You are a nice person. You don't have a lot of opinions. In high school, you were friends with all five Breakfast Club archetypes. You see both sides of most arguments.
On Tuesday, the rest of us are going to need you to cut that out. Because people like me, who follow politics closely and have chosen a side, we generally don't decide elections. You do.
You don't talk politics, and you follow them peripherally, if at all. Sometimes, you don't even vote. Again, on Tuesday, the rest of us are going to need you to cut that out.
I understand the polite argument. They're all crooks. Democrats and Republicans are both icky ingredients in the same turd salad. So it kind of doesn't really matter.
The rest of us need you to understand that this convenient argument is, at the moment, lazy, untrue, and utterly destructive.
Right now, Republicans have all the power. Right now, they are responsible and they are the problem. Say what you want about Democrats, and I'll only champion them as a smarter class of crooks for the most part. But we need them right now, just like we need you. This president is not a normal Republican. Eisenhower would not recognize him. Even Reagan wouldn't recognize him. His admiring remarks about dictators highlight the danger he has placed us in. His refusal to defend us against what 17 of 17 spy agencies agree is an ongoing Russian cyber-attack makes him a traitor. Hippies are not shooting up Republican country clubs. American Nazis are attacking yoga classes, gay bars, black churches and synagogues. I know it's impolite to point this out. I know it's easier to say "I see both sides". But the facts don't bear that out at the moment, and the truth is, your desire to be universally loved across the aisle can't exist at this moment in history. By refusing to choose a side, you are choosing the wrong side. You are a bystander next to a bully. Nonintervention is a form of shameful participation.
I understand you'd rather be neutral, and stay friends with everyone. I understand your desire to equate Antifa with American Nazis, but please study history before making that convenient argument. Antifa groups have never made an attempt to take over. They out Nazis, forcing them back underground. Once far-right Nazi groups go underground, Antifa follow them back into the shadows. Antifa break windows and destroy property, but should vandalism matter right now? Antifa did not run over and kill a peaceful, protesting woman in Charlottesville the summer before last, American Nazis did. Some Antifa champion Communism and Anarchy, which is stupid. But in America, it will never be deadly. We are a culture of consumers, for better or worse. We will be insane shoppers again in a few weeks, as we will every year until the next Republican economic crash (see 1929, 1987, or 2008...) renders us broke, or the next Climate Change disaster renders us unable to shop. We will never be in any real danger of becoming Communists, and we never have been.
We are, however, in danger of falling to fascism. Not because of any fault in our national character, but because it's easy for deregulated capitalism to spoil that way, especially when economic and social anxiety cause a lot of people to look for easy scapegoats. Let's look at the arguments being made to Middle America, side by side.
From the left: Your jobs were outsourced because of a combination of automation and a careless deregulation of nationless corporate mega-entities that probably never should've been allowed to exist, given how their financial gravity undermines democracy. This was perpetrated mostly by the exact powerful white men you admire and hope to become one day, even though your belief in this system ensures you will never have more than the slightest chance of ever being rich and neither will your children or grandchildren.
From the right: Your jobs are gone because Mexicans.
The first argument only has the benefit of being accurate. The second is simple, thus making it far more seductive in these troubling, complex times. And that's what all fascists ultimately become: murderous salesmen of simplicity. Worried about having to learn about all these groups and their "special rights"? Don't worry about all that. They're heading for internment camps, conversion camps, or death camps once we set them up.
You might think I'm being melodramatic, and I understand your desire to believe things aren't all that bad. But again, I ask you to study your history. We're already on the edge of this little slide to hell, and it won't take much more for us to fall. Study the headlines of last week's far-right massacres. Then compare them with the relatively tame headlines of three years ago, five years ago, seven years ago as we began to recover from the last crash. Look how far we've already fallen into chaos again.
American Nazis have scurried out into the daylight. Their repugnant leader has enabled them. A Democratic congress will at least slow the bleeding, and given how vulnerable Trump left himself with his failure to divest, he could be this one election away from an impeachment that could put us back on the road to a fairer, more progressive and inclusive economy, recognition of climate science, fair prescription prices, support of solar and wind energy, gay rights, women's rights, job training programs, fair education funding, prison reform, treating addicts based on science, sane military spending, defense against the cyber-attacks we're willing to admit the existence of, and a decline in the divisive rhetoric that fringe groups feed off of. At the very least, the election of a Democratic congress would put us one step closer to a return to normalcy, and wouldn't that be a welcome relief at this point? How tired are you, nice person, of wondering what scandalous stupidity will fall out of your president's broken mind today?
We'll only achieve a return to balance if more of you nice people get off the bench and vote correctly, for Democrats, in an attempt to restore fact-based reality. I hope you can revisit the comfort of neutrality one day. On Tuesday, the rest of us need you to not do that. On Tuesday, nice, neutral people will either act to save the republic, or you will fail and we will all go down together into that nationalist place, that darkest place in known political history. We need you. Please come help pull us back from the edge of all this madness. People like you decide elections. You have far more power than you realize, and that means you have a responsibility. Your nice neutrality is, I'm sorry to say, deadly for everyone. When the gays and Jews and Mexicans and women have all been marginalized or murdered, the fascist machine will turn on you as well. American Nazis, like all of history's monsters, don't just stop looking for new victims one day. Help us slow them Tuesday, or there may be no stopping them at all.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Saturday, October 20, 2018
The Conversations We Aren't Having
Having a reality show whore as a president is entertaining. If you're anything like me, you're struck with the urge once or twice a day to do a Russel Crowe Gladiator impersonation and shout at his apologists, "Are you not entertained?!"
The trouble is, news was never supposed to be entertainment, and neither was politics. There are real, adult issues we need to talk about, and we can't do that with President Human Black Hole sucking the air out of every possible conversation. Below are some of our neglected real problems, along with some possible solutions, in the hopes of starting the sort of conversation that might actually solve something before it's too late.
The 30-70 Problem
Soon, 30% of the population will elect 70% of the Senate. We often talk about the tyranny of the majority, but this is the opposite extreme. If the Senate so disproportionately reflects the values of only a few Americans, I don't know if I'd call it "rural tyranny", but it definitely isn't democracy. Yes, our founding fathers wanted the geographic regions of the country to be represented in the government. And yes, we do load these regions with prisons and landfills and power plants. While we're at it, we've neglected these regions and need to invest in them, the way some companies are now teaching former coal miners how to become computer programmers. But can any conservative argue that the founding fathers foresaw a state like Wyoming having half a million people in it? (The population of Newark, NJ, for perspective.) It isn't fair for Wyoming to have two senators while California also has two, who represent more than 30 million people (close to a tenth of the nation's population).
