dagblog - Comments for "In the Battle for America the Internet is our War Room"

I am so demoralized it seems

stillidealistic — Sat, 08 Apr 2017 00:55:34 +0000

In reply to In the Battle for America the Internet is our War Room

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.

Stilli, my feeling is that

Ramona — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 00:57:22 +0000

In reply to I'm not sure yet what my role

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.

Maybe they think you are in a

moat — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 22:53:50 +0000

In reply to I'm not sure yet what my role

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.

I'm not sure yet what my role

stillidealistic — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 21:59:27 +0000

In reply to In the Battle for America the Internet is our War Room

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.

Sl has his moments but this

Michael Maiello — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 16:51:10 +0000

In reply to What an odd coincidence! My

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.

What an odd coincidence! My

Ramona — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 16:27:35 +0000

In reply to All I ask is, no more

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.)

All I ask is, no more

Michael Maiello — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 16:17:37 +0000

In reply to In the Battle for America the Internet is our War Room

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.

The Media does not

CVille Dem — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 15:27:08 +0000

In reply to In the Battle for America the Internet is our War Room

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!