Thank you for this insightful essay, and the words that will continue to inspire me going forward:
“The beginning of your resistance isn’t going to the ballot box. It’s making a personal and spiritual choice to see both the world as it is and how it could be. To defiantly protect your hope and belief that you deserve better, that everyone deserves better, that better, in spite of what you are told by authoritarians and institutionalists, that better is not only possible, but worth the fight.”
Speaking of hope, this happened on Tuesday: White Supremacist removed from office in Enid, Oklahoma through a recall. It happened through the work of the Enid Social Justice Committee, formed after evidence of his participation in the Charlottesville march came to light. You can imagine the abuse they had to endure, but they won.
They mean well, but too much of our liberal media is consumed with the mission of warning us that Trump is dangerous, that he could win, etc. (as if we didn't know, like this is still 2016.) Which feeds the fascism, giving it an aura of power and inevitability.
If Trump is defeated in November, if will be because of the work by groups like BLOC in Milwaukee, similar groups all over the country, but they don't get 1% of the attention that Trump gets. If we feel hopeless, we need to take responsibility for that, think about the habits we've fallen into, the media we consume that feeds the hopelessness, and make an effort to break those bad habits and seek out alternatives. No, this doesn't mean "being in denial", we can still be well aware of the threat, but we can also be aware that we're not defenseless.
“The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions -- without becoming disillusioned. I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” ― Antonio Gramsci
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”
Writer Iain McGilchrist comes to this, philosophically, in the summative of his 2009 "The Master and His Emissary", 400 pages of text and 100 pages of endnotes;
I am rereading it now, and much like partaking of your present observations, Brother Sexton, I partake with the taste of bile, rising. Almost yearning for the days in my youth when the grownups told me that Communism was coming for us. At least they had an identifiable border and flags so you knew where they were.
If the vote fails, and I’m beginning to suspect it might, then the last refuge is the protest, as the women did in 2016, and may the Lord have mercy on their MAGA souls!
Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Biden, Trump *so many other politicians that manipulate us for personal gain/power: Maybe voting for a peace candidate this November should be considered. We got 2. Cornel West and Jill Stein. Give them a look/see and than vote.
Unfortunately a 3rd party win is a hail mary long shot but IF we can get the voting public into a mind set of what 3rd parties can offer as alternative to currrent state of affairs as mentioned in this Dispatches From A Collapsing State article so much the better IMHO.
Thank you for this insightful essay, and the words that will continue to inspire me going forward:
“The beginning of your resistance isn’t going to the ballot box. It’s making a personal and spiritual choice to see both the world as it is and how it could be. To defiantly protect your hope and belief that you deserve better, that everyone deserves better, that better, in spite of what you are told by authoritarians and institutionalists, that better is not only possible, but worth the fight.”
Speaking of hope, this happened on Tuesday: White Supremacist removed from office in Enid, Oklahoma through a recall. It happened through the work of the Enid Social Justice Committee, formed after evidence of his participation in the Charlottesville march came to light. You can imagine the abuse they had to endure, but they won.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oklahoma-judd-blevins-enid-city-council-recall-election-rcna146029
It is indeed connected to despair, and the fearful nature of its adherents, terrified of the "other."
They mean well, but too much of our liberal media is consumed with the mission of warning us that Trump is dangerous, that he could win, etc. (as if we didn't know, like this is still 2016.) Which feeds the fascism, giving it an aura of power and inevitability.
If Trump is defeated in November, if will be because of the work by groups like BLOC in Milwaukee, similar groups all over the country, but they don't get 1% of the attention that Trump gets. If we feel hopeless, we need to take responsibility for that, think about the habits we've fallen into, the media we consume that feeds the hopelessness, and make an effort to break those bad habits and seek out alternatives. No, this doesn't mean "being in denial", we can still be well aware of the threat, but we can also be aware that we're not defenseless.
https://www.blocbybloc.org/our-vision
"Authoritarianism is a disease of the human heart." -- root cause . . .
“The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions -- without becoming disillusioned. I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” ― Antonio Gramsci
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”
― Antonio Gramsci
Writer Iain McGilchrist comes to this, philosophically, in the summative of his 2009 "The Master and His Emissary", 400 pages of text and 100 pages of endnotes;
I am rereading it now, and much like partaking of your present observations, Brother Sexton, I partake with the taste of bile, rising. Almost yearning for the days in my youth when the grownups told me that Communism was coming for us. At least they had an identifiable border and flags so you knew where they were.
Why fight it? Join the Illuminati now while you still have a chance.
http://illuminatisupremelight.com
Act now and get this free CHTHULU hat…
If the vote fails, and I’m beginning to suspect it might, then the last refuge is the protest, as the women did in 2016, and may the Lord have mercy on their MAGA souls!
Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Biden, Trump *so many other politicians that manipulate us for personal gain/power: Maybe voting for a peace candidate this November should be considered. We got 2. Cornel West and Jill Stein. Give them a look/see and than vote.
Unfortunately a 3rd party win is a hail mary long shot but IF we can get the voting public into a mind set of what 3rd parties can offer as alternative to currrent state of affairs as mentioned in this Dispatches From A Collapsing State article so much the better IMHO.