The Senate can't become the House of Representatives either, but it needs to be made more like it. The math is something we have to negotiate, but we can't have that good faith negotiation while President Mood Swing is poop-tweeting at us all. A related problem is the Electoral College, which could be solved using a Maine-Nebraska split of electoral votes to address conservative concerns that a national popular election would give California and New York too much power.
The Saudi-Iranian Problem
It's tempting right now to jump on the president for his weak response to the Saudi government's probable murder of its most visible dissident voice. After all, he's got that troll gift for making those of us on the left froth at the mouth. Trouble is, Saudi Arabia's enemy Iran is a brutal theocracy as well, and I like my brutal theocrats killing one another so they don't kill those of us who like to read and leave other people alone.
We are in bed with Saudi Arabia, economically and politically. They are a vital bulwark against a nuclear Iran. Also, their war in Yemen is an atrocious affront to human decency. And also, it's a check against yet another atrocious affront to human decency. Sometimes there are only shitty choices, and we have to struggle to walk the least hideous path.
We need to have an adult conversation about how to make the Saudi government less brutal, while maintaining them as a shield against Iran. There will be no easy fixes, and there never have been in the Middle East, since the British forced so many nations to be nations without bothering to consult the locals. We need to carefully discuss how to balance legitimate concerns about human rights abuses in the region against the atrocities to come if Iran wins the Middle East cold war. And we can't have that gut-wrenching conversation with a know-nothing game show host from Queens involved.
The Climate Crisis
The earth will be unrecognizable by 2040 if we don't act now, according to a study released this week. Oil companies and the military have known for decades, and their own internal documents confirm this. There is no debate in the scientific community. Right wing, we need you to stop pretending to be idiots on this issue, or those of you in Kansas and Missouri will have lots of unwanted neighbors from the coasts when the flooding gets cataclysmic. Technology can help slow the damage, but massive changes in our consumption habits will also be necessary. None of us want to hand the next generation a maimed world. This needs to become a bipartisan issue. It can't be, until one side stops plugging their fingers in their ears. We'll have to re-create the entire economy, to reward sustainability instead of limitless growth. We need the other side to become a part of this conversation, but there is one man who isn't invited, because he has proven himself to be utterly incapable of discussing anything but himself.
The Global Immigration Crisis
We can't save everyone. That is the heartbreaking truth. But as long as we're using undocumented workers for labor, we owe them basic human decency. This problem is closely connected to the last one, as global droughts have been a major factor in the wars and gang violence that are driving mass migration.
I don't know what Europe can do to solve its mass migration problem, but I know what the solution isn't. Turning ourselves into loathsome little klansmen, or listening to those who already are, will not make our problems go away. Fascism is tempting because it pretends to simplify the world. The great leader pretends he can solve everything, and all you have to hand him is your freedom.
But the right is correct that we can't just have wide open borders. We also can't afford to build and man a 1,900-mile wall while cutting taxes for the rich and saddling the next generations with crippling debt. The solution I propose is conditional citizenship for the nine-12 million undocumented immigrants who we can't deport (as a matter of practicality, we physically can't). They pay back and future taxes and a portion of that goes toward improved border security. We debate these things in a civil way. You on the right call off your Proud Boys and K.K.K. and American fucking Nazis, rendering Antifa unnecessary. We stop the next Civil War before it begins, and our newest citizens begin to integrate the way each generation of American immigrants has in the past.
There is only one person who can't come to the negotiations, because he doesn't have the knowledge, or the maturity, or the capability to admit fault or apologize, or empathize, or be a decent human being at all for even one second. He has shown us this. Believe what he has shown us all. Think for just a moment. Picture his toddler tantrum body language. Remember his actual words, calling entire races rapists and attacking minority judges and mocking disabled people. He has done a marvelous job of showing all of us just how shitty a human being he actually is. Please put pride aside and acknowledge what we all already know.
I know my attacking him may trigger some of you. Ask yourself why. He isn't your uncle. He isn't your drinking buddy. And if you reply with "But Hillary!" or "But Obama!", I openly acknowledge their flaws. I worship no Democrat in office; I just see them as a more practical class of crooks. I believe the best presidents of the last century were F.D.R., Dwight Eisenhower, and Teddy Roosevelt. Two of those are Republicans, and they wouldn't recognize what you've let your party devolve into. We can't fly on together with a crippled right wing. You do not owe any politician your personal allegiance. There are no messiahs. Please let the idea of a political savior go. This destructive belief cripples all of us. Please stop harming yourself and your nation just to spite "the liberal elite". Your choice to self-mutilate is making all of us bleed with you.
We have many other problems, and together, we could have solutions. Our entanglements with China need to be sorted out. A proper response to ongoing Russian cyber attacks needs to be implemented. Wealth inequality needs to be decreased or we'll continue to function as an oligarchy. We need a national cyber-security initiative on par with our response to Sputnik in the 50's. There are solutions to all of these problems. But first we have to sober up, and stop being so damn entertained. First the White House freak show needs to be cancelled. Then, I believe we can begin the painful conversations that could still heal our battered nation.
The trouble is, news was never supposed to be entertainment, and neither was politics. There are real, adult issues we need to talk about, and we can't do that with President Human Black Hole sucking the air out of every possible conversation. Below are some of our neglected real problems, along with some possible solutions, in the hopes of starting the sort of conversation that might actually solve something before it's too late.
The 30-70 Problem
Soon, 30% of the population will elect 70% of the Senate. We often talk about the tyranny of the majority, but this is the opposite extreme. If the Senate so disproportionately reflects the values of only a few Americans, I don't know if I'd call it "rural tyranny", but it definitely isn't democracy. Yes, our founding fathers wanted the geographic regions of the country to be represented in the government. And yes, we do load these regions with prisons and landfills and power plants. While we're at it, we've neglected these regions and need to invest in them, the way some companies are now teaching former coal miners how to become computer programmers. But can any conservative argue that the founding fathers foresaw a state like Wyoming having half a million people in it? (The population of Newark, NJ, for perspective.) It isn't fair for Wyoming to have two senators while California also has two, who represent more than 30 million people (close to a tenth of the nation's population).
