“Books are like seeds. They can lie dormant for centuries and then flower in the most unpromising soil.” (Carl Sagan); “Nothing ever dies on the Internet.” (anon.); “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” (Madison Ave. [m]adman). My posts amalgamate these three philosophical elements into one novel experience; they champion critical thinking, human dignity / equality, levelheaded / even-handed / liberty-based governance and solid environmental stewardship. C’mon in!
Once upon a time, the Sovereign of Swampland, an old, orange ogre with bleached blonde tousled tresses, ordered the foxy town crier to wander the burg’s beaten paths; drone out a Help Wanted Message! Alas, this toady set forth to unflaggingly thunder, “Hear ye! Hear ye! Supreme leader ISO Supreme judge. ONLY sycophantic, stick figure entities, who’ll summarily rubber stamp his hidden agenda; who’ll willfully march in lockstep with subjugation need apply!” The End! Moral: Offer kings, choking off liberty, middle digits, NOT high fives! Obiter Dictum: Stay safe at home! Mask up In public! Stay Healthy!
A few days ago, while chatting on the phone with my nonagenarian next-door neighbor, we soon discovered how we’ve both been ruminating re the sorry state of our homeland and world. More to the point…
We share the POV that the Trumpian / Dystopian cancer has been rearing its ugly head… indeed taking root… primarily because too many of our compatriots are absolutely clueless regarding what Real American Values actually are / what basic human decency truly involves. I could go into a litany of the particulars, but will reserve such a discussion for another blog… another day.
Anyway… after a few moments of silence… I realized we were both pretty much bummed out. So, to slightly lighten things up, I half joked that… considering our homeland’s plunge into Donny’s bottomless pit of ignorance (e.g., [1] his being all fired up on “clean” coal, [2] his flat-out refusal to respect time-honored scientific principles, etc.) it’d be wise for we, who debunk Donny… to… at the very least… visually fit in with his retrograde society’s motif.
And follks… most assuredly… I’m already on top of that! For starters, I’ve been letting my grey beard grow long and wild.¹ Indeed, I could already easily blend in amongst a gathering of Dark Ages men.
Hey, who knows? That, alone, could easily save my very life. Think about it. You never know when Nazi Donny will start rounding up the scientifically inclined folks, intern us in concentration camps, put us on trial for heresy and burn us all at the stake. Whew… now that’s what I’d call a witch-hunt! Yeah, yeah, I know I’m conflating the Dark Ages / Colonial / WW-II eras, but… that too… serves a purpose… namely… to point out that those who fail to learn from history, stupidly, repeat it!
Naturally, we, who hope to blend in, will also need to conform to a period-consistent dress code… so… to that end…
As a public service… and to further everyone’s assimilation into Donny’s Dark Ages… I’m providing the following two dress for regress videos… based on illustrations in the Luttrell Psalter…
Ladies first…
As for the ploughmen…
¹ At present my beard measures out somewhere between retired CBS Late Show comedian David Letterman’s… but has not yet attained the ZZ Top range.
Donald Trump’s victory has, justifiably so, upset all well-informed and principled people. We’re fully aware how the next president will be a vain, avaricious, dogmatic, undiplomatic, intellectually incurious, soulless creature, who gets off on mindless discrimination, hatred and violence, which targets women, LGBTs, racial minorities, non-Christians, the aged, ailing and disabled. In addition to his unleashing societal ruin we know he’ll soon be inflicting perhaps irreversible, irreparable, economic and ecological devastation upon our world.
Within nanoseconds of his victory, Trump “successfully” emboldened legions of his low information and amoral deplorables, who, with increasing frequency and severity, have been going off on a celebratory rampage. On his behalf, they’re scrawling racist and sexist graffiti everywhere… are intimidating anyone who doesn’t measure up to their waspy standards…. are ambushing women with a barrage of dirty deeds and obscenities. His evil influence has even poisoned America’s youngest minds to the point where school kids are taunting and threatening their own classmates. [Related Story #1] [Related Story #2] [Related Story #3] [Related Story #4]
While we might be able to hold our noses and take Trump’s victory in stride, it’s been the post Election Day stench wafting off of these grotesque white supremacists and their atrocious displays that we can NEVER stomach!
