This is a guest post on Jeremy’s weekly column. The opinions are those of the guest writer and not those of The Good Men Project and not necessarily of the columnist.
By Guest
Half of our country is having a collective post-election freak out and the other half is wondering if we’ve all lost our damn minds.
I get that. You see an election with a winner and a loser. And yes, politics is ugly. Not everyone gets the result they want. You’re looking at us with a mixture of confusion and concern. Trepidation. Wondering what happened to the pleasant person you exchanged niceties with. You’re not sure what to make of us.
This is what you make of us:
We’re mad.
We’re furious.
We’re seething.
And that’s ok. It might make you uncomfortable, and that’s ok too. Get used to that feeling. Right now our country is not in a comfortable place.
You know why we’re mad, right?
It’s not because “our side” lost the election. Our anger has nothing to do with any “side.” Our anger is bipartisan, of no particular party. It is not based on allegiance.
We’re mad because America elected a man who is on record as bragging about sexually assaulting women, a man who has insulted women publicly, a man who spent eight years on what has been referred to as a racist witch hunt for a certificate of birth, a man who stoked the anger of rabid fans at his rallies, who has been accused of encouraging violence at his rallies, who encouraged and promoted anger at the journalists covering his rallies, who threatened to violate our First Amendment by suing the press, who has said he would require an entire religious group to register—harkening back to the days of yellow stars and ethnic cleansing, who has said he’d round up and deport 2-3 million undocumented workers, who called Mexicans rapists and murderers, who is reported of having troubling ties to Russia, who has praised the dangerous and fascist methods of Vladimir Putin, who has “hoped Russian intelligence services had successfully hacked Hillary Clinton’s email,” and encouraged them to publish whatever they may have stolen, a man whose every word seems to emulate the most vile, demagogic leaders our world has seen, who has encouraged more nukes in more countries, who lacked knowledge on how the Nuclear Triad worked, how NATO works and the most basic information on international affairs that any candidate should know before even entering the race, a man who has business interests that conflict with holding the office of POTUS, a man who has flirted with the growing white supremacist movement via tweets and dog whistles throughout his entire campaign, who appoints an alleged white nationalist/white supremacist to Chief White House Counsel, who appoints a notorious racist to Director of the NSA, a man who, according to historians and experts and respected international figures, appears to be following the fascist playbook step by step.
Our country of flag waving, freedom loving patriots just elected a man who has promised to do things that fly in the face of democracy, who represents everything our country has always stood against. A man who pimped out fear and suspicion, and the home of the brave bought it with a fist full of dollar bills.
So yeah, we’re pissed.
And that’s a good thing. Because you know what we do when we’re angry?
We fight.
We’ve always fought.
We are the survivors of sexual assault, we are the minorities who’ve had to fight everyday against prejudice and being treated as less than, we are the LGBTQ youth who had to live life in the closet or face rejection and violence, we are the people who are called terrorists because of our religion, we are the thugs and the fags and the bitches and sluts.
And we know how to fight.
We’ve fought our whole lives. We’ve fought to be able to smile easily when our souls have been damaged, we’ve fought to not appear angry in a world that views our anger as caricature, we’ve fought to blend in, we’ve fought to feel safe when the world has shown us that it can be anything but.
We’ve fought our whole lives. And we are joined by others who have always fought for what’s moral and right. There’s a whole army of your fellow citizens who are fighting.
We are fighting to not allow white supremacy to take over our country.
We are fighting the complacency and apathy that is slowly allowing hate and racism to feel normal.
Fighting to not go backwards to an uglier time.
Fighting to keep this beautiful, flawed, fragile democracy intact.
We won’t stop fighting after Inauguration Day. We won’t stop fighting in six months or a year. We will be vigilant and loud and angry.
Yes,we will be angry. We will make you uncomfortable. We won’t go away and we won’t be polite or nice all the time. Niceness is a luxury and right now we can’t afford to worry about tempering our fury or watering it down for your consumption.
We won’t go down in history as the generation who allowed fascism to happen while we stared at our phones in numb indifference.
