The Tactic of Turmoil

Please stop saying that President Trump is the cause of the current unrest. 

While the election of Donald Trump/the Democrats’ loss of power may have had something to do with the Democrats’ nearly 4 year long temper fit, this unrest cannot be pinned on President Trump.

From the moment that Donald Trump was announced as the winner of the 2016 presidential race, the Left has been distraught.  They refuse to accept the election results, blaming one manufactured evil after another.

When things like the Russian collusion hoax and the impeachment circus were unsuccessful in removing the duly elected president from office, the Left increased its efforts to foment discontent among the people to the extent that now even their VP candidate praises the ongoing protests along with key promotors such as the BLM organization as “essential for change in the US.” 

The protests began when the Democrats refused to accept the duly elected president.  They have escalated over the past 3 plus years and are now becoming more and more violent.  The divide among us created by the identity politics of the Obama administration are a basis for fomenting discontent and fomenting “protests” about one grievance or another, protests that are more and more likely to turn into riots against our history, our institutions, and our country itself.

Kamala Harris is right – these protests (turned riots) are essential for the type of change that the Left is truly seeking.   In 1848 Marx stated, “there is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror.” 

Lenin, Trotsky, and other leading Bolsheviks recognized mass terror as a necessary weapon in the intermediate stage between capitalism and communism.  Stalin wrote, "Terror is the quickest way to new society." 

In 1918 Bolshevik Martin Latsis wrote, “The first thing you have to ask an arrested person is: To what class does he belong, where does he come from, what kind of education did he have, what is his occupation? These questions are to decide the fate of the accused. That is the quintessence of the Red Terror.”

In his book Terrorism and Communism (1920), Trotsky emphasized that " We are forced to tear off [the bourgeoisie] class and chop it away. The Red Terror is a weapon used against a class that, despite being doomed to destruction, does not want to perish."

Today’s Left has created a class struggle of a different kind.  Not a struggle between working and ruling classes, but a struggle between those whom the Left has labeled victims and those whom the Left has labeled victimizers.  I do not know what the Left’s ultimate purpose is in creating this struggle other than its leading to their own power.  Perhaps their intentions are somewhere in the area of the idealism of some other socialist leaders and dreamers, perhaps they are more sinister. 

What is clear is that the Left wants to overthrow our current system entirely.  Not mend it, not use it as we have done in the past to move ever closer to the ideals propounded by America for the past 244 years. 

And, following the playbook of Marx and his followers the Left seem to believe that something akin to violence or mass terror is necessary to make those who support the current system succumb and make way for that new world that the Left will control. 

President Trump is not responsible for today’s unrest.  He is simply the excuse that allows the Left to stir up the discontent that is needed for their revolt against our current systems. 

Blaming others for any negative results of their own well-calculated actions just makes no sense.  The Left cannot blame the other side for their own tactics of revolt, whether those tactics involve the use of lies, unfounded investigations, frivolous litigation, or “protests” that turn to riots. 

These tactics are being used to remove from office someone whom the Left does not want there.  That is not how our system works.

The Left wants new rules that allow them to have whatever they want and to do whatever they want when they don’t get it.  Rather than looking to their own policies and possible inadequacies they just blame the other side.  Since November of 2016 they have been trying to  subvert our system and the will of the voters. 

Blame is just one more tactic that they are using to get their way and remove President Trump from office.   It is one more attempt to make him the bad guy.

To justify a temper fit by blaming someone else for causing it is just another example of the Left’s refusal to take personal responsibility.   Donald Trump may anger some people, but he did not make anyone throw this nearly 4 year long divisive fit.  He does not encourage the turbulent behavior (unless one believes that simply holding office and carrying out one’s duties based on policies promised during his campaign is somehow sufficient encouragement for those holding different policy views to create turmoil and strife).  The President does what he can within the bounds of our Constitution and our governmental system to stop the unrest.   

Those who do not like the President’s actions have many remedies other than displays, encouragement, and praise of unrest and those who carry it out.  Indeed, the very systems that this unrest is directed against provide civil means to oppose actions of the President or others with whom the Left disagrees.

The Left wants to remake America into a different place – they tell us it is time to “re-set”.  Unrest is a proven tactic to move towards that goal.  Regardless of how one feels about that ultimate “re-set” (to what?) goal, honesty requires that one admit that the actors and promoters of the unrest are the only ones responsible for it.

