Another day, another week, another spree of violence from more cretins with axes to grind and tendencies to believe conspiracies and live in fear and self-righteous entitlement. Isn’t it fascinating the very same people who point outward, complaining about all those ‘others’ who live on the teat of the government dole, tend to be the ones who live on the brink of tumbling into the chasm, needing a handout in the worst kind of way. Yet, they are constantly complaining about those ‘others’ that are destroying the fabric of America, you know the ones they are always talking about;
- The folks on Unemployment
- The folks working two or three jobs on Welfare
- The folks needing to feed their children on SNAP
- The folks on Medicaid and Medicare even
- The folks on Social Security
- The folks getting student aid (Pell Grants or Student Loans)
Did I catch all those government programs? What I failed to mention, in every case those complaining about these programs seem to think, truthfully they strongly believe most of those within the system are the problem and they are also ‘other’, meaning they aren’t of European (Caucasian) descent and in some or maybe many cases they might not even be Christian. It seems we, as a people find it entirely acceptable for people in media and elected positions to hurl the most egregious and base insults towards our fellow citizens without consequence. We have sunk so low we willingly turn away from the ugliest vitriol dripping from the mouths of those we elect and those who are paid to act as the gauge of our culture, we shrug their words off and demand no consequences from them for their divisive actions.
Our nation is being torn apart, yet we shrug and turn away, sometimes we even laugh at the ignorance of the utterances. Shouldn’t we instead be holding these bigots, these racists, these homophobes, these sexists, these misanthropes to a higher standard and with them ourselves. How dare we, as a people and a nation turn away from these terrible acts and words and not demand better, not demand something change. How dare any of us sit back, shrug and pretend not to see what is happening to this nation, even as we sip our coffee.
I can only say, What the Fuck is wrong with us that we don’t put two and two together and come up with four. Instead we sit back and say, ‘oh, well this isn’t so bad’. Really? This isn’t so bad, when pray tell have any of us seen it worse? Answer me this, when have any of us seen it worse than it is today. The origin of, ‘Take our Country Back’, the battle cry of the Tea Party movement, comes directly from the last gasp of a scared and aging demographic, you know the ones I mentioned them before.
- White, Older
- Disenfranchised
- Mostly Southern (started here
- Low Information
- Low income
- Christian
Don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying all White Men above a certain age are members of the Tea Party, they most certainly are not; fortunately there are many who don’t fall into the Disenfranchised / Low Information category. Unfortunately, for all of us there are those who saw a void and scrambled to fill it, these horror stories of the modern age have been building on the fear and disenchantment of the European male for decades and in 2008 the movement exploded with the election of Barack Obama. The fear mongers saw the opportunity and jumped in with both feet and all their financial assets, they founded the Tea Party in all of its loud and proud glory. Spun off from the John Birch Society, The Heritage Foundation, Freedom Works, Americans for Prosperity, The KKK; The Tea Party has inherited the weight of each of these, hidden under their sheen of new money and attempts at political respectability.
Fred Koch => John Birch Society=>David & Charles Koch =>Americans for Prosperity+John Birch Society=>ALEC=>Citizen United=>CPAC
It is insidious and ugly, it is apparently the New American Way. When you add to this mix the KKK, Patriot and Nationalist Groups, Radical Christians Identity Groups then throw in a few Skinheads and a couple of White Nationalists all of whom seem to relate to and populate the Tea Party. But no, the Tea Party isn’t Racist and didn’t suddenly grow from the election of the very first Black President of the United States of America, except, look at these:
How to account for a 755% growth since the election of Barack Obama if it isn’t the color of his skin? Whatever some of us might wish it otherwise, there is an underlying truth we must accept, the first Black President has brought out the very worst, brought to the surface what already existed. It isn’t his politics, it isn’t that he is a bad President, it isn’t his ability to lead. It is one simple defining characteristic, it is that he is ‘other’. This simple truth has led to the dividing of a nation and many other issues including escalating violence.
