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Stuck In Traffic Issue 10
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Stuck In Traffic
"Independent Comment on Current Events and Cultural Phenomena"ÿ
Issue #10 - January 1996
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Jim and Tammy's Legacy
During the Christmas holidays, my family and I spent several nights
driving around Charlotte looking at all the Christmas decorations on
the houses and city buildings. People in Charlotte go all out for
Christmas and we enjoy seeing the sights. One night we drove just
south of Charlotte to see the Christmas sights at the Radisson Grand
Resort. The Radisson is just the most recent owner of this huge family
resort. It's probably better known by its fomer name, Heritage U.S.A.,
the headquarters of the PTL television ministry before the downfall of
Jim and Tammy Bakker.
The Bakker's were nothing if not ambitious and it shows in this resort.
The place is huge. There are vacation homes, camping areas,
recreational lakes for boating and swimming. Basically everything that
you could possibly want in a family vacation spot. And it would be
indistinguishable from any other family vacation resort if it weren't
for the fact that religious references keep popping up at odd spots,
despite the Radisson's obvious attempts to tone down the tacky
Christian references. For example, one of the stores in the main hotel
complex is called Cherub's Landing. Another was called Vision Tronics
with the `T' replaced by a Christian cross symbol. At the ice cream
parlor there are three sizes of ice cream sundaes, the David, the
Goliath, and the Noah's Ark. One of the meeting rooms is called The
Upper Room.
The Radisson has also been trying to tone down the Jim and Tammy
influence with some success. The shop area in the main hotel no longer
has the estate planning office (where you can draw up a will to leave
your estate to PTL) and there is less and less donated furniture in the
hotel lobby each year. But the Radisson hasn't yet been able to wash
away all of the Jim and Tammy influence. The women's clothing stores
still carry clothes like those that you used to see Tammy Bakker wear
on the PTL show. Lots of glitter. Lots of makeup. And the main hotel
area still has live entertainment featuring singing groups that sound
like they are straight from the PTL show. You know the type, that
Contemporary Christian sound.
Perhaps the biggest legacy that Jim and Tammy left behind is all the
unfinished construction that you see everywhere. The next to the main
hotel, there is a huge unfinished tower that's probably 40 stories
high. I believe this was the tower that brought down the Bakkers. As
I recall, it was originally intended to be time-share condos. And
according to Federal prosecutors, PTL deliberately oversold in order to
raise money. Today, it's just this huge unfinished building, the
Bakker's personal Tower of Babel.
Despite all the unsightly incomplete construction, and despite the
absence of the PTL ministry, the resort is quite active. It appears
that many people still enjoy their vacations at the resort. The night
we visited, there appeared to be a fairly good size crowd of people
enjoying the resort activities and there are lots of other vacation
resort type attractions in the area.
The main reason we had gone down to the Radisson resort was to see the
light show. Every year, the resort puts together a huge drive through
display of Christmas lights. They have candy cane forests, lighted
reindeer leaping across the road, lighted elves and Santa Claus, huge
lighted snow flakes and snow men. All kinds of neat stuff. And of
course they have an equal mix of Christian imagery as well. They have
a live nativity scene, complete with the Star of Bethlehem above it.
As was typical of the PTL Ministry era, there is no lack of enthusiasm
when these folks decide to do something. The whole thing was really
quite impressive. And not only do they put on a great show, they
advertise it heavily during Christmas and there is always a big crowd
that comes out to see it.
But, just like the former PTL ministry, their abundance of enthusiasm
comes with an equal lack of tact and forethought. This incredible
light show filled with its symbols of Christmas and Christian imagery
is called "The Festival of Lights," which is of course how our Jewish
friends refer to Hanukkah.
=============================
Outing The Treasury Secretary
In October, The Washington Post reported a story, which was later
picked up and circulated by the Reuters news service, about Senator
Arlen Specter calling for the abolition of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms. Senator Specter headed the Senate investigation
of the ATF's handling of the Waco Massacre and the Siege at Ruby Ridge
and is perhaps the most informed congressman on the agency's misconduct
for the past two years. Senator Specter proposed that the ATF had
outlived its usefulness and that whatever legitimate duties the agency
now performed could be better handled by the FBI or other federal law
enforcement agencies.