 

Joe Blames Trump – What Does That Tell Us About Him and His Soul

The new Democrat mantra, based on polling telling them that people do not like violent riots, is to blame all the violence on Trump.  Joe Biden plans to make a speech about that today.  Will you fall for it?

“He is inciting bad behavior” is just another manifestation of the Democrat Blame Game.  They blame Trump, not China, not Democrat governors’ decisions for CoVid.  They blame Trump’s gatherings without masks for the spread but encourage both peaceful and violent protests against Trump without masks.  They even blame Trump for their candidate’s 2016 loss.  To hear the Democrats, they are never at fault, only and always victims of their opposition.

As to the racial blame game, the Democrats neglect the fact that they for 50 years have made promises that they have not kept.  They have done everything in their power to make things more, not less difficult for minorities – no school choice, send jobs overseas, poor education, the lure of permanent dependency rather than self-reliance.  These are Democrat policies, policies that Trump has from day one begun to turn around:  he provided support for Black colleges, support for better education and school choice, better job opportunities due to better trade deals and encouragement of American industry, support for families, etc.  The list is actually quite long if one takes time to actually look at the President’s accomplishments rather than the media’s mere repetition of the Left’s hateful mantras.

But, now the Left claims the unrest in due to Trump.  The Democrats will not denounce the anarchists of Antifa.  It was antifa that killed the Trump supporter in Portland.  That is the Trump supporter that Biden says was just looking for trouble.   It is the killing that was celebrated in the streets and after by the Democrat and Leftist protesters. 

The Left encourages the war on the police, labeling law enforcement as some evil and racist group.  The Left are the ones that violently disrupt Republican gatherings and who assaulted attendees at Trump’s convention speech as they were leaving the White House grounds. 

Yet the Democrats would have you believe that somehow this is all the fault of President Trump.  By their reasoning, if you don’t like me and you shoot me then it is my fault.  The cure to your behavior is not law and order, but for me to just shut up and give you what you want.  That is not how I dealt with my children’s temper fits and it is not how I will respond to the Left.  I will not be silenced and I will vote for those who truly support America.

The Democrats do not want to offend any of their key identity groups, so they let them – indeed encourage them – to do as they please, including looting, destroying property, maiming and killing.  To denounce them might mean the loss of their vote, so the Left stays silent.  Then, they blame Trump when that violence isn’t playing well in the polls.

Joe cannot pin the unrest on Trump.  He and his party created it along with the hate filled identity victim groups and the deranged hatred of the President and the disregard of the Constitution and the rule of law.

The Democrats, especially those following the socialist playbook, foment mob rule.  But, more often than not, mob rule gets it wrong.  Just like the old movies where the mobs with lighted torches take after the wrong and the innocent targets, today’s mobs also often get it wrong.  The rush to judgement and retaliation is encouraged and is often violent.

Without facts and with the help of the Left, a particular narrative is put forth by the media and that narrative is then used to incite yet more hatred against Trump, Conservatives, and any others holding views that the Left does not approve.  When actual facts come out, they are barely reported and often hard to find but they frequently show us that the initial narrative was not accurate, and the mob was after the wrong target.

Joe Biden wants us to believe that he is the “soul of America.”  If that is true then America’s soul is one of self interest and deceit.  And the newest deceit is again one of self-interest based not on what is right or true but on what polls well. 

Joe, who praised and would not renounce the violence now learns that it is better for him if he speaks against it.  But how does he choose to do that – not by saying it is wrong but by trying to pin it on his opponent.  Sorry Joe, this tells me that you have no real backbone and no real soul. 

More importantly, what this tells me is that Joe, like all the rest of the Democrats, is a self-interested and power-hungry exploiter whose ethics depend only upon what is advantageous to their own gain. 

The real American soul seeks and honors an objective truth, not a truth that blows in the winds of self-gain. 

I think of the phrase “actions speak louder than words.”  Joe’s actions, like the actions of the Democrats, show us that their focus of concern is on themselves and their power and not on America and its people. 

I will not fall for the hollow and dishonest words from a hollow and dishonest soul.  I hope that the rest of America will see the Democrat blame game for what it is – just another exploitive grab for power.

 

 

The Contrast Could Not Be Starker

Freedom, prosperity, hope vs. control, despair, hopelessness.  If you paid any attention to the two conventions, that contrast should be perfectly clear to you. 

