In his book, “Dog Whistle Politics,” Ian Haney Lopez showed how conservatives have used racial animus to drive opposition to welfare. In an interview with Salon, he said,
Dog-whistle politics is not fundamentally about race. It’s fundamentally about attacking liberal government, attacking New Deal government, which is good for the country as a whole, but bad in the perception of some of the very rich. This is fundamentally about power, it’s fundamentally about how we are going to organize a society for everybody. The core point here is that race is being used to wreck the middle class.
Anger is a powerful and potentially cleansing emotion.
Or it can make one feel so speechless with self loathing that
you can only express your rage and shame with para-suicidal
behaviors.
Anger wants to know why and sometimes the truth is too terrible.
The rape of a child is a moral offense so grave that it corrupts everyone involved, including the child, who must distort his perceptions of reality to normalize the assault on his soul.
The sight of institutional child abuse incites the enraged sense of injustice that lodges in my heart as an adult survivor of abuse.
Imagine trying to comprehend the enablers of your abuse with a
toddler’s mind.
And yet, Robert Richards, who raped his own child and then told her not to tell anyone so that it could be “our little secret,” will likely not spend a day in prison.
….the maximum sentence for fourth-degree rape is 15 years in prison, the prosecution recommended that Richards only receive probation. And Judge Jan, in her sentencing order, said Richards “will not fare well” if he is sentenced to prison.”
I wondered how today’s young generation of LGBTQ artists were dealing with the rise of Trump.
I found defiance:
Now if you think that we gon bow down and run
Think we’d be bothered? You got water in your guns?
Bitch, you got the wrong bitch
Bitch, you got the wrong bitch
You got the wrong, wrong bitch And if you think we gon cower and be scared
Think I won’t keep marching with my fist up in the air
Bitch, you got the wrong bitch
Bitch, you got the wrong bitch
You got the wrong, wrong bitch
This cut from Butch Queen by Rue Paul and Ab Soto is defiant and hilarious:
We’re not going back. We’re not going anywhere. We are going to rise up and finish our revolution.
I like to think of myself as a compassionate man but compassion
is difficult when one considers the damage people do on purpose.
How do we find compassion for people who, riven with envy, lie without hesitation, damage reputations, and steal the hard work of other people?
How do we find compassion for people who abuse their power, who insinuate themselves into the lives of others to control them and who take without giving back?
How does one forgive years of abuse from an alcoholic parent?
How does one forgive a friend who plays mind games designed to make you doubt yourself, who projects their failings onto you and who malignantly smears you to your friends and colleagues.
Trust is essential to effective communication and to the work of forging a working social contract.
Here is a brief list of behaviors I consider unforgivable:
Slander; especially hurtful gossip; when you maliciously smear the reputations of decent people you lose the right to respect and compassion.
Users; these are people who treat the generosity and resources of other people as if they are their due.
Emotional Abuse: it is unforgivable to target the weaknesses of
others for abuse.
Any intentional act or decision that results in the death of
a child.
Any intentional behavior that meets the definition of torture.
Blatant and intentional hypocrisy.
Any abuse of power that limits the resources and opportunities of
our children, our elderly and our disabled.
Any use of the Federal Government to empower racists.
Treason and collusion with treason.
How do we find compassion for the unforgivable?
Take away my family, Take away the right to speak Take away my point of view, Take away my right to choose
