Yes, it is. And, so much more. Religion is separate from God and spiritual belief. Religious dogma and power go hand in hand and was crafted to do just that. Provide power to a few elite to control the masses through fear and subjugation. Not different to today. Not in the least.
Most all of them, but most notably, Judeo-Christian (Crusades anyone?, witch trials, Sectarian Britain/Ireland to bring it more forward), which is still enshrined in all of our systems and ethics today. It's very difficult to see what is no longer obvious, but thousands of years history is still deeply embedded in our DNA, and only transparency and awareness change transform it. We are only a mere 275 years into the birth of America. It takes about 7 generations to change anything; however, we are tackling a few thousand in this short amount of time.
If you are only speaking of the West, then yes it would be Judeo-Christians who would be most noted for their links and ties to the reins of power. It would be other religions, also as closely linked and as powerful in other places and equally as consequential in their culture and outlook. The founders of the US threw off the yoke of religious ties, and because they did we recognize it and have begun the process of walking the Woke back to their corner. I am certain they will metastasis into something else again - we must be vigilant.
Yes, but I don't see that any of us have really thrown off this yoke. We all in some way point the finger at an opposing point of view or principle and then make the person the *other* rather than their point of view the *other*. Are we merely our thoughts? In families and small groups, this is somewhat manageable as everyone starts out connected and belonging to each other so there is a demand for and rise of mutual love and respect that we work to hold together. When this breaks down in families, there is a struggle to keep from estrangement because of the bonds of blood and kin. These bonds fade as we deal with other families not in our kin groups and larger society because the familial mutual love and respect fades as we go out of our circles. And, that's where we erred in religion and governance. In leadership, fostering competition and division (which has now become so extreme and ruthless to the possible brink of our destruction) over cooperation and friendship was a way to control families and to break those bonds of familial mutual love and respect so they could control and gain absolute power over to build civilizations and conquer others. This is our cycle. This is the pattern created. But, we can break that pattern if we choose to look at ourselves honestly and clearly. The founders were on to something transformative that we simply (and mightily) must keep improving upon. If there is a hill to come together on (rather than die on), it is that. And, it is our responsibility to the generations who come after us to find a way.
"Judeo-Christian (Crusades anyone)?" Hummm. You conveniently leave out Muslims, whose religion was spread by war and conquest of vast areas of land from it's inception. Spain, the Balkans anyone?
Well, yes, I absolutely agree (and the Crusades did involve Muslims, no?), but America is built on a Judeo-Christian ethic. If we can't look at what we do personally with open eyes and open heart, we will continue to fight and destroy endlessly.
Excellent point made this morning Celia. I recall that episode well. I love Seinfeld, love Kramer.
“those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
Yep - that’s it exactly. I strongly feel that social media and cell phones have played a huge role here with increasing this sort of thinking as it has made virtue signaling so easy, so popular, so widespread. I believe a lot of people attending protests would not be doing it if it were not for their ability and desire to share their experience on social media, to broadcast their virtue
People who stand up for their values have always faced the possibility of physical consequences. Gay people at Stonewall. The kids who took over the lunch counter at the Greensboro Woolworths. The guy kneeling in front of a tank in Tienemen Square.
There's an old joke about pigs and chickens and breakfast. The chicken is participating. The pig is committed. We've had the luxury of living like chickens. Time to see how many of us are pigs.
The examples cited aren't analogous to the woman trying to mind her own business and eat dinner in peace who simply doesn't want to be coerced by a threatening mob to make a purely symbolic gesture. It was that situation that was being satirized by Seinfeld. Sadly, what was a joke in 1995--and a very funny one!--turned into a serious matter in 2020.
No way was I going to post a black square. Why is it that I saw how corrupt BLM was, that there was no logical reason for posting a stupid black square, in the midst of a sea of stupid black squares?
I also thought accepting Jesus Christ as my "Personal Savior" made no sense. So, I asked the camp counselor, do you mean to tell me that just by saying "I accept Jesus Christ as my Personal Savior" I go to heaven, but if I don't say it, I won't?
That's right, she said.
That makes no sense, I told her.
However, just to get along, I did say it. And it made me feel sick inside, ironically.