I struggle to write these days, I do. I struggle with the violence. I struggle with the constant seemingly never ending days of spree shooting, school shootings and people no matter how many have died, making excuses, blaming the victims or worse, ignoring the real problem in favor of screaming their Second Amendment rights trump all else. My heart breaks for the families of all those who have lost their lives, some days I can’t face the news; truly I sit on my bed and tears simply flow down my cheeks silently, my shoulders shake and I wish for someone to hold me as I weep.
I blame these venomous and bile filled horror stories siting in their studios and back offices for the state of the Union.
This is just a small selection of who I blame, a mix of elected officials some still seated, some revered for ‘past accomplishments’, some on their way out, some media pundits, some of course dead and deified by those who apparently have forgotten what they truly did during their time in office. This is enough, I didn’t bother to put SCOTUS up, I do blame them as well. I blame the sell out to NRA, the fear the entire Congress apparently feel each time NRA is whispered in their ears, never mind we have had seventy four (74) school shooting since Sandy Hook, can you imagine? Seventy-four school shootings since twenty babies were shot dead in their school rooms and we still haven’t done a damned thing to stem the tide of blood running in the streets.
Map Image; Image Credit: Twitter/Mark Gongloff
I blame us. That is right, I blame all of us for not having the wherewithal to get up off our azzes and say “No More”. For being so damned apathetic we willing shrug our shoulders and say, ‘there is nothing we can do’.
I blame us. For every child that dies. For every father who weeps at the loss of his only son. For every mother who buries her child. I blame us. We don’t owe the NRA a damned thing, we owe our children a better world. Hell, we owe ourselves a better world than the one we have today. We owe ourselves safer streets than the ones we have today. I know I don’t feel safe going into downtown Dallas where men with small penises have supplemented their insufficiency by strapping large guns across their chests or backs simply to ‘prove’ their manhood. It use to be they would buy good cars, I tell you what I want to go back to those days.
I don’t know about any of you, I am tired. I am tired of the idiots. I am tired of the hate. I am tired of the divisive trash talking BS coming out of the media and my elected officials. Let’s start calling things what they are maybe then we can start healing wounds and moving this nation forward.
- People who kill police officers screaming about revolutions and draping those dead officers in the Tea Party flag, they are Domestic Terrorists.
- The people out on the Bundy ranch with their guns, who pointed said guns at federal officers during the commission of their duties; they are criminals. By the way, so is Cliven Bundy.
- Rush Limbaugh is a Racist and a Sexist.
- Sean Hannity is a Racist and has used his position to stir Domestic Terrorism and Criminal activity.
- The United States of America is NOT a Christian nation it is a Democratic Republic, stop saying it is anything else.
I am certain there is more. The problem is right now, we are moving further and further to the Right. If we don’t stop this tumble we will very quickly find ourselves living under a Christian Taliban. Our rights will be gone, Civil Rights will be a thing of the past, Voting Rights for but the wealthy a thing of the past. Shrug your shoulders if you like, think I am overreacting if you want. The truth of the matter is, Congress has dug their heels in, despite this Eric Cantor lost his seat for being ‘not conservative enough’.
Think about that one. Then think about November 2014 and consider what will happen if you remain apathetic.
Hate Groups Growing: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/spring/the-year-in-hate-and-extremism
In their own words:
http://www.teapartyslogans.com/cgi-bin/web/index.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/
Jill Sobule, Protest Song: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-sobule/protest-song-we-want-our-america-back_b_1097453.html
QBG_Tilted Tiara 
The madness isn’t restricted to the US Valentine. Hate seems to be the ‘in’ thing around the world.
“The United States of America is NOT a Christian nation it is a Democratic Republic, stop saying it is anything else”. A majority of Indians forget India isn’t a Hindu nation either. Never was meant to be.
I do know it is everywhere, it seems to be spreading at a rapid rate. I wonder, what is wrong with people they chose hate over compassion / love. Is it something in the air the water.
I personally think there is something terribly wrong in our religious and political systems that is driving us down these roads.
