I’m in an odd position about immigration / citizenship. So many people are illegally here already. And because they are illegally here, they are the new slave class. They work for very little money and have no protection against workplace dangers. And yet they stay – because it is better than where they came from. And if they speak up, they risk being sent back. So that tells me a lot about what they are trying to flee.
I do not ascribe to the NewSpeak of “undocumented people” or “refugee”. I call a spade a spade. If you are illegally in this country, you are an illegal immigrant. Changing the terms does not change the facts.
I’m opposed to anyone illegally here getting free anything – education, healthcare, etc. However – if they do, it is the fault of the government for giving it. It isn’t meaningful to demonize illegal immigrants for getting anything for free. The system needs to be fixed on the government side.
Also, the American government needs to stop:
giving money to other countries
going to war with other countries
We have enough problems here that need to be fixed.
Americans need to get over the idea that this is “our” country. We stole it from the people who were already here, and then committed genocide. That must be addressed and healed. We will not move forward until that wrong is corrected.
Our immigration laws are racist – Europeans invade an already-occupied land and colonize it. Then they make rules about who can and can’t come here – that are often skewed towards other Europeans and away from anyone who is not white.
It is as if someone invaded your home, kicked you out, and then changed the locks and only let their friends in.
If you focus on what is wrong with other people you don’t have to work on what is wrong with yourself.
And deep down, further back, it is the old “speck and plank” tale all over again.
And worse – it is a new form of cyberbullying.
There are very few people who make an effort to make their social media page a safe space to discuss ideas. All too often I have been dogpiled by friends of friends to the extent that I don’t feel safe discussing anything with them. So sometimes I bring the discussion over to my own page, where I know that my friends are civil and can discuss without being ugly.
This image is a case in point –
The idea of “we can agree to disagree” is the topic – but note the derogatory term from the lady on the right. The use of the word “bitch” immediately changes the conversation into something hostile.
I had two friends who consider themselves to be activists (both white) who grew very upset about this post, saying that my focusing on the language of the lady on the right is more concerning.
I said that “Change will not happen by insulting, silencing, or cancelling people.”
The one who had originally posted the image said “I think you’re missing the woods for the tree here. And I don’t appreciated being subposted on your timeline to make a point.”
She was trying to shame me to remove it, which I did. But I also unfriended and blocked her. The post was not her creation, nor did I tag her in it. It was not connected to her. So I don’t understand how she could be upset.
However, she proved my point. It is impossible to discuss anything of meaning these days.
Another former friend finally admitted that she had no desire to educate people who had less-progressive ideas. (Translation: agree with her.) Her activism consists of quickly and vigorously telling people they are wrong. She has no desire to change people’s hearts and minds or actually break down barriers. She just wants to be angry.
I was surprised how virulent their friends were towards me when I would ask a question about something she had posted on her page. But, that is her page, so her choice. I chose not to discuss anything on her page. But then she started arguing with my friends on my page and I asked her not to. She complied and limited her arguments to just me.
After a while it became interesting to note how quickly she would argue with anything controversial that I posted. Guaranteed within 10 minutes she would protest and tell me how wrong I was. She would rarely comment on anything else.
Please understand: I am for polite disagreement. I am not for arguing and being talked down to. I finally realized she had zero desire to educate – it was simply all about arguing and calling out. I feel that kind of activism is counter-productive. It can actually cause someone who was on the fence to become radical.
I have considered myself a liberal, but these days I’m not so sure. I’ve been attacked by liberals in their effort to be “woke”. And if you don’t use whatever the current New Speak term to talk about an issue, you are demonized.
Soon we will all be in echo chambers of our own creation, where we are surrounded by people who think just like we do. There will be no growth.
Imagine, instead, remaining friends with someone who thinks differently from you but is still open to conversation. You will continue to have a chance to influence them. But if you silence them, they will most likely become more racist or homophobic, or any other “-ist” or “-ic” you can think of.
It is a mark of maturity to be able to discuss topics from different viewpoints without insulting each other. Otherwise no one will ever develop informed and mature opinions. And it is also very likely that someone who might have been an ally could become an opponent from being badly treated.
Please note: I have not named anyone or given details about them. There is nothing to indicate who I am talking about. Demanding that I remove this post (this has happened to me before, so I’m not being paranoid) is censorship.
I was hoping to see something like this. The only way we will make things better is when each one of us stands up against bullies and we do what we know to be right. I have had relatives and managers who have used their charisma and power to try to get me to do things that were wrong, and it took a lot of energy to stand up to them. But going along with a bully (out of fear, out of concern for losing a job) is how Hitler rose to power, and how 45 is getting away with whatever he wants. It isn’t the “leaders” I blame – it is all the followers. The followers do what the leaders say without question. We all know that these are strange times, and we know things aren’t right. Complaining about it won’t fix it – and actually adds to the sense of helplessness and anxiety in your audience (your friends). What are you, as an individual, willing to do to throw a cog in the machine that threatens to stop us from being automatons? What concrete actions will you do to say “no” to bullies and “yes” to life?
For instance, there is a library policy that books that aren’t circulated in two years are culled from the stacks. They are sent to be sold, for pennies on the dollar. This is a huge waste of taxpayer’s money, and especially concerning when every year there was a budget crisis where employees weren’t sure they’d have a job. I protested this and was ignored. So I simply refused to do this task. The more of us who don’t participate in doing what we know to be wrong, the better.
I read a question from a lady on a friend’s post, trying to figure
out when a fetus was a person. To her
mind, the moment conception happens, there is now a person, fully protected by
law. Thus, to her, abortion is murder.
The current earliest cutoff date for abortion in some state’s
legislation is 6 weeks, which is the point when a fetal heartbeat is detected. This
is one and a half months.
One way of thinking about it is viability. Can the baby survive without medical
intervention?