The Senate can't become the House of Representatives either, but it needs to be made more like it. The math is something we have to negotiate, but we can't have that good faith negotiation while President Mood Swing is poop-tweeting at us all. A related problem is the Electoral College, which could be solved using a Maine-Nebraska split of electoral votes to address conservative concerns that a national popular election would give California and New York too much power.
The Saudi-Iranian Problem
It's tempting right now to jump on the president for his weak response to the Saudi government's probable murder of its most visible dissident voice. After all, he's got that troll gift for making those of us on the left froth at the mouth. Trouble is, Saudi Arabia's enemy Iran is a brutal theocracy as well, and I like my brutal theocrats killing one another so they don't kill those of us who like to read and leave other people alone.
We are in bed with Saudi Arabia, economically and politically. They are a vital bulwark against a nuclear Iran. Also, their war in Yemen is an atrocious affront to human decency. And also, it's a check against yet another atrocious affront to human decency. Sometimes there are only shitty choices, and we have to struggle to walk the least hideous path.
We need to have an adult conversation about how to make the Saudi government less brutal, while maintaining them as a shield against Iran. There will be no easy fixes, and there never have been in the Middle East, since the British forced so many nations to be nations without bothering to consult the locals. We need to carefully discuss how to balance legitimate concerns about human rights abuses in the region against the atrocities to come if Iran wins the Middle East cold war. And we can't have that gut-wrenching conversation with a know-nothing game show host from Queens involved.
The Climate Crisis
The earth will be unrecognizable by 2040 if we don't act now, according to a study released this week. Oil companies and the military have known for decades, and their own internal documents confirm this. There is no debate in the scientific community. Right wing, we need you to stop pretending to be idiots on this issue, or those of you in Kansas and Missouri will have lots of unwanted neighbors from the coasts when the flooding gets cataclysmic. Technology can help slow the damage, but massive changes in our consumption habits will also be necessary. None of us want to hand the next generation a maimed world. This needs to become a bipartisan issue. It can't be, until one side stops plugging their fingers in their ears. We'll have to re-create the entire economy, to reward sustainability instead of limitless growth. We need the other side to become a part of this conversation, but there is one man who isn't invited, because he has proven himself to be utterly incapable of discussing anything but himself.
The Global Immigration Crisis
We can't save everyone. That is the heartbreaking truth. But as long as we're using undocumented workers for labor, we owe them basic human decency. This problem is closely connected to the last one, as global droughts have been a major factor in the wars and gang violence that are driving mass migration.
I don't know what Europe can do to solve its mass migration problem, but I know what the solution isn't. Turning ourselves into loathsome little klansmen, or listening to those who already are, will not make our problems go away. Fascism is tempting because it pretends to simplify the world. The great leader pretends he can solve everything, and all you have to hand him is your freedom.
But the right is correct that we can't just have wide open borders. We also can't afford to build and man a 1,900-mile wall while cutting taxes for the rich and saddling the next generations with crippling debt. The solution I propose is conditional citizenship for the nine-12 million undocumented immigrants who we can't deport (as a matter of practicality, we physically can't). They pay back and future taxes and a portion of that goes toward improved border security. We debate these things in a civil way. You on the right call off your Proud Boys and K.K.K. and American fucking Nazis, rendering Antifa unnecessary. We stop the next Civil War before it begins, and our newest citizens begin to integrate the way each generation of American immigrants has in the past.
There is only one person who can't come to the negotiations, because he doesn't have the knowledge, or the maturity, or the capability to admit fault or apologize, or empathize, or be a decent human being at all for even one second. He has shown us this. Believe what he has shown us all. Think for just a moment. Picture his toddler tantrum body language. Remember his actual words, calling entire races rapists and attacking minority judges and mocking disabled people. He has done a marvelous job of showing all of us just how shitty a human being he actually is. Please put pride aside and acknowledge what we all already know.
I know my attacking him may trigger some of you. Ask yourself why. He isn't your uncle. He isn't your drinking buddy. And if you reply with "But Hillary!" or "But Obama!", I openly acknowledge their flaws. I worship no Democrat in office; I just see them as a more practical class of crooks. I believe the best presidents of the last century were F.D.R., Dwight Eisenhower, and Teddy Roosevelt. Two of those are Republicans, and they wouldn't recognize what you've let your party devolve into. We can't fly on together with a crippled right wing. You do not owe any politician your personal allegiance. There are no messiahs. Please let the idea of a political savior go. This destructive belief cripples all of us. Please stop harming yourself and your nation just to spite "the liberal elite". Your choice to self-mutilate is making all of us bleed with you.
We have many other problems, and together, we could have solutions. Our entanglements with China need to be sorted out. A proper response to ongoing Russian cyber attacks needs to be implemented. Wealth inequality needs to be decreased or we'll continue to function as an oligarchy. We need a national cyber-security initiative on par with our response to Sputnik in the 50's. There are solutions to all of these problems. But first we have to sober up, and stop being so damn entertained. First the White House freak show needs to be cancelled. Then, I believe we can begin the painful conversations that could still heal our battered nation.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
More Books Worth Your Time
It's been a while and I've read some books. Plus you might have bibliophiles to shop for. So here we go.
Scythe
Neil Schusterman is one of my favorite authors in part because he's waging a one-man war to increase the vocabulary of Middle Grade and Y.A. readers. Also, his work is daaaaaaaaaark. In Scythe, all of the world's problems have been solved by the Thunderhead, which is like the Cloud in that it exists and no one knows how it works or what the fuck it actually is. The last remaining problem is overpopulation, and so "Scythes" play the role of grim reaper. Eventually it evolves into the classic problem of who regulates the regulators, but Schusterman has a gift for outstanding world building, original scenarios, spot-on pacing, finding original ways to present the mentor-student dynamic, and characters that transcend the whole young girl vs. grey patriarch dystopian thing. Bruiser and Unwind are previous Schusterman books that share Scythe's strengths.
Antifa: The Anti-fascist Handbook
I was probably already on a watch list, being left of center as my government oozes to the right of Meng the Merciless, so I had nothing to lose by buying this book. It was an impulse purchase, as I was originally looking for Fantasyland to scratch my "How did 70,000 of my countrymen elect this unqualified racist game show host?" itch, and I stumbled on this book by Occupy Wall Street organizer Mark Bray.
