I Cannot Remain Silent

I have been trying to avoid the news.  Since the days leading up to the 2016 election, I found that I got more and more stressed by the events unfolding in our country.  That is, until recently.

In his book, The Life of Reason (1905), George Santayana stated:

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. [emphasis mine]

Here's the thing: my original training was as a historian.  If anybody should pay attention to what is going on, it is me because I can see trends.  Here are some examples:

• In 1990, when we were prepping for the Gulf War, everyone was screaming that it would be "another Vietnam."  I said "six weeks max."  Why?  Because everyone in the world (with the exception of Jordan--was against Iraq in that one.  There was no way it was going to be a long drawn out war as we had a clear objective--free Kuwait, which Bush kept to--and we had a shit ton of allies.  I was pretty damn close in my estimate.
• The wars against "terrorism" in Iraq and Afghanistan were the ones I said would be another Vietnam.  Why?  You cannot fight an ideology.  Fighting Nazis or Iraqi soldiers is one thing. You can identify who they are.  However, how do you know who a "terrorist" is?  It's not like they wear bright red uniforms like the British used to.  This is why we could not win Vietnam. This is why we are still stuck in Iraq and still fighting in Afghanistan.  The latter is the longest war the U.S. has ever been in.  Hello?  Plus, even Alexander the Great had difficulty securing that territory when it was Bactria.  The geography works against all invaders.

Since Trump received the nomination, I have been worried.  He has catered to a growing trend of people that are so closed-minded towards change and diversity.  I feared that the hatred would grow and so would the violence.  My own fear expanded as he refused to condemn white supremacy groups and racist actions.  While I recognize he doesn't want to offend his voter base, by not saying anything he is condoning their behavior rather than condemning it.

The events in Charlottesville, however, brought my fears back to the forefront again.  I cannot ignore this any more.  If I did, it would be like all those Germans who were silent during the rise of the Nazi party in the 1930s; the ones who did nothing.

One of my friends stated that violence should be met with violence.  I disagree.  It will confirm to these right-wing douchebags that all the bullshit they have been spewing for the past year was true. Violence is only the last resort.  

Martin Luther King Jr. was a very wise man when he chose peaceful protest over violence.  Why? The racists will get frustrated.  People who are like this are not the brightest bulbs in the bunch.  They will not understand why we are not attacking them.  They will get more frustrated and attack more, but you know what?  The media loves this shit, the same way they did when the police turned the dogs and fire hoses on peaceful protesters in Birmingham.  This way, the racists will prove to the world that they are the bad guys, not the liberals.

As for the "alt-left" crap.  Mr. Trump, there is a big difference between the alt-right and alt-left.  The former practices acts of domestic terrorism—I know as I studied domestic terrorism and focused on white supremacy groups during my second Master's program—while the latter is more about bringing awareness to the rest about the crap the alt-right is doing.  Yes, there are anomalies but for the most part, the far-right is much more violent. Don't believe me?  Then go to this analysis by the Cato Institute.  According to them, between 1992 and 2017, right-wing groups were responsible for 230 deaths and 992 injuries.  The left?  A whopping 19 and 27 respectively.

See, the Cato Institute is one I usually ignore because it is incredibly biased to the right.  It claims it's a libertarian organization but it supports many conservative ideologies.  I mean really...it was founding by one of the fucking Koch brothers.  You cannot get any more conservative than that.  So if this organization is saying the right-wing radicals are more violent than the left-wing ones, that says something.

My plan is to now be more aware.  If I see something, I will say something.  Though I will never stoop to violence.  I am a pacifist so that is not in me.  However, I will no longer be quiet.  To do so will now make matters worse.

As a side note, you realized we are screwed no matter what.  If Trump manages to stay in office his full four years, we have a person with (what I suspect) narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and I swear I am seeing a bit of dementia in there as well.  However, if we do manage to get him out of office, that means we're stuck with Pence who is a conservative fuck nut. He scares me too.  Then, if we got rid of both, that means Paul Ryan would be eligible for the presidency.   *ugh*