Filed under: From the Soap Box | Tags: Climate, collectivism, France, Macron, Politics, Trump, USA
Dear V,
OMG the Orange Man is reversing the time space continuum. We will soon be conducting inquiries and the stake burning and impaling is on the melting horizon.
I suppose I always knew this was coming, as we are seriously stupid here. We are a nation of dummies. And weak. I had a period of sobriety and ran a 10k, but then I turned on MSNBC and listened to Maddow and grew distraught. At least Macron shamed him. They won’t discuss it here, but it was plain to see.
If those Catholic ass fucks overturn Roe v. Wade I will know it is time to go.
I think I will build a deck and a redwood hot tub to grow old in with my pot in the meantime.
M
Dear M,
Don’t despair. Get active and fight it. Vote. If for no other reason than to stand up and be counted – to show that there are good Americans that are not going to normalize this horrid regime.
All nations are full of ‘dummies.’ The Italian Renaissance was, like, four men, no? The rest of the population was shitting, eating and fornicating – surviving, not thriving. All great movements/thoughts are never the majority. Most people are concerned with their own small lives/perspective. That’s why fascists get rid of artists, teachers, etc., first. In general, the French hate Macron, btw. They are not informed about the changes he’s proposing, but they see him as a “banker” who is only interested in helping the rich. They spout off about communism, socialism, the collective, but they’re only concerned with themselves, not the overall health of the country – the worst kind of individualists. I fear that in a few years they’ll vote the National Front in, so…I worry about the future for my son. He’s only seven and with the calamity about to happen/happening – war, refugees, climactic devastation, nationalism, xenophobia, income inequality to the point of feudal systems, destruction of public education and consequent opportunity, compromised universal healthcare – what will his future be like? I’d thought to purchase a nice piece of land somewhere near a water supply, maybe in Scandinavia, and just have it for him in case he needs a place to literally camp and grow his own food, but who knows if that land will remain/be ours/his in the future? Perhaps international law will be struck in future years? I.e., you own it now and have protections, but perhaps they’re scrapped in the future? (Trump’s working hard on destroying alliances that ensure citizen’s rights uniformly throughout the world!). And then the land will be taken by some despot…horrible prospects.
Did you ever read Lewis’s “It Can’t Happen Here”? It’s amazingly prescient and terrifying, but also, oddly, assuring that there are writers and observers such as this who wrote about what they were seeing, the true threats to humanity, in the 1930’s onward, if only we would listen…these people give one hope, I think…if for no other reason than the assurance that you are not alone. And today, the fact that there are nurses, lawyers (like you!), and observers who are going to the US border to help these poor children and their families if they can, if only to bear witness, is hopeful…
By-the-way, these people trying to strip Roe v Wade, environmental law, civil protections for natives and immigrants in the USA, are not Catholic! They’re evangelicals. The Catholic Church – namely Pope Frances – has disavowed them as truly Christian or religious.
Take heart. Look for the voices and stories and people who are fighting the good fight “under the shadow of the wings of war.” Get active in your community. Model the life you want to live/want others to live. If you need focus, I think the most worrying concern is the environment these days–if that goes ‘tits up’, there will be a whole shit storm that will make Trump look like child’s play…
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Victoria Jelinek 