Like many people, I hadn't heard of Antifa (Anti-fascists) prior to Nazis marching openly and committing murder in the streets of Charlottesville last summer. Seeing the footage I was curious about the people in all black who took it upon themselves to mace the knuckle-dragging, mother's basement-dwelling, white hate douche brigade as a public service. The stated purpose of Antifa is to meet the far right wherever it gathers and make life miserable for the Klu Klux Klownz until they renounce their beliefs, crawl back under the rocks, or move somewhere else. The book makes a case for Antifa gathering under the following circumstances: when white supremacist groups are emboldened, when the police can no longer contain them or become contaminated by them, and when these groups threaten the safety of already marginalized populations (people with pigment, gays, Jews, Muslims, people who read, and, eventually, everyone they find inconvenient).
Antifa organizations are listed as terrorists because they destroy Starbucks windows rather than protesting politely, and crimes against money are blasphemy as long as we insist on wealth being our unofficial national religion. Most Antifa are anarchist or communist in nature, which remains my only real objection to their existence, since neither of these philosophies actually work. One thing the book convinced me of is there is an argument to be made for these organizations. They have always disbanded shortly after white supremacy has been pushed back underground. (In other words, they aren't a slippery slope to an equally bad far-left dystopia.) They were a big part of keeping England from falling to fascism as Italy and Germany did in the 1930s. We defeated European Nazism with overwhelming violence the first time, not by taking the high road. And the free speech/free assembly rights of white supremacists should probably be secondary to the right to life and safety of actual human beings. After all, when have Nazis ever gathered for peaceful reasons?
Bray also does a fine job skewering the false equivalency responsible for so many of our current problems. The line of the book (paraphrased): Antifa are not the same as the extremist groups they repress because the firefighter is not the same as the fire. The easiest thing in the world is to dismiss these groups, if you happen to be white, straight, and centrist or conservative. Of course, these are the same people who abandoned their gay, immigrant, and minority friends when they voted Trump in the first goddamn place. We have to remember that compromise with genocidal goose-steppers is neither possible nor advisable. Racism and homophobia need to become deal-breakers again. As one of the people who would be loaded on the trains, I think Antifa has become necessary at this sad, shameful fucking moment in our national history. This book convinced me.
(Side note: If you're a Republican who prefers lower taxes and fewer government services, I disagree with respect but love to engage with people like you. We should still be able to have the taxes vs. services debate without losing our minds in the process.)
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
I think I coined the phrase "bumper sticker support" to note how we mistreat our soldiers in one of my short stories, but this book explores that idea in abyssal depth. Comedy provides readability as the soldiers of Bravo company come home for a celebration of their heroic efforts to win a battle amid the triple civil war in Iraq. They enjoy themselves to the degree it's possible, watching a Thanksgiving Day Dallas Cowboys game, knowing they have to head back to the confused front lines after the game. The people they encounter during the game offer all the verbal support possible, but the treatment they receive from their Hollywood agent and the vile Cowboys owner reveals a lot about our cynical, criminal use of soldiers.
Following Vietnam, our government realized it could never institute a draft again without widespread civil discord, especially if the need for war was questionable. The answer they found was to force roughly two percent of the population to fight endlessly while the remainder of us lived lives so unchanged by war that we would be unaware a war was even happening. It's never fair to ask any portion of the population to sacrifice disproportionately during times of war, and this book does an excellent job of handling this issue with both humor and dignity. Bonus points for misspelling currj, nineleven, and turrurr to highlight the ludicrous group-think of the Dubya mid-aughts.
The Nix
This is one of those rabbit hole situations where a character does something hilariously bizarre and then the next chapter is about the surreal existence of one of the side characters and before your know it all the weird has just cocooned you in. This was Entertainment Weekly's book of the year last year, and it's appeal is pretty obvious from the start.
So those are some books worth putting the phones down for. Every now and then, we need to say fuck celebrity gossip and reality show politics for a night and re-activate some a them there brain cells.
Also, check out some of the latest from my publisher, Parvus Press. Scott Warren recently passed the 10,000 sale mark with Vick's Vultures, which I'm currently enjoying, and Mareth Griffith's Court of Twilight has lots of buzz in the same fantasy circles I'm hoping to borrow, once they're questing for their next fix of swords and sorcery.
Scythe
Neil Schusterman is one of my favorite authors in part because he's waging a one-man war to increase the vocabulary of Middle Grade and Y.A. readers. Also, his work is daaaaaaaaaark. In Scythe, all of the world's problems have been solved by the Thunderhead, which is like the Cloud in that it exists and no one knows how it works or what the fuck it actually is. The last remaining problem is overpopulation, and so "Scythes" play the role of grim reaper. Eventually it evolves into the classic problem of who regulates the regulators, but Schusterman has a gift for outstanding world building, original scenarios, spot-on pacing, finding original ways to present the mentor-student dynamic, and characters that transcend the whole young girl vs. grey patriarch dystopian thing. Bruiser and Unwind are previous Schusterman books that share Scythe's strengths.
Antifa: The Anti-fascist Handbook
I was probably already on a watch list, being left of center as my government oozes to the right of Meng the Merciless, so I had nothing to lose by buying this book. It was an impulse purchase, as I was originally looking for Fantasyland to scratch my "How did 70,000 of my countrymen elect this unqualified racist game show host?" itch, and I stumbled on this book by Occupy Wall Street organizer Mark Bray.
Like many people, I hadn't heard of Antifa (Anti-fascists) prior to Nazis marching openly and committing murder in the streets of Charlottesville last summer. Seeing the footage I was curious about the people in all black who took it upon themselves to mace the knuckle-dragging, mother's basement-dwelling, white hate douche brigade as a public service. The stated purpose of Antifa is to meet the far right wherever it gathers and make life miserable for the Klu Klux Klownz until they renounce their beliefs, crawl back under the rocks, or move somewhere else. The book makes a case for Antifa gathering under the following circumstances: when white supremacist groups are emboldened, when the police can no longer contain them or become contaminated by them, and when these groups threaten the safety of already marginalized populations (people with pigment, gays, Jews, Muslims, people who read, and, eventually, everyone they find inconvenient).
Antifa organizations are listed as terrorists because they destroy Starbucks windows rather than protesting politely, and crimes against money are blasphemy as long as we insist on wealth being our unofficial national religion. Most Antifa are anarchist or communist in nature, which remains my only real objection to their existence, since neither of these philosophies actually work. One thing the book convinced me of is there is an argument to be made for these organizations. They have always disbanded shortly after white supremacy has been pushed back underground. (In other words, they aren't a slippery slope to an equally bad far-left dystopia.) They were a big part of keeping England from falling to fascism as Italy and Germany did in the 1930s. We defeated European Nazism with overwhelming violence the first time, not by taking the high road. And the free speech/free assembly rights of white supremacists should probably be secondary to the right to life and safety of actual human beings. After all, when have Nazis ever gathered for peaceful reasons?