I have written my congressman about gun control, I no longer attend church due to the pro-right wing policies spewed from the pulpit, I have lost at least 3/4’s of the 30 year friendships who I confronted that have become ensconced in the Tea Party, I have been blocked by FB followers who tried to attack my blog followers and erase their comments that were inappropriate, I PRAY, I send money to groups and campaigns who are trying to turn the tide from hard-heartedness to the common good . . . and yet . . . nothing changes. I am broken-hearted and undone. What else can I do?
I am also broken and broken-hearted. I don’t know what else can be done. I have also lost friends, even relatives. I just don’t know.
Hey Val … here’s an idea for a future post … tell us how you feel. 😉
OK .. I admit that I couldn’t resist. 🙂 So why is Bill Clinton on your list?
NAFTA, DOMA
Start there
Christian Taliban? Well put – I do not want to live under that. Excellent post, Val!
Thank you my friend. It is simply an observation, but an accurate one.
Seventy-four school shootings since Sandy Hook? How is that even possible?
I have a hard enough time keeping up with the duplicity going on in my country but now I feel we will all soon be lost.
I know, it is difficult to even take in. My heart breaks and I am on my knees some days.
The world is getting out of control. Heartbreaking.
Heartbreaking indeed. I wonder frequently if we will ever find our way back from the brink.
Indeed.
You’ve hit on a wide swathe of issues and all valid, I’m afraid, Val.
I’ll touch on one – women and their position in society.
Last night, we hosted a dinner party at our place and someone went on and on about ‘men’ this and ‘men’ that. After she finished venting, I listed the couple of real life experiences (that cost me some, if I might add) where I’ve stood up for women – within my extended family. Did someone say charity begins at home?
I then invited the gathering to throw up real incidents where they had stood up and done something – instead of merely poking a finger in the air and spewing drivel.
No takers!
Therefore, I assumed they all moved in circles where women were treated well – by their standards. Right?
More silence.
The point is, you’re so right – people simply don’t care or worse, stop at lip service.
Singapore is doing very well, for now – but we can already see the rot setting. But you know what – we WILL do something – if this government does not get their act together!
I wish you and people who share your fears, hopes and aspiration all the best. America is a great country that seems to have taken a small stumble – and when enough people galvanise, it will again be the great nation that it is. Americans deserve it and the free world hopes for it.
Peace,
Eric
I think Eric, this is the problem. America has the potential to be great, yet for whatever reason it does not have the drive and will to achieve its potential. Instead what is happening is a great huge sucking of resources along with a failure to acknowledge our history. We cannot move forward, cannot take next steps if we fail to acknowledge where we come from, how we built this nation and on whose backs.
Don’t forgot Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, Michelle Malkin and Liz Cheney as part of the cadre right-wing talking heads. Also, some of us are old enough to recall the 1982 Tylenol scare; after some 6 deaths, the company pulled every Tylenol product off the shelves and reinvented itself. Going even further back, the Ford Pinto mess was cleared up after a handful of fatal accidents. But, all those school shootings? How many thousands dead from mass shootings and firearm accidents? And yet, our elected officials buckle under the wagging finger of NRA leadership. It’s disgusting.
I know Alejandro, I could have continued to add to that list for days and days. But it was a ‘who do I blame’, not really who simply gets on my nerve. Oddly, as much as those women have a platform, they don’t really come on the radar all that often for me at least, they are more annoyances than anything else. As to our leadership and the relationship with the NRA, I blame us not them. We keep them in office, our apathy keeps them there.
Yes, apathy is the death knell for democracy. I’ve pointed this out before – and we both know it – Texas seems like a bastion of pure right-wing extremism because, on average, only about a third of eligible voters in the state actually make a concerted effort to get to the polls. From the surface, Texas looks blood-red in its politics. But, it’s actually more purple. I keep hoping more level-headed Texans understand this problem and stop putting clowns like Rick Perry and Ted Cruz into office.
You and I both hope. I am praying daily our hope isn’t for nothing.
You hit all the key points. I have become very pessimistic about the nation’s future.