How do you see America?  If it is a beacon of hope, a place of freedom and prosperity, a place where every person has the right to choose how to lead their life, can work for what they value and hope for, then you are a Republican. 

If you see America as inherently evil, a place where you have no hope unless you turn over to the government all your freedom and all your ability to choose what your life will be.  If you believe it is those in power who should have the right to control you, then you are a Democrat.

You might be thinking that both sides promise us a better America. Perhaps.  But go beyond the promises.

Let’s start with who it is that keeps promises.  Donald J. Trump has kept every campaign promise he has made.  This very well may be a first.  It is certainly a first in my lifetime.  And it is certainly in contrast to the record of Joe Biden.  For over 40 years he has made promises to a variety of groups – farmers, small businesses, minorities, school children, etc. –  promises to improve some aspect of their lives, and then has turned around and taken actions that do just the opposite; actions that are far more likely to help him and his family rather than those to whom he made promises.   

As the VP candidate, in conjunction with Mr. Obama, Biden promised us hope and change, but all that administration did was pour fuel on every spark of discontent that they could find as they created divisiveness and despair.  This was not unintentional.

Trump does not have the silver tongue of career politicians, but what he does have is the inclination to simply tell it like it is.  No sweet talk, no fancy words that say nothing.  He tweets.  Sometimes those tweets are hard to take, but they are honest and real.  And when he tells us he is going to do something, he does it. 

His actions are not divided by victim-hood or other identity groups.  All of his actions are for all of the American people.  You may not agree with his policies, but his policies, unlike those of the Democrats, are not divisive.  Indeed, the Democrat policies, like those of socialists before them, are intended to divide us and make us ripe for the destruction of America as we know it that the Democrats seem to be seeking.

These are not the Democrats of old.  Once upon a time both Democrats and Republicans loved America.  They may have had different ideas of how to improve it, but with their common goal they were able to work together.   Perhaps old Joe was once one of them, but he is no longer or if he is he has lost his control to the progressive Left.

Today’s Democrats do not love America.  They believe that America and its ideals are fundamentally flawed.  Their goal is not to improve America but to completely dismantle it – tear it down and start over.  But if you listen carefully you will learn the sort of place that they will build instead.  One in which they, not you will control your life.  They will decide what you can say, what health care you will receive, how much you can make, what God, if any, you can worship, what medicines you must or cannot put into your body, what you must read, what you must learn and where you must learn it, and how much of what you earned you must give to others who may have done nothing to deserve it.  They will dismantle the concept of citizenship and country as they open borders and provide benefits that once belonged only to citizens to every person in the country. 

The Democrats don’t come out and say these things directly.  To listen to them, if they are elected we will all be sitting happily singing Kumbaya while everyone’s life is one of bliss.  But look beneath the pretty words, ask how that hoped for idyllic vision will be achieved.  It is not so pretty and it looks a heck of a lot like the failed socialist dreams that have caused enormous suffering around the globe.

Let’s take a minute to look at our Constitutional freedoms.  We know that the Democrats would delete the Second Amendment in a second if they could and will erode it in every way possible until it is effectively non-existent.  (For example, my city’s Democrat mayor has declared all city parks and civic plaza to be “school zones”, hence banning all guns from these places.  Overreaches such as this will become more and more common until there will be no guns permitted.)

But what about the First Amendment.  We have already lost much of its guaranteed freedoms to the Democrat agenda and its “cancel culture.”  Those who speak words that they do not approve of are assaulted verbally on social media and in person, are sometimes assaulted physically (witness the actions of the Left outside the President’s speech last night in DC.  Look at the videos – it was not a “peaceful protest” but a violent mob that not only attacked police, but also those who had attended the speech.  Sen. Rand Paul, his wife, and others with him were clearly in fear for their very lives).  People more and more frequently lose their jobs if they make a statement of which the Left does not approve. 

These attacks have already silenced many who keep their mouths shut rather than face the Left mob.  But it is not just speech.  It is the other topics of the First Amendment as well.  Religion is under attack, especially Christianity whose views on family, marriage, etc. do not comport with those of the Left.  The free press of the First Amendment is long gone; it is little more than a propaganda machine for the Left.  Those seeking facts will not find them in the media; rather they will find the Left’s narrative.  And peaceable assembly has likewise lost all meaning.  Violent riots, if they support the Left and its causes, are labeled as peaceful protests, whereas a peaceful right-leaning protest will be silenced by the Left.

