It has only been a week since the election. That is not enough time to gain a perspective on what is to come... Or is it?I hear people say and read posts to the affect that we must, "Wait and see, Give the new Prez a chance, We don't know what he will do yet." To those who think time is on our side I say, Really? What I think is: If it talks like Fascism, appoints people who are Fascist, is embraced by Racists and makes promises to a disappointed working class that can't possibly be kept, it must be Fascism. I personally have had more than 18 months of this new Leader's rhetoric and lies. When I hear a duck quack I don't wait to see if it is actually a chicken in the pond.
Yesterday was my worst day. By the end I was so depressed I went to bed early almost hoping that I wouldn't wake up. That may sound overly dramatic but for a CD (clinical depressive) like me that can be par for the course, particularly when things seem to be out of my control.
My day started off with rage. So many posts on Facebook from people who have been very laid back about a Trump Presidency are now Trumpeteers with a "na na na- we won and you didn't- na na na" attitude. I even found myself drawn into a "troll fight" on FB with people whom I will never ever meet. I decided to get off the media feed and see if the world was still turning outside. It didn't help, that rage continued and I realized I was just aching for a fight. I was waiting for someone to cut me off with a car so I could scream and give them the finger. I was very irritated that a guy in front of me at the Hardware store check out did not have his check card ready fast enough for me. I felt myself just hoping someone would say something that I could take the wrong way and read their beads. I know it was all my own interpretation of normal events based on this thick fog that hangs over the nation right now.
So, I am going to limit my time on all social media and this blog, and turn all my attentions to the book I am writing, which is anything but political. I will also say this to anyone who cares to have a open mind. After Goebbels was appointed advisor to the Fuhrer in 1930's Germany, there was no more real news, no truth, only the propaganda and lies that the regime allowed. Yesterday Sean Hannity suggested that CNN, MSNBC and several other "news" outlets have their Whitehouse press credentials pulled because they didn't support Trump. The Trump himself asked President Obama to "Stop talking to the world... their mine now". And so it goes and the new Goebbels has not even officially taken office.
I see the America train heading for the edge of a deep canyon and unfortunately I can't get off. I get marginalized if I try to warn the conductor, and this causes my depression to rise. Not heeding the lessons of History condemns us to repeat it. With the educational level of this country at an all time low it is now possible to fool most of the people all of the time.
I am white, college educated and live in an affluent neighborhood with a healthy amount of retirement cash stashed away. If I feel this hopelessness, how must those who have none of these advantages be feeling today with a propaganda guy like Bannon helping run the country?
Over and out,
Jay
Jay. You know you are not alone. More than half the country feel to a more or less degree the same way you feel. The barbarians have crashed the gate and while I am angry, fearful and still partially in a state of denial, I know that there is a grass roots resistance movement forming. Once all the protests have declined, we have to solidify and become a force that speaks for those whose voices are about to be muted or silenced altogether. We have to try and save our planet as well. We have to mobilize and clean house in the mid-terms and try to keep momentum after that. There is a force out there for good. Don't give up hope.
ReplyDeleteAs you may have seen, Jay...when I posted sympathy for gay folks, Mulsims, racial minorities and women, I had a "friend" come on and accuse me of "hate-mongering."
ReplyDeleteI have since posted that I'm not likely to post nearly as much...and keep my political posts to a minimum...
because telling the truth had no positive effect. The guy got in and those who had crawled out from under rocks began spray painting hate on the church and household walls...began beating up people who were different from them, all the while chanting pro-Trump slogans. We are heading for a long, dark tunnel.
But I have hope that, two years from now, during the next election (though, sadly, not the presidential election), there will be enough horrendous evidence that even the Trumpet Swains and Trumpettes will have figured it out.
Maybe.
Meanwhile, I have fastened my seatbelt and doubled my medication.
I agree with you 1000%, and I am an Independent. After teaching history and political science for 42 years I am scared to death with the parallels. Even though I have tried to remain non-political on social media, I refuse to be silent anymore. Time to start calling your representatives in Washington. I have many Trump supporting friends who get outraged when they are clumped with the rascists. If they really feel that way, then they better start speaking out against his rascist appointments.
ReplyDeleteJay, you are a kindred spirit and I feel your pain, and like you, I know I must surrender, for now, and focus on me and mine, or be committed to a room with padded walls and no Internet. I have become addicted to the "Bla-Bla-Bla" much of it created in my own reactive mind, and compelled to scream into the wind, where nobody cares or hears. I feel good knowing I did what I could to find reason. I encouraged a debate with friends and family who think differently, in an impersonal way, attacking the beliefs and not the believers, but the smugness and arrogance of Trump, and his minions, have enraged me, and I must take a time out for as long as I can, and as my daughter's pre-school teacher would say, many years ago... Choose Happy. My best, BradB
ReplyDeleteJay my hat is off to you if you can pull away. I have tried and can not and I'm worried about my sanity. Your so right in your description of the trumpeteers. In my mind I see them all cheering Na na. On the deck of the Titanic as it's leaving port. My every forecast is so dark I don't even say it all but then a few moments later another facet hits me that makes it ten times worse God help us all
ReplyDeleteIf it had been anyone other than hillary the results probably would have been different.....
ReplyDelete