. Whats your take on the fire?

[BlueEyedSon]

1. HELLO?!?!?!

Guess you were only listen ting with one ear.

The Fire = GWB & Co.

That's what she meant. You can wax poetic and philosophical about all the evils plaguing the US (and the world) - but her comment was directly in response to the Nader candidacy. Kerry's not perfect, but he is the only alternative just now.

:)

[Az]

4. Doesn't quite cut it

So if we put someone else in there not named GWB but continued on the same path you would be fine (Not suggesting Kerry or any Dem would be the same... ok Zell or Joementum maybe). Its not just the GWB. The flames were there before he got in office. And they have simply gotten larger while he was infesting the WH. I am asking what you think the flames are. If you think its just GWB then lets support a moderate Republican and then we would be sure to get George outa there.

[BlueEyedSon]

6. There is NO chance of making any headway

on your issue(s) while Bushco is in power, and we will continue to lose our ability to do anything about them (how long before dissent is illegal?).

Anyway, I told you what her "fire" is, based on the context. Feel free to stoke your own.

[AZCat]

2. It seems to me to be a two part question

The first question is: what is the house?
My interpretation of the 'house' is our society (as it seems is yours). But are we speaking of a 'house' that only extends to Americans, or is this a more global 'house'?

The second question, of the nature of the fire, I believe must wait until we agree on a meaning of the 'house'.

[DinahMoeHum]

12. Methinks you have just confirmed what Arianna has been

trying to tell you and us.

You seem to be wasting your time asking us to elaborate on the meaning of the words "house" and "fire". Meanwhile, THE HOUSE IS BURNING, WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT??

Sheesh.

:argh:

[AZCat]

15. Mea culpa

I didn't watch or listen, so I'm working out of context.

I am not clear on what is meant by the 'house' or the 'fire' and am asking for clarification.

[Christ was Socialist]

3. The Moderates are just going to thier base instincts

The fire is as you mentioned. And it won't go away with Kerry. He is better than bush. But when your house is on fire and has burnt down, you can rebuild somewhere else.

[HFishbine]

5. Saw her on the Daily Show last night

And she made some great points. Forgiving the ambiguity in her house-on-fire metaphor, she was right on in calling on John Kerry to be passionate and inspiring.

[Ilsa]

7. Another interpretation:

The house could be our democracy. It needs to be remodelled as the corporate and religious groups' pimps have purchased all the political power and the politicians are whores. It needs cleaning, but since Bushco set it on fire, we need to get the fire out, then work on cleaning it up by returning power to the people, not the corp.
(Same thing, essentially)

[Az]

8. But I don't buy into the notion that Bushco set it on fire

I may be wrong. I may be interpretting things through my own filter. But I see the fire as having been set decades ago by the likes of Reagan and Bush I. I see Bushco as just an accelerant that got tossed into the blaze and has caused it to flare to new heights. I am not convinced that getting him out of there is really putting out the fire.

[AZCat]

9. I can't resist...

Artist: Billy Joel
Song Title: "We Didn't Start the Fire"

'49 Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

'50 Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

'51 Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"

'52 Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new Queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana good bye

CHORUS
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.

'53 Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

'54 Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"

'55 Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

'56 Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez

CHORUS

'57 Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"

'58 Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of Thalidomide

'59 Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

'60 U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo

CHORUS

'61 Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

'62 "Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

'63 Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK blown away, what else do I have to say?

CHORUS

'64 - '89 Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore!

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

CHORUS TO FADE

link: http://www.lyrics007.com/Billy%20Joel%20Lyrics/We%20Didn%27t%20Start%20The%20Fire%20Lyrics.html

[Az]

10. If I could fight the temptation...

Hehe, I know what you mean. I nearly posted it myself. :bounce:

[AZCat]

13. Shoot, he stopped at '89!

We've lots of work to do- the fire hasn't stopped burning, and I think the lyrics need a serious update!

'90 through '03 is 24 years, right? Whew... I don't know if I remember '90!

Working list (please add):

'90

'91 Iraq

'92 WTC #1

'93 Mogadishu

'94

'95 Ok City, Rabin

'96

'97

'98

'99

'00 Cole, Florida

'01 9/11

'02

'03 Iraq

Note: I am NOT going to try to rhyme this, I'm not that talented!

Edit: Adding stuff...

[KoKo]

11. I get your point AZ. There so much work to be done repairing what Reagan

and Poppy did which was "covered over" during the Clinton boom years that to some of us it's our "Country on Fire. Our Constituion is being challenged every day by these folks and they are undermining our whole economy with their "Supply Side" theories which they slapped lipstick on and sold to us again.

I think Arianna's choice of "House on Fire" is ambiguous. Some have used it as an excuse to ban discussion of what's wrong out there in our whole American Society by focusing the comment on halting criticism of Kerry.

What's wrong is NOT about Kerry. But get's misinterpreted as such by those who don't understand what some of us are trying to get at.

[rman]

16. sure Reagan et all set the fire... by now the house is ablaze

and Bush* is fanning the fire.

[derby378]

14. Thinking about Germany's "fire" in the 1920s-30s

Lots of elements in the Nazi fire that engulfed Germany. Adolf Hitler, Ernst Rohm, the SS, the Reichstag Fire, the marketing of Mein Kampf, intimidation of voters, the Thule-Gesellschaft, the promotion of the "World-Ice Theory" to justify Aryan domination, etc.

Just planting some seeds...