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"The smell of dusty fur, sweet smoke, waiting and patience, a thing that time cannot kill. The moth that candles won't burn."
My anger: I hope these protests and rallies do not turn into violent riots.
My anger - reaching a point for the first time in my life where I have deactivated my Facebook account because I'm just done with all people and politics for now. I know it won't calm down for weeks to come, so I'm just going to keep away and not get frustrated.
Edit: I just want to explain that these things aren't coming from the media because I haven't been paying attention to the media. I haven't been watching the news because you're right in saying it's played a huge part in polarizing. These views are being shaped from real interactions with real people who have felt marginalized by Obama's presidency. I mean, granted I am still in Texas, even if my city's more progressive than the rest of the state, I'm still exposed to what I see as an oppressive culture.
More to the current topic, though, I think there were going to be people feeling violated or insulted either way it went. Trump has made some abhorrent choices in words and phrases throughout his life, as well as actions, making many a victim as he went. Hillary should rot inside a prison cell for at least the amount of time I would had I bandied Secret information around like coffee shop gossip.
I'm also quite irate in that I was recently, through all this election business, belittled and attacked for being a 'cis white hetero male'. As if I was supposed to feel ashamed that I was born white, with a penis. That I was supposed to feel ashamed, or less in touch with my morality, for the love of my life being a woman. It's outrageous that all of my own trials and tribulations were all trivialized into a single, restrictive category with no other name than 'privileged'.
Racism isn't a word in my vocabulary. I served with all colors, genders and sexual orientations. I don't give a fuck if you dangle, or if you don't, or even if you WISH you did. I give everyone the same level of respect out the gate, and what you do with it from there is on you.
Bit of a rant, few tangents, but whatever. Not a whole lot of people to discuss it with over here, and Facebook is a giant cesspit at the moment. Had I planned ahead in my move, I would have voted for Trump. I'm glad he was elected. And it does not make me a racist, bigot, or misogynist for doing so.
I find it very hard to take seriously white, male, cis and straight people who don't see this. I find it belittling. It's like having an arm cut off and being approached by someone with a papercut on their finger who says, 'See, I'm hurting too.' You have a right to complain too, and to feel the things you're feeling, I just wish there was some perspective on the matter. That they had voted with empathy outside of their direct circle.
The definition of fascism is authoritarian nationalism. It is often associated with aggressive foreign policy. This isn't opinion, it's just fact.
My family is rooted in a background of gas-chambers and genocide. I find it very hard to look at the world right now and not feel at a loss as history repeats itself. We need global intersectionality now more than ever.
I'm not angry about any of this. I'm sad. But I am angry at those who chose apathy, those who chose to turn a blind eye. Apathy is a choice.
I've spent the last hour of the first thing I've done this morning trying to fucking remove this piece of shit driver because it causes BSODs, I've put so much effort into this fucking thing that I could literally fucking have installed Windows 7 easier than this shit is making everything -_-"
I just fucking might at this point.
Lets drop the EXTREMELY POLARIZING political topics now, though. While people are still being civil.
Pretty please.
This is the part I have trouble seeing, and I'll take your post point by point.
Human rights within the U.S., no matter your race/sexual orientation/definition, aren't in fact in any danger. I can't find one piece of legislation or action on behalf of the government that actually puts limitations on any specific peoples, nor can I find any evidence that it is indeed coming. I'm all for hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, but this 'sky is falling' mentality has me very confused when there is so far no evidence to prove that the sky is actually falling.
To claim that the U.S. is shifting into a fascist state is another unwarranted claim, given the very definition of fascism as we have seen it in the past. Mobilization of forces? Demolition of liberal democracy? The most recent plans given on the matter actually tend to lean more towards what hasn't been seen in the U.S. for years; that being a mild form of withdrawal from foreign matters in hopes to work upon the admittedly fragile U.S. system. Democracy? If we're being technical, the U.S. has always been and was designed to BE a representative democracy. The popular vote, while enlightening it can be, will never carry as much weight as the electoral vote, but that's just basic understanding of our system. Democracy, as the U.S. has always known it, does not appear to be in any danger. Those that have a problem with this system, well, that's another debate altogether.