This is just the beginning.  The Left is stirring up trouble, but it is not good trouble.  It is a pull out all the stops effort to keep President Trump from being re-elected.   And if the Democrats are elected they will be chomping at the bit to begin their total dismantling of America and they clearly have no hesitation to use violence to do so (and let’s not forget that good socialists believe that the overturn of the current regime should always be violent).

Back to the conventions.  The Democrat convention was nothing more than 4 days of hate directed at Trump and his supporters, with the occasional assurance that the Democrats would take care of us (read that as they would take our freedoms and they, not we, would control us).

The Republican convention, rather than a dystopian nightmare, presented a positive and hopeful picture of America.  Each night's theme portrayed a different and upbeat aspect of America.  Land of Promise moved us by showing us the great promise that America has always held for the rest of the world and how the promise continues as we work to ever move the country forward to meet all of its aspirations – something that cannot be done without its core freedoms.

The second night showed us the Land of Opportunity.  Individually perhaps not exciting stories, but these were not the speeches of career politicians.  These were the stores of common people – of real Americans.  The third night was labeled the Land of Heroes.  But these were not for the most part famous names – rather, they were again the everyday heroes.  These are the true Americans, the heroes that the freedoms of this country allow each and everyone of us to be.

The fourth night, the Land of Greatness, was indeed a celebration of this great land.  It also laid out the stark contrasts between the Democrats/Mr. Biden and the Republicans/President Trump.  But it wasn’t just in the people speaking at the conventions that we heard such contrasts.  We heard them on the streets and read them on social media.

During the Democrat convention, Republicans did take to airways to respond to points made by the Democrats.  This is expected.  But the Democrats, in full Leftest form, did more than that.  They took to social media to make hateful attacks on every Republican speaker.  These were not attacks on the substance of speeches, they were personal, ugly lies turned into hateful attack.  A tweet after Melania Trump’s speech ridiculed her for being an illegal alien (not true, she is a citizen) and being unable to speak English (because of her native accent).  Black speakers were essentially called nothing more than tokens (because if you listen to Democrats, Blacks cannot think for themselves), other speakers were told they sold out or were using their personal and moving stories for political gain.  Even the sweet story of President Trump’s 3-year-old grandson making a Lego White House for him was met with hate and ridicule.  It was labeled a lie, even though prior photos in the White House show the child with his grandfather and the Lego structure as well as the structure’s later resting place among other memorabilia in the oval office.

And, we have the demonstrations.  Outside the White House lawn where Trump gave his speech accepting the nomination, the Left did everything it could to disrupt the speech.  But that was not enough.  Afterwards they terrorized those leaving.  I certainly did not see such violent behavior or even such attempts to silence the Democrats during their convention.

Actions speak louder than words, but in this case we have both actions and words to guide us.  The Democrats words paint a world of hate and anger, an America that is evil and must be completely remade into something that we would not recognize.  The words superficially may sound pretty, but when one examines what is really being said it is not pretty at all.  Their actions show us the tactics that they will use to subdue and control us and to build the world that provides them the power that they seek – a power to completely control our lives.  If that is the America that you want then vote for the Democrats. 

If you want the imperfect America that gives you the freedom to be who you are, the freedom to improve both your life and the lives of others, the freedom to work for equality of opportunity for all, then listen to the words of the Republicans and look at the actual accomplishments of President Trump.  Those words and those actions do far more to create the idyllic world that the Democrats tout than anything than the Democrats have ever said or done.

“I will not become a racist to prove that I am not one” and other short thoughts on current events

Yesterday I read the story of a police officer comforting a Black 5-year-old who asked if he were going to shoot her.  This anecdote was being used to demonstrate the horror of “institutionalized racism.”  I was horrified – horrified that this child had learned this fear at such a young age.  And who, I ask, likely instilled that fear in her – her parents or other caregivers?

So, I must wonder, can all the blame for hatred go to those whom the victims claim hate them, or might some of it fall on the victims themselves?  For if a child at the tender age of 5 has been taught that police are likely to shoot her, what else has she been taught about those who are not members of her racial victim class?  How much of that is actually true or justifies a fear against a whole group?  With that fear the seeds of hate are also planted. 

And, how can we ever come together and be one nation if one group of us (whether that group is Black, White, or other) is teaching fear and hate rather than love and reconciliation against another group.  No wonder BLM and its partner M4BL (Movement for Black Lives) make demands on those whom they perceive as victimizers rather that reaching out to work with those others together to make a better world.

