"I could make the choice to believe that the USA is the land of abundance and freedom, and that the people who live here are inherently better at flourishing and thriving than people in poor countries. This choice, of course, would require that I also choose to remain completely ignorant of the realities of people in ghettos, barrios, prison, the sex work industry and rural coal mining/farming/logging towns, and on reservations here in the USA.
Or I could make the choice to believe that the victors of history's present telling have constructed a self-sustaining environment, which they present as the world, that is easily palmed off on a population whose imaginations have been colonized ever since the bible, US history, and Hollywood were allowed to define what is considered to be sacred, celebratory, and beautiful.
I tried the first choice when I was younger, and I never met much success with it, largely because it bored me to tears.
The second choice, however, serves me well.
It inspires me to seek knowledge, to listen closely, to imagine, and to dream of existing in an environment that is an engaged aspect of the world."
--Inga Muscio