Next, I'll admit, I'm not even sure where to start. It seems like more of this 'the sky is falling' outcry without any proper reasoning or proof. The most recent, and these have been recent for some time, policies given by our new President Elect shows no move towards rounding up the masses and chucking them anywhere, be it a gas chamber or elsewhere. Will there be a more strict set of guidelines of who is let inside the country? Probably. Is it a bad thing? I certainly don't think so. When deciding in my own relationship who was going to be moving to where, my partner being Australian, we found it was ridiculously easier for her to come the the U.S. than for me to move to Australia, but we still went with the latter choice in the end. Is the wall an issue for many of you? I personally see nothing wrong with securing the U.S. borders and ensuring that those that wish to legally enter our country may do so.. legally. As I said, it's much more difficult going the other way right now.
So while you are correct in that people's rights are not in danger in any legal way, there are still idiots on the street making people feel unwelcome, sad, or down-right frightened. Disclaimer: I'm an outsider, so I might be wrong.
I am not saying they're correct that Trump's opinions in these matters is irrelevant to his presidency, but I hope that it can bring some measure solace to the many people who are experiencing intense fear from the incorrect impression half-ish-of-voting-Americans cast a vote indicating they agree with those ideologies.
5. Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and let states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications.
There are many opinions about Obamacare. Opposed, for, in between.
For me, personally? I can not work full time. My illnesses do not allow it. I work part time and have Obamacare, (Buckeye Health Care, it's under Medicaid). Under this I can get my medications (one of which costs $998 a month, and I take 4 medications a day).
I am scared. I am scared because I do not MAKE 998 a month. I am scared because my health does not allow me to do a job an able-bodied person could do and thus I do not get insurance opportunities and I don't have the money to buy personal health care.
I don't know what to do with this fear, quite frankly. I don't know what the future holds in regards to my health care.
I do know that, at the very worst, I can't afford my meds and might literally stroke out. So that's cool, I guess.
So no, it doesn't really help. It remains to be seen if he'll be able to do any of the awful things he wants to, but violence has already started and it's going to continue. So "not all trump supporters" falls into the same category as "not all men" does. Irrelevant to the issue.
What WOULD help? Those supporters who don't agree making it clear to him they don't. Making it VOCALLY and PUBLICALLY known that they don't agree with his hateful messages would help. Until then, people are already being hurt just for being different and no amount of "but we meant well" will fix that.
Also it's hard to make demands to your opponent and his team when they won. Keep up the divide and it's likely your thoughts and ideas that get left out or ignored. Trump won, and a large part of that is due to calling his supporters racist, stupid, and xenophobic.
She asked if knowing that Trump supporters weren't supporters of HIS hateful rhetoric helped and I told her. Notice that I keep saying HIS because I know not every supporter agrees with his views on queer people, but that doesn't keep the ones who do from attacking queer folks, nor does it keep him from making good on his anti-gay promises. We're talking about a guy who hasn't to my knowledge rejected the endorsement of the KKK. Talk about creating a divide.
The reality is people don't feel safe. That's why it would be real swell to see people who don't agree with his hate speech to publically say so. Then we KNOW who it's safe to go to and speak to. We then KNOW who we can go to to try and get talks going. But right now? I got Faggot yelled at me on my way to work, yelled out a car window. I don't know that persons political leanings of course, but knowing of Pro-trump hate crimes doesn't make me feel the safest going up to people who supported him without knowing their stance on these things.
