There are a bunch of things this post is that it wasn’t supposed to be. For starters, this post is late. It was meant to be up a couple of Wednesdays ago. Secondly, I initially wanted this post to be a progress report. I was going to talk about where I was with various projects, and plug old (and new) work. I was going to talk about how the impending end of summer restarted my creative engine. I was even going to wax poetic about baseball.

Then Charlottesville happened.

We all know the story by now: a group of Neo-Nazis and Klansmen held a protest regarding their—white men—being supplanted as the dominant group in American social hierarchy. A second group counter-protested these assholes. One of the white power protesters drives his car into a crowd of the counter-protesters and kills a woman. Our Dear Leader victim-blames. He pulls it back two days later after extreme, well-meaning, absolutely correct, and intensely public pressure, but he then re-ups on the victim blaming, much to the delight of KKK and white power protesters.

And suddenly, talking about what I’m writing seems moot.

I made a promise a while back to not do political or social commentary in my blogs anymore because (a) it was much too stressful to take on an ever-increasing load of social and political evils; and (b), I didn’t want to offend current or potential fans. That latter notion seems rather silly, now that I think about it. After eight months of living in this parallel universe where this nation that has prided itself on the attempt at greatness wound up with this witless fuckhead as its President, leader, and representative on the world stage, I can’t stay silent anymore.

I watched as the President of the United States—a title which used to engender hope at home and respect abroad—capitulated to domestic terrorists. I watched him wipe his ass with American History as he equated Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson with our Founding Fathers. I watched him defend a long-dead rogue nation that was hostile to the United States. And all the while, I thought, “This is the man who represents us to the world.”

Denouncing Nazis is the natural thing. It’s the reflex. We (try to) teach our children that hate is wrong and that everyone, especially in this country, is supposed to have a seat at the table. Most of us know that’s not entirely accurate (that’s a subject for another day), but maybe telling our kids that is what inspires them to make it real. And if it doesn’t, it teaches them, at the very least, to denounce Nazis. Donald Trump somehow missed that day in Humanity 101, and thus lends equivalency of actions to the counter protesters—you know, the group who didn’t kill anyone. That’s the same as saying the rape victim is just as guilty as the rapist by being there.

Once you take the side or excuse the action of a Nazi, you’re a Nazi. And either our President knows this, or he doesn’t; either way, he’s an idiot. And a Nazi.

I don’t normally do social commentary or political musing, but that may have to change. I refuse to stay silent anymore.

#2017 #fighting #distractions #baseball #Villains #civilrights #politics #LordDampnut #author