Bray also does a fine job skewering the false equivalency responsible for so many of our current problems. The line of the book (paraphrased): Antifa are not the same as the extremist groups they repress because the firefighter is not the same as the fire. The easiest thing in the world is to dismiss these groups, if you happen to be white, straight, and centrist or conservative. Of course, these are the same people who abandoned their gay, immigrant, and minority friends when they voted Trump in the first goddamn place. We have to remember that compromise with genocidal goose-steppers is neither possible nor advisable. Racism and homophobia need to become deal-breakers again. As one of the people who would be loaded on the trains, I think Antifa has become necessary at this sad, shameful fucking moment in our national history. This book convinced me.
(Side note: If you're a Republican who prefers lower taxes and fewer government services, I disagree with respect but love to engage with people like you. We should still be able to have the taxes vs. services debate without losing our minds in the process.)
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
I think I coined the phrase "bumper sticker support" to note how we mistreat our soldiers in one of my short stories, but this book explores that idea in abyssal depth. Comedy provides readability as the soldiers of Bravo company come home for a celebration of their heroic efforts to win a battle amid the triple civil war in Iraq. They enjoy themselves to the degree it's possible, watching a Thanksgiving Day Dallas Cowboys game, knowing they have to head back to the confused front lines after the game. The people they encounter during the game offer all the verbal support possible, but the treatment they receive from their Hollywood agent and the vile Cowboys owner reveals a lot about our cynical, criminal use of soldiers.
Following Vietnam, our government realized it could never institute a draft again without widespread civil discord, especially if the need for war was questionable. The answer they found was to force roughly two percent of the population to fight endlessly while the remainder of us lived lives so unchanged by war that we would be unaware a war was even happening. It's never fair to ask any portion of the population to sacrifice disproportionately during times of war, and this book does an excellent job of handling this issue with both humor and dignity. Bonus points for misspelling currj, nineleven, and turrurr to highlight the ludicrous group-think of the Dubya mid-aughts.
The Nix
This is one of those rabbit hole situations where a character does something hilariously bizarre and then the next chapter is about the surreal existence of one of the side characters and before your know it all the weird has just cocooned you in. This was Entertainment Weekly's book of the year last year, and it's appeal is pretty obvious from the start.
So those are some books worth putting the phones down for. Every now and then, we need to say fuck celebrity gossip and reality show politics for a night and re-activate some a them there brain cells.
Also, check out some of the latest from my publisher, Parvus Press. Scott Warren recently passed the 10,000 sale mark with Vick's Vultures, which I'm currently enjoying, and Mareth Griffith's Court of Twilight has lots of buzz in the same fantasy circles I'm hoping to borrow, once they're questing for their next fix of swords and sorcery.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Pride, Shame, and Patriotism
We all love our country, but we go about it very differently. I've heard conservatives argue that liberals have a "blame America first" mentality, but I've always believed the more accurate analogy was parent-child love vs. child-parent love. Conservatives love America the way a child loves a parent, naively believing their parent country can do no wrong and ought not ever be questioned. Liberals love America the way a parent loves a child, honestly critiquing, owning up to its mistakes, and pushing it to be its best by abandoning the illusion that it's already perfect as is. (Of course, this analogy doesn't take shitty, coddling, helicopter parenting into account...)
I've felt deep pride in my country. I never took it for granted that there would be an African-American President in my lifetime. I never took it for granted that my husband and I could be legally married, or would become homeowners in part because of a smart government tax credit. When I was almost legally blind as a teenager and too self-conscious for glasses, I saved up for Lasik surgery and basically bought eyes. I'm not always capitalism's biggest cheerleader, but I was amazed that this was an option for me. On 9/11 in my native North Jersey, the blood bank in Parsippany was packed, and we even had a surplus of donations for a while there. Thanks to hard work, help, and good luck, my family is finally getting ahead a little.
I've felt shame too. We just elected an emotional toddler who appeals to the worst of our characteristics (greed, hate, and fear). As evidence, I cite the entirety of his words and deeds. The fact that so many of my countrymen failed to recoil in horror at him was another point of shame. There are other things we ought not be proud of. On 9/11, I learned they don't take gay blood and that's really fucking stupid. I have been ashamed and am still ashamed that so many knuckle-dragging Congressmen and Senators don't have any shame talking publicly about how fossils are the devil's tools in 20-fucking-17. I've seen us go to war for to profit the people least in need of profit. I'm terrified we'll do it again, sacrificing freedom for safety while receiving (and deserving) neither.
I have hope in the future in part because I work with young people. There are selfish millennials who walk around talking about "branding" and "optics" and "triggers" and "micro-aggressions" and yes, I too would gladly insert these kids slowly into a wheat thresher. But I see far more of the other kind, idealistic in a surprisingly grounded way, altruistic, and optimistic despite the mess we're handing them.
Overall, I think we are still good people. We're fat and we pollute, but we're still fighting and protesting and advocating for what we believe. We tend to correct our government when it swings too far in any direction. I have to believe it's too soon for a failing president to use a fake war to inspire loyalty again (see the erased war of 2003-?). We're loud and sometimes dumb and we really need to stop this sexual fixation on firearms we seem to have, but we're also readers and dreamers and advocates for justice. The horrors on our news feeds receive attention because of their rarity. We have to remember that acts of kindness don't get their fair share of attention not because they don't happen anymore, but because they are still somehow commonplace. We can be better, and should always strive to be, but we are still, by and large, a good country.
I've felt deep pride in my country. I never took it for granted that there would be an African-American President in my lifetime. I never took it for granted that my husband and I could be legally married, or would become homeowners in part because of a smart government tax credit. When I was almost legally blind as a teenager and too self-conscious for glasses, I saved up for Lasik surgery and basically bought eyes. I'm not always capitalism's biggest cheerleader, but I was amazed that this was an option for me. On 9/11 in my native North Jersey, the blood bank in Parsippany was packed, and we even had a surplus of donations for a while there. Thanks to hard work, help, and good luck, my family is finally getting ahead a little.