Masked profile pictures are another one. Some people still have them up, along with banners to stay home and save lives. Someone recently shared a memory picture of their daughter, masked, ready to go to a semi formal school event. The girl's body language was detachment and her eyes said a great deal.
I encountered a masked woman at Aldi the other day. I stayed back. Whether she was masked because she was sick or masked because she's a crazy Leftist, I wanted to stay way more than 6 feet from her.
Yeah I have to try hard not to judge the masked now. They may well just have some serious immune thing going on and aren't worried about Covid so much as any stray bug. The masks do protect against some larger bacteria stuff. But I have a hard time not having a negative knee jerk reaction when I see a mask wearer. I suspect I have mask PTSD now amongst other things........
My teaching assistant wears a mask every day. I still see young people wearing them, alone in cars and walking outdoors, completely alone. It's a political statement and a fervent belief that they're staying safe. I have students whose families send them masked, every day, not for health reasons.
That is so depressing. One would think teachers especially would get how psychologically damaging constant unnecessary mask wearing is to the social development of children.
All that conspicuous conformity really got me down. People who I knew to be kind and decent in real life acting like proud Nazis … Although I was never a big user of social media, I left it entirely in 2020, and never looked back. These comments are about “social” as this rabbit gets.
Dog… most people didn’t spend a minute researching BLM before showing their “goodness” and joining in with the marches etc. I researched the BLM website early on and was appalled… and then it was quickly taken down! When I posted a FB question about what they might have done that, nobody replied… again I think it was FB in action blocking my query. If folks had taken a minute to look into BLM, they might not have blindly supported the group. It’s what I fear is a virus in our country… folks don’t research anything. They join the crowd and feel virtuous.
You have to hand it to the Wokesters. They used all the trappings of religious fervor to wrap the The Mission, and the historically effective method of branding and casting out the sinners to enforce it. Now, those of us who don't go for burning people at the stake for wrong thinking, or stoning people to death in the street for saying something blasphemous, we are going to have to show our backbones. Saying, "No", one of our first lessons in life, will need to be remembered and held strong.
Whenever I went out during covid, without a mask, I would get "the look," fortunately, I was never assaulted. Beign old does have it's advantages, that and living in an Asian country where age is respected.
Courage and strength are both necessary to live one’s life on one’s own terms. These “social justice” bullies are cowards, refusing to unmask (lest they face the personal consequences of their actions) and always operating from the safety of a crowd. Stand up to them with strength and force and they will eventually run away and pretend it was always someone else, just like the Covid cowards who started crying “mistakes were made…let’s just forgive and forget.”
To quote Robert Heinlein again, “an armed society is a polite society.”
The army of spoiled brats. These are the people who should be required to serve in our military. Of course, they would have to be monitored closely as their tendencies would be to subvert our government.
(If one wished to explore at random the moral side of the human condition, one could do far worse than picking up ANYTHING by CS Lewis, including the sci-fi and the Narnia Chronicles.) The cited Lewisianism is constantly ringing in my head these days; clearly, many of Those People, whether they be climate nazis, progressonazis, feminazis, or any other species of the misguided, actually believe their sh!t. Seriously scary.
Where is the line between being in a religious community and coercion? Most have rules ( both spoken and unspoken) and for children born into these communities they don’t know any other way.
These WOKE DEI cult groups are becoming increasingly dangerous, to those who don’t buy into their destructive credo.
Can we form a group to counter their hate with our succumbing to similar pitfalls of group think?
Watching scenes from the pogrom this past weekend in Pico Robertson ( orthodox Jewish neighborhood of LA) is chilling. TFPress published a painful essay by Noah Pollak describing the horror while the cops stood by and watched, blocking Jews access to their own synagogue entrance! Word is that the Police were told to stand down. The Hamas supporting thugs advertised they would be marching a week in advance, the community for police protection. It was bloody.
Jews are buying guns and training to use them in record numbers. Mace and other means too.
I fear that the first Jew who shoots someone in self defense will be the one charged and prosecuted in most states( maybe Florida and Texas are the exceptions)
We are seeing what happens when those in power are the WOKEDEI jihadi supporters
That’s what I fear as well. Even if it’s a clear case of self-defense, I am certain that the Leftists will drag the defender into court and attempt to paint him or her as a murderer, just like they did Kyle Rittenhouse.
