I spent a great deal of time on this one, and ultimately I’m proud of the result. This was originally just a class assignment for my Western Philosophy class, but given the upsetting turn of events we’ve seen in US politics over the past few days and my own personal feelings on the subject, it turned into something more cathartic.
The piece is based on John Locke’s principal, The Right of Revolution, which states that all free people have the right to challenge any government or government figure who poses a threat to their lives, their rights, and their freedom.
The beastly figures sided with Trump are meant to symbolize the various social and political plagues that make life so horrific for so many. They are America’s Demons: racism, sexism, bigotry, religious discrimination, corruption, greed, the abuse of power, etc. As Americans, it is our duty to fight them.
This is inauguration day in the US, if you weren’t aware – please, for the sake of all that is good, turn off your televisions. Don’t watch. Don’t tweet it. Don’t share it in any way via social media or otherwise. Don’t buy or read the papers that cover it. Instead, if you can, participate in a march that might be in your area. Or do something for yourself. Go to a film. Go see Hidden Figures or Rogue One. Spend time with friends if you can. Visit a library. Donate your time somewhere. Anything. Read a book. Read some fan fiction. Anything – but keep the television off. No livestreams, no Youtube, nothing to do with the inauguration. Don’t validate what is happen. Don’t give it any sense of normalcy.
If you must tweet or share anything, let it be images of those marching, those protesting. Share their experience. Share your own. Write/tweet to media outlets, tell them to cover the protests, not the inauguration. There is nothing legitimate about what is happening. Be safe, be strong.
Trump is the puppet. Trump staff are co-conspirators. Kellyanne Conway is poison.
Republicans have lost all concern for ethics and procedures. Conflicts of interest are laughed off. Family members and cronies put into govererment. Generals given military positions that were headed by civilians.
Republicans are weak on Russia. The Trump Administration is treasonous.
This doesn’t just make me mad, but scared shitless.
If you’re still complacent or trusting that ‘things will just work out,’ don’t be. Nothing has worked out so far. There should be several open investigations right now. There should be arrests. There aren’t. Ask why. Demand why. Make noise. Do what you can. Silence and complacency will end our democracies.
Call things what they are. By using the language of your oppressors, you are being complicit in your own oppression. Do not normalize this. This is not normal, and we sure as fuck shouldn’t sanitize it.
I’m not a professional historian, but my teacher had a special interest in WWII and what led up to it. And this? This is exactly how the Nazi regime started. They normalized it, edged a bit further, that got normalized too, and by the time major shit was going down, it was too fucking late.
We need to make sure it’s not too fucking late this time. “Never again” needs to mean something.
Say you’re part of a family. A big family. A chaotic, ramshackle family that, nonetheless has its own rules and sense of orderliness that everyone, more or less follows. This is a fatherless family, for the most part, not really needing one, but mum is lonely.
Sadly, she marries a man who moves in and begins making so many drastic changes and behaving in a manner that is so foreign and so contemptible, so abusive, that the kids rebel and demand mum kicks him out. His presence is too destructive.
Now imagine your mum, abused and frightened, doing nothing.
Individually you are small and powerless. But you love your mum and your home and you want things, even though they were a little messy, to be a little more like they were before (if not better). What do you do?
The man your father married has bully friends all around him, some have even moved into the neighbourhood. Everyone feels intimidated. There’s talk of other neighbourhoods being threatened.
There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding Donald Trump and the so-called “alt-right” (which is basically a term for white nationalism) in the weeks that have passed since the 2016 election. Many members of the white nationalist group have been outspoken Trump supporters, including the founder of the movement itself, Richard Spencer. Trump has also appointed Steve Bannon as his chief strategist — a man who has been heavily associated with the “alt-right.”
The “alt-right” is known for its extremist and racist views, as well as being severely anti-Semitic. It seems like the association between the Trump campaign and neo-Nazis won’t be broken any time soon, as his chosen national security advisor, General Mike Flynn, recently met with Heinz-Christian Strache — the head of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, which was established by former Nazis after World War II.
The Freedom Party was originally created to be a safe haven for Nazis and Nazi sympathizers after World War II and the Holocaust. In the ‘80s, Jörg Haider became its leader, and the party took a turn toward right-wing populism with a strong anti-immigration stance. As the New York Times explains, today, the party is “anti-foreigner, anti-Islam and anti-globalization” making it an appealing party for Europe’s far-right — much like the white nationalist “alt-right” in the U.S.
It should be obvious that this meeting between Trump’s National Security Advisor and the leader of a neo-Nazi movement is extremely alarming. This meeting calls back to the words of representatives from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, who spoke out after the “alt-right” held a chilling conference in Washington D.C. praising Trump. They reminded us, through their statement, that the Holocaust didn’t begin with killing – it began with words.
It’s good that (white, straight) people are waking up to the reality that others (not-white, not-straight, not-christian) have been on the receiving end of forever, but ‘shaming’ and ‘blaming’ isn’t going to be enough. Take a peek at some of the Dump supporters/white supremacist sites, their forums, their Twitter accounts: there is genuine insanity involved.
How we dismantle a foundation of hate without destroying ourselves in the process is going to require more than just being ‘right all along.’ Moral superiority doesn’t absolve anyone of the real work that we have ahead of us.
In The Remains of the Day, American Congressman Lewis tells an assembled gathering of aristocratic and amateur English ‘politicians’ (and their Nazi guests) that the ‘days of acting out of your noble instincts are over.’ He warns them that ‘some prices are too ridiculously high to pay.’
There is WORK ahead of us. We’ve got to be prepared to do it – not just the bare minimum of social critique from an allegedly safe distance. There is no safe distance. Not anymore.
The Doctor Is Out 