When Tyrants, Bullies, and Haters Rule: A Survival Guide

These days, when we’re all inundated with non-stop political news — most of it horrifyingly bad — it’s easy to lose sight of what’s most important. Overwhelmed by the endless onrush of events, opinions, mis- or disinformation, and divisive partisan politics, it’s easy to be distracted, misled, or ‘radicalized’ — or turn away in disgust and tune out altogether.

But in fraught, increasingly dangerous times like these it’s unwise — to say the least — to just give up or give in to the latest group-think, social trends, or viral nonsense. Somehow, we need to find or invent a pragmatic way to sift through the constant ‘noise’ and get to the deeper, essential aspects of what’s happening in our world.

As tyrants, bullies, liars, and hateful morons gain power, all around the world, we’d do well to consider exactly what is going on within human beings and our societies. And the simplest, most direct ‘explanation’ that I’ve found lies in the ‘inclusion-exclusion’ spectrum. We can effectively evaluate and understand how a society operates by grasping where it is or intends to be along that ‘inclusion-exclusion’ axis.

Most fundamentally, we need to ask: is a given society providing more and more equality, opportunity, cooperation, and social freedom, OR is it aiming to boost the power of some humans over others? Is a given society focused on expanding inclusiveness, OR does it seek to empower one dominant group and disempower all others?

Is a given society trying to embody and expand ‘love-in-action,’ or is it relying on hate and fear of ‘others’ to catalyze social unrest and further empower its domineering, bullying ‘haters-in-chief’? Is a given society focused on increasing love and cooperation, OR is it focused on ‘power over’ and brutal, never-ending competition with others?

Right-wing ‘exclusionists’ HATE all diversity, equity, and inclusion policies

These questions are more crucial today than ever, as more and more societies and nations around the world succumb to the forces of division, fear, racial and ethnic hatred, and even outright tyranny. In the U.S., the vital importance of the ‘inclusion-exclusion’ spectrum is revealed by the far right’s escalating, vicious attacks on DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and programs.

To the right, especially the fascism-prone far right, all talk of and support for ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘inclusion’ is anathema — totally intolerable. Rather than seeking fairness, equitable distribution of wealth and resources, and a cooperative, inclusive society, the right seeks — and demands — the exact opposite.

Without any exaggeration, the right prefers inequality over equality, endless competition over cooperation, power over instead of shared power, increasing wealth for the top 5%, and the continuing sociopolitical superiority of Whites over Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities.

Clearly, the issue of ‘inclusion vs. exclusion’ is no minor or peripheral matter. It may be THE defining social issue of our time, or perhaps of any period in human history. And the right knows this — which is exactly why DEI programs are increasingly being targeted and attacked.

The right truly hates the ideas of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and will stop at nothing to undermine and then scuttle them entirely.

Exclusionists are not ‘civilized’ and will do ANYTHING to get their way

What I’m getting at is this: to survive these intense and frightening times with our sanity intact, we must learn to see ‘behind’ or beyond the day-to-day headlines and grasp the long-term patterns and social trends.

The opponents of diversity, equity, and inclusion always mask their true intentions with much loud gibberish about ‘fairness’ and ‘merit-based’ hiring, for instance, but never reveal their true beliefs and aims — namely, to reinstate White superiority and dominance and ensure decreasing equity and inclusion for minorities.

This brings us to another major social feature revealed by the ‘inclusion-exclusion’ spectrum — one that right-leaning folks are sure to dispute. I’m referring to the evident social truth that inclusive and cooperative societies actually deserve the moniker ‘civilization’ while exclusive, ‘power over,’ and White-centric societies do NOT. A nation or society isn’t truly ‘civilized’ if it only provides huge benefits for a dominant minority, while many others are oppressed and left to struggle in the dust.

