I wish you could've won your war too! This blog post reminds me of my own despairing frustration about my war on gun violence. I've written 7+ posts on gun violence (I quit counting), begging people to embrace gun safety. While we're making minimal gains in that area, it's not nearly enough. We had a shooting at the Texas State Fair a week ago and it barely made the news because no one was killed.
Back to your post. One of the biggest problems is that this fire-breathing dragon is getting help from some of the villagers who insist that the dragon will save us all. The dragon will eventually go away but the villagers? We're stuck with their ignorance and evil.
You've done a fantastic job of saying what I don't have the words to say. Thank you. From the day, Donald walked down that escalator to declare his candidacy, I have lived in horror. I kept thinking surely people will see what I see, or certainly now his latest "stunt" will make a difference. But no!!
Your point about the role the media plays looms large as part of the problem. Why is he getting so much air-time? Why did I have to watch his motorcade go to the courthouse in New York? Why did he have a motorcade? Yes, the quick answer is turn off the television - but the underlying question remains.
As Misty says, the war on gun violence is another one of those conundrums. I don't understand - the facts tell the story, but little changes.
Mona, You know how desperately we were cheering you on from this side of the border! He is a soulless, complete aberration…as are his followers. We wait with bated breath for the day when this POS no longer walks this earth. He is a total blight on humanity and your country is in danger with every breath he takes. May his days of spewing hatred be limited by KARMA. 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 ❤️❤️❤️
I don't think you failed at all. While all your writing in the early days of Trump didn't prevent him from getting elected, you surely planted seeds on many people's minds. One of the hardest parts of activism -- which is what I consider your anti-Trump writing to be -- is how slow moving progress is. It's hard, most of the time, to see a direct connection between instances of activism and the cumulative impact that those actions have on progress. You did good work. And you continue to do good work. You have not failed. 💚🙏🏼
Yep, I had to be careful as a high school teacher at a conservative school to not say TOO much publicly (so there were a lot of allusions on my blog), but I spoke up on my FB page from the moment he came down the escalator. And the cost of his presidency to my relationships has been too high.
Shout it, Sister Ramona. You aren’t alone in feeling the way you do. The greatest threat to our national security and I maintain to our mental health is DJT and his cronies.
Biden is running a close second in the blight department. His actions at the moment are truly shocking. Brinksmanship on so many fronts that it keeps me awake at night, cuddling my grandchildren as they sleep, and increasingly, by the day, worried about their future. Americans need to rid themselves of the parties that put forward such evil candidates for power.
I left the Republican party over that guy. Ever since DJT was even an option for president, my "jerk meter" was going crazy. I kept looking around at people who loved him and the media who ate up his antics thinking, "Are you guys seriously not seeing this guy? He's so transparent and he is not serious about this job or being a Republican." To me it was like he was still in his reality TV show. And when he became president I wasn't shocked by any of his behavior, because it was classic, entitled snotty rich business guy behavior. As a writer I couldn't have created a better villain. I'm still blown away that he's still here and that people have set him on an altar that we know he won't give up without a huge, ugly fight. I'm so worried what he's done and egged on, appealing to the basest of human emotions. I just keep thinking, "you'll know them by their fruits" and he is poison.
Good for you for putting up a fight. You did more than most of us. As I get older, and gain more perspective, I may be becoming cynical, or more realistic, or both. Looking back at all the protests in which I've participated, the petitions I signed, the letters to the president and the local paper, I am struck by how hard it is for any one person to make an impact, to stop a war, to right a wrong. It strikes me that we are like a school of fish or a flock of birds, and one fish or bird breaking away is not enough to turn the rest. Most of the world follows the crowd, the herd instinct, the beaten path. Short of doing something dramatic and truly newsworthy, there is little that one person can do to force a change. Setting yourself on fire, unfortunately, is a one-act protest. No encore. Power corrupts, and a lot of people are attracted to the corruption of power, viz, Donald Trump. If numbers are to be believed, about half of Americans are drawn to a demagogue, a strongman, a bully, and a cheat. It's shocking and at first we tell ourselves, they just don't understand who he really is, but they actually do. They understand him perfectly, and he understands them. They want a leader who insults immigrants, despises the poor, hates the educated "elite," and puts on a show every time the camera is on him. We live in a world where half of America votes for the basest reasons to protect the loss of privileges they never earned, to protect themselves from having to compete with newcomers on the basis of who works the hardest, who is really the most competent, instead of the birth color of their skin. Trump understood, as evil geniuses before him have done, the ability to push the buttons of such people, and to play them like a violin. All it takes is the absence of any integrity or ethics, merely the desire for power, at any cost. The surprise to me is not that we elected Trump, but that there haven't been more Trumps. We have had bad presidents before, but none like him in the last 100 years that I know of.