In a raft of flyover states, that Jew would not be prosecuted. They could move there and feel totally protected by good guys (and girls) with guns. However, they would bring their regressive values with them...
See there? I made a wrong assumption. Thank you for the correction. Conservative Jews would be welcomed with open arms to my red county. And they would be protected against the hateful mob. I would proudly and personally organize their defense! :)
You are an angel.Jews are arming up and fighting back , refusing to go quietly this time. There is a very anxious mood across all Jewish communities. We know that this is our history but most of us didn’t see this coming , some did .
Societies that allow Jew hatred to flourish are societies in decline.Jjews are blames for all societal ills. Too commie, too capitalist, too poor too rich and powerful, too white, not white enough, Now it’s Zionism.
Thank you for your kind and welcoming words, it means so much
I think the line is here for free thinking people: the ability to peacefully object or leave. No one, at least these days, makes you stay in your religion in the US. You can walk away and not look back. The Cult of Woke will have none of that - speak up or leave and you will be branded, hunted, and tormented.
Was there an assumption being made that the cops were standing down because they wouldn't defend Jews? That might be incorrect. It could be because they don't want to be the next Derek Chauvin. The pro-Hamas protestors have money. We know that. They could hire a fleet of high-priced attorneys to take down any officer who gave them the slightest injury.
The police were there watching and blocking the Jewish people from entering the synagogue. They were told to do nothing. The next day the mayor and other officials all tweeted out the same blah blah blah within minutes of each other.
The event was advertised by th3 jihadis a week or more in advance and help was asked for in advance.
I'm not sure if that was the assumption. I think that if any assumption was being made it was that *city leaders* warned the cops not to protect Jews too much.
I very much agree that it's also quite likely that cops simply don't want to be accused of "excessive violence" by Leftists. They are very much aware of which side will come after them personally if they use any kind of physical force, no matter how warranted. BLM has done a very effective job of "defunding the police" by frightening cops into either quitting altogether or only pretending to do their jobs.
The social justice busyboobs have captured ground and made it worse. They run every major and most minor cities in America and the West. Have things improved? No. They've gotten worse. These areas are best described as corrupt, crime ridden, shit holes. I grew up in one of these poor inner city shit holes. My brother still lives there. I can't believe it's actually worse than it was 50 years ago and it was pretty bad then.
So what have the regressive's accomplished? Nothing. Except locking in permanent election wins by hiring every third or fourth person and making them dependent on the city government.
I can't believe the people and voters believe that white supremacy is the greatest threat that our nation faces when these folks never see a white face unless its through locked car windows, the very occasional teacher in school or a local news reader or me and my family.
Every year 9000 young black men are killed by other young black men on the streets of inner city America. But like the 108,000 of all races killed by Biden Border Fentanyl every year they are totally ignored by the news media - unless they can find a white angle.
On it goes year after year. The same blame game is played. The schools are shit; but it's someone else's fault. Their life is shit. But it's someone else's fault.
I'm beginning to tune it out. I don't believe it will ever change. I don't believe Trump will be allowed to win. Even if Trump is allowed to win the shit holes will remain. They are self contained, self sustaining holes of shit.
I've tried for years to move my brother out; but he won't leave. That story could probably fill a psychology textbook all on its own. Many people in these areas have the money to move to a more peaceful area or to fix up the place where they live. But they don't, won't, can't - you pick the reason. Some prefer cars worth more than their house. Some have their wages garnered for one reason or another. Most wouldn't know where to begin. It's also easier to bitch and wallow in victimhood.
I worked for the advocates for decades. They lost the battle. Just like I've lost the battle with my brother. All the over credentialed, well meaning, little white girls (that's 99% of them) are all fired up in the beginning. But eventually they hit the brick wall of reality and lose faith. If they don't get out they wind up like the folks they are trying to help languishing in victimhood.
The poor will always be with us. we're told in Matthew 26:11. I believe that poverty of spirit or will holds more people back than actual lack of money. These places slowly poison and paralyze you. The people who run these places want to run the whole country and turn it into the biggest corrupt, crime ridden, shit hole the world has ever seen.
