Ramona's picture

    In the Battle for America the Internet is our War Room

    By Ramona on Fri, 12/23/2016 - 10:06am | Politics
     


    It's been a while, I know, but I'm back in the saddle, ready to do my thing, hoping I can do it without an overabundance of whining or spitting at people. (Not that that's what I've been doing.) But first I need to say this up front and out loud:

    I despise everything Donald Trump says and does and what he stands for (whatever that might be at any given moment), and I'll never accept that he is anything close to what a half-way decent president of the United States ought to be.

    This is my personal status-quo: Donald Trump is my enemy and I am his. But after weeks of hand-wringing and consternation I've finally figured out that I can't funnel my entire existence into taking him down. I'm just me and I'm too little. I'll leave the heavy artillery to bigger voices having the know-how and the wherewithal to wage the battle ahead.

    While I was away from my desk, dozens of writers--journalists, essayists, bloggers, novelists, comedians--said everything I might have said if I had been here, all of them doing it way, way better.  So here's the plan: I'll be their biggest cheerleader. I'll be right there retweeting, and sharing on Facebook, and spreading their brilliance to the farthest reaches. (I'll be blogging, too, in my tiny corner, but they'll have the podiums, the platforms, the soapboxes, and they'll take the most risks. I want them to know I've got their backs.)

    All I ask is, no more postmortems. I don't want to rehash how or why Trump won. I don't want to hear that it was all Hillary's and the DNC's fault, or that anti-government voters wanted massive change, or that the racists won the day, or that Vladimir Putin and the Koch Brothers caused enough of a sneaky upheaval to cause half of America to go crazy and vote for an unqualified, ruthless carnival barker who lies with every breath he takes. I've read and heard it all.

    I do want promises that we will never consider Trump normal, no matter how much good it appears he might be doing. (Because he will do good now and then, either inadvertently or as part of a larger, more malicious plan.)

    I want those of us who would rather have had all four limbs severed than vote for that man to show the world that not everyone in America saw the election as an edge-of-your-seat reality show with fake winners and fake losers.

    I want apologies and mea culpas from the press and the power brokers who encouraged and promoted that slimy circus, and then I want to see them all scurry to get on top of, then get to the bottom of, right down to the bones, every hint of the inevitable scandals that will be emanating from Trump headquarters.

    I want to see resistance and, if necessary, revolt. I want it to be high-minded but ruthless, smart but calculating--consistent, insistent, persistent. I want to see us fight fire with pyrotechnics of volcanic proportions.

    We need leaders. This movement won't survive without savvy, charismatic leaders who are brave beyond belief. Who are they? Haven't a clue. But they're out there. Somewhere.

    Until they appear, it'll have to be up to us to keep this thing going. Yes, us. Who are we? It doesn't matter. We have voices, we have digital devices, we have the ability to blog and tweet and share on multiple networks. The internet is our headquarters, our virtual War Room.

    We unify, we build up our numbers, we have one goal: To stop Trump and the GOP from doing our country harm. So, no fighting allowed among the ranks; no dissing or dismissing or one-upping. Trolls will be summarily banished. Preaching to the choir is the only way to fly.

    We did a good job of blabbering all over the place during those months when we thought we were going to win, so it shouldn't be hard to keep it up now. (Yes, I know we lost. Your point?)

    If someone you know is about to give up, shame them!  Shame them good!

    Hysterical? A virtual slap upside the head. 

    And if anybody has a plan, good lord, share it! We're brainstorming here!

    Until the reinforcements arrive, it's up to us. I'm repeating myself, I know, but seriously--it's up to you and me and all the other bigmouths on our side. We're not afraid. We won't back down. We've got nothing to lose and maybe some little thing to gain.

    Fingers at the ready. . .

    Give it all you've. . .

    . . . Hey, you!  Over here!  NOW!

    (Oh, and Happy Holidays! I mean that sincerely)

     

    (Cross-posted at Ramona's Voices and Crooks & Liars)

    Topics: 
    Politics

    Comments

    The Media does not acknowledge their role in this fiasco.  I'm sure that every time the slimeball accuses the press of being against him, they consider it proof that they were objective all along.  They continue to interview all his Russian acolytes (there are at least 4 by my count) and never even ASK them about connections to the Russian regime.  Of course they never challenge outright lies.  And speaking of outright lies, Kellyanne should never be interviewed.  Ever.

    So good luck to all of us at holding the Media accountable, but I guess we can keep the letters and emails flowing.  

    Oh, and about that nuclear arms race...

    I simply can't imagine all the harm that this guy and his minions can do in 4 years.  And Pence is no better, so impeachment doesn't float my boat either.

    Edit to add:  Thanks for posting this, and Happy Holidays to YOU!


    by CVille Dem on Fri, 12/23/2016 - 10:27am

    All I ask is, no more postmortems. I don't want to rehash how or why Trump won. I don't want to hear that it was all Hillary's and the DNC's fault, or that anti-government voters wanted massive change, or that the racists won the day, or that Vladimir Putin and the Koch Brothers caused enough of a sneaky upheaval to cause half of America to go crazy and vote for an unqualified, ruthless carnival barker who lies with every breath he takes. I've read and heard it all.