The Washington Post also ran a quote from Treasury Secretary Robert
Rubin defending the ATF and its usefulness:
"It would be a mistake to pull apart this vital law enforcement agency
that effectively fights guns, gangs, and explosives."
It is interesting to note that, while Mr. Rubin correctly labels the
ATF as a law enforcement agency, his justification notably lacks any
mention of law enforcement. He says simply and quite plainly that the
ATF is in the business of fighting guns, gangs, and explosives.
I can almost understand an agency "fighting gangs" since the common
usage of the word `gang' pretty much assumes illegal and violent
activity. Although it would be interesting to see a court case that
pitted the ATF's gang fighting against our Constitutional right of
assembly and free association.
Fighting guns and explosives is a different matter all together. Since
these items don't exist in nature by themselves, but only exist when
people manufacture, buy and sell them, fighting guns and explosives is
in fact fighting the people who own those things. So to go on record
saying that the ATF is in the business of fighting guns and explosives
is no different than saying that the ATF is in the business of fighting
people with guns and explosives, which is exactly what the ATF was
doing when it raided the Branch Davidian compound and is exactly what
it was doing during the siege on Ruby Ridge.
Whether or not the Federal Government should or should not be fighting
people who own guns and explosives is a matter for debate. But the
fact that Government is doing so is uncontested.
====================
Haiti: A Year Later
When President Clinton committed American troops to reinstate
Jean-Bertrand Aristide as the president of Haiti, one of the assurances
given to the American people was that U.S. Troops were not there to
"prop up" the Aristide presidency, but simply to help restore law and
order to Haiti until peaceful elections could be held. Troops are
currently scheduled to begin withdrawing from Haiti in February after
the Haitian elections are held.
At one point there were 14 candidates for the presidency in Haiti.
Rene Prevel is the current front runner in the election race, but that
doesn't come as a surprise to anyone. Prevel has served under Aristide
in the past and was hand picked by Aristide to be his successor since
part of the deal cut between Aristide and Clinton just before the
invasion was that Aristide would not run in the upcoming elections.
Despite there being so many candidates in the election, news reports
from the area are filled with phrases like "Prevel is expected to
win...." and "Prevel is expected to be the next president of Haiti."
It may be that the current Aristide government is wildly popular in
Haiti and that Prevel is inheriting the good will of the electorate.
Or it may be that the other candidates in the race are simply so
disorganized that they are unable to mount a serious bid for the
presidency. Or it may be that the Aristide government is leveraging
its incumbency and the tense military situation to thwart the other
candidates' campaigns.
In any case, Prevel has already gone on record indicating that he will
ask that the troops not be withdrawn from Haiti, "in the best interests
of Haiti." He has so far refused to elaborate on why it is in the best
interest of Haiti to keep foreign troops there or under what conditions
he would support a U.N. military withdrawal. So whether or not the
U.N. military mission, which is led by 2200 U.S. troops, is actively
engaged in supporting the current government or it is simply having
that effect by the virtue of its presence, it is clear the Prevel
prefers to have 6000 foreign troops backing up the Haitian National
Police.
This would seem to indicate that the Aristide government is not as
popular as we were led to believe before the invasion and raises
serious questions about why the election results seem to be such a
foregone conclusion.
============================================
"It takes a headstrong woman to wear a hat."
======================
Lessons From Old Salem
Over the Christmas holidays, my family and I visited Old Salem, which
is the restored Moravian community in the heart of Winston-Salem, NC.
I had been to old Salem once before, when I was in grade school. At
the time, I was mostly interested in the beeswax candles, the handmade
barrels and furniture, water systems built from log pipes, and of
course the delicious Moravian baked goods. But this time I was more
interested in the unique political, religious, and social structure of
the Moravian culture.