**

People say they want conversations, but it seems that what that really involves is dueling studies.  That is, each side will have their studies and statistics that “prove” their points and with those in hand seem to close their mind to any real dialog about those studies or diverse views supported by alternate studies. 

One can always find a study or data point to support their position.  Using them as a sort of “in your face” to those with opposing or differing views does nothing to resolve divisions.  What actually might resolve hatred and division is urging others and opening one’s own mind to understand that we are all part of one humanity that can work together to make a better world.  But we will never do that if we focus on our divisions and feel some need to prove that our position is always absolutely right and all others are absolutely wrong.

**

There is a difference between peaceful, lawful protests intended to make a point relevant to policy and urge changes in policies that the demonstrators are against, as opposed to riots, or revolts, or revolutions that simply focus on destruction.  Those who say that all are the same are actually siding with those who favor complete destruction.  

Those who would take away all police power, all lawful authority are in the process of destroying our democracy.  We do not have a first amendment right to riot and destroy other people or their property; it is the duty of our law enforcement and our leaders to protect the citizenry from unlawful acts.  

If we cease to have a safe democratic state that can only lead to having instead a safe authoritarian state.  Such a state would not even allow the peaceful protests that are not only a part of but a necessary piece of our democracy.

**

Let’s say that we: clear the nation of all confederate statues; put a large chunk of money for “reparations” in every Black person’s pocket; make it illegal to use any terms, phrases, or express any feelings or beliefs that the Black protests/demands deem to be racist; defund and dismantle law enforcement; send millions of dollars to Black communities.  Will the rioters be happy then or will they continue to: teach their children to hate, especially those who look different or think differently than do they; blame anything that is not perfect in their lives on a problem with the “system”? 

Racism will only really be resolved when each and every one of us is willing and able to take individual responsibility for our lives and when we hold individuals rather than identity groups accountable for their bad acts.  Only when we are all equally outraged at the unjust treatment or murder of any person of any color will we actually have moved forward. 

**

Identity politics is in large part responsible for bringing us to this point.  For the past 50 years mostly Democrat leaders of areas with large Black populations (especially large cities) have, despite their promises, done little to help raise Black people to a better existence, but have instead used identity politics to convince the Black population of their victim status.  This was useful for those politicians who could then claim that this underclass needed them and hence would demand their votes to keep them in power. 

Their power required this underclass and, in the name of helping our neighbors, they encouraged all of us to help to create it.  We reinforced mantras such as “you are not good enough on your own”; “you can only go so far”; the Whites/rich/republican/[fill in the blank] are out to get you and you must fear them”; and of course “you need the state, things like welfare, to survive because you cannot do it on your own.” 

Messages such as that are far more racist than demanding that Blacks simply be accountable.  Those who listen to those messages will always be victims full of hate at their perceived oppressors and ready to serve as tools for anyone who wants to “revolt” against the “system” usually for their own power, not to help those whom they see as their tools.

**

Gratitude is a key to joy.  Being filled with envy and hate destroys joy.  It also destroys one’s self.  It destroys one’s ability for self-motivation – why be motivated if others are all against you and likely will not let you succeed?  Instead of being the one in charge of one’s own life, falling victim to identity politics allows others to control your life and indeed your very identity. 

**

I am being urged to buy from Black retailers and Black business owners in order to show my solidarity with the “fight against racism.”  Well, to seek out or award someone simply because of their color seems pretty racist to me.  I tend to think the best individual should always win based on skills necessary to the contest, not simply because of a color of skin.  When I want to buy something, I will purchase from the retailer that best suits my needs be that price, quality or variety of products offered, convenience and quality of service, etc.  That retailer may be Black, White, or purple.  I will not become a racist to prove that I am not one.

Please, not the dreaded DIALOG

As the riots continue to persist, while hopefully dying out, we begin to see calls for “dialog” about race. Letters in the paper: “we need dialog.”  Social media postings: “to move forward there must be an accounting for the past”: “this group needs to accept responsibility for the pain of that group.”   Joe Biden: “I will lead the conversation” (this after he has told us that if you don’t vote for him then you aren’t really Black).  I believe that former President Obama led a few “conversations on race.”

I have been seeing this call for conversation since the 60s.  I spent my young adulthood in Detroit in the late 60s and early 70s.  This was a turbulent time that included the Detroit riots/rebellion.  When it subsided, there were “conversations.”  Back then they were called “consciousness raising.”  They then became “teach ins” that then became “dialogue” which gave rise to “documentaries” and these things continue to become slicker and more political. 