I've felt shame too. We just elected an emotional toddler who appeals to the worst of our characteristics (greed, hate, and fear). As evidence, I cite the entirety of his words and deeds. The fact that so many of my countrymen failed to recoil in horror at him was another point of shame. There are other things we ought not be proud of. On 9/11, I learned they don't take gay blood and that's really fucking stupid. I have been ashamed and am still ashamed that so many knuckle-dragging Congressmen and Senators don't have any shame talking publicly about how fossils are the devil's tools in 20-fucking-17. I've seen us go to war for to profit the people least in need of profit. I'm terrified we'll do it again, sacrificing freedom for safety while receiving (and deserving) neither.
I have hope in the future in part because I work with young people. There are selfish millennials who walk around talking about "branding" and "optics" and "triggers" and "micro-aggressions" and yes, I too would gladly insert these kids slowly into a wheat thresher. But I see far more of the other kind, idealistic in a surprisingly grounded way, altruistic, and optimistic despite the mess we're handing them.
Overall, I think we are still good people. We're fat and we pollute, but we're still fighting and protesting and advocating for what we believe. We tend to correct our government when it swings too far in any direction. I have to believe it's too soon for a failing president to use a fake war to inspire loyalty again (see the erased war of 2003-?). We're loud and sometimes dumb and we really need to stop this sexual fixation on firearms we seem to have, but we're also readers and dreamers and advocates for justice. The horrors on our news feeds receive attention because of their rarity. We have to remember that acts of kindness don't get their fair share of attention not because they don't happen anymore, but because they are still somehow commonplace. We can be better, and should always strive to be, but we are still, by and large, a good country.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
We Got One
There's a throwaway scene in Ghostbusters where they've been struggling as a business, and Jeanine finally gets a customer call, screams "We got one!" and hits the alarm, finally putting the team to purposeful work. Lots of excited movement happens afterward, and of course, the plot moves forward so that's a big plus as well.
This is how I felt when a publisher offered to buy one of my novels for the first time, and now, with the paperwork in, I feel comfortable enough to officially announce that my first novel, an epic fantasy, will be released by Parvus Press in 2018.
It got me thinking of 2011, when I first started drafting. I was playing a lot of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Skyrim, because I like the word 'sky' and I'm an unapologetic nerd. I decided I wanted to write something that had everything I loved about English (drama, plot structure, emotional investment) with everything I loved about video games (action, challenge, emotional investment). I had just finished my first novel, so I was riding a wave of confidence just knowing that crossing the finish line was a thing that sometimes happened.
It got me thinking of the games I'd first really loved when I was a kid. Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy were my introduction to JRPGs (or Japanese Role Playing Games, for those of you who don't know because you did weird things like play sports and get laid when you were young). I was hooked on how hard they made you work in order to succeed. It wasn't until years later I realized I loved books that did the same to their protagonists. The elemental fiends in the early Final Fantasy games got me thinking about elemental sorcery, and what it might look like if the elements were extended into kingdoms and cultures. A preview of my world and its various twisted denizens will come when we're closer to publication.
You'll recognize my love for Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, and J.K. Rowling when you read. I'm fine with building on amazing things that happened before I had any discipline or ability. I didn't realize what I was writing until a college kid who worked for me showed me "Avatar: The Last Airbender". There are differences that will become clear, but I'm fine calling "Rise of the Paramancers" (working title) an adult version of that most recent elemental universe.
And for those my age, when you read my work, I hope you'll feel that same general sense of awesomeness you felt when you realized how super Super Nintendo was. Feel that amazement at a boss battle filling the whole screen with a demented form and a massive energy bar. Or that joy when all you had to do was bang plastic action figures together with a friend who geeked out the same way you did. I felt these things when I was writing, and I hope the hours the Parvus team and I put in will take you to the same fantastic places.
Since I'm celebrating a milestone here, there are people I have to thank as well. John, Eric, and Colin at Parvus for giving me a chance. Shane for tolerating all the times I'm three feet away but typing and hence not there at all. Everyone from my past four writing groups. Mom, Dad, and Kathie, for giving me time to play and imagine when I was a kid. (Seriously folks, stop overbooking your little dreamers...) And Flower, for making me want to join her lunatic literary world.
The pieces you write don't all just sit on your computer (though many of them do). Some of them cross the finish line with time and patience. We got one, Jeanine, we got one.
This is how I felt when a publisher offered to buy one of my novels for the first time, and now, with the paperwork in, I feel comfortable enough to officially announce that my first novel, an epic fantasy, will be released by Parvus Press in 2018.
It got me thinking of 2011, when I first started drafting. I was playing a lot of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Skyrim, because I like the word 'sky' and I'm an unapologetic nerd. I decided I wanted to write something that had everything I loved about English (drama, plot structure, emotional investment) with everything I loved about video games (action, challenge, emotional investment). I had just finished my first novel, so I was riding a wave of confidence just knowing that crossing the finish line was a thing that sometimes happened.
It got me thinking of the games I'd first really loved when I was a kid. Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy were my introduction to JRPGs (or Japanese Role Playing Games, for those of you who don't know because you did weird things like play sports and get laid when you were young). I was hooked on how hard they made you work in order to succeed. It wasn't until years later I realized I loved books that did the same to their protagonists. The elemental fiends in the early Final Fantasy games got me thinking about elemental sorcery, and what it might look like if the elements were extended into kingdoms and cultures. A preview of my world and its various twisted denizens will come when we're closer to publication.
You'll recognize my love for Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, and J.K. Rowling when you read. I'm fine with building on amazing things that happened before I had any discipline or ability. I didn't realize what I was writing until a college kid who worked for me showed me "Avatar: The Last Airbender". There are differences that will become clear, but I'm fine calling "Rise of the Paramancers" (working title) an adult version of that most recent elemental universe.
And for those my age, when you read my work, I hope you'll feel that same general sense of awesomeness you felt when you realized how super Super Nintendo was. Feel that amazement at a boss battle filling the whole screen with a demented form and a massive energy bar. Or that joy when all you had to do was bang plastic action figures together with a friend who geeked out the same way you did. I felt these things when I was writing, and I hope the hours the Parvus team and I put in will take you to the same fantastic places.
Since I'm celebrating a milestone here, there are people I have to thank as well. John, Eric, and Colin at Parvus for giving me a chance. Shane for tolerating all the times I'm three feet away but typing and hence not there at all. Everyone from my past four writing groups. Mom, Dad, and Kathie, for giving me time to play and imagine when I was a kid. (Seriously folks, stop overbooking your little dreamers...) And Flower, for making me want to join her lunatic literary world.