We will be known as the generation that beat back a racist regime.
We will be known as the generation who came together across policy lines and communities to collectively fight against hate.
We will not lie down and watch our brothers and sisters be rounded up or registered. We will not languish in apathy while normalization of atrocities and hate and racism seeps into our pliable and absorbent minds.
You don’t want to think about this, but you have to. You’re uneasy too. You know this isn’t normal. You know this is dangerous territory. You’re uneasy, you just haven’t named it yet.
The revolution will be not be televised. It won’t be on the 24 hour news channels. But it will be written about. It will be online. And it will be on the ground.
And we need you. We are asking for everyone to come together. We don’t need to know who you voted for. This isn’t about blame or redemption or regret. If you don’t like what you’re seeing, if you don’t want white supremacy to govern from the White House, if you don’t agree with racists in positions of power, if you are troubled by what’s happening, join us. Show up and stand up.
We will fight for you too, even if you treat us with scorn or blow off our concerns. Even if you continue to question our anger or try to silence us. We aren’t fighting for a party or a side. We’re fighting for all of us.
While the Alt-Right white supremacists raise their hands in Nazi salutes in celebration of the incoming administration, we are raising our fists to show solidarity for our brothers and sisters. We are reminding the masses that there’s enough to go around—that there is no cap on opportunity, that one person’s equality does not equal your oppression—and that taking away the rights of others won’t lead to prosperity or peace. It never has.
It. Never. Has.
Join us.
Shake off your comfort. That blanket won’t keep you warm for long. Eventually these things we are angry about? They will come knocking on your door. That’s how these things work. We know this because history is littered with the shards of societies who let it happen. Get uncomfortable. Get angry.
Join us.
Say NO to bigotry. Say NO to hate. State your opposition to allowing racism access to the West Wing. Become an active citizen. Contact your representatives and do it frequently.
Join us.
It truly is time for us to come together.
◊♦◊
Photo: Unsplash
I’m a progressive, and I am happy the Clintons got kicked to the curb, finally. I’m not happy Trump won, but I am very happy she lost. You can speak for yourself…but that’s it. You certainly don’t speak for me. And your rage is childish, and not an act of social justice love at all. Before you can be a Social Justice Warrior, you’ve got to be a warrior. And before you can be a warrior, you’ve got to be a man – or a woman – not a child in an adult body. There are plenty of useful examples:… Read more »
Another reasonable progressive. Thank you. It gives me hope that we may be able to move forward. I would have liked a woman president this time. But never Clinton. I’m not a fan of trump but if this is what it takes to move forward then so be it. What I Don’t want to see is the European-ization of the US. I think it absolutely wrong. They don’t even like themselves right now. Look at where they’ve been the last 20 years. It’s a mess. Worst Healthcare, yet all have access. But the quality run by bureaucrats is awful. Not… Read more »
Seems to me like hateful and bigoted identity politics already lost along with Hillary. What you are seeing now is the wailing and gnashing of teeth of those that lost.
Point taken about language. I’m just so angry about the one sided myopic viewpoints. I’ve divested myself of most Facebook. Conservative sites as well as liberal because all of it is fighting and patting each other on the back for shared beliefs.
While I found the article to be very passionate – and found myself agreeing with the idea that “All of Us” will join together to fight the evils of the World, be it economic, racial, political, sexual, etc. by the time I finished reading the article it was obvious that some of the same tactics the writer accuses others of, he/she is doing themself. (Stating opinions of others as FACT, appealing to the fear in others to instill action, and in my opinion, not truly fighting for “All of Us”) I guess somewhere along the way I question if the… Read more »
Thank you sparkie. A liberal voice of reason in this wilderness. 95 million people out of work. Yet the government touts lowest unemployment. All good!! . They didn’t count them nor the transfer payments. They’re the forgotten. Try something else for Pete’s sake?!
