As I perused my Twitter feed yesterday I realized that I was having a hard time distinguishing the tone of posts from alleged Democrats, liberals, and so-called Resistance members from what I used to see of Trumpers on Facebook. I say alleged, because unlike my old FB feed I don't know who the hell these people are in real life. They could be Russians. They could be marketers. They could be paid posters. Who the hell knows?
These are a few of the shared post characteristics which immediately jumped out:
Hatred. Calls for violence. Lack of interest in fact checking. Hypocrisy. Fear. Demonization and dehumanization of a group of people based on one or a few.
These are not charming characteristics. They're not even edgy. They fucking suck. I don't want to be a party to these sorts of posts. That's not how I was raised. These same folks decry Fox News and yet still refuse to see why CNN and MSNBC are not the best places to get facts. They should not be trusted. They have an obvious agenda. Speaking of agendas, some still post things from Scott Dworkin, Occupy Democrats, the Palmer Report (the list goes on) and do not understand why these biased sources are total shit. I've lost my patience with this behaviour. It's a runaway train of suck and there's nobody to pull the brakes.
Do you know why it is so easy to blame the Russians for Trump? Because it means you don't have to blame yourselves. There are those of you who never marched, never phone banked, never went door to door for your candidate. You didn't SELL your candidate. In some cases they were hard sells to be sure, but after Bernie lost the nomination I went door to door for Hillary. I wasn't happy about it, but I put on my biggest smile, went out and sold her the best I could. Back then I thought I knew what a Trump presidency would mean, although now I can admit I had no fucking idea how bad it could get. So I fought for her. There weren't many of us out there and organizing people to go fight for her wasn't easy, but it was important. So it got done.
Clearly it wasn't enough.
So while we know Russians interfered with social media, and hacked some computers, and likely colluded with the Trump campaign among other truths and allegations, the responsibility lies right here at home. If you didn't do enough, there's no sense in brow beating, but I sure as hell hope you're going to step up your game over the next 2 to 100 years. Democracy cannot be maintained without a fight. There's a song from the 60s called "Love Me I'm a Liberal". Phil Ochs maybe... but it doesn't matter. It's a scathing take on NIMBY, do nothing, check writing, phone-it-in lefties who are too busy to actually get their hands dirty. I never really got that song until Trump won the presidency, but now I do. Blame is almost always counter-productive and fixes are what we really need, along with solemn promises to do better. We're not even CLOSE to that point yet. Can't have change without acceptance.
I was thinking about my second job as I drove in to work this morning. I teach at night. I mentor apprentices who are in a 5 year trade program. At the end of those years, if successful, those students become licensed journeymen in a skilled union trade. These students are from all walks of life. They are from cities and the country. They are typically from working class families or none at all. They are all different colors, of different faiths, often from different countries. Some are conservative and some not so much. Part of what I teach them is the union side of basic socialism, and what that means as a brother- and sister-hood. That to be strong we all have to work together and "Be Best", because if we don't then we all fail together. Believe me, that ain't easy. It's a long slow process which takes 5 years of learning and working together. Some never quite get it. Most do though, and that is why I keep doing it. That is what I'm going to keep doing. While I'm not leaving Twitter I've realized over this extended break that I don't need it or it's fun house mirror version of The Resistance. I'm just going to keep doing what I always have, which is march when marching needs done, calling and writing those elected officials who need my opinion (whether they know it or not), teaching 25 or so people a year the meaning of unity, and stumping for candidates which I either believe in or I need others to believe in.
That's it. It's been real. I'll be around if and when it seems appropriate. I still have a piece to do on why Palmer, Dworkin, Hummingbird, and SocialPowerOne should not be trusted. We'll see if that materializes.
Clowntacularly Yours,
Caustic the Clown
P.S. Go high. That doesn't mean abandoning a fight. That doesn't mean tolerating oppression. If you don't know why losing our civility or humanity means we can never really win the war then you're probably not going to figure it out from reading something I write.
But think about it. Taking the short road to win a race means you never really win at all. Doesn't it?
