To me it's either that or lots of debased, buried pain and denial, coupled with naive idealism based on broken, untenable values (the American Dream, upward mobility, the land of opportunity, the "greatest nation") that keeps people from seeing how we are all affected.
And to those who are privileged enough to just be able to look away, I am happy if you can do that, sincerely. I don't blame you for not being strong enough to digest the horrors some are currently living. The families being ripped apart. The violence. The poverty...
But shame on those who go a step further and try to trivialize those who take it seriously. "It's just politics."
I would love to have a world were all are united and live peacefully. And the key word there, and in the perception of those who think this way, is "all". For me, coming from a cult that marketed itself and all it's "brothers" and "sisters" as a spiritual Kingdom of God on Earth, a utopia, I know very well that a utopia is not real. Anyone who thinks this is a possibility is already delusional, and is selling something. It's cult mentality.
And yeah, we so need to try to maintain our positivity, and better ourselves, each of us. And take responsibility. But for some, that is literally finding the courage and self worth to speak up when flattened... And for others, that road is realizing when to speak up for others.
Not speaking out and not saying anything will not create that peaceful utopian world for the people who are being attacked. Not non-whites, not culturally oppressed and abused women, not the 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation immigrants of this country, not LGBQ people, not transgender people... Ignoring their problems in favor of your silence and misplaced pacifist idealism won't solve the issues for people who are hurt and discriminated against day in and day out.
Silent blindness doesn't bring paradise. Speaking up won't bring Armageddon. But the silence does nothing but fully alienate the people who are struggling the most from trying to find help.
So I think, yeah, we hold onto our beliefs, our party affiliations. We need to. But for goodness sake, reach out! This is what I am saying.
Reach out. Do it. And do it for help. For support and community, the intrinsic values we seem to have forgotten. If you need it, don't be afraid to say so. And if you can help those in need, reach out to them. Say something.
And ultimately realize your silence is just as political, just as much a use of your power, as any action you take to help. Except also know that it hurts. Not as bluntly as an outright attack, because the silence hurts marginally, bit by bit. The more who make a decision to look the other way, even though they see a wrong, the more power is loaned to those who willfully seek to harm.
"Political" means "power", not "drama". Politics only become a stage to those who already have the power to be free from the consequences of the struggle.
So if you have that power, please realize it.
This is me telling you: If you can do that, you are very powerful. Beyond what you know. You are carrying something greater than what I have.
To those who say you can't convince anyone of anything with words, keep in mind that on social media, here and on Facebook and on YouTube, most of what I have done since transitioning has been convincing people with words and from my first coming out video and forward. I haven't done meetups or events. I just write, and speak, and sometimes play guitar, and just live my life. And even though lately I am not as active, all the time I am told how I have changed this person's or that person's perspective... So why not use *your* voice, and use it to add to the change *you* want to see. Instead of tiptoing around doing what we know is right in favor of muted pandering. Because the quicker real reality gets here, whatever that may mean for any of us--whether as a whole or as groups of identities--the quicker we know all can just move forward.
And to those who are privileged enough to just be able to look away, I am happy if you can do that, sincerely. I don't blame you for not being strong enough to digest the horrors some are currently living. The families being ripped apart. The violence. The poverty...
But shame on those who go a step further and try to trivialize those who take it seriously. "It's just politics."I would love to have a world were all are united and live peacefully. And the key word there, and in the perception of those who think this way, is "all". For me, coming from a cult that marketed itself and all it's "brothers" and "sisters" as a spiritual Kingdom of God on Earth, a utopia, I know very well that a utopia is not real. Anyone who thinks this is a possibility is already delusional, and is selling something. It's cult mentality.
And yeah, we so need to try to maintain our positivity, and better ourselves, each of us. And take responsibility. But for some, that is literally finding the courage and self worth to speak up when flattened... And for others, that road is realizing when to speak up for others.
Not speaking out and not saying anything will not create that peaceful utopian world for the people who are being attacked. Not non-whites, not culturally oppressed and abused women, not the 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation immigrants of this country, not LGBQ people, not transgender people... Ignoring their problems in favor of your silence and misplaced pacifist idealism won't solve the issues for people who are hurt and discriminated against day in and day out.
Silent blindness doesn't bring paradise. Speaking up won't bring Armageddon. But the silence does nothing but fully alienate the people who are struggling the most from trying to find help.
So I think, yeah, we hold onto our beliefs, our party affiliations. We need to. But for goodness sake, reach out! This is what I am saying.
Reach out. Do it. And do it for help. For support and community, the intrinsic values we seem to have forgotten. If you need it, don't be afraid to say so. And if you can help those in need, reach out to them. Say something.
And ultimately realize your silence is just as political, just as much a use of your power, as any action you take to help. Except also know that it hurts. Not as bluntly as an outright attack, because the silence hurts marginally, bit by bit. The more who make a decision to look the other way, even though they see a wrong, the more power is loaned to those who willfully seek to harm.
"Political" means "power", not "drama". Politics only become a stage to those who already have the power to be free from the consequences of the struggle.
So if you have that power, please realize it.
This is me telling you: If you can do that, you are very powerful. Beyond what you know. You are carrying something greater than what I have.
To those who say you can't convince anyone of anything with words, keep in mind that on social media, here and on Facebook and on YouTube, most of what I have done since transitioning has been convincing people with words and from my first coming out video and forward. I haven't done meetups or events. I just write, and speak, and sometimes play guitar, and just live my life. And even though lately I am not as active, all the time I am told how I have changed this person's or that person's perspective... So why not use *your* voice, and use it to add to the change *you* want to see. Instead of tiptoing around doing what we know is right in favor of muted pandering. Because the quicker real reality gets here, whatever that may mean for any of us--whether as a whole or as groups of identities--the quicker we know all can just move forward.