I continue to hope Carl, truly I do. But it becomes more and more difficult to do.
“seventy four (74) school shooting since Sandy Hook”—It’s mind-boggling and heartbreaking to read that. How those horrifying words cannot inspire action, I don’t know, and yet so many just cling to their guns all the more.
Think about it Carrie, those are just the school shootings. Not the other spree shootings, not the theater shootings, not the mall shootings just the schools.
I despair for us.
I had a lengthy conversation (semi-rant) yesterday with my brother about the frustrations I feel over our permanently altered country. Heavy on my mind was the extreme terrorism within our own borders–by individuals, by our government representatives, by heads of corporations, banks, and other untouchable entities who run this country behind closed doors. Hell, the doors aren’t even closed anymore. All of these rodents are out in the open, pissing in the streets, pissing on everyone and everything they see.
As I told my brother, I’m not particularly frightened by the ongoing resurgence of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the Middle East and around the world, even though I know they ultimately have the United States in their sites. What’s happening WITHIN the borders of the United States scares me more. Since the financial meltdown of 2001 and on (the result of the 9/11 disaster that temporarily brought ‘the people’ together, but NOT the heads of government, companies, or financial institutions), the movers and shakers of this country, instead of assisting in building the country back up, have scurried and scrambled to grab their share of what remained and everyone else’s share as well and have selfishly continued to do so for over a decade now, leaving everyone else to starve for decent jobs, safe food, a clean planet, adequate and affordable medical care, a viable path to safety and security in the later years of their lives.
I used to think my immediate world was full mostly of good people with a few radically minded idiots who could easily be ignored. Now, I have to admit that my immediate world is filled with a half-and-half mixture, that I should be very concerned if I’ll be shot while in a movie theatre, or a mall, or on the highway, or in the middle of the woods while camping and hiking, while sitting in a church, while stepping out my front door.
The terrorists outside of the U.S.–the ones responsible for the events on 9/11–must feel righteously fulfilled for a job that has since paid off so well and continues to do so with every buy out, sell out, and morally corrupt act executed in this country on a daily basis by the powers that be. External terrorists have successfully shattered the buildings and apparently the decency that once defined this country, but it is the INTERNAL terrorists in this country, the movers and the shakers, that have become addicted to the taste of blood and feed off their ‘hosts’–we, the people–without regard for the disease they spread.
Exactly right Sue, but what we really have to remember even those responsible for 9/11 were ultimately enabled by some of the ones I mentioned already. We are being undermined from within. I fear for all of us.
Definitely. I agree.
Well done. I couldn’t agree with you more, and anyone who can’t see this is insistent on wearing blinders. Thinking of this makes me alternate between tearing up and getting pissed off.
I alternate constantly, I tend to get stuck on tearing up then get pissed off that it gets to me. Thanks for stopping in, I do appreciate it.
Brilliant pat, Val. Right on everything.
Yes I agree Val, I so worry what our Grandchildren will have to face in a few years time..
sending you a Peace Hug.. xox and a link to a poem I wrote.. I know you read back in March.. the end lines were
If this world you are looking to mend
Look no further than self in the thoughts that you send
If this world is to find peace we must first look within
And calm your own battles. This is the first war we must win..
The whole poem is here http://wp.me/p16xW7-18R
Love and Hugs to you, I know you are so sick of apathy.. But also look at your own title.. and make sure it doesn’t eat into your soul… I know for a time I cried buckets about the world.. All I can do is change my own part and path in it.. and hope like you to guide others to see better their roles they play in it… I learnt a while back I was ‘Killing me’ with getting so caught up in the so many Wars and Hideous Crimes committed upon defenceless people .. It was eating away at me I had to just cut off from the media for a while..
