I spend a lot of time these days wondering whatever happened to common sense.
It seems to have taken a permanent vacation somewhere, no forwarding address provided, and it can no longer be reached even by shouting and prodding with a long stick.
Well, I have reached a momentous decision, fueled by three cups of Death Wish coffee and a newspaper article on whose "nuclear button" was bigger. In the absence of common sense, I will have to do.
When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, I spent a bunch of time hearing about American ingenuity, American by God BRAVERY, American can do spirit. I heard amazing stories of people who came to the US and did amazing things and we were by God proud, PROUD, that such smart and wonderful people had made the smart and wonderful decision to come to the USA and do their smart and wonderful stuff here where it would be appreciated.
Levi Strauss, Madeline Albright, Joseph Pulitzer, Irving Berlin. Albert Einstein.
We laughed at Charo, we applauded Rita Moreno, and Ricky Ricardo, Eddie Van Halen, and Joni Mitchell. We watched Ah-nold Schwarzenegger.
We wore Oscar de la Renta and Liz Claiborne.
We practically idolized the poor kid done good story; a guy or gal with moxie and pluck comes to America (sailing by the Statue of Liberty of course, accompanied by "Coming to America" played on the ferry speakers) and in his or her or their humble way rises to the top, never stopped by the fools who would laugh at their accent or interesting immigrant food choices.
Levi Strauss, Madeline Albright, Joseph Pulitzer, Irving Berlin. Albert Einstein.
We laughed at Charo, we applauded Rita Moreno, and Ricky Ricardo, Eddie Van Halen, and Joni Mitchell. We watched Ah-nold Schwarzenegger.
We wore Oscar de la Renta and Liz Claiborne.
We practically idolized the poor kid done good story; a guy or gal with moxie and pluck comes to America (sailing by the Statue of Liberty of course, accompanied by "Coming to America" played on the ferry speakers) and in his or her or their humble way rises to the top, never stopped by the fools who would laugh at their accent or interesting immigrant food choices.
And while our parents were inside reading those feel good stories, wearing Levis and Liz Claiborne, and laughing at the antics of Ricky and Lucy, us kids could play outside without those same parents getting arrested.
Kids didn't have play dates; they just played. You came home when the streetlights came on, or when your mother screamed up the road, or at 5:30 if you were lucky enough to have a watch. You rode your bike to do stuff because your parents would have died in hysterics if you asked them to drive you anywhere within 10 miles.
Kids didn't have play dates; they just played. You came home when the streetlights came on, or when your mother screamed up the road, or at 5:30 if you were lucky enough to have a watch. You rode your bike to do stuff because your parents would have died in hysterics if you asked them to drive you anywhere within 10 miles.
In school we had science and math, and the teachers, in general, wanted you to learn. How could you cure cancer, or fly a rocket ship to Mars, if you were an undereducated clod? It was your American DUTY to be smart and brave and hard-working, and to support anyone else who wanted the same. If college wasn't for you there was always tech school, and kids learned to fix cars, and plumbing, and heating and air conditioning. Some kids learned to be farmers, and some practical nurses, and some welders or fabricators or masons.
We sucked at a whole bunch of things, don't misunderstand me here. This is not nostalgia; we were miserable at LGBTQ* rights, we were horrible at racial justice. We didn't get that there were other religions besides Christianity. We struggled with mental illness and with poverty. We stank at handicapped accessibility.
We sucked at a whole bunch of things, don't misunderstand me here. This is not nostalgia; we were miserable at LGBTQ* rights, we were horrible at racial justice. We didn't get that there were other religions besides Christianity. We struggled with mental illness and with poverty. We stank at handicapped accessibility.
What the hell happened?
A large chunk of the far right have become a group of anti-intellectual, Bible-totin' troglodytes. They are afeared of college education, anyone who talks "furrign," "blacks," and "them queers.".
They want to go to church, without following anything their own book says. They hate strangers, the poor, immigrants, and anyone who is different in any way; they don't want to kill these groups, they will tell you, but they do want to legistate things so that they cannot live, which they seem to regard as a morally justifiable option.
They have become detached from reality.
If you are a part of this group and still reading, good. Let me give you some information. This is not fake news.
If you are a part of this group and still reading, good. Let me give you some information. This is not fake news.
Coal is not coming back. Undocumented immigrants do a huge amount of labor in America, and without them entire industries will fail. We cannot afford to "build a wall" and most undocumented folks simply overstay a Visa anyway. Deporting undocumented parents of American children is bad and useless. Puerto Rico is part of the USA.
Vaccines are good for you- it's why most of us are alive. Knock off the dumb shit.
The earth is not flat. Race is a construct that has little to do with actual skin color and everything ot do with culture and socialization. Rap is here to stay. There are religions other than your own and they are equally valid. There is no war on Christianity- there is a war on Christian sharia law.
Vaccines are good for you- it's why most of us are alive. Knock off the dumb shit.
The earth is not flat. Race is a construct that has little to do with actual skin color and everything ot do with culture and socialization. Rap is here to stay. There are religions other than your own and they are equally valid. There is no war on Christianity- there is a war on Christian sharia law.
Global warming is real. LGBTQ people are all around you. The US is emphatically not a Christian nation, and English is not the national language.
People with handicaps have a right to be wherever they want to be and accessibility is expected.
The press has the right to speak the truth. People have the right to protest.