I recognize that despair, and I will pair it with a bizarre sense of what I will term "Gallows Pride". In my little blue hole people actually see it pridefully as a badge of honor that they live in such a "tough" (read: crime-ridden, violent, godforsaken impoverished) place. They elect the same people over and over. They not only seem resigned to live in poverty ans violence, they celebrate it.
Why would they expect a meritocracy as adults? To people who've had to work for a living, we see Build Large Mansions as a joke, they see it as reparations, an acceptable outcome.
Just say “No”. Without explanation. That drives them crazy. And if you’re somehow forced to give an explanation, “You have no moral authority over me” is a good start.
I just got back from time alone in the mts where I was thinking deeply about how to respond to the ongoing crazies. I have literally tried everything these past 5 years. Nothing really works all that well for either me or them. So I decided I am trying a new/old approach which is something my elders used to do if they were seriously annoyed by someone, I'm just gonna start talking in Cherokee and act like I don't understand English at all! This might actually be fun.........
Brilliant! A polysynthetic language like Cherokee is far too complex for their pea brains, anyway -- come to think of it, so is plain English -- so you're safe in the knowledge that they'll never comprehend the sweet sentiments you're tossing their way. :)
The cult of moral busybodies originated in religious government.
Which religious government?
ALL governments were religious until the last few centuries so I’m not sure what point RMac is attempting to make here. 🧐
That is the point Chillblain. And, the problem.
The issue is power and dogma. “Religion” is just a frame or a delivery system.
Yes, it is. And, so much more. Religion is separate from God and spiritual belief. Religious dogma and power go hand in hand and was crafted to do just that. Provide power to a few elite to control the masses through fear and subjugation. Not different to today. Not in the least.
If that’s semantically what Religion means to you in this context, then I don’t disagree.
Most all of them, but most notably, Judeo-Christian (Crusades anyone?, witch trials, Sectarian Britain/Ireland to bring it more forward), which is still enshrined in all of our systems and ethics today. It's very difficult to see what is no longer obvious, but thousands of years history is still deeply embedded in our DNA, and only transparency and awareness change transform it. We are only a mere 275 years into the birth of America. It takes about 7 generations to change anything; however, we are tackling a few thousand in this short amount of time.
If you are only speaking of the West, then yes it would be Judeo-Christians who would be most noted for their links and ties to the reins of power. It would be other religions, also as closely linked and as powerful in other places and equally as consequential in their culture and outlook. The founders of the US threw off the yoke of religious ties, and because they did we recognize it and have begun the process of walking the Woke back to their corner. I am certain they will metastasis into something else again - we must be vigilant.
Yes, but I don't see that any of us have really thrown off this yoke. We all in some way point the finger at an opposing point of view or principle and then make the person the *other* rather than their point of view the *other*. Are we merely our thoughts? In families and small groups, this is somewhat manageable as everyone starts out connected and belonging to each other so there is a demand for and rise of mutual love and respect that we work to hold together. When this breaks down in families, there is a struggle to keep from estrangement because of the bonds of blood and kin. These bonds fade as we deal with other families not in our kin groups and larger society because the familial mutual love and respect fades as we go out of our circles. And, that's where we erred in religion and governance. In leadership, fostering competition and division (which has now become so extreme and ruthless to the possible brink of our destruction) over cooperation and friendship was a way to control families and to break those bonds of familial mutual love and respect so they could control and gain absolute power over to build civilizations and conquer others. This is our cycle. This is the pattern created. But, we can break that pattern if we choose to look at ourselves honestly and clearly. The founders were on to something transformative that we simply (and mightily) must keep improving upon. If there is a hill to come together on (rather than die on), it is that. And, it is our responsibility to the generations who come after us to find a way.
"Judeo-Christian (Crusades anyone)?" Hummm. You conveniently leave out Muslims, whose religion was spread by war and conquest of vast areas of land from it's inception. Spain, the Balkans anyone?
Well, yes, I absolutely agree (and the Crusades did involve Muslims, no?), but America is built on a Judeo-Christian ethic. If we can't look at what we do personally with open eyes and open heart, we will continue to fight and destroy endlessly.