The pieces you write don't all just sit on your computer (though many of them do). Some of them cross the finish line with time and patience. We got one, Jeanine, we got one.
Monday, February 20, 2017
The Next Attack Will Happen. (What If We Decide Now Not to Overreact?)
The Trump thing keeps giving me Bush flashbacks. Dubya didn't get to enjoy much of a honeymoon period after his inauguration either, because he also didn't win the popular vote. He looked like a one-term wonder in early 2000. Between his stupidity, conflicts of interest, and tendency to lash out at everyone and everything regardless of reality, Trump might not be in the White House long enough to host a Labor Day cookout.
Unless...
Bush didn't do 9/11, but does anyone doubt it served him politically? Suddenly you had to support him or the turrurrists win. If you didn't, you weren't a real 'murkin. He was given so much leeway that he questioned the heroism of an actual war hero and we rewarded his chicken hawk ass with re-election.
It took Katrina to remind us that sometimes the government we pay for can come in handy, but only when qualified professionals are in charge. This is part of why I don't believe Bush planned 9/11. He wasn't competent enough to plan anything that actually achieved its objectives.
Which brings us to Trump, whose single achievement to date is making Bush look like a dignified, nuanced thinker by comparison. He has proven himself to be a never-ending brain fart, a walking constitutional crisis. How can a man with so many thoughts be so thoughtless? Given his tendency to provoke, his inability to differentiate between violent strains of Islam and the rest, and the fact that he is a living recruitment poster for groups like Al Qaeda and I.S.I.S, another attack on U.S. soil during a Trump or Pence presidency is likely.
Though 9/11 was undoubtedly one of the worst moments in U.S. history, I've always felt our reaction to it was worth consideration as a separate historic disaster. It's like we were sucker punched in the eye and responded by throwing blind punches at everyone and anyone in arm's length. We also responded with acts of self-mutilation: torture, indefinite detention of terror suspects, and lunatic military spending. Our response was predicted by bin Laden. It's time to face the painful truth that before we gave him the bullets he deserved, we gave bin Laden everything he ever wanted.
If Bush's judgment was questionable in a crisis, imagine Trump's. Everything 62 million Americans liked about him, his "simplicity", his "telling it like it is", will be the opposite of what we need. It may be time to face the facts that the "virtues" of an American political candidate might not match the virtues needed by a person in a governing position. Some people mistake patience, nuance, and intellect for weakness, and this belief has become a national weakness in and of itself.
What if we decide in advance not to overreact next time an attack happens? We ought to commit to a sober reaction now, while we have the benefit of calm. Justice doesn't need to be swift, it needs to be slow and accurate. The danger of overreaction is greater now than it was in 2001. Whatever Bush's faults, he wasn't a human mood swing. He reacted months later by invading the wrong nation, because he didn't know or care enough to know. In response to even a minor terrorist attack, Trump would likely nuke South America, Africa, and Antarctica: anywhere full of brown people and endangered species he could easily scapegoat with his minority of supporters (and where he doesn't privately own a golf course or hotel, this is where those conflicts of interest come into play, bigly).
There are two things that frighten me more than Trump: One is a future politician with his amorality, but also with actual intelligence and discipline, who uses Trump's fear-baiting and chaos-as-camouflage templates to hypnotize us toward fascism. The other is Trump and his white Nazi brigade using the next terrorist attack to crush all resistance and change America in their deadly, kleptocratic, Putin-esque corporate-military image. Stupid becomes cool and questioning his government becomes treason. "The Media" can't be trusted except for the outlets President Deathwig approves of (and of course, they are the ones who approve of him). Dissenters disappear in the night. We go to war when and where he says, because he says. The damage we do to ourselves is, again, worse than what any home-grown or authentic Islamic terrorist could achieve.
We can and should decide ahead of time, now, while we have the luxury of security keeping us rational, that we will never again allow any tragedy to make us choose cowardice over true bravery, fear over compassion, and authority over resistance.
Unless...
Bush didn't do 9/11, but does anyone doubt it served him politically? Suddenly you had to support him or the turrurrists win. If you didn't, you weren't a real 'murkin. He was given so much leeway that he questioned the heroism of an actual war hero and we rewarded his chicken hawk ass with re-election.
It took Katrina to remind us that sometimes the government we pay for can come in handy, but only when qualified professionals are in charge. This is part of why I don't believe Bush planned 9/11. He wasn't competent enough to plan anything that actually achieved its objectives.
Which brings us to Trump, whose single achievement to date is making Bush look like a dignified, nuanced thinker by comparison. He has proven himself to be a never-ending brain fart, a walking constitutional crisis. How can a man with so many thoughts be so thoughtless? Given his tendency to provoke, his inability to differentiate between violent strains of Islam and the rest, and the fact that he is a living recruitment poster for groups like Al Qaeda and I.S.I.S, another attack on U.S. soil during a Trump or Pence presidency is likely.
Though 9/11 was undoubtedly one of the worst moments in U.S. history, I've always felt our reaction to it was worth consideration as a separate historic disaster. It's like we were sucker punched in the eye and responded by throwing blind punches at everyone and anyone in arm's length. We also responded with acts of self-mutilation: torture, indefinite detention of terror suspects, and lunatic military spending. Our response was predicted by bin Laden. It's time to face the painful truth that before we gave him the bullets he deserved, we gave bin Laden everything he ever wanted.
If Bush's judgment was questionable in a crisis, imagine Trump's. Everything 62 million Americans liked about him, his "simplicity", his "telling it like it is", will be the opposite of what we need. It may be time to face the facts that the "virtues" of an American political candidate might not match the virtues needed by a person in a governing position. Some people mistake patience, nuance, and intellect for weakness, and this belief has become a national weakness in and of itself.
What if we decide in advance not to overreact next time an attack happens? We ought to commit to a sober reaction now, while we have the benefit of calm. Justice doesn't need to be swift, it needs to be slow and accurate. The danger of overreaction is greater now than it was in 2001. Whatever Bush's faults, he wasn't a human mood swing. He reacted months later by invading the wrong nation, because he didn't know or care enough to know. In response to even a minor terrorist attack, Trump would likely nuke South America, Africa, and Antarctica: anywhere full of brown people and endangered species he could easily scapegoat with his minority of supporters (and where he doesn't privately own a golf course or hotel, this is where those conflicts of interest come into play, bigly).
