A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.'”
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.
It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that sectionalism as a factor in our politics should disappear.
A people cannot long retain their freedom, whose government is incapable of protecting them.
The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other.
Marxists get up early to further their cause. We must get up even earlier to defend our freedom.
Don't get mad. Don't get even. Just get elected, then get even.
Democracy is the best chance for the best people.
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