A lot of my friends, whom I hold in high regard, are silent on social media, or so it seems. It is well past time that we spoke, in a unified voice, against white supremacy, Nazi flags/regalia/salutes, nighttime torch marches meant to intimidate, violence against others due to race/religion/sexual orientation/ethnicity.
If you refuse to believe that one political party courted the alt-right, in order to win elections (or at least held their noses/comments so as to not alienate those voters), let down your guard for just a moment and listen to your heart. We all make mistakes. We are all human.
If you have forgotten a candidate who did not renounce endorsements by racist, terrorist organizations, while deflecting media inquiries about the lack of renunciation, let down your guard for just a moment and listen to your heart. We all make mistakes. We are all human.
If you are a proud Southerner (as I am), but have been swayed by arguments that the monuments & flags of the defeated Confederacy are your heritage and have not been twisted for the purposes of being racist and used for intimidation, let down your guard for just a moment and listen to your heart. We all make mistakes. We are all human.
We all make mistakes, out of anger, me included. However, we are approaching a moment from which our country will be unable to turn back. America will become that country that gave way to dark forces, which the world WILL rise to defeat, after much noble sacrifice. Generations of Americans, decades, if not centuries from now, will have to hang their heads in shame, when discussions of the coming war arise.
I implore you to let go and search your soul, without blaming yourself, to find the good person I know you to be. Then speak up against the hatred and violence, AND all politicians that are complicit. American politics is not a game, like football. Sometimes, it’s okay for your team to lose, if it makes the country better and your children safer.
It was the silence of very good people and an anger and frustration that had been building for decades, that caused a good country to lose its way, just 80 years ago. An extremist minority there, thought they were justified, in their anger and hatred and lit a fuse that devastated a generation worldwide. They thought their country to be invincible and it almost was. If only their good people had risen up to say, “No! This is wrong! The demagogue speaking now, does NOT speak for me!” then perhaps history would have been different.
It is easier to put out a torch than a forest fire.
We need your good voice, before it is too late.
How would we feel if the Germans decided to allow statues of Hitler, Himmler, Goering and other Nazis on their court house squares and in other public places because they are part of “their heritage?”
How would you feel about it if you were Jewish? That’s how black people feel about statues and other commemorations of Confederate leaders, and rightly so.
We should not be honoring believers in slavery and white supremacy by putting their names on schools and government buildings and putting statues of them in our public places. I have never understood it, and I’m white. Sure, lay it all out in the history books, but the Confederacy should be remembered as yet another shameful part of our history, along with the Trail of Tears and many other atrocities. Similarly, we should view the Founding Fathers realistically as well.
The words from our PINO (president in name only) are truly disturbing. Fanaticism is a disgrace. When there was the shooting at the republican baseball game and it was revealed the shooter had been a Bernie sanders supporter, Bernie immediately said: ‘I have just been informed that the alleged shooter at the Republican baseball practice is someone who apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign,” Sanders said. “I am sickened by this despicable act. Let me be as clear as I can be: Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. Real change can only come about through nonviolent action, and anything else runs against our most deeply held American values.”
How hard would it have been to copy and paste this into his initial statements over the weekend?
But Trumps words excuse and comfort these disturbed people. David Duke PRAISED the press conference on Tuesday. And because the internet just serves as an echochamber for various hiveminds, the already loud extremists look around, see more crazies like themselves, and think ‘well Im not so different!’
Even just in general, I left social media years ago because I could not put up with people and how they talk on social media. People who I tend to like in person can seem totally different when they are behind a computer screen.
The internet was much cooler before everybody started using it. I miss the late 90s forums/bbs/chats!
“A lot of my friends, whom I hold in high regard, are silent on social media, or so it seems”
Also – I think it is time Mary Barra step away from the council.
I know she has issues she wants to push regarding trade, immigration, and environmental policy, but Trump is not trustworthy or reliable enough to try to deal with. As more CEOs leave, the pressure on the remaining CEOs will increase.