    Agreed.  I'm reading It Can't Happen Here and it's honestly a bit of a slog (very didactic) but one funny bit is that after Buzz Windrip has won the presidency and so established his dictatorship that he is tossing his political opponents into concentration camps, two fellow Windrip opponents encounter each other in the camps and immediate start arguing about which one of them is responsible for losing the election by not back FDR in the first place. Hit very close to home.
     


    by Michael Maiello on Fri, 12/23/2016 - 11:17am

    What an odd coincidence!  My husband dug "It Can't Happen Here" out of his bookcase and is reading it again, too. He keeps reading me chilling passages that seem all too up-to-date right now. (He loves Sinclair Lewis and has nearly all of his books, I think. I love SL's passion and commitment to class causes but have a hard time getting through an entire book.)


    by Ramona on Fri, 12/23/2016 - 11:27am

    Sl has his moments but this is my first attempt at one of his novels and it is not easy going. Great ideas. Very tepid on the characters and atmosphere, though. 


    by Michael Maiello on Fri, 12/23/2016 - 11:51am

    I'm not sure yet what my role in the resistance is going to be, I only know I WILL be resisting.

    I've been on the losing end of political races before. But I've never cried about it. This time, I've not only cried, long and hard and frequently, but I've been filled with a sense of foreboding that just won't go away. donald trump is NOT my president. Not now, not ever. He may be the leader of the country in which I reside (I can't even bring myself to claim the title American at the moment - I just live here,) but he doesn't speak for me, his actions are not mine, and I will not be held responsible for him or the damage he does to the world.

    I try to convince myself that my posts regarding the clear and present danger that IS donald, are like spitting into the wind. Not only does it not do any good, but may even be hurting the cause. But the alternative is to remain quiet, and anyone who knows me, knows that is downright impossible.

    I had hoped to give my conservative friends a break from my politics, but it seems as though I can't. I can't get past the fear that they are not hearing the truth, and that I can provide it for them. It's ridiculous, I know. They are, in all likelihood, scrolling right past anything I post (unlike me, who reads everyone of their putrid posts, just so I know what they are basing their thoughts on) and in the process I'm setting myself up as one of the people they don't listen to.

    The closest analogy I can come up with is a little story.

    When my kids were approaching puberty, I wanted to make sure they were doing it armed with all the information I could give them about what was going to happen to their bodies. I also wanted to impart the wisdom I had learned (pretty much from the school of hard knocks) about how this sexuality stuff works. 

    Neither were interested. In fact, they may as well have said I have cooties and there's no way we want to hear this stuff.

    But I couldn't leave them with no place to go for honest information.

    So, I bought them a book called "The Body Book," which I showed them, and put it in the family bookcase, and told them if they ever had questions, to PLEASE refer to it rather than listen to their friends who were probably clueless. I assured them there would no commentary about it unless they wanted to talk about anything they read.

    Over the years we noticed it was put back out of order, or was missing, so even though we never actually SAW them with it, we knew it was at least being looked at. They NEVER said a word about it, never had any questions, but at least I'd done the best I could to make sure they weren't facing the world unarmed with inaccurate information.

    I guess that's how I see my roll in my friend's lives. I have accurate information. It is on my wall. They can refer to it whenever they want if they want to hear something other than what is available in their traditional bubble. Whether they use the info or not is up to them. 

    For now, I guess that's all I can do. 

    I have a small audience, but it is made up of primarily conservative people, so I'm not JUST preaching to the choir. They can't say they didn't know, unless they willfully decide not to look. I can lead them to water, but I can't make them drink.


    by stillidealistic on Mon, 12/26/2016 - 4:59pm

    Maybe they think you are in a bubble too.

    Ideology is not so much a set of principles that are accepted without reflection but a sorting algorithm. We need places to put things.

    The whole 'removing the beam from our eyes meme first' is a moral requirement but also a boundary condition that needs to be understood, not simply believed.

    Your information has not been rejected. It either was something they listened to or not. Pride often neglects to show gratitude or love. We often do not get to know when we have touched another.


    by moat on Mon, 12/26/2016 - 5:53pm

    Stilli, my feeling is that our singular voices are needed in order to build a crowd so big there's no ignoring it.  One humungous crowd calling out, protesting, making sense, and never shutting up. The opposition leaders can pretend to ignore us but the oppo crowds reading and listening won't be able to ignore us, either.  The worst thing we can do is hide out and stay silent.


    by Ramona on Mon, 12/26/2016 - 7:57pm

    I am so demoralized it seems hard to form a coherent sentence, let alone a whole blog. I hate what that band of traitors have done to this country in the short time they've been in Washington, and the fact that we have YEARS of this ahead of us has sapped my strength.

    I can barely think about what might have been without crying - still. In my heart, Hillary is my President. That creature will never be. Not ever, no matter what. He stole that election with the help of the Russians, Bernie Sander's worshipers and James Comey. I will never forget what they did.

    Now, with the aid of that asshole McConnell, they finally have near complete control of the government, and my heart bleeds for those who will be most impacted, through no fault of their own. I'm having a little more difficult time feeling sorry for those who voted out of ignorance, or against their own best interests to put him in office. When I hear, "well, I never thought he meant (fill in the blank)" I want to punch someone. I hope they all come to realize they've been had.

    As for me and what I can do, I don't know yet. I hate to roll over, but I feel genuinely helpless, hopeless, and extremely pissed off at my fellow Americans who caused this. I do not blame Hillary, and I never will. She fought an uphill battle, and with all the forces at work against her, a few rallies in the states that voted against their best interests would not have saved us from the horror that is don the con.


    by stillidealistic on Fri, 04/07/2017 - 8:55pm

    Latest Comments