The Blog I'm Not Writing

 

The title of this blog refers to the events of four days past.  This year Monday January 20 was also Inauguration Day, which stole the spotlight from the day which should have been solely devoted to an American hero, Martin Luther King Jr.  Instead, that martyred champion of human rights had to share his legacy’s attention with a traitor to democracy and decency, who, as longtime readers know, cannot be referred to by name in this space.

Several weeks ago I had put a reminder on my calendar, to ask/remind civilized Americans like-minded friends to wear a black armband on 1/20/25.  I’ve donned that symbol of bereavement when my father died, when John Lennon was murdered, and on a few select occasions when I thought a visible sign of mourning was appropriate  [1]

Instead, moiself  tried to channel a variation of the adage  (likely Persian in origin but variants are found across historical/cultural wisdomb literature) which I used to reassure my (now deceased) mother during hard times:   This too shall pass.

 

 

This doesn’t mean that I think all will be hunky dory.  The Cheetos Mussolini and his minions will put on a massive shit show for US all, US capitalized as in, the United States.  I know that other countries have survived a range of despots, but doing so comes at a great price, especially to the less powerful.  I also know that such survival will require diligence and vigilance… But then, doesn’t it always?

We have had leaders of decency, integrity, intelligence, equanimity; still, even during the terms of “No Drama Obama”  there could be, ultimately, no relaxing.  The festering turds of racism and Right Wing Fuckery were stewing in their resentment, fermenting and fomenting their schemes, throwing up obstacles wherever they could, waiting for their chance to crawl out from under their rocks. What was that quote, “The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance’?   [2]

 

 

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Department Of I Started Off Somewhat Okay….

But not so far under the skin moiself  is mad mad mad mad angry-ass mad, at this debacle of denial from so many US citizens.  I can’t adequately portray my rage and dejection without the use of repetitive, explicit, scatological references…so pictures will have to do, for now.  Pictures, and an excerpt from my blog post from four years ago,  wherein my despair at that time not long after the 2020 presidential election was that, although the Biden-Harris team won, it shouldn’t have been as close as it was.

( excerpts, The Reasons I’m Not Fully Getting Into ):

You must be familiar with how political and human rights leaders call for unity and try to appeal to our so-called better natures when the latest incidents of police brutality, sexism and misogyny, and the country’s history of systemic racism are revealed:

“This is not who we are.”
“We are better than this.”

You’ve heard those phrases before; you’ll hear them again. You may even believe them. But I’m gonna shove my elbow down the throat of the next person who says that within earshot of moiself.  Because, guess what?  This *is* who we are – at least, nearly half of the voting “we.”

At least 73 million of us are not “better than this,” because 73 million Americans were able and willing to set aside, ignore, or explain away the actions, rhetoric and policies of #45 which have fostered an unprecedented rise in displays of hatred, bigotry, and violence.

  “Hate crimes have surged nearly 20 percent during the administration of President Donald Trump, according to a new FBI report on hate crime statistics. The report also shows that hate-motivated murders, largely committed by white supremacists, spiked to their highest number in 28 years.”
( “Hate Crimes Under Trump Surged Nearly 20 Percent Says FBI Report,”
Newsweek, 11-16-20 )

…It haunts me – the voice of an Otherwise Nice-Sounding Man I heard being interviewed (on a radio show) before the election, who said he struggled with his decision.  Despite ONSM‘s misgiving about the “other stuff,” ONSM chose #45 because ONSM‘s stock portfolio had risen.

Other stuff.  As in, #45’s history of sexual harassment and bullying, encouraging and abetting racial and social inequity, white supremacy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, & xenophobia; coddling (and imitating) dictators; collusion with Russia & obstruction of Justice, corruption and nepotism and ‘birtherism’ lies and lies lies and more lies…   [3]

If you’ve a strong stomach, you can view (or download a pdf of) the unfortunately-not-yet-complete, “Listing of Trump’s Atrocities,” compiled via years of diligence of the non-profit publisher, McSweeney’s:

 Early in President Trump’s term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, and crimes, and it felt urgent then to track them, to ensure these horrors — happening almost daily — would not be forgotten. This election year, amid a harrowing global health, civil rights, humanitarian, and economic crisis, we know it’s never been more critical to note these horrors, to remember them, and to do all in our power to reverse them.
Various writers have compiled this list during the course of the Trump administration. Their work has been guided by invaluable journalistic resources, including WTFJHT, NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other sources….