I am learning to view life from a different perspective.. Knowing all are playing their parts, the Good The Bad and the Ugly… Its hard…. so darn hard at times to be dispassionate.. as I swallow tears……
I get so tired and often just want off this planet of hate…
But then Val, I see so much beauty.. so much love and compassion.. So much good never reported.. we get only to see the hatred and violence.. The apathy comes from what ever is in our water, or what ever is being sprayed over head.. and the long indoctrination of learning ‘I’m alright Jack’ so long as its not on my doorstep…
Well its happening on our doorsteps,, and if we do not open our eyes soon… We are all in for one Looooong BIG Sleep!… Not just on Gun Law, but on this Living Planet we are Killing! too…
love to you Val… xxxx Big Hugs xxx Sue
Sue, thank you. I cannot sit back, it truly does hurt my soul to do so. It truly does take a piece of me, this violence this apathy, it truly does strip me bare. There are nights I cannot sleep, cannot rest.
I know, there is only me, only what I can do. But there is also some piece of me that says there must be more. Something I can do to drive change beyond just me, something I can say or do that will cause a path to broaden, a mind to open. I think this is why I speak, why I open my life, even when it is painful and frightening.
I want more for all of us Sue. I want more for the next generation.
I know you do Val… I so empathise with all you say, and all you do my friend.. I see it is stripping pieces off of you, as It did me… Like you I deal with violence within my supporting role.. one can not escape it… its raw .. its scary, and when I see the atrocities around the world and here in the UK.. my heart bleeds with them…
For self preservation I have to step back breath in nature, paint…. and I am not apathetic by any means, but I see adding my own anger to the mix is solving nothing… except to add more negative energy to the flow around the world.. Which the Media is a dab hand at contributing to the Anger, depression, and hopelessness of what many feel…. So they retreat into their shells hoping its not on their doorstep, not happening to their families, .. The Media belches out its obscene News daily so much so, people watch eating their dinners, breakfast not turning a hair, as its become their Normal….
Oh Val we have so much in common, I so wish I could bring about a Change in the world.. I try in my own way, to alert and alter thinking.. at the end of the day that is all we can do, change our own immediate world of thought and actions, and hope we lead by example xxx
Superb Blog, Val.
I cannot say it as well as this, which I LOVE so damn much. xxxx
Excellent
The only power that people have is their voting power. If they don’t use it, then all is lost. I think this 2014 midyear elections will determine the country’s future.
I agree with you, the mid year will set our path. If we don’t all get out and vote we will pay a heavy price. For those of us with a platform, I hope we use it and remind others this is our nation, this is our future.
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat™.
Amen! I have watched the America I grew up in….the years of FDR and WW2 in which the nation was unified and believed in helping others, in moving forward, in pride of free speech and free enterprise, in growing as a nation, in welcoming immigrants from different countries…into a America of greed and disdain for the poor and middle class, that wants to keep them poor, that would deny them Social Security, their own money put into the program all their working years, that would deny them medical care. The corporation profits do not trickle down. They remain stagnant within the realms of the rich and stay there. Who pays the major part of taxes? The huge corporations? No. Everyone else does. I am disappointed and angered by our representatives in government. They act like a bunch of spoiled children concerned only with their own self-indulgent “I want!” rather than with the problems of the country and the welfare of the people. This is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” or has that been swept under the table, too? It sure looks like it.
Indeed it does look as if it has been swept away, all of it. I am afraid for us believe me. Afraid for my children and theirs.
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
….. the sad reality of our time!! SMH ….
Thank you as always
🙂
Struggle …. yet an awesome post! Reblog!!
This one was hard, don’t know why just was. I think I was just so damned angry through the entire write
I felt it. When you write like that … the feelings come through. Straight to the point & from the heart! Hugs ….
I have been struggling for a couple of weeks now. The on-going violence is simply bringing me to my knees.
Agree! Me too. On another note …. the the pics on FB? Hugs ….
Which?
From my trip now to Virginia …. family gathering. HS graduation!
I will check it out, soon as I get through some reading this morning. I am so far behind!
I know. When I come back tomorrow I’ll b in the same place as you!
Very Nice post, very creative slide shows. ☜(◉‿◉)☞
((♥( ʂɧʘʋʈʘʋʈ ))♥))
Thank you My, for the shout out
😎