(Raw, Real and Uncut)
We are living in this newly founded time, this time of the outcry, of the call to arms, the era of the ‘share button’. Where we, as a country or moreover as an institution, have manifested this world where we can be outraged, and we can be heard and thus ‘active’ (either for, or against a cause) without actually doing anything about it. And I mean ANYTHING. But day in and day out, we find a way to feed our own egos just enough, and help ourselves to feel like we have in all actuality, done something about it.
We are sharing our anger and our frustration amongst a group of individuals whom have been chosen to read our rants. This based on a social media algorithm that we, so blindly I might add, have just accepted as our fate. We take our stance and we share it to the masses, across the world, for all to see. However, we are in fact, sharing our views only amongst our equals. Most of whom we know, or have maybe grown up with, or even worked with. Met here or there, on occasion shared a meal, an evening out, or are connected by or linked to, other similar parties. All of whom, unfortunately, are beyond privileged. It is a bubble my friends, it is not the cosmos that we believe it to be.
We kick and scream and share posts until we are blue in the face and again, we get nowhere. Sadly enough a lot of us actually think that in posting or re-tweeting or sharing what groups like ‘The Other 98%’s’ post, that we are doing the world a service.
I hate to tell you sweetheart,
But we are not.
Now let me just take a moment here to be perfectly clear. There are in fact a TON of warriors who ARE making an impact, and a large number are making this impact, just by sharing. Some of whom I have had the pleasure of meeting, of conversing with, of working alongside. And in this here rant of mine, I am not saying that there is no space for sharing, on the contrary. I am saying that, the power behind sharing, sharing the right information that is; can and in fact form, begin and ‘fight’ a revolution.
The revolution.
What I am really here to say, which may seem lost in all this verbiage, is that we are all WAY too comfortable in our own privilege. You know, that same privilege we turn around and call others out for having and being guilty of and suffering from? We have become victims of our own hypocrisy. For example: We are hell bent on celebrating, or placing a limit on the time we have left until this hyena is out of office. We talk about how ‘we have two more years of this’ and ‘omg it’s only halfway over’ and ‘how can we survive another two years?’ Well let me tell you something. This here hyena has a hell of a lot of supporters still rallying around him. Getting him out of office is going to take a lot more work than just bitching and moaning about him and his actions, or lack their of, on Social Media. We are two and a half years out of a Presidential Election and there is not one single Democratic Candidate on any bill. In any conversation.
Yep.
That’s right.
Not one.
So Who the hell are we voting this hyena out of office with???
Again, this is where that whole idea of privilege comes in. Just because your 1,000+ followers on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter agree with you and your outcries, does not mean the whole country does. Remember, he was in fact elected president and elected by millions I might add. Remember earlier when I discussed the majority of us and our blind following of that damn algorithm? Well that is where in lies the real problem. That is why we all believe that anyone else is a shoe-in to win. When in fact they are not.
We are being packed into these little boxes, by computers and their programs and their programmERs, and are then connected to and by, fellow comrades and believers. We are being tricked into thinking that those outcries are being heard by anyone else other than our homie from Bonnaroo. More importantly we believe that these outcries of ours are, well, important.
But wait, how can that be?
I mean..
All of our friends agree.
We’ve deleted all the people who don’t.
There seriously can’t be that many people still supporting him??
Your ego has yet again, been stroked.
See the thing is, in real life, we can’t just go and delete the people who don’t agree with us. We can’t just ignore them in hopes that our side, is the right side, and will well, win. We have to actually do something about those individuals who don’t agree with us, with our view of humanity. We have to actually come out from behind our keyboards and get the blood moving. We have to take a walk and get outside and have a conversation, a real conversation, one with actual spoken words in it. We have to take a literal stand. And we have to back our stance with real hard facts, data, information and persistence.
Listen, I get it. It’s not easy. It takes time and effort and we all have full time jobs. (Well most of us do anyway.) I’m not siting here asking you to quit your day job and join the cause, I’m just asking you to actually JOIN a Cause. I’m asking you to make some phone calls, to send some emails, to gather signatures, to rally, to show up, and to keep showing up. To show up again and again and again until it fucking hurts. Because these other guys, they don’t have to fight as hard as we do. They have a lot more to loose and although I hate to admit it, they’re already in it. Swimming in the scent of being better than the next guy. They have spent years preparing for this, to have the opportunity to point a finger at the ‘lesser’ individual, the so called pond scum that they’ve been raised to fear and loathe. Now they can comfortably sit back and call out ‘fake news’ against anything they hear and don’t agree with. They can make up words and information and act like they were here first. They can act like their ancestors weren’t a part of the raping and pillaging of the true and original inhabitants of this land. They can blame immigrants for stealing the jobs that they didn’t even have the energy to get off the couch to try and get for themselves. They can bathe in your anger and feed their own egos with how high and mighty you act by having an education higher than theirs. And just like the media has taught them, they can and will say anything just to further piss you off.
Im not trying to come off like I am better than anyone or that I think I know all, or that I even know close to much honestly. Everything I do know though is based on countless hours of work and research and do-diligence. So I can at least stand behind said statements. I’m not writing this to make you all feel like shit, or to seem holier than thou. If that’s how you feel, well that’s on you. And I don’t want anyone to feel like I think any less of them because you’re not out here on the streets marching alongside me. I know I’m not the average. And in all honesty, I really just can’t help but fight the cause. Each cause. Every cause. It’s just something I was born with, the fire and the heat, brewing inside of me and ignoring it gets none of us anywhere. The issue I’m having is that we have a VERY long road ahead of us. One that is not paved with a sure-fire defeat. We have A TON of work to do and we have VERY LITTLE time and people involved who are actually ready, willing and able to do it.
I know that this is true because when my own list of over a thousand so called friends on Facebook, most of whom believe in the cause at hand, who cannot fathom the idea of splitting up families, detaining children. These individuals who again have been placed in my on-line realm due to similarities in algorithms. When these ‘friends’ were asked outright, who was ready to show up, to respond to the call of duty..
Four of them actually did.
Four.
Now what’s interesting to me is even before I was able to get worked up on the subject, before my own frustration had a chance to take physical form, my Facebook feed was FLOODED with despair, disappointment and outrage. But yet only four individuals stood up to the very small challenge of making calls, sending emails, of sharing legit information on a platform they were already sharing on.
And I’m sorry but four people, out of on thousand plus ‘friends’ on Facebook just isn’t enough.
The last thing I want is to make anyone feel bad. We all feel bad enough. I’m just asking that we all take a long, hard look at our actions. That we truly dive deep into ourselves, and we really think about how much time, energy and effort we are giving towards the causes we so outwardly believe in and ‘stand’ up for. And I ask of you to honestly tell me if you think that it’s enough.
I’d like to think that each and every one of us would find that we can all do a lot better. I can do a lot better. You can do a lot better. This country can do a lot better. Because if we don’t. All that we know and love about this country will not be the place our children get to grow up in.
It’s time we take a stand.
I pray that you all agree.