What these conversations have in common is that they focus on the identity of one or more groups rather than individuals who may have that group trait as one of their many own traits.  They put group identity first, individual identity second.  That is, well-intentioned as they are, they will tell us something about the “Black experience” as if every person who is Black experiences the world in the very same way.  This by necessity denies the individuality of individual Black persons.  It in a way makes them less than human.

In a similar way such “conversations” may focus on “White complicity” in injuries to people of color.  Again, while some Whites may be very complicit, others somewhat so, and others not at all, to group all as having an equal and identical history simply because of their Whiteness puts their membership in that identity group above their individuality, again making them less human.

When one focuses on hurt, whether physical or emotional, that hurt and its accompanying pain grows and eventually becomes all encompassing.  People deal with pain in many ways, one way being to hate the cause of the pain.  When we continually place all people with one color identity in one group and continually tell them how a different color identity group has caused them pain, we are certainly likely to create discord if not hate between the two groups.

Is it any wonder that after 50+ years of simplistically defining one group as suffering because of another group that our racial tensions have grown worse rather than better?

Our identity politics have grown far more divisive in the last 10 years or so.  When one is nothing more than a representative of one group or another simply because of their color, what happens is that the individual becomes dehumanized.  It is far easier to hurt a dehumanized being than it is to hurt a three-dimensional human being who shares humanity with you.

Identity politics grows hate.  I realize that many who now begin advocating that we look back and discuss Black pain historically – what it was, who caused it, its repercussions today – have good intentions of helping us to move forward.  But the reality is that this does not help.  Moreover, the product of these good intentions is often co-opted by those who have political ambitions that are furthered by building hatred between groups.

One traditional tool of socialism is to build hatred between the working class and the bosses.  It may allow the socialists to gain power, but that power and that socialism is always destructive, hurting most those whom it promised to help.  It the same way, there are those in this country who use identity politics to build hatred between racial identity groups.  It is simply a tool to their power, to their desire to reform if not totally change our governmental structure.  Like socialism, though it claims to have the best interests of its chosen group at its core, it is likely that group that will end up suffering the most.

The socialists today tell us that this time they will get it right.  Similarly, those who urge dialogs on race assert that this time they will get it right.  They won’t.

If one keeps focusing on a wound it will never heal and the one who is injured will never be able to move forward.  We have been pushing people to see only the bad, focusing on racial wounds in one way or another since the 60s if not before.  And, the recent days show us where that 50+ year focus has gotten us.  It is time to turn around, see every person as an individual first rather than simply a member of one or another identity group.  It is time to face forward and move on.

Talking one on one with your brother – an individual – with his own history, understanding him as an individual, what are his current feelings, beliefs, his goals for the future, and letting him know and understand you – that leads us much further towards a shared humanity than the “lectures” that try to change us by playing with our emotions by presenting us the history or emotions not of an individual but characterized for an entire identity group. 

We will not move forward unless and until we begin seeing a group as only one part of a person’s full identity.  We must stop seeing persons as members of a group first and then as individual second if at all.  Only when we understand that we each one of us has our own separate and very different identity, not only from those who look different but also from those who look the same as us, only then will we truly be able to move forward.

Standing in the way of that forward movement is a constant litany of hurt caused by one group against another.  That group-think, that identity politics, dehumanizes us all.  It pushes us to hate, to demand revenge and retribution.  It puts us in a time warp that not only keeps returning us to the mid-twentieth century, but, even worse, it destroys our individual humanity.

So please, let’s NOT have another conversation.  Not the dreaded dialog.  Let us not fester in festering wounds.  Let us all say that we are more than those wounds whether victim or perpetrator or neither.  Let’s stop the identity politics along with those who would use it only for their own gain.  Let us instead reach for Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream where we see each other not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character.  Then, and only then, will we end the cycle that I have seen repeated over and over.  Let us understand one another’s individual pain but rather than stall within that pain let us look up and move on.

Rage

Rage.

Feeling rage after watching the video of George Floyd dying under the knee of a police officer is reasonable.  In fact, anyone who, after watching that video is not filled with rage, has probably lost every shred of their humanity.