From this point of view, very few nations or societies are actually ‘civilized,’ and the current (awful) trend is for even less to remain that way. Right now, there’s a vast, horrifying groundswell of enthusiasm for non-inclusion, hate, and increased oppression of minorities, immigrants, and even women in general.

Witness the vicious and hateful new laws oppressing and punishing women who seek abortions in the U.S. Witness the vicious and hateful new laws oppressing and punishing transgender kids and their families, and seeking to force gay folks back into the closet. Witness Trump’s crazy (like a fox) promises to quickly round up and deport over ten million ‘illegals.’

It’s getting seriously c-r-a-z-y out there, folks, and not only is there no end in sight, the craziness is still growing and intensifying. And the bulk of this craziness consists of racist, misogynist, and violence-prone attitudes and behaviors that totally undermine the values of modern civilization as well as liberal democracy.

I hate to say it, but it’s largely true: most right-leaning folks, especially the far right, are dedicated enemies of democracy, freedom, and equality for all (though they SAY they’re for freedom and democracy). They do not have the best interests of our nation or many of our citizens at heart; rather, they are committed to supremacy and advantages for their own White race… and to hell with everyone else.

Lies, more lies… and lying about lying

Of course, in a supposed ‘democracy’ like ours you can’t come right out and promote these racist, anti-democratic ideas openly. You have to conceal them, to a large extent, and hide them behind racist ‘dog whistles,’ legal obfuscations, and clever partisan deceptions.

This means that much of what the right says, does, and promotes is built around lies and ongoing deception. As Al Franken expressed it in the title of his 2003 expose, the right relies on and promotes “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.” The political agendas of the right and far-right demand lying, deception, and maintaining a pretense of democracy.

At this ‘exclusion’ end of the spectrum, it’s clear that selfishness, anger, and greedy racism reign, and these amoral folks are OK with anything that furthers their ‘righteous’ cause — including constant lying, disinformation, and covert manipulation of the public. While folks on the left can certainly lie or manipulate, as well, I’d say most of this behavior is concentrated among the ‘exclusionists.’

And that’s not surprising — since they fundamentally don’t believe in the goals and aspirations of modern civilization OR liberal democracy. Nor do they believe, apparently, in the crucial importance of honesty, fairness, and equality in a ‘decent’ society. They want these things for and among Whites — but refuse to provide the same ‘social goods’ for many, many others.

This is UNcivilized, anti-democratic behavior, pure and simple — and needs to be recognized and called out as such.

We’re in for the fight of our lives

Here’s the bottom line, I think, for surviving these times with our sanity and dignity intact: we can’t give in to or enable all the racists and bullies. These folks operate on one ‘principle’ only, and that’s power (for them) and social domination.

Bullies always feed off their successes and grow stronger. The more nasty, antisocial BS we let them get away with, the more they’ll try to get away with.

If we want the basic, essential elements of modern civilization to survive, we have to challenge and beat back the racists and bullies on every front: morally, legally, and politically. And we can NOT knuckle under, appease, or enable them; nor can we reason with them — for they are generally not reasonable. It’s simply not possible to be ‘nice’ with these traitors to civilized behavior.

Those of us on the ‘inclusive’ end of the spectrum need to fully recognize: we are embroiled in a fierce battle for the future of civilization, humanity, and our entire planet. If we want any semblance of peace, equality, and democracy going forward, we must be willing to push back, hard, against the predations, lies, and hateful manipulations of the ‘exclusionists.’

If we want any semblance of a sane, caring society and an inclusive real civilization, we simply have to fight back with every verbal, legal, political, and non-violent cooperative means at our disposal.

The racists and bullies have already won many definitive social battles over the past decade — so at this point, there is no other ‘way out’ left but to actively resist and work together to STOP them.

Note: Please check out Walter Rhein’s fine article on a very similar subject, “My New Year’s Resolution Is to Confront All Lies That Are Presented as Truth.” Bravo, Walter!

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism

Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box

The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer

What We Talk About When We Talk About Men

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