The Moravians trace the beginning of their religion back to the 15th
century Europe, in the area that is today the Czech Republic. Their
martyr, John Hus, was burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church
because he refused to recant his sacrilegious criticisms of the
Catholic Church. Hus had the wacky notion that communion should be
available to everyone, not just the Church officials, and that the
Bible ought to be available to people in their native language rather
than just in Latin. After Hus' execution, some of his followers formed
a church which they called "Unitas Fratrum" and it grew and prospered
despite repeated persecution. In the 1700's most of them moved to
Germany where they enjoyed the leadership and protection of Count
Zinzendorf and they founded the town of Hermhut.
From Hermhut, the Moravians sent missionaries to the new world and
several towns in America were founded by the Moravians, including
Savannah, Georgia; Bethlehem Pennsylvania. In 1753 the Moravians
bought a huge tract of land in central North Carolina, which they named
Wachovia, from its British owner who was impressed by the Moravians
wholesome lifestyle and industriousness. Reading between the lines, it
appears to me that North Carolina was desperate to get some commercial
activity going. The only other major towns in North Carolina at the
time were the port town of Wilmington, and a town near the present day
Fayetteville. But neither of these towns accounted for much commercial
activity and North Carolina was a very poor state. In 1766, the
Moravians began building the town of Salem and soon Salem was a major
trading post for exchanging raw, rural goods of the south with
manufactured goods from the northern colonies and the Moravians had a
reputation for being fair traders with low prices.
One of the more surprising things I learned from this second trip to
Salem was that the religious freedom that the Moravians sought in the
New World did not necessarily translate into individual freedom. The
Moravian motto, according to one of the Museums in Old Salem is:
"In essentials, Unity.
In nonessentials, Liberty.
In all things, Charity."
That sounds great, but when you examine the Moravian social structure,
it appears that there was very little that the Moravians considered
"nonessential."
In the words of the Salem museum, Salem was a "closed congregation
town" and all spiritual and economic matters were directed by the
church. If you weren't a Moravian, then you weren't welcome to live
there. The town's population/congregation was divided into "choirs"
that segregated members by their sex and marital status. Married
couples were permitted to live separately in their own homes but were
still considered to be members of their "choir." Children lived with
their parents until they were about 12 or 13 years old. At that age,
they became members of either the Single Brothers' choir or the Single
Sisters choir and were moved into large dorm like buildings to be
raised "in the Family of God" rather than by their parents. Once a
single person married, they could then move into their own home. And
judging by the membership rosters in the museums, when one's spouse
died, he or she moved back in to the Singles' choir. It's unclear what
became of the estate. However, one can guess that when your spouse
died and you moved back into the Singles' choir, the ownership of your
estate reverted back to the church.
All commerce outside of the congregation was held as a church monopoly.
There were special stores and inns set up by the church used to conduct
business with visiting traders. There was no mention in any of the
museums or by the tour guides regarding economic transactions within
the congregation were conducted. I assume there was some kind of money
used among the members. And it was unclear to me how goods were
transferred from the craftsmen to the church so that they could be
sold. The impression one is left with is that the members of the
congregation viewed their craft as an act of devotion and were happy to
donate their work to the church. And yet it was quite apparent that
some of the Moravian families were quite well off relative to the other
families. So the usual human economic competition must have been
present in the congregation in some form despite the communal
appearance.
And as you would expect, the average Moravian's day was dominated by
religious services and prayer. From what I could tell, the Moravians
gathered en masse at the Church at least once a day for services and
individual families seemed to have home services as well. Artistic and
recreational activities were almost always church related.
To their credit, the Moravians placed a high value on educating their
children. And while it is true that girls studied home and domestic
crafts while boys studied trade crafts, I was amazed to learn the girls
and boys studied the same core subjects. All girls and boys were given
church sponsored education in subjects like reading, writing, math,
natural science, and music. I think the Moravians were well ahead of
their time in this regard.