The earliest a baby has survived outside the womb is 21
weeks and 5 days. This is just shy of 5 and a half months. However, babies at
that age need extreme medical intervention, which is very costly. Can the parents afford that? Will insurance
pay?
Interestingly, even babies born at 36 weeks (9 months) can
experience respiratory distress and need to be in NICU. They are often not able to survive on their
own and need intervention. The current “full
term” date for a child is 39 weeks.
So at what point is the child able to live without
assistance?
Should the fact that children need constant attention from
parents or guardians for many years be considered assistance? Children will not
survive for the first several years of their life without someone else
providing them food, shelter, and attention.
Children are not legally considered adults until a minimum
of 16, when they can get a driver’s license, 18 when they can vote, and 21 when
they can drink alcohol.
So at what point are they considered legally independent of
their parents? Parents are not legally responsible for their children’s actions
when they reach 18.
Consider the opposite end of the spectrum, where adults are
on life support due to accident or illness.
When do you cease life support? Are they “alive” if machines are doing
all the work?
Consider suicide, when people feel their life is not worth
living. Do they have the legal right to
kill themselves?
Consider social welfare assistance – food stamps, subsidized
housing – are these forms of “life support”?
At what point do you start to be human, and at what point do
you stop?
Georgia and Alabama have recently passed abortion laws that
are in violation of federal law.
Here are some points to consider –
Unplanned pregnancy can create poverty. This is why there are
so many food drives, baby supply drives, and school supply drives. Did you know
that in America in 2001, over half the pregnancies were unintended? And half of
those were from contraception that failed. (I’m sure there are more current
figures but I suspect they are similar.) I challenge all my pro-life friends to
propose a real solution.
On a related note: perhaps it is time for all women in
America (not just Georgia and Alabama) to stop having sex with men. I wonder
how long it will take for their partners to petition the government to provide
free, 100% effective, side-effect free contraception.
What we need is perfect contraception, where there are no
unintended pregnancies. That will solve this issue (and many others).
Abstinence isn’t something everyone is capable of.
When every anti-abortion person is willing to adopt every unintended baby, then I will know they are pro-life. But as it is, when they say they will kill a mother who has an abortion, they are not pro-life at all. They are for forcing women to have children that they know they are unprepared for. They are creating further poverty on every level – children who are unwanted, growing up in homes where there isn’t enough time or money to afford them.
A friend posted this image on social media recently, and while some of his friends understood the message, some decided to take it another direction.
Ed S. said “It wasn’t stolen they fought among themselves until a third player beat everyone…has happened before…pick up a book.”
My friend replied “A third party that steals is still stealing.”
Grant A. replied “Who can claim domain first? Different tribes utterly destroyed each other from the beginning of time, well into early American history. Should Mexicans give Mexico back to the Mayans, Aztecs, Toatecs and Omatecs? They are after all in all essence Spanish by decent for the most part. This is a question deeper than we will ever know. Who was here first originally and has the original claim?” and added “correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t early settlers/government call westward expansion imminent domain? I haven’t studied history concerning this since college.”
To which my friend replied “The thing about history is that it is written by the victors”
And here is my reply –
“I’ve heard this line of reasoning before. Is it a script? Because it doesn’t justify how we took their land and forced them onto reservations. Maybe deep down the fear of immigrants is rooted in karma – that they will do to whites what our predecessors did to the people who were living here. Maybe it is time to break the habit of history repeating itself. Maybe there is something in the message of Jesus feeding the masses, that if we give thanks to God for what we have, and share it with those in need, there will be more than enough. Maybe I’m an idealist, but so was Jesus. And he is worth following.”
I rarely talk about Trump. But I’m seeing a disturbing trend where people who say they follow God support him, even going so far as to say that he is “God’s anointed”. And that is completely illogical.
I have yet to understand how anyone can say that Trump was put in office by God. The Bible does not say that God is on the side of anyone who lies, cheats, steals, brags about sexually assaulting women, makes fun of people who are disabled, or any of the other travesties of morality that Trump happily and flagrantly exhibits. The man does not act in a Biblical manner in any way – the exact opposite, in fact. There is no translation of the Bible in any language that justifies his actions.
Perhaps people like him because they have secretly held the same opinions as him and they are now grateful someone is openly racist. That is their right. But for those same people to claim to follow Jesus is completely illogical. It is a sign that they are not following God, but something entirely different, and darker.
I feel like we have entered some bizarre opposite universe, where people say that black is white and that up is down.
I had thought to include verses here from the Gospels illustrating the need for caring for “the least of these”, of loving your neighbor as yourself, for showing kindness and compassion to people in need, but really, it would take too long because it would include the ENTIRE GOSPEL. Every single message from Jesus is completely opposite what Trump does.
I look at you, Jerry Springer and Joel Osteen – among many others, who have encouraged people to be proud of ignorance and baseness – to be self-centered instead of self-less, to be greedy.
But mostly, the ones who are to blame are those who have chosen to let their “leaders” tell them what to think, and have not read the Bible for themselves, have not measured their earthly leader’s actions against the way of life that Jesus taught. I pray for them, for our country, and for the world, that we may know the truth of God in our hearts, and live it every day.
Today is the day we honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Let me end with a quote from him –
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
My Dad had PTSD,
invisible war wounds
from a war
he never left home for
in fact, he had to
leave home
to leave the war.
He was a son of a veteran
who brought the war home
in his pockets,
in his perfectionism,
in his need for things to be
just so
and it never was,
because it never could be.
Gone were the days
of an innocent youth,
it never happened.
He was trained by an incompetent,
unwilling
drill sergeant,
masquerading as Dad.
He was living in an army
he never enlisted for,
was shanghaied
simply by virtue
of being born.
betsybeadhead 
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