Most people are not bright enough or trained enough to be trusted with a gun. A local militia can no longer take on the might of an army.
Just because you aren't educated enough to understand a fact doesn't make it a lie.
People with handicaps have a right to be wherever they want to be and accessibility is expected.
The press has the right to speak the truth. People have the right to protest.
Most people are not bright enough or trained enough to be trusted with a gun. A local militia can no longer take on the might of an army.
Just because you aren't educated enough to understand a fact doesn't make it a lie.
Just because something is outside of your experience doesn't make it wrong.
And the left? Oh my people, we are not any better.
A group of us on the far left have become precious, simpering snowflakes. We are triggered by any deviance from liberal orthodoxy and have carried social justice warrior stereotypes to the point of incoherence.
Some of us want to go to "church" without having any belief other than the right to believe in whatever we want (which we never actually bother to define). We don't want a religion. We want a country club with a spiritual theme and social justice outings.
We love everyone but Conservatives and conservative Christians, who we cast as villains without a second thought. We don't want to kill them, but we want to tell them how they have to live to meet our needs, with no concern for their own perspectives.
In the name of decolonization we want to deconstruct and destroy all that Empire building and colonization have created, without a plan for reconstruction and global societal reintegration for our newly re-created society. And without ever working across the political aisles, we expect power-holding Conservatives to AGREE to decenter the white and wealthy society which created them, and to see that their children need to be silent and take a backseat for a few generations.
Some of us want to go to "church" without having any belief other than the right to believe in whatever we want (which we never actually bother to define). We don't want a religion. We want a country club with a spiritual theme and social justice outings.
We love everyone but Conservatives and conservative Christians, who we cast as villains without a second thought. We don't want to kill them, but we want to tell them how they have to live to meet our needs, with no concern for their own perspectives.
In the name of decolonization we want to deconstruct and destroy all that Empire building and colonization have created, without a plan for reconstruction and global societal reintegration for our newly re-created society. And without ever working across the political aisles, we expect power-holding Conservatives to AGREE to decenter the white and wealthy society which created them, and to see that their children need to be silent and take a backseat for a few generations.
We have become detached from reality.
If you are a part of this group and still reading, good. Let me also give you some information:
It is possible to push too far. I saw an online post where a cut and paste glitch in an online survey left "Mayonnaise" as a gender option. A meme was created because of it, and someone was furious that people were laughing about it. No one had mentioned trans people but they wildly defended trans rights until someone said incredulously "Are you defending mayonnaise [as a gender]?" Sometimes we need to take a breath.
It is not possible to make it possible for everyone to participate in everything- live with it. I do not want to live in Harrison Bergeron's world and neither do you.
It is possible to push too far. I saw an online post where a cut and paste glitch in an online survey left "Mayonnaise" as a gender option. A meme was created because of it, and someone was furious that people were laughing about it. No one had mentioned trans people but they wildly defended trans rights until someone said incredulously "Are you defending mayonnaise [as a gender]?" Sometimes we need to take a breath.
It is not possible to make it possible for everyone to participate in everything- live with it. I do not want to live in Harrison Bergeron's world and neither do you.
Cultural appropriation- where do I begin? It sounds simple until I ask one question- which culture are "we"?
Oh look- white Euro culture is centered again! We are often reduced to debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin as we try to work out if the group in question has enough of the subgroup in question to "legitimately" do the event. We ok events as "ours" and "coming from our heritage" which really mean "Of course all of us are white so this activity is okay".
It isn't ok to take someone else's sacred ritual or costume and foul them up and use them out of context AND if we cannot integrate the pieces of culture that immigrants bring to our country we will continue to demonize and otherize them forever. Take a deep breath and think before you start screaming; maybe, I dunno, eat a fucking taco.
Oh look- white Euro culture is centered again! We are often reduced to debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin as we try to work out if the group in question has enough of the subgroup in question to "legitimately" do the event. We ok events as "ours" and "coming from our heritage" which really mean "Of course all of us are white so this activity is okay".
It isn't ok to take someone else's sacred ritual or costume and foul them up and use them out of context AND if we cannot integrate the pieces of culture that immigrants bring to our country we will continue to demonize and otherize them forever. Take a deep breath and think before you start screaming; maybe, I dunno, eat a fucking taco.
Vaccines are good for you- it's why most of us are alive. Knock off the dumb shit.
Guns are not evil devil machines which will blow up in your hands and hunters are not demons.
Both sides, get over yourselves.
When I was learning to drive, I got furious because a huge truck took the right of way that belonged to me and my tiny Ford Escort. When I told my father about it and angrily said that I should have gone anyway and cut him off, Dad said quietly, "Well, that's one approach. But would you really rather be right and dead than let someone go and both of you make it to another day?"
I've never forgotten that.
So many times these days we are so committed to being right that we ignore the fact that we are cutting off any means of communication with the other side. We are dead in the water.
I've never forgotten that.
So many times these days we are so committed to being right that we ignore the fact that we are cutting off any means of communication with the other side. We are dead in the water.
Ya know what?
Knock it off.
Both sides, knock it off.
Our country is slowly being dismantled by political swamp monsters. They are not Republican or Democrat or anything else- they are nationalistic right wing horrors that neither side actually agrees with.
Can we all just look up from the infighting for ten minutes, and note the folks with the chainsaws heading for all of us?
Please?
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