I have had it up to HERE with Donald Trump and any other ignorant, narcissistic douche bag who thinks it's okay to marginalize and kill people because we don't like them. So...I am going to pass on some of the knowledge that I acquired while spending all that money on my history degree. This is really oversimplified so bear with me. I did not want to have to do footnotes.
Once upon a time in Weimar Germany there were folks living their lives and trying to recover from the devastation of WWI. (Which by the way was nothing compared to the suffering of conservatives under our current president...riiigghhhttt. Please insert sarcasm sign here!) Some folks in Germany were a little embarrassed and angry that they had lost WWI and were now having to face the consequences of their governments actions. Sound familiar?
Along came a man with a really awkward moustache who realized his particular brand of insanity was just what the country needed. So countless "good" people looked the other way as he ramped up the hatred and the violence and the rhetoric. They remained complacent in their homes as he and his minions began consolidating power. They thought this little Bavarian corporal was no threat to them so why rock the boat. Then they sat back and watched and some even voted him into power. I am sure they went to sleep at night thinking...oh he's really not all that bad and he will make Germany great again.
Then they sat on their complacency and watched as, shockingly enough, he put all his violent rhetoric into action. I am sure some of them were genuinely horrified but not horrified enough to try and stop what they had helped put into motion. After all...so he arrests some Jews, and some Gypsies, and some gays, and some communists, and some Catholic activists and many others I am forgetting to mention here...he says they are a threat to our way of life...and we are not any of these things so we will look the other way as people just vanish into "work camps". It will be good for them and we shall be safe and Germany will be great again.
Now...let's zoom forward to 2016 and talk about people who really should know better but apparently have lost their collective minds. Today we have a man with really awkward hair pandering to the same kind of hatred and violence that we thought had left our landscape. Silly us...we thought we had learned something from the Holocaust but evidently not. I am sure there are folks who thought that funny little rich guy is no threat and he says he will make America great again! He's just bombastic and he doesn't really mean all the hateful, racist, misogynistic things he says. He's just saying all that because he's different from those awful politicians in power now and he says he will make America great again!
So...here we are America at a major crossroads in our collective history. Are we going to sit on our asses and let Trump and his minions spread their ignorant, racist and violent rhetoric all way to the White House and then be shocked when he starts arresting our friends and neighbors and sending them to special "relocation facilities"? Are we going to continue to cling to every last automatic rifle we can own so we can "protect" ourselves from all those awful people out there who just might be different than "us?" Are we going to continue to marginalize the value of human life? This is the time for everyone to choose. Not November...NOW. We have to say no to hate and to the de-humanizing whack jobs trying to make America great again. We need to look in mirror and put aside our fear and our complacency and stand up against the violence and hatred in this country right now. If we do not we are doomed to repeat the unspeakable atrocities that we thought were behind us. What makes America great is not macho, racist, rhetoric...it's the fact that even though we are all different we find a way to live together and thrive.
Yes...I am angry...and I should be promoting more love and tolerance and less anger...but I am tired of watching innocent people die in this country while we sit on our asses and feel bad but do nothing about it. I will not be quiet about this anymore and if you feel the need to unfriend me or whatever you need to do I will understand. But I will not be afraid or complacent or quiet anymore. We are better than this America and we can stop the tide of hate. We just have to try. (yes...I have watched Zootopia like 3 times this weekend trying to calm down...so sue me.)
Namaste.
You can add the Native Americans whom we stole their land and marched them to their deaths-physical and spiritual, African American slaves, Japanese relocation camps on American soil and all we took from them, the social media bullying and body shaming that has taken lives. We, Americans, did and are doing that.
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