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AN AMERICAN IN PAKISTAN: Value of dissent
 Catherine Mayo, 59, is charged with interfering with a flight crew after being forcibly restrained as she flew from London to Washington on Wednesday.
The woman, from Vermont, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments believed to be references to al-Qaeda and 11 September while on board United Airlines Flight 923.
Mayo's son says the Vermont resident is a peace activist who'd been in Pakistan since March and often went there to visit a pen-pal who's not allowed into the U.S. A Pakistani newspaper has published columns she wrote, including one critical of President Bush.
By Catherine Mayo
The folksongs of the 1960s will never be written again because of President George Bush. He has hampered the liberties of my country in the name of September 11. Songs now can only talk of patriotism they cannot mention peace.
"Nobuddy knows the trouble I've seen...!"
"Oh, shuddup. The times, they are a changin'!" |
My friend in England sent me three CDs. One she had designed herself, including the album cover inside the case. She is a brilliant and thoughtful woman. One of the CDs that she sent was Cat Stevens, and I listened to it over and over.
The first time I listened to the album without having looked at the list of songs, I knew what the last song on the album would be. Peace Train. The last song in every collection by Cat Stevens is always Peace Train.
| Music is so un-Islamic... |
I am an American child of the 1960s.
| "That was why I peed on the airplane floor." |
We defied the standards of our parents and declared that a war was unjust.
| "And just look at how much better we made the world!" |
And we were heard. We changed the way humans think.
| "Until we showed up, coherence was a valued quality in discourse." |
We dared to say that the human race does not have to fight wars. Ever. All conflicts can be settled by peaceful means.
| "Just ask that nice Mr. Hitler!" |
| Don't forget Pol Pot. But children like her ignored that. |
The folksongs of the 1960s are still sung, by my children and their children, but they will never be written again.
| Just as well. They've already been written once... |
No one will ever again wail as Cat Stevens did, to compel his country to ride on the peace train.
| Maybe because we all went for a ride and got carsick? |
There is no logical reason for our bravery of thought in the 1960s.
| You weren't brave, honey, our parents were brave; that's why we're here. If we're not brave now our children will have a tough time in the future ... |
We faced the threat of nuclear war from the Soviet Union, which was real enough at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. There were problems of desegregation as well as the disaster of the Vietnam War. We had to come to terms with the assassination of a beloved president. The world was as complicated as ever, but we never doubted the ideologies of Freedom and Democracy.
| Though the McGovernites took a big run at it ... |
The democracy of the United States is such a radical idea because it has a sense of humour as far as human beings are concerned.
| "That's why some of us act so funny..." |
It says that if people are given the freedom to do what they want they will make mistakes, learn from their mistakes, change their minds, try something else.
| Unless they're children of the 60s, in which case they fall in love with their mistakes and keep making them over and over again until they end up peeing on the floor at 30,000 feet... |
If people are given freedom they will, over time, choose to do the right thing because it gives them peace of mind.
| "Either that, or they'll chose to do the wrong thing, either because that's what gives them peace of mind or because they like wrong stuff. I'm so profound. Is there any of that hash left?" |
When people ask me about my favourite US president, I name Abraham Lincoln.
| I can't recall anyone ever asking me which was my favorite president. I don't think my conversations have ever been that depthless. Or maybe people can take one look at me and know I'll answer "Silent Cal." |
I think they are surprised by this there have been a lot of presidents since Lincoln who have done important things.
| A lady once told Silent Cal: "I bet my friend I could make you say more than two words!" Silent Cal replied: "You lose." |
The reason why he is my favourite is because he delayed as long as possible the decision to enter into a just war.
| "Not that any war is just, mind you..." |
| And when he decided, he did all sorts of things, like suspend laws and prosecute the war to its fullest. |
The Civil War was the worst conflict in US history.
| "It was almost as bad as Vietnam!" |
Part of the country was determined to secede. The reasons for secession included economics, religion, culture, but the main reason was the existence of the institution of slavery in the South. It was the only war ever fought over a moral principle that had nothing to do with religion.
| "That was why it took Lincoln so long to emancipate the slaves. First he had to work through the economics, then the religion part of it, then the culture part of it, and finally, there he was! See? It's all really simple when you think real hard about it." |
| I dunno. A lot of abolitionists considered themselves religious. |
Abraham Lincoln had the moral obligation to end the slavery of human beings. He knew this. And yet he suffered greatly because he was also aware of the terrible consequences of war. He agonised over this until the South announced its secession. Then he went to war in self-defence.
| root#: Fallacious logic alert! Mawk level is 11.08. Cause-effect conflict! Tear duct overflow! |
Even when there is a choice between two evils, time is on the side of just action.
| Unless explosives are involved, of course... |
I hope that when I wear out this Cat Stevens album it wont be too difficult to get another one.| I'm sure the asylum will let you have another, but you'll have to check it out from the head nurse. |
The folksongs of the 1960s will never be written again because of President George Bush.
| You said that. You never said why. |
He has hampered the liberties of my country in the name of September 11. Songs now can only talk of patriotism, they cannot mention peace.
| You said that, too. You never mentioned why, never gave any examples. You never explained the contemporary music that contradicts your statement. You peed on the floor again. |
Americans are supposed to believe that they have to do what they want. Now. They have to go with the impulse of the moment. | Gee, what generation came up with that? |
Morality is determined by a state of mind, not the other way around. Dissent has no value, and neither does time.
| "And, like, this is reallllly good hash!" |
Cathy Mayo is an American journalist based in Pakistan
Postscript:She was dressed in a Rolling Stones T-shirt, black pants and socks without shoes for the hearing and was ordered held pending a detention and probable cause hearing next Thursday.
Her attorney, federal public defender Page Kelley, said Mayo was "just barely lucid" when they spoke. "She's got some very serious mental health problems."
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said he hoped to learn more about Mayo's mental state before the next court appearance. "We believe it's important during that time period to have a doctor examine her," he said.
Mayo's son, Josh, 31, described his mother as a peace activist and said she had been in Pakistan since March. She traveled there often since making a pen pal prior to Sept. 11, 2001, he said. The pen pal hasn't been allowed to visit the U.S., he added.
"I guess she just had a bit of a bad time on the plane, and everybody's a little paranoid," the son said. |
Posted by: john 2006-08-18 |