It has been liberals’ anticipation of Trump’s ugly America and our watching, in horror, as this nightmare is already coming true (two months prior to Inauguration Day), which have caused our outrage to spill out into the streets… our own demonstrations, oft times, deteriorating into violence.
The fact that prez-elect Trump has, so far, only paid lip service towards healing divided America, amply demonstrates how he is either a lousy leader or, worse yet, a sadist who is enjoying what’s rapidly and rabidly becoming a feeding frenzy of hostility.
We, who can still think rationally, need to take a time-out to better understand what we’re going up against. Donald Trump possesses a closed mind attached to closed ears that rarely, IF EVER, listen to anyone. This fact raises some tough questions… such as…
Beyond the emotional catharsis, just what is it that we hope our demonstrations will accomplish?
Could we ever cause Donny to experience an epiphany… suddenly feel the resultant onrush of warm, heartfelt, decent human feelings? NOPE… not gonna happen!
Could we ever teach him to respect humanity? NOPE… not gonna happen!
Could we ever convince him to either mend his wicked ways or abdicate the power he is intoxicated with / addicted to? NOPE… not gonna happen!
Folks, Trump is beyond reason… beyond redemption… and worse yet, politically speaking, totally untouchable. With the soon to be restored, rightwing, judicial juggernaut on the U.S. Supreme Court bench… there’ll be no rulings against him… with the U.S. House and Senate’s rightwing chokehold… they’ll never impeach and remove him from office.
So… does this mean correcting this situation is utterly hopeless? That resistance is futile?
In a word… NO. We must continue raising awareness regarding all the damage which Trump and his deplorables are doing, while being mindful of the fact that, as reprehensible as their conduct is, we must NEVER sink down to their level.
We must always take the high road to deal with these hate crimes… e.g., use our cell phones to first record and preserve visual evidence against all perpetrators and, next, encourage all the victims, along with any eyewitnesses, to call the cops.
As for our political demonstrations, we need to play some mind games… use psychological warfare… as it were…
Prime example: Let’s consider how, throughout the 2016 campaign, we saw Donny feeling rapture whenever he whipped up his supporters… got them to throw punches at any naysayers, who were attending his rallies. This all suggests that our best demonstrations could involve no demonstrations at all!
Folks, don’t you get it? The ultimate way to piss off narcissist Trump just might be to totally ignore him. Our use of passive resistance would deny him his perverse satisfaction, which could utterly devastate him… make this cowardly bully so despondent he’d tuck tale and skulk back into the pool of primordial goo from whence he spawned.
Of course I’d be remiss to not mention the inherent danger that he’d simply delude himself into believing that zero protests mean everybody now loves him.
So… realistically… long sigh… our protests must continue.
And whenever they do occur, we must never let our passions excessively govern us. We must never walk our anger down Trump’s low road. Our brains must trump brawn when we demonstrate… our movement needs a more proactive and productive methodology and venue.
The Internet / Blogosphere would provide visibility and accessibility to our noble cause… be the go-to place where our war of words can be fought and won.
We’re also going to need to find true blue liberals in the real world… candidates who are strong (but nonviolent), smart, charismatic, politically and emotionally baggage-free… folks, who’ll work within the system to change the system for the better… who’ll run for elective office at the federal, state and local levels… who’ll be funded by grass roots strategies… the few bucks here and there / small contributions from everyday, average Janes and Joes.
True, this will all take time but the sooner we start… the better. Equally true, it’s unlikely we’ll ever win over many of Donny’s deplorables but, then again, the whole idea would be to marginalize them while we energize the electorate… especially the apathetic voters who, had they not sat out the 2016 elections?
Well… we would’ve elected Hillary Clinton as our first woman president… and, would not now be facing down the dismal prospects of Donny’s Dark Ages for 4 to 8 years… as well as having to suffer the consequences regarding what are sure to be his handpicked, emotionally impaired and supremely ignorant Supreme Court judicial hacks… who’ll outlive him by 2 to 4 DECADES!!!
Every now and then I do love to wax poetic. I now invite you to do a little time trippin’ with me. To help keep everyone from straying off course… to this post… I’ve inserted temporal, subheading guideposts.
In the beginning…
The dawn of Earth… our land pristine,
Bright skies of blue… lush fields of green,
Clear crystal streams … air sweet and fresh,
Realms where life teems… fins, feath’, fur, flesh.
CommonSenseTom 