Subversive. Now there's a loaded word. It's lost some of the fire it had back in the 1950s and 1960s, but it still has the power to inspire fear, mistrust and sometimes panic in certain circles. Here on campus, it turns heads, though not with the force it used to. Takes a lot to get the attention of the average person these days. Webster's dictionary defines subversion as: "A systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly from within". Fine, but that doesn't exactly fall in line with the way I've heard the word used.
In these days, subversive activity has become a synonym in some communities - especially college communities - for anything which challenges the status quo, or contains elements which suggest the powers of government and authority aren't all-knowing, all-seeing and always right. This ranges all the way from the wild doomscreaming of Michael Moore to the music of Bob Dylan. The point is, or so I believed, to remind the jaded populace that the people in charge are just as flawed, petty, dirty, greedy and easily manipulated as the rest of us. After all, they're human too (I hope). Does that make Bob Dylan a subversive? Does that make me a subversive for thinking that way? What about you, dear reader? Tell me honestly now, do you trust every missive that comes down from on high? Every proclamation that issues from the lips of our current President? I would imagine at least some of you don't. Would it be fair, then, to say that you think there may be things wrong with our government? If so, does that make you a (all together now) subversive?
I grew up with the belief that the word referred to anyone who questioned authority, be it that of the police, a teacher or the head of state himself. I thought it was a constructive term, referring to free thinking, constructive criticism and all stuff Socrates - and maybe Harlan Ellison - wouldn't mind dying for. I was, under my definition, proud to be a subversive. I still am. But why the foreboding definition in our illustrious dictionary? Is there a line between questioning the actions of the police and committing offenses against the country? If so, where does it lie? I've heard a lot of people, some of them radicals, some of them not, say to me: "dissent is terrorism". Ten years ago, that would have sounded like a page right out of George Orwell's 1984. Today, it hits too close to home.
Which definition do the people who make the policies believe in? Where do they draw the line? I don't know the minds of the people in command, and that worries me. Will there be a knock on the door some day, and a cadre of men come to take me away for systematically attemptiong to overthrow or undermine the government by working secretly from within? Or is that crazy talk?
I hope it is. I really do.
Okay. I'm done being gloomy. Enjoy the holiday.
Write to Jonathan at
tenement_cellar@msn.com
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