There are two things that frighten me more than Trump: One is a future politician with his amorality, but also with actual intelligence and discipline, who uses Trump's fear-baiting and chaos-as-camouflage templates to hypnotize us toward fascism. The other is Trump and his white Nazi brigade using the next terrorist attack to crush all resistance and change America in their deadly, kleptocratic, Putin-esque corporate-military image. Stupid becomes cool and questioning his government becomes treason. "The Media" can't be trusted except for the outlets President Deathwig approves of (and of course, they are the ones who approve of him). Dissenters disappear in the night. We go to war when and where he says, because he says. The damage we do to ourselves is, again, worse than what any home-grown or authentic Islamic terrorist could achieve.
We can and should decide ahead of time, now, while we have the luxury of security keeping us rational, that we will never again allow any tragedy to make us choose cowardice over true bravery, fear over compassion, and authority over resistance.
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Atrocity Fatigue
We've been here before, but not this low. I remember this level of fear, hate, and contempt for nonconformity just after 9/11, when there was an intense level of social pressure to back another bad president.
But making Bush look graceful may wind up being Trump's most dazzling achievement. Read or watch Bush's inauguration speech in 2001. Boob that he was, he at least acknowledged he hadn't won the popular vote and pledged to try his best to win over those whose vote he hadn't earned. Is anyone expecting anything that magnanimous to escape the combed-over gasbag on stage tomorrow?
That's the trouble with Trump. We keep lowering our expectations and he keeps finding ways to still disappoint. He must be unstoppable in a Limbo contest.
His primary weapon to date is atrocity fatigue. He called a judge unfit because of the judge's race? Must be Tuesday. He made fun of a disabled reporter? Yawn. He appointed Emperor Palpatine to run NASA? Well, at least that guy's more experienced than Betsy DeVos.
Disengagement seems like a form of self-preservation in this environment. Resist that. Participation is the only way out.
Look at history. By 2006 we'd learned our lesson and Bush lost his rubber stamp congress because an informed electorate demanded a change. That congress helped us recover from the Bush collapse of 2008. I am a homeowner because of good legislation passed by that congress under Obama. The Great Recession didn't become a depression because of that congress.
It took a very specific event for us to remember that contempt for government is not a valid replacement for functional government. Our impotent reaction to Katrina in 2005 sent two messages to most of the population. The first was that climate change was real and dangerous. The second was that we need a competent government and we need one another. Conservative contempt for government had led Bush to appoint friends based on their loyalty rather than professionals based on their qualifications. That choice cost lives, and we saw it on our televisions. Unfortunately, it seems to take a disaster in America for us to remember that we are a country at all. In times of relative comfort, we act like we're a series of competing small businesses.
There are reasons for optimism already. Maybe this man is all the disaster we need to make us something like a country again. Based on Trump's declining polls, people paid attention to the subtext of his cabinet appointments. It didn't go unnoticed how many wolves were put in charge of hen houses. It didn't go unnoticed how many alligators the supposed swamp-drainer nuzzled up to and how quickly he sold his working class voters right the fuck out.
There are protests. We need those. Please stop all this casual contempt for the people in the streets just because they care. Democracies need protests. If you don't agree, don't participate. Or run a counter-protest. Just don't be that asshole rooting for our too-militarized police to beat the shit out of everyone and ship them off to Guantanamo. That's too real a danger to be funny right now.
Watch what you allow this man to inspire in you. He's got a gift for hate, fear, and chaos. But that means we need to keep a closer watch on him. Do not allow him to wear you down with his Twitter-bombs and casual racism and depressing ignorance and exhausting entitlement and unforgivable lack of reflection and humility. There are still more of us (65 > 62!) and if we show the shortcomings of his corporatism dressed as populism, true populism can win out in 2018 and 2020.
But only if we resist his remarkable ability to fatigue.
But making Bush look graceful may wind up being Trump's most dazzling achievement. Read or watch Bush's inauguration speech in 2001. Boob that he was, he at least acknowledged he hadn't won the popular vote and pledged to try his best to win over those whose vote he hadn't earned. Is anyone expecting anything that magnanimous to escape the combed-over gasbag on stage tomorrow?
That's the trouble with Trump. We keep lowering our expectations and he keeps finding ways to still disappoint. He must be unstoppable in a Limbo contest.
His primary weapon to date is atrocity fatigue. He called a judge unfit because of the judge's race? Must be Tuesday. He made fun of a disabled reporter? Yawn. He appointed Emperor Palpatine to run NASA? Well, at least that guy's more experienced than Betsy DeVos.
Disengagement seems like a form of self-preservation in this environment. Resist that. Participation is the only way out.
Look at history. By 2006 we'd learned our lesson and Bush lost his rubber stamp congress because an informed electorate demanded a change. That congress helped us recover from the Bush collapse of 2008. I am a homeowner because of good legislation passed by that congress under Obama. The Great Recession didn't become a depression because of that congress.
It took a very specific event for us to remember that contempt for government is not a valid replacement for functional government. Our impotent reaction to Katrina in 2005 sent two messages to most of the population. The first was that climate change was real and dangerous. The second was that we need a competent government and we need one another. Conservative contempt for government had led Bush to appoint friends based on their loyalty rather than professionals based on their qualifications. That choice cost lives, and we saw it on our televisions. Unfortunately, it seems to take a disaster in America for us to remember that we are a country at all. In times of relative comfort, we act like we're a series of competing small businesses.
There are reasons for optimism already. Maybe this man is all the disaster we need to make us something like a country again. Based on Trump's declining polls, people paid attention to the subtext of his cabinet appointments. It didn't go unnoticed how many wolves were put in charge of hen houses. It didn't go unnoticed how many alligators the supposed swamp-drainer nuzzled up to and how quickly he sold his working class voters right the fuck out.
There are protests. We need those. Please stop all this casual contempt for the people in the streets just because they care. Democracies need protests. If you don't agree, don't participate. Or run a counter-protest. Just don't be that asshole rooting for our too-militarized police to beat the shit out of everyone and ship them off to Guantanamo. That's too real a danger to be funny right now.
Watch what you allow this man to inspire in you. He's got a gift for hate, fear, and chaos. But that means we need to keep a closer watch on him. Do not allow him to wear you down with his Twitter-bombs and casual racism and depressing ignorance and exhausting entitlement and unforgivable lack of reflection and humility. There are still more of us (65 > 62!) and if we show the shortcomings of his corporatism dressed as populism, true populism can win out in 2018 and 2020.
But only if we resist his remarkable ability to fatigue.
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