I wish you could've won your war too! This blog post reminds me of my own despairing frustration about my war on gun violence. I've written 7+ posts on gun violence (I quit counting), begging people to embrace gun safety. While we're making minimal gains in that area, it's not nearly enough. We had a shooting at the Texas State Fair a week ago and it barely made the news because no one was killed.
Back to your post. One of the biggest problems is that this fire-breathing dragon is getting help from some of the villagers who insist that the dragon will save us all. The dragon will eventually go away but the villagers? We're stuck with their ignorance and evil.
You've done a fantastic job of saying what I don't have the words to say. Thank you. From the day, Donald walked down that escalator to declare his candidacy, I have lived in horror. I kept thinking surely people will see what I see, or certainly now his latest "stunt" will make a difference. But no!!
Your point about the role the media plays looms large as part of the problem. Why is he getting so much air-time? Why did I have to watch his motorcade go to the courthouse in New York? Why did he have a motorcade? Yes, the quick answer is turn off the television - but the underlying question remains.
As Misty says, the war on gun violence is another one of those conundrums. I don't understand - the facts tell the story, but little changes.
Mona, You know how desperately we were cheering you on from this side of the border! He is a soulless, complete aberration…as are his followers. We wait with bated breath for the day when this POS no longer walks this earth. He is a total blight on humanity and your country is in danger with every breath he takes. May his days of spewing hatred be limited by KARMA. 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 ❤️❤️❤️
I don't think you failed at all. While all your writing in the early days of Trump didn't prevent him from getting elected, you surely planted seeds on many people's minds. One of the hardest parts of activism -- which is what I consider your anti-Trump writing to be -- is how slow moving progress is. It's hard, most of the time, to see a direct connection between instances of activism and the cumulative impact that those actions have on progress. You did good work. And you continue to do good work. You have not failed. 💚🙏🏼
Yep, I had to be careful as a high school teacher at a conservative school to not say TOO much publicly (so there were a lot of allusions on my blog), but I spoke up on my FB page from the moment he came down the escalator. And the cost of his presidency to my relationships has been too high.
Shout it, Sister Ramona. You aren’t alone in feeling the way you do. The greatest threat to our national security and I maintain to our mental health is DJT and his cronies.
Biden is running a close second in the blight department. His actions at the moment are truly shocking. Brinksmanship on so many fronts that it keeps me awake at night, cuddling my grandchildren as they sleep, and increasingly, by the day, worried about their future. Americans need to rid themselves of the parties that put forward such evil candidates for power.
I left the Republican party over that guy. Ever since DJT was even an option for president, my "jerk meter" was going crazy. I kept looking around at people who loved him and the media who ate up his antics thinking, "Are you guys seriously not seeing this guy? He's so transparent and he is not serious about this job or being a Republican." To me it was like he was still in his reality TV show. And when he became president I wasn't shocked by any of his behavior, because it was classic, entitled snotty rich business guy behavior. As a writer I couldn't have created a better villain. I'm still blown away that he's still here and that people have set him on an altar that we know he won't give up without a huge, ugly fight. I'm so worried what he's done and egged on, appealing to the basest of human emotions. I just keep thinking, "you'll know them by their fruits" and he is poison.
I didn't read your article because your headline said enough.
Good for you for putting up a fight. You did more than most of us. As I get older, and gain more perspective, I may be becoming cynical, or more realistic, or both. Looking back at all the protests in which I've participated, the petitions I signed, the letters to the president and the local paper, I am struck by how hard it is for any one person to make an impact, to stop a war, to right a wrong. It strikes me that we are like a school of fish or a flock of birds, and one fish or bird breaking away is not enough to turn the rest. Most of the world follows the crowd, the herd instinct, the beaten path. Short of doing something dramatic and truly newsworthy, there is little that one person can do to force a change. Setting yourself on fire, unfortunately, is a one-act protest. No encore. Power corrupts, and a lot of people are attracted to the corruption of power, viz, Donald Trump. If numbers are to be believed, about half of Americans are drawn to a demagogue, a strongman, a bully, and a cheat. It's shocking and at first we tell ourselves, they just don't understand who he really is, but they actually do. They understand him perfectly, and he understands them. They want a leader who insults immigrants, despises the poor, hates the educated "elite," and puts on a show every time the camera is on him. We live in a world where half of America votes for the basest reasons to protect the loss of privileges they never earned, to protect themselves from having to compete with newcomers on the basis of who works the hardest, who is really the most competent, instead of the birth color of their skin. Trump understood, as evil geniuses before him have done, the ability to push the buttons of such people, and to play them like a violin. All it takes is the absence of any integrity or ethics, merely the desire for power, at any cost. The surprise to me is not that we elected Trump, but that there haven't been more Trumps. We have had bad presidents before, but none like him in the last 100 years that I know of.