Now, that doesn't mean you have to stand there and take verbal abuse from people who don't know you. Defend yourself if you so choose. Nor do you have to sit there and listen to someone rant about something you don't believe in. This is America. Where we have freedom of speech to say whatever the hell we want and nobody is gonna do fuckall about it. (Unless of course you're threatening mass damage of life). If you don't agree with someone's views, just politely excuse yourself from the situation and move on with your life. Life is far too short to constantly be hating and be on alert because of some jack-wagon who wants to get under your skin. And yes, I know what it feels like to be attacked. But if I can learn to walk away from a situation, anyone else can too.
Lastly, if you all want to continue talking politics. Can you -PLEASE- open up a new thread for it and label it "Politics" or "Hillary vs Trump Debate"? At least then, if it gets uncivil, the admins can shut down THAT thread instead of the Maddenings thread.
It's been hard to differentiate myself from the instances in which I have been victimized for falling into a number of these categories. For me it was less about Trump's character and more about his rhetoric and political platform being something which emboldened hate groups like the KKK and similarly minded people. He made broad blanket statements about all these communities that painted them as criminals and rapists. Whether he believes those things or not, it didn't matter because in saying those things, a hateful set of people in the United States heard what they needed to hear to feel validated in a desire to sustain a homoginized society. When it comes down to it, I would never feel my safety threatened by any of the large groups that identified and were emboldened by Hilary. I could not say the same for Trump. My feelings of betrayal in regards to Trump supporters was it was clear to me that this was not a real concern for them, and it was quite likely not something they had to fear because demographically, they did not fall into those subgroups.
I've started to heal by looking for the positive in this. I believe we're experiencing a paradigm shift. Our countries racist/sexist underbelly is being exposed and it won't survive the progressive mindset of the generations to come. I believe what we are seeing is a clash of cultures forming before our eyes. With this final point made, I want to thank this community, and everyone who has chimed in, for helping me reconstruct my world view so I can get back to the important things, like enjoying Aetolia.
OKAY THOUGH enough Politics, I'm mad because a woman got mad at me because I wouldn't give her free coffee. Like woman do you think hotels are in the business of free shit?
You get in real good with the late night attendant like I did at the last hotel I was in..
You get some pretty swanky hookups.
We brought my grandma (who's got breast cancer that's spread and metastasized around the brain, amongst other places) into the hospital after she fell for the 4th time last week and wasn't able to get up, nonetheless move by herself. Luckily she's living with my great grandmother who was able to call me up to come help, but nonetheless. Mental state's been deteriorating as she talks about spending the day with relatives that have been dead for years, doesn't understand why she's in the hospital, thinks she's actually at work, etc.
She had to use the bathroom, and they have one of those ones on wheels since making it to the actual bathroom in the hospital is not going to happen due to her being a fall risk and whatnot. It's marked everywhere she's a fall risk. Nurse came in, got her on the toilet, then walked off down the hallway when procedure is to stay and monitor folks that are a fall risk. In a shocker that rivals an M. Night Shyamalan plot twist, she forgot she wasn't strong enough to get up herself, and fell/was stuck on the ground.
When I asked the nurse if it's standard procedure to leave somebody labeled as a fall risk alone, she responded that she didn't know she was a fall risk. Hospital band, chart, big ass whiteboard in her room, and even the color of her socks (color coded fall risk socks, woo!) would inform of such, but she made no attempt to look into these things. Got a snarky attitude when I asked who I can file a report with to make sure it's recorded properly and HNNG.
Just totally drained. Coordinating between gastroenterologists, two oncologists, general hospital physician (that tried to discharge her on the first day there), and her family doctor, calling in a favor with a lawyer friend to get my mom power of attorney, and keeping all of the family/friends informed along every step of the way when I don't have answers is crazy.
I know I owe some folks some RP (and I know some of you have some draaaaama to send my way) but bear with me, kinda sorta running on fumes at the moment. Despite what life seems to think right now, I've indeed only got so many resources to be split so many ways.
Phew. Deep breaths.
Best of luck to you, man.
pros: less distractions from playing aetolia when off work.
Omei gives the corpse of a headless cadaver to you.
Omei offers you a quick wink.