The Moravians approach to slavery was equally unusual. The Moravians
believe that there are passages in the Bible that justify slavery. But
just as the church planned and owned all economic property in Salem,
individual families could not own slaves. Slaves were owned by the
church and leased out to families as laborers. The museum literature
and the Salem tour guides give you the impression that slaves were
treated relatively well compared to the way slaves were treated in the
rest of the New World. While slaves weren't treated like full
citizens, they weren't treated like subhumans either. For one thing,
slaves learned skilled trades just like everyone else. They weren't
restricted to hard labor. Many of the black slaves used their trades
to save money and buy their freedom. Black slaves and free blacks were
integrated into the community in that they worshipped at the same
church with the white Moravians, they could, if they wanted, be
Baptized into the Church. And apparently the free blacks had the same
educational opportunities that the white members of the congregation
had. I'm sure the free blacks' and slaves' lifestyles weren't nearly
as wonderful as the Salem tour guides would have you believe, but the
Moravians did appear to be ahead of their time with regard to relations
between the races.
The Moravians appeared to stay true to their religion. While I did not
have the opportunity to read about their religious believes, they
appeared to be consistent to their founders' attempts to make religion
accessible to all. Communion was available to all and Baptism appeared
to be by choice rather than automatic. And everyone had the potential
to be saved. There was none of the hellfire and brimstone found in
other early American sects. And they followed through on their belief
that the Word of God should be accessible to all people in their native
language. The Salem Moravians translated religious texts into the
language of the native Indian tribes. In one of the museums, they had
a book that showed the Lord's Prayer in both German (I think) and
Cherokee, on of the few tribes that had a written language. However,
there's no indication that the Moravian's missionary efforts were
successful.
By today's standards, the Moravians seemed to have an oppressively
regimented lifestyle. Everything a Moravian did had to be approved by
the church leadership who, if they couldn't decide on a course of
action, resorted to the Biblical practice of "casting lots", i.e.,
flipping a coin, to make their decisions. And yet you get the
impression that the Moravians were very happy with their lifestyle.
The town grew and prospered.
According to the tour guides and museum literature, the Industrial
Revolution destroyed the Moravian's way of life. To some extent, I
suppose this is true. As Salem grew and prospered as a major stop on
several trade routes, more and more non-Moravians moved into the area
to settle. Since Salem was a closed community, the non-Moravian
population founded another town, just a few blocks north of Salem which
they called Winston. Because of its location, Winston boomed and
became a major center for the emerging manufacturing industries in
North Carolina that came with the Industrial Revolution. Winston grew
so fast that it enveloped the community of Salem and in 1913 the two
towns merged into the modern day city of Winston-Salem.
So on the one hand it's true that the Industrial Revolution had
something to do with the demise of the Moravian culture. On the other
hand, one can claim that the Moravian social structure simply became
obsolete. The regimented social and economic structure that had been
their strength and key to survival was no longer necessary and
eventually became a hindrance to their success. While Salem was
undoubtedly a huge success for its time, it was still a very difficult
lifestyle. Their church seemed to have codified the trades so heavily
that they had not advanced their trades in hundreds of years.
Everything was built by hand. Every stone on every building was laid
by hand. The amount of work this took is so staggering that it's
difficult for us to even comprehend manual labor on that magnitude.
But a small scale example I encountered on my second visit really
helped me understand. Imagine holding a cast iron coffee bean roaster
over a hot open fire for 30 minutes just to roast coffee beans so you
could make a pot of coffee. No store bought, pre-roasted coffee. No
Mr. Coffee with automatic drip.
So there is more than a little hypocrisy when the Old Salem curators
tell us how much labor was involved in day to day life among the
Moravian community and then follow up by telling us how the Industrial
Revolution, with all its labor saving efficiency, destroyed the
Moravian lifestyle. But there is also some truth to the claim.
Just as the Moravian lifestyle was necessary for survival, both in
terms of survival of the religion and economic survival, but then
became obsolete and unnecessary, the Industrial Revolution and the
culture that surrounds mass-production was necessary for its time. And
perhaps, now that the Industrial Revolution has done such a fantastic
job of providing for all our day to day needs, the culture surrounding
the Industrial Revolution is beginning to become outdated and
unnecessary. Times change. Religions, cultures, governments that seem
unquestionably essential and necessary during one century may be
obsolete the next. But we can learn from the past and apply it to the
future. Perhaps we now can afford to apply the craftsman like devotion
that shows in the Moravians' work and lifestyle to the efficiencies
we've learned from the Industrial Revolution and build a new way of
life for the next century.