But, we can decide how to channel the rage that we feel.  That rage can fuel hate and destruction.  Those who never let a crisis go to waste will use that rage to fuel the flames of revolution.  They will destroy everything in their path, not in memory of George Floyd, not to stop this or similar atrocities from ever happening again, but to further hate and then use it to overthrow everything that is good. 

Rage and destruction are not necessarily equivalent.  One can even understand the emotion behind the rage, find it rational and real, and yet condemn the act of channeling that rage into destruction. 

Everyone should be speaking out about the horrendous acts of four Minneapolis police officers.  Everyone should speak out about any such acts.  Anyone who cannot see injustice when it slaps them in the face is truly blind.  Anyone who tries to justify it is someone whose view and narrative of the world is so closed that they must certainly live in complete fear and hatred every day of their life.  But anyone who thinks that this is an excuse to hate and destroy everyone and everything around them is also filled with a hateful and closed narrative that certainly must make their life a living hell.

Hate.  Fueled by fear.  Creating narratives that hold no hope, no understanding or tolerance, where everyone who is not you is simply out to get you.  This is the world that sadly so many live in today.  People, locked in their narrative, look about them and see everyone and everything around them as an attack on their narrative and ultimately on themselves.  They hate and hate and hate until they explode.  And others will certainly take advantage of that hate, using it for their own political advantage.  People will not stand up to the hate of others if they can use that hate for their own political gain.

Some of you interpret those last two sentences as a slam against the President and his followers, others will see them as a slam against the Democrats and progressive Left.  They are not either and yet perhaps a bit of both.  Seeing them as simply a confirmation of your own political views demonstrates the problem that we have in our society today.

We live in a dystopian world these days.  We are schooled in it from the time we are young.  Compare the original Star Trek series, full of joyfulness and hope for the future, with the most current Trek offering – the Picard series - showing us a dystopian world full of angst and very little hope, and certainly no joy.  We are berated every day with all the problems we might be facing, encouraged to share all the sadnesses and hurts we have suffered, encouraged to see everyone else and even our country as out to get us in one way or another. 

We make sure that children are taught every evil that has or might happen, all the ways that they or their life style or their feelings might be under attack, but we fail to teach them the simple joy of being alive, of having understanding and appreciation for those around us, even those who may seem strange or different.  Actually, that joy is stolen from them as quickly as possible.

Instead of teaching tolerance, we teach hate.  Hate of the other, of the one not like us, of the one with a different value or faith or color or economic status or education.  When that hate becomes real and strong it becomes violent and it engenders fear.  And rage.

I remember the 1967 riots in Detroit.  They were fueled by rage.  A rage similar to that of today’s riots fueled by the death of George Floyd.  After the rage and riots subsided, we could have moved forward seeking understanding.  But instead what we saw was a rise in identity politics and its divisiveness.  Politicians stepped in to turn identity group against identity group as they sought to use a hugely magnified and often manufactured struggle and hatred between groups to further their own power.

Rather than telling inner city people of color that only the powerful politician who needed their vote could help them and then, after getting that vote leaving them with their simmering rage, those politicians and other leaders should have worked to give these people the hope, self-confidence, and skills needed to raise themselves up, not to become a dependent underclass.  Those leaders should have worked for equality and tolerance rather than creating a class of helpless and dependent voters designed to keep their political masters in power.

Identity politics is a political power tool.  It has become more pronounced, more used, and more hateful.  It helps no one but those who use one group or another for their own power.  It dehumanizes and fills people with hate.  And we should then not wonder that life, especially the life of those seen as belonging to a different identity group, becomes meaningless, valueless, and expendable.  We should not be surprised to see hate breed both fear and ultimately rage.

And so, here we are facing that rage for another time in our history.  We can sit back and let the instigators for whom that rage serves a selfish and self-powering purpose prevail.  Or, we can understand the rage but not accept its violence. 

The 1967 Detroit riots are also now referred to as the rebellion.  Some of today’s rioters also hold signs demanding rebellion.  We see others demanding revolution.  And, there are those who march in memory of George Floyd.  We can decide how we wish to channel the rage that our country is experiencing.  We can decide whether we want to turn our rage over to revolutionaries who can use it for their own ends while destroying everything we hold dear, whether we want to revolt against our entire system, or whether we want to demand justice for George Floyd and work toward education that will make similar events less likely in the future.

My rage is great.  I will use it to work for a better understanding and I will direct my intolerance  toward those who seek to use identity of one sort or another to continue to further divide and diminish our humanity.