> Most white Americans are fuzzy on the cause of the Civil War—slavery—and even more are unaware of the decades of racial terror and oppression that followed Reconstruction: lynching, convict leasing, mass incarceration, racist labor practices.
... ‘Why are they so focussed on this, when Americans seem to do their best to forget history?’ In a certain sense, that question, the ways in which the Germans have faced their national crimes and catastrophe, has been on my mind ever since.”<
The only way to not know is to deliberately choose not to. Germany has faced the horrors of her past and can be proud of the fact that they have cleansed themselves of its evil. America, like Japan, remains stained and fouled with the filth we refuse to wash away.
When I put this down to write more about the subject later, I failed to record the article from which I excerpted the quote.
There’s so much more I can say about this, yet when I look at it, I think it actually covers the subject rather well. It is a very brief post but one which should stimulate a great deal of discussion and thought.
Friday, November 22, 2019
Divorce
C: The figure i heard: of the 7,700 counties in the US, 7,000 voted Republican, only 700 voted Democrat. Sounds like a solid majority to me.
O: DIVORCE AGREEMENT
THIS IS INCREDIBLY WELL-PUT, AND I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT'S WRITTEN BY A STUDENT!!! WHATEVER HE RUNS FOR, I'LL VOTE FOR HIM.
Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, and Obama supporters, et al:
We have stuck together since the late 1950s for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.
Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.
Here is our separation agreement:
Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by land mass, each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets, since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.
—We don't like redistributive taxes, so you can keep them.
--You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.
--Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military.
--We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and the coal mines, and you can go with wind, solar, and bio-diesel.
--You can keep Oprah, Whoopi, Bill Maher, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all five of them.
--We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, and Wall Street.
--You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies, and illegal aliens.
--We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEOs, and rednecks.
--We'll keep Bill O’Reilly and Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.
--You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.
--You can have the peaceniks and war protesters.
--When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.
--We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.
--You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness, and Shirley McLaine. You can also have the UN., but we will no longer be paying the bill.
--We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks, and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Volt and Leaf you can find.
--You can give everyone health care if you can find any practicing doctors.
--We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem."
--I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine," "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "Kum Baya," or "We Are the World."
--We'll practice trickle-down economics and you can continue to give trickle-up poverty your best shot.
--Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name, and our flag.
Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you might think about which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.
Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American
P.S. Also, please take George Clooney, Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Short, Charlie Sheen, Barbra Streisand, and (Hanoi) Jane Fonda with you.
P.P.S. And you won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country.
Forward This Every Time You Get It !
Let's Keep This Going, Maybe Some Of It Will Start Sink in.
Me: So you think you’re a big majority because you keep winning rigged elections? You think denying the vote to millions of Americans makes them somehow not American so your votes are the only real ones? You want to get out of our country?
Good. Once you’re gone we can start to make America decent again. We would never kick you out because we respect things you don’t, things like human rights. However, if you want to go, not only will we not stop you we will do all we can to help you. Maybe a GoFundMe? I really want to help you leave America.
I do have a few conditions though. When you leave, be sure to pack up and take along with you your not very well veiled racism, your weird mix of arrogance and self pity, your bigotry, your puerile terror of anything new and different, your determination to destroy democracy, your religious fanaticism, and don’t forget your hatred of reality.
Thank you so much for offering to leave. We will do everything we can to help you along because we don’t want your kind in our country, but as I said before, we’re just too decent to deny you your human right to be the nasty, spiritually ugly people you are. However, it will make us very happy to see you be those things somewhere else.
Bye-bye!
O: DIVORCE AGREEMENT
THIS IS INCREDIBLY WELL-PUT, AND I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT'S WRITTEN BY A STUDENT!!! WHATEVER HE RUNS FOR, I'LL VOTE FOR HIM.
Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, and Obama supporters, et al:
We have stuck together since the late 1950s for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.
Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.
Here is our separation agreement:
Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by land mass, each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets, since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.
—We don't like redistributive taxes, so you can keep them.
--You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.
--Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military.
--We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and the coal mines, and you can go with wind, solar, and bio-diesel.
--You can keep Oprah, Whoopi, Bill Maher, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all five of them.
--We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, and Wall Street.