Kewl soundbite. Your basis for it?
Excellent point made this morning Celia. I recall that episode well. I love Seinfeld, love Kramer.
“those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
Yep - that’s it exactly. I strongly feel that social media and cell phones have played a huge role here with increasing this sort of thinking as it has made virtue signaling so easy, so popular, so widespread. I believe a lot of people attending protests would not be doing it if it were not for their ability and desire to share their experience on social media, to broadcast their virtue
It’s also about competition and envy; greed and avarice.
People who stand up for their values have always faced the possibility of physical consequences. Gay people at Stonewall. The kids who took over the lunch counter at the Greensboro Woolworths. The guy kneeling in front of a tank in Tienemen Square.
There's an old joke about pigs and chickens and breakfast. The chicken is participating. The pig is committed. We've had the luxury of living like chickens. Time to see how many of us are pigs.
The examples cited aren't analogous to the woman trying to mind her own business and eat dinner in peace who simply doesn't want to be coerced by a threatening mob to make a purely symbolic gesture. It was that situation that was being satirized by Seinfeld. Sadly, what was a joke in 1995--and a very funny one!--turned into a serious matter in 2020.
Thank you for reminding us of Tank Man. There should be a day on the calendar to commemorate his inspiring and astonishing courage.
No way was I going to post a black square. Why is it that I saw how corrupt BLM was, that there was no logical reason for posting a stupid black square, in the midst of a sea of stupid black squares?
I also thought accepting Jesus Christ as my "Personal Savior" made no sense. So, I asked the camp counselor, do you mean to tell me that just by saying "I accept Jesus Christ as my Personal Savior" I go to heaven, but if I don't say it, I won't?
That's right, she said.
That makes no sense, I told her.
However, just to get along, I did say it. And it made me feel sick inside, ironically.
Lies, even to oneself, can do that.
How many posted a pic of themselves holding their vaxx card to social media?
Masked profile pictures are another one. Some people still have them up, along with banners to stay home and save lives. Someone recently shared a memory picture of their daughter, masked, ready to go to a semi formal school event. The girl's body language was detachment and her eyes said a great deal.
I encountered a masked woman at Aldi the other day. I stayed back. Whether she was masked because she was sick or masked because she's a crazy Leftist, I wanted to stay way more than 6 feet from her.
Yeah I have to try hard not to judge the masked now. They may well just have some serious immune thing going on and aren't worried about Covid so much as any stray bug. The masks do protect against some larger bacteria stuff. But I have a hard time not having a negative knee jerk reaction when I see a mask wearer. I suspect I have mask PTSD now amongst other things........
My teaching assistant wears a mask every day. I still see young people wearing them, alone in cars and walking outdoors, completely alone. It's a political statement and a fervent belief that they're staying safe. I have students whose families send them masked, every day, not for health reasons.
That is so depressing. One would think teachers especially would get how psychologically damaging constant unnecessary mask wearing is to the social development of children.
All that conspicuous conformity really got me down. People who I knew to be kind and decent in real life acting like proud Nazis … Although I was never a big user of social media, I left it entirely in 2020, and never looked back. These comments are about “social” as this rabbit gets.
Yes, saying something you don’t believe will do that.
Dog… most people didn’t spend a minute researching BLM before showing their “goodness” and joining in with the marches etc. I researched the BLM website early on and was appalled… and then it was quickly taken down! When I posted a FB question about what they might have done that, nobody replied… again I think it was FB in action blocking my query. If folks had taken a minute to look into BLM, they might not have blindly supported the group. It’s what I fear is a virus in our country… folks don’t research anything. They join the crowd and feel virtuous.
You have to hand it to the Wokesters. They used all the trappings of religious fervor to wrap the The Mission, and the historically effective method of branding and casting out the sinners to enforce it. Now, those of us who don't go for burning people at the stake for wrong thinking, or stoning people to death in the street for saying something blasphemous, we are going to have to show our backbones. Saying, "No", one of our first lessons in life, will need to be remembered and held strong.
Whenever I went out during covid, without a mask, I would get "the look," fortunately, I was never assaulted. Beign old does have it's advantages, that and living in an Asian country where age is respected.