What an excellent article! I will be right there fighting too. I cannot stomach having a conman, a fraud, a white supremacist, a sexist, racist, ignorant man in the White House. The people he has surrounded himself with – supremacists, homophobes, xenophobes and on and on give me great concern for the nation. The plans his party has for privatizing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and dismantling the Affordable Care Act which has extended coverage to 20 million more people; the denial of climate change, the filling of top positions by billionaire Wall Street people whose plans include sticking it to… Read more »
What. The playbook of despots written by Saul Alinsky? . God I was hoping at least some conservative would wake up, read his books and reuse the same tactics the left has followed for years.
No the conservatives have been using the tactics of Karl Rove and Lee Atwater.
You have no idea what the plans are John. You’re not in the inner circle. It’s you’re opinion at best. Be honest at least about that.
Mark, Paul Ryan has made his plans clear. And so have other Republican Congressional leaders and the people Trump has chosen. Check it out.
If there is anyone that’s a party of hate, it’s the Democrats. Jill Stein. No dog in that fight. How much was she paid by sorts and the Clinton Foundation? . Trust me. It was alot. I will never ever consider the green party again. I considered them. But no longer. I did vote Democratic at times. Never ever again. I know your party for what it is. It is ugly and hateful and spiteful. Full of vicious and nasty people. #neverHillary – evercomingbackagain.
No it is the Republicans that has been the party of hate for the last 36 year and they are even more nasty, hateful, spiteful, and more ugly than ever before especially when they have purged their party of even moderate Republicans.
Double yawn.
Triple yawn.
Start by using facts instead of opinion. Dept of Labor announced today that labor participation was stuck at 62.7%,a continuous 40 year low. 95 million have opted out of the workforce because they can’t find matching skills set jobs. So they rely mainly on government to survive. Jesus h do you guys not see what’s fucking happened???? . You can’t blame it on Bush. You’re attempting to pin it on Republicans, but for Pete’s sake, 40 years????? . This just simply isn’t working. Period. I asked you specifically if you were advocating civil war gggg. I note you never responded.… Read more »
If 95 million American workers are out of work it is because the wealthy people and corporations have totally dis-invested themselves from the country for the last 36 years. In addition, the state and federal governments have been underfunding college/vocational education for years and don’t have an educational policy like Germany, France, Taiwan, Finland, etc. You are one that is ranting and giving opinions about how bad liberalism and progressivism has destroyed this country when it is has been conservatism that has been doing it. Republican Party has been backing up corporations for years and you can’t see it with… Read more »
Republicans are NOT advocating war. Look at the author writings. Look at the responses. I will FIGHT. they say. Man there is some serious weird views going down here. But I guess to you they’re all on this side of the aisle. If we were to take half the country and say OK, libs go here, cons here, I really wonder which side would prosper. Probably be a cool observation of it all.
One point. I have NEVER blamed Obama for it all. There is plenty he has done that has not contributed. But I have never blamed him for being the sole contributor to this sorry mess. Actually, if anyone is to blame, it’s us. Liberals, conservatives alike. Us. The people.
Well, I have to agree with you that it is everyone’s fault although I blame the conservatives more for creating the mess. If the liberals for example, were more organized and discipline like the Republican Party, they would be a political force to be reckoned like the liberal, socialist, and progressive parties are in Europe. If the conservative were not such knuckle-heads in hating government so much and doing everything to destroy it, alot of them would not be worrying about having their retirement military benefits being cut or denied and not getting an increase in COLA in their Social… Read more »
What the author is saying that he will be fighting hard for economic, social, and political reforms. He did not say anything about starting a violent revolution; although I have to point out to you that America did start a physical revolution against the British Crown.
The cons would lose when it comes to propensity. Look at what has happened to Kansas and Wisconsin when those Republican governors instituted the no government involvement cut taxes for wealthy people and business, etc. The Laissez-faire has not work, never has, and never will.
You will not fight for us. Up to this point you called us deplorable. Up to this point you derided and demeaned us. Up to this point you made fun of us. Forget it Jeremy. You’re calling for a war. You know it as well as I. And us. Tired of your lies. # neverHillary – evercoming backagain.
You are the ones that call us deplorable, deride us, made fun of us and demeaned us through the use of the corporation controlled press especially Fox News and have been calling for a war
Yawn.
Double Yawn.