--You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies, and illegal aliens.
--We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEOs, and rednecks.
--We'll keep Bill O’Reilly and Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.
--You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.
--You can have the peaceniks and war protesters.
--When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.
--We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.
--You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness, and Shirley McLaine. You can also have the UN., but we will no longer be paying the bill.
--We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks, and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Volt and Leaf you can find.
--You can give everyone health care if you can find any practicing doctors.
--We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem."
--I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine," "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "Kum Baya," or "We Are the World."
--We'll practice trickle-down economics and you can continue to give trickle-up poverty your best shot.
--Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name, and our flag.
Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you might think about which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.
Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American
P.S. Also, please take George Clooney, Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Short, Charlie Sheen, Barbra Streisand, and (Hanoi) Jane Fonda with you.
P.P.S. And you won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country.
Forward This Every Time You Get It !
Let's Keep This Going, Maybe Some Of It Will Start Sink in.
Me: So you think you’re a big majority because you keep winning rigged elections? You think denying the vote to millions of Americans makes them somehow not American so your votes are the only real ones? You want to get out of our country?
Good. Once you’re gone we can start to make America decent again. We would never kick you out because we respect things you don’t, things like human rights. However, if you want to go, not only will we not stop you we will do all we can to help you. Maybe a GoFundMe? I really want to help you leave America.
I do have a few conditions though. When you leave, be sure to pack up and take along with you your not very well veiled racism, your weird mix of arrogance and self pity, your bigotry, your puerile terror of anything new and different, your determination to destroy democracy, your religious fanaticism, and don’t forget your hatred of reality.
Thank you so much for offering to leave. We will do everything we can to help you along because we don’t want your kind in our country, but as I said before, we’re just too decent to deny you your human right to be the nasty, spiritually ugly people you are. However, it will make us very happy to see you be those things somewhere else.
Bye-bye!
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Friendship In The Time Of Trump
A very short post, but I think worth moving from Facebook to my blog. It may not be long and verbiage, but it is very profound in it’s implications.
A Facebook friend posted:
C: This message is also for anyone who want to send me a Friends request. As for those friends I currently have, if I see any post in support of Trump, I will Unfriend you, my Page will not be used for a propaganda platform to promote the dismantling of our democracy.
To be fore warned, is to be fore told.
I responded:
While I understand your position, I’ve never unfriended anyone, certainly not over politics. Those friends who have turned to Trump and been radicalized give me a window into the strange world they now inhabit. I find it useful in helping me to understand.
One friend in particular has completely drowned herself in the world of Q anon. Reading about this bizarre delusional world simply does not give the same insight as actually watching someone you have known for decades “function” in that insanity.
C: Initially I was all right with some of my friends supporting trump. But, yesterday Impeachment Hearing where they attacked a decorated U.S. Army solider at the request of Donald Trump, was a bridge to far. I knew I could no longer tolerate those who believe trump is fit for the office of President of the United States. They behave as if they are a part of a cult and their leader is Jim Jones. Why would I want to communicate with someone who is so brain washed.
Me: Can’t argue. Your reaction is reasonable. Not criticizing your stance, just saying I have a different one. As crazy as these people are, as repugnant as their behavior becomes,I find it both necessary and disturbingly compelling to try to understand them. Lately I’ve been dipping into the whole “sovereign citizen” movement. I’m not exactly sure why I find it so fascinating, but I do. The self delusion of true believers is remarkable.
I remember reading Eric Hoffers’s book The True Believer decades ago. Very insightful. The capacity of the human mind to utterly delude itself and divorce itself from reality still bears a certain fascination for me. I suppose I am intellectually a gwaker, staring at the horrible accident out the car window and backing up traffic for miles as I slowly drive by.
Call it a character flaw.😏
A: Jim Naranjo I will give you fascinating. But ultimately maddening, depressing and just a waste of our precious time.
M: Jim Naranjo you’re curious and intelligent, just don’t get carried away😊
Me: Don’t worry. Just because I like to study dinosaurs doesn’t mean I intend to turn into one.