I never wore the mask either. I just never made eye contact. Just went about my business.
PS I never make eye contact with the TSA either.
Courage and strength are both necessary to live one’s life on one’s own terms. These “social justice” bullies are cowards, refusing to unmask (lest they face the personal consequences of their actions) and always operating from the safety of a crowd. Stand up to them with strength and force and they will eventually run away and pretend it was always someone else, just like the Covid cowards who started crying “mistakes were made…let’s just forgive and forget.”
To quote Robert Heinlein again, “an armed society is a polite society.”
I have two words for social activist busybodies-Fuck off.
I’d add:
Cold. Dead. Fingers.
👍👌😊
The army of spoiled brats. These are the people who should be required to serve in our military. Of course, they would have to be monitored closely as their tendencies would be to subvert our government.
That's why they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the military.
(If one wished to explore at random the moral side of the human condition, one could do far worse than picking up ANYTHING by CS Lewis, including the sci-fi and the Narnia Chronicles.) The cited Lewisianism is constantly ringing in my head these days; clearly, many of Those People, whether they be climate nazis, progressonazis, feminazis, or any other species of the misguided, actually believe their sh!t. Seriously scary.
Where is the line between being in a religious community and coercion? Most have rules ( both spoken and unspoken) and for children born into these communities they don’t know any other way.
These WOKE DEI cult groups are becoming increasingly dangerous, to those who don’t buy into their destructive credo.
Can we form a group to counter their hate with our succumbing to similar pitfalls of group think?
Watching scenes from the pogrom this past weekend in Pico Robertson ( orthodox Jewish neighborhood of LA) is chilling. TFPress published a painful essay by Noah Pollak describing the horror while the cops stood by and watched, blocking Jews access to their own synagogue entrance! Word is that the Police were told to stand down. The Hamas supporting thugs advertised they would be marching a week in advance, the community for police protection. It was bloody.
What comes next?
Arm yourself.
Jews are buying guns and training to use them in record numbers. Mace and other means too.
I fear that the first Jew who shoots someone in self defense will be the one charged and prosecuted in most states( maybe Florida and Texas are the exceptions)
We are seeing what happens when those in power are the WOKEDEI jihadi supporters
That’s what I fear as well. Even if it’s a clear case of self-defense, I am certain that the Leftists will drag the defender into court and attempt to paint him or her as a murderer, just like they did Kyle Rittenhouse.
There are people who believe, from their wonderful TikTok "news" sources, that he got away with murdering three unarmed blacks. I kid you not.
Oh, I'm aware. This is something I see on Quora a lot.
In a raft of flyover states, that Jew would not be prosecuted. They could move there and feel totally protected by good guys (and girls) with guns. However, they would bring their regressive values with them...
The community that was targeted was very orthodox and conservative people. This was an organized Jew hating mob largely bussed in from far and wide
See there? I made a wrong assumption. Thank you for the correction. Conservative Jews would be welcomed with open arms to my red county. And they would be protected against the hateful mob. I would proudly and personally organize their defense! :)
You are an angel.Jews are arming up and fighting back , refusing to go quietly this time. There is a very anxious mood across all Jewish communities. We know that this is our history but most of us didn’t see this coming , some did .
Societies that allow Jew hatred to flourish are societies in decline.Jjews are blames for all societal ills. Too commie, too capitalist, too poor too rich and powerful, too white, not white enough, Now it’s Zionism.
Thank you for your kind and welcoming words, it means so much
I think the line is here for free thinking people: the ability to peacefully object or leave. No one, at least these days, makes you stay in your religion in the US. You can walk away and not look back. The Cult of Woke will have none of that - speak up or leave and you will be branded, hunted, and tormented.
Like trying to leave a gang.
Was there an assumption being made that the cops were standing down because they wouldn't defend Jews? That might be incorrect. It could be because they don't want to be the next Derek Chauvin. The pro-Hamas protestors have money. We know that. They could hire a fleet of high-priced attorneys to take down any officer who gave them the slightest injury.
The police were there watching and blocking the Jewish people from entering the synagogue. They were told to do nothing. The next day the mayor and other officials all tweeted out the same blah blah blah within minutes of each other.