Other stuff.  That #45 supporter, and millions like him, claim “This is not who we are,” yet vote for someone  Who  Is  Exactly  That.  And that’s just as bad – no, it’s worse.

The leaders aren’t the problem; they rarely are.  Leaders can do nothing without followers, plus those who claim not to be followers, but are Bystanders and Overlookers.

Leaders can do nothing without followers.

We don’t give that fact the consideration and responsibility it merits.

Charles Manson personally killed no one at the Tate-LaBianca murder scenes; he got his followers to butcher those seven people for him.

Leaders can do nothing without followers.  Perhaps you’ve read about the protestations post-WWII from Italians who claimed not to have supported the policies of their Prime minister, Benito Mussolini, and who thus objected to being called fascists?

“The concentration camps and mass killings of civilians in Yugoslavia and Greece – those happened outside our borders; we don’t really know about that.  And, yeah, we, like, kinda, sorta, maybe knew that here, in our own country, Mussolini suppressed his opponents, dissenters, and social outsiders via physical assaults, imprisonment, economic deprivation, yada yada yada…. But, he made the trains run on time.”   [4]

“This is not who we are.”

It sucks, massively, to realize the contrary.

And so my thoughts still go to dark places, dragged down by the reality of the complicity of millions of my citizens, plus this HOLY CRAP realization:

Joe and Kamala are stand-up, intelligent, competent, compassionate people, but yikes – look at how many problems they have to fix.  What looms largest, exacerbated by #45, are the worldwide effects of global warming.  Biden and Harris accept the obvious, hard truths laid out by science, but without a change in the hearts and minds of Republicans in congress, will we have a repeat of the Obama years, when Republicans’ only policy mandate was to counter everything he tried to do?  Will they continue to stamp their metaphorical toddlers’ feet and tantrum their way through Biden’s term: “NO,  I  WON’T  WON’T  WON’T  WON’T  PLAY  WITH  YOU  AND  YOU  CAN’T  MAKE  ME.”
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End of excerpt.  And as for the excerpt’s closing question…it wasn’t meant to be rhetorical, but yeah and of course, that’s just what the GOP did.  And here we are.

 

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Department Of Back To The Graphics Of Primal Screams

 

 

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Department Of Quote Of The Week…

…and hopefully not quote of the century:    [5]

 

 

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Department Of Why History Sucks

 

 

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Department Of More Primal Screams Via Graphics

 

 

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Department Of Simple Pleasures Amidst The Impending Calamities

Moiself  gets an almost inexplicably blissful pleasure from the ivy lights around our kitchen window.  MH hung them up and put them on a timer, so that they turn on without me thinking to turn them on/plug them in…I know I’ll get used to it at some point, but for now, for the past two weeks, whenever they do, it makes me feel…that some things will continue to be a source of tranquility in the world.

 

 

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Department Of Other Things That Give Me Hope

 

 

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Freethinkers’ Thought Of The Week     [6]

 

 

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May you be able to identify the most dangerous parasite by sight;
May you find your own version of an ivy lights beacon of hope;
May you remember that when you are a follower you empower your leader;

…and may the hijinks ensue.

Thanks for stopping by.  Au Vendredi!

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[1] If only to clue in strangers as to why moiself  might be in a bad mood and/or snap at them for seemingly non- sequitur-ial or inappropriate reasons.

[2] Generally attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but probably a variant on another utterance by another of the Founding Fathers peers, Wendell Phillips, who was quoting an Irish lawyer.  The Price of Liberty?  Eternal Vigilance.

[3] An extensive list may be found at McSweeney’s: The Complete Listing So Far of Trump’s Atrocities,

[4] Except that, he didn’t.  Like many dictators, Mussolini “…liked to take credit for everything that went right in Italy, even when it didn’t go that well at all. He was particularly fond of saying he was responsible for successful, large-scale public works projects, such as the railroad system.”  (Did Mussolini Really Keep the Trains Running on Time? history.howstuffworks.com  )

[5] Although, what did Katniss do?  She fought on; she did not give up.

[6] “free-think-er n. A person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief. Freethinkers include atheists, agnostics and rationalists.   No one can be a freethinker who demands conformity to a bible, creed, or messiah. To the freethinker, revelation and faith are invalid, and orthodoxy is no guarantee of truth.”  Definition courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, ffrf.org