MG: Jim Naranjo, you mention the "sovereign citizen" movement...I had one of the weirdest (funniest?) experiences with one of them when I was working fora local city. Among my duties was answering people's questions about City planning permits etc at the public counter. One day, a guy came in with a citation notice that he'd received for a serious electrical code violation. He demanded to know what gave the City the authority to cite him, and we went round and round about that for about 15 -20 minutes. Every time I gave him and an answer, he'd take it one step further...who gave the city that authority? Answer" the state of CA. Who gave the state the authority to tell him what he had to do? etc etc. Finally, he declared himself to be a "sovereign citizen" who no government had authority over. At first, I thought he was joking, but he wasn't. I offered to call the City Attorney for him if he wanted to take the question up with them, but he declined. Still he persisted that he did not have to make his electrical service meet Code if he didn't want to and he wanted all fines cancelled. So, I suggested he speak with the Code Enforcement Officer who wrote the citation. Where are they located, he asked? Answer: In the Police Department . He left then. Guess he didn't want make his pitch to law enforcement. It was really lunatic!! And a chuckle at the same time...
Me: I’m fond of saying they are really funny, until they turn deadly. Thanks for sharing!
A Facebook friend posted:
C: This message is also for anyone who want to send me a Friends request. As for those friends I currently have, if I see any post in support of Trump, I will Unfriend you, my Page will not be used for a propaganda platform to promote the dismantling of our democracy.
To be fore warned, is to be fore told.
I responded:
While I understand your position, I’ve never unfriended anyone, certainly not over politics. Those friends who have turned to Trump and been radicalized give me a window into the strange world they now inhabit. I find it useful in helping me to understand.
One friend in particular has completely drowned herself in the world of Q anon. Reading about this bizarre delusional world simply does not give the same insight as actually watching someone you have known for decades “function” in that insanity.
C: Initially I was all right with some of my friends supporting trump. But, yesterday Impeachment Hearing where they attacked a decorated U.S. Army solider at the request of Donald Trump, was a bridge to far. I knew I could no longer tolerate those who believe trump is fit for the office of President of the United States. They behave as if they are a part of a cult and their leader is Jim Jones. Why would I want to communicate with someone who is so brain washed.
Me: Can’t argue. Your reaction is reasonable. Not criticizing your stance, just saying I have a different one. As crazy as these people are, as repugnant as their behavior becomes,I find it both necessary and disturbingly compelling to try to understand them. Lately I’ve been dipping into the whole “sovereign citizen” movement. I’m not exactly sure why I find it so fascinating, but I do. The self delusion of true believers is remarkable.
I remember reading Eric Hoffers’s book The True Believer decades ago. Very insightful. The capacity of the human mind to utterly delude itself and divorce itself from reality still bears a certain fascination for me. I suppose I am intellectually a gwaker, staring at the horrible accident out the car window and backing up traffic for miles as I slowly drive by.
Call it a character flaw.😏
A: Jim Naranjo I will give you fascinating. But ultimately maddening, depressing and just a waste of our precious time.
M: Jim Naranjo you’re curious and intelligent, just don’t get carried away😊
Me: Don’t worry. Just because I like to study dinosaurs doesn’t mean I intend to turn into one.
MG: Jim Naranjo, you mention the "sovereign citizen" movement...I had one of the weirdest (funniest?) experiences with one of them when I was working fora local city. Among my duties was answering people's questions about City planning permits etc at the public counter. One day, a guy came in with a citation notice that he'd received for a serious electrical code violation. He demanded to know what gave the City the authority to cite him, and we went round and round about that for about 15 -20 minutes. Every time I gave him and an answer, he'd take it one step further...who gave the city that authority? Answer" the state of CA. Who gave the state the authority to tell him what he had to do? etc etc. Finally, he declared himself to be a "sovereign citizen" who no government had authority over. At first, I thought he was joking, but he wasn't. I offered to call the City Attorney for him if he wanted to take the question up with them, but he declined. Still he persisted that he did not have to make his electrical service meet Code if he didn't want to and he wanted all fines cancelled. So, I suggested he speak with the Code Enforcement Officer who wrote the citation. Where are they located, he asked? Answer: In the Police Department . He left then. Guess he didn't want make his pitch to law enforcement. It was really lunatic!! And a chuckle at the same time...
Me: I’m fond of saying they are really funny, until they turn deadly. Thanks for sharing!
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