The event was advertised by th3 jihadis a week or more in advance and help was asked for in advance.
Dark times .
Dark times indeed
All talk.
I'm not sure if that was the assumption. I think that if any assumption was being made it was that *city leaders* warned the cops not to protect Jews too much.
I very much agree that it's also quite likely that cops simply don't want to be accused of "excessive violence" by Leftists. They are very much aware of which side will come after them personally if they use any kind of physical force, no matter how warranted. BLM has done a very effective job of "defunding the police" by frightening cops into either quitting altogether or only pretending to do their jobs.
The social justice busyboobs have captured ground and made it worse. They run every major and most minor cities in America and the West. Have things improved? No. They've gotten worse. These areas are best described as corrupt, crime ridden, shit holes. I grew up in one of these poor inner city shit holes. My brother still lives there. I can't believe it's actually worse than it was 50 years ago and it was pretty bad then.
So what have the regressive's accomplished? Nothing. Except locking in permanent election wins by hiring every third or fourth person and making them dependent on the city government.
I can't believe the people and voters believe that white supremacy is the greatest threat that our nation faces when these folks never see a white face unless its through locked car windows, the very occasional teacher in school or a local news reader or me and my family.
Every year 9000 young black men are killed by other young black men on the streets of inner city America. But like the 108,000 of all races killed by Biden Border Fentanyl every year they are totally ignored by the news media - unless they can find a white angle.
On it goes year after year. The same blame game is played. The schools are shit; but it's someone else's fault. Their life is shit. But it's someone else's fault.
I'm beginning to tune it out. I don't believe it will ever change. I don't believe Trump will be allowed to win. Even if Trump is allowed to win the shit holes will remain. They are self contained, self sustaining holes of shit.
I've tried for years to move my brother out; but he won't leave. That story could probably fill a psychology textbook all on its own. Many people in these areas have the money to move to a more peaceful area or to fix up the place where they live. But they don't, won't, can't - you pick the reason. Some prefer cars worth more than their house. Some have their wages garnered for one reason or another. Most wouldn't know where to begin. It's also easier to bitch and wallow in victimhood.
I worked for the advocates for decades. They lost the battle. Just like I've lost the battle with my brother. All the over credentialed, well meaning, little white girls (that's 99% of them) are all fired up in the beginning. But eventually they hit the brick wall of reality and lose faith. If they don't get out they wind up like the folks they are trying to help languishing in victimhood.
The poor will always be with us. we're told in Matthew 26:11. I believe that poverty of spirit or will holds more people back than actual lack of money. These places slowly poison and paralyze you. The people who run these places want to run the whole country and turn it into the biggest corrupt, crime ridden, shit hole the world has ever seen.
I recognize that despair, and I will pair it with a bizarre sense of what I will term "Gallows Pride". In my little blue hole people actually see it pridefully as a badge of honor that they live in such a "tough" (read: crime-ridden, violent, godforsaken impoverished) place. They elect the same people over and over. They not only seem resigned to live in poverty ans violence, they celebrate it.
why do you spend more energy on your brother than he spends on himself. never try to teach a pig to sing. it is a waste of time and annoys the pig
This is the result of "everyone gets a trophy".
Why would they expect a meritocracy as adults? To people who've had to work for a living, we see Build Large Mansions as a joke, they see it as reparations, an acceptable outcome.
This is your best post since I've been following. Thank You!
Reminiscent of Mao’s China
Just say “No”. Without explanation. That drives them crazy. And if you’re somehow forced to give an explanation, “You have no moral authority over me” is a good start.
I like that response.
I just got back from time alone in the mts where I was thinking deeply about how to respond to the ongoing crazies. I have literally tried everything these past 5 years. Nothing really works all that well for either me or them. So I decided I am trying a new/old approach which is something my elders used to do if they were seriously annoyed by someone, I'm just gonna start talking in Cherokee and act like I don't understand English at all! This might actually be fun.........
Brilliant! A polysynthetic language like Cherokee is far too complex for their pea brains, anyway -- come to think of it, so is plain English -- so you're safe in the knowledge that they'll never comprehend the sweet sentiments you're tossing their way. :)
Oh, I'd love to see that!