A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.'β
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that true honor must be extended to everyone in society, not just select individuals.
Adrienne Rich's quote critiques the superficial gestures of recognition by those in power, suggesting that honoring a few artists is insignificant if the broader society is not treated with respect and dignity. It highlights the moral responsibility of leaders to ensure that all members of the community are valued rather than just recognizing the achievements of a select few while neglecting the needs and rights of the many.
In practice
In a speech about social equity, one might reference this quote to illustrate the need for genuine respect for all citizens.
My children cause me the most exquisite suffering of which I have any experience. It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness. Sometimes I seem to myself, in my feelings toward these tiny guiltless beings, a monster of selfishness and intolerance.
The word revolution itself has become not only a dead relic of Leftism, but a key to the deadendedness of male politics: the revolution of a wheel which returns in the end to the same place; the revolving door of a politics which has liberated women only to use them, and only within the limits of male tolerance.
There is no 'the truth','a truth' - truth is not one thing, or even a system. It is an increasing complexity. the pattern of the carpet is a surface. When we look closely, or when we become weavers, we learn of the tiny multiple threads unseen in the overall pattern, the knots on the underside of the carpet
It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness
It's as if, in the mother's eyes, her smile, her stroking touch, the child first reads the message:'You are there!'
Pride is a tricky, glorious, double-edged feeling.
We've been saying Putin is a dictator for years who doesn't care about the law.
The only prize much cared for by the powerful is power. The prize of the general is not a bigger tent, but command.
Politics abhors a vacuum, and Asian countries will gravitate towards China if U.S. influence is perceived as declining.
You will find that you cannot do without politicians. They are a necessary evil in this day and time. You may not like getting money from one source and spending it for another. But the thing for the school people to do is that if the politicians are going to steal, make them steal for the schools.
Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors.
Genuine politics -- even politics worthy of the name -- the only politics I am willing to devote myself to -- is simply a matter of serving those around us: serving the community and serving those who will come after us. Its deepest roots are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole.
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