===============Review
Context Is Everything
A review of Strange Ritual: Pictures and Words by David Byrne
"I saw people in a remote village/ proudly wearing their - digital
watches/ I saw a young Indonesian girl/ possessed by the spirit of
Mutant Ninja Turtles/ Saw palatial estates, with crumbling/ decorations
- and human furniture..." --David Byrne
During the height of the New Wave, synthomatic drum machine and filler
strings music movement of the late 70's and 80's, Talking Heads, an art
school band led by an angst ridden, pencil necked geek named David
Byrne, was making a name for itself by serving up stripped down,
straight forward, simple songs that combined an uncanny beat with
absurd incomprehensible lyrics. Their songs were so simple you could
hear every syllable of the David Byrne's lyric. You could understand
every word he uttered, and any particular phrase would sound normal,
even cliche'. But when you strung it all together, it sort of fell
apart like some Post Modern trick. It's as if David Byrne discovered
culture jamming before anyone else.
But Byrne wasn't content simply to become an oddity within the pop
music world. He left the Talking Heads and pursued a series of solo
projects which were simultaneously pop culture entities and critical
examinations of pop culture itself. He gave us a charming movie, True
Stories, based on tabloid newspaper articles cultural folklore. He
gave us a psuedo-documentary/avant garde art film about a bizarre
religion in Brazil. He gave us The Forest, an album that combined
classical music with raw screams and wails. He gave us a pop album, Uh
Oh, with lyrics describing the maladies of suburban life. It was all
either absurdly familiar or familiarly absurd.
With his latest projects, a self-titled pop album and this companion
photography book, Byrne turns his eye to the Global Village. Byrne has
travelled throughout the world taking these pictures, but rather than
take pictures of landmarks and famous sights, he turns his camera to
the absolutely mundane. We're not talking about postcard-esque, slices
of life in other cultures. We're talking about street signs, lighting
fixtures, vending machines and grocery store shelves interleaved with
pictures of religious icons, places of worship, and unusual buildings.
But Byrne's goal doesn't seem to be to convince that the world is a
dull and dreary place, but rather that some sort of Meaning,
incomprehensible perhaps but Meaning nonetheless, permeates everything
we do, everything we create, everything we throw away, whether we
intend it to or not.
Is it a coincidence that the same colors used in paintings sold by a
street vendor in Mexico are the same colors used to sell Aluminum foil
and dishwasher detergent in a grocery story? Do baby Jesus and Buddha
lose their significance when they are mass produced in plastic
figurines by the thousands in bright, primary colors? Or do they
transcend Industrialism? What do the bones of Saint John the Baptist's
hands, the footprint of Mohammed, and a pile of raked sand in a Shinto
Temple have in common? Why are vending machines universally
understandable? How can a book titled How To Do All Things be only a
half inch thick? Byrne doesn't answer, but poses these questions for
us in his pictures. Over and over again, we see hints of meaning in
common images put in unusual contexts. As Byrne puts it, "I see
cultural referents and associations being misapplied in pleasantly
confusing ways. Anything is up for grabs. Anything is available for
anyone to use. Language, clothes, religions, facial features,
hairstyles, narratives, gestures, foods, colors."
Pleasantly confusing indeed. While we usher in the Golden Age of the
Global Village, Strange Ritual reminds us that this Global Village is
not a perfectly planned society with smooth meldings of all cultures
into a homogenous Universal Man but rather a haphazard,
make-it-up-as-you-go-along sort of culture, borrowing a little bit here
and a little bit there in a scary, fun, spiritual kind of way.
======================
About Stuck In Traffic
Stuck In Traffic is a monthly magazine dedicated to independently
evaluating current events and cultural phenomena.
Contact Information:
All queries, submissions, subscription requests, comments, and
hate-mail about Stuck In Traffic should be sent to Calvin Stacy Powers
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