I’m down for one more post about labels and why, while I hate them, they are necessary. I guess. The “I guess” is for the last part, because I’m not sure they are necessary. Or rather, I know we have to have them in general, but do we need to use them to the extent we do? I’m honestly not sure. That’s what I want to explore in this post. I’m frustrated with, well, everything right now. The state of the world is shitty. I mean, that’s a given at any time, really, but there are times that are worse than others. This is most definitely one of those times. Here is my post from yesterday in which I mostly talk about how I don’t fit in with society. How that’s related to labels you’ll just have to wait and see.
I check the news one or two times a day, and it’s always grim. At least in the States. Every bit of news is more depressing than the last, especially for certain demos to which I belong. It’s just bleak and bleaker with no hope of relief. Sure, there are brief rays of light like when Noem got canned, but the person who’s going to replace her isn’t any better. Maybe less of an an attention-seeker, but that’s not necessarily better.
It’s hard. I don’t necessarily want competent people in these positions because then they can do more damage, but the incompetent people do a ton of damage as well. I guess it’s just what kind of damage I want them to do (ideally, none, but that’s not going to happen).
It’s just really depressing that we have regressed so much in the last year. It’s only been a year and a bit! But even more depressing that more than half of the people who voted actually voted for this hellscape. they can tell themselves any lies they want, but they did this. No, I’m not accepting the bullshit we all caused this to happen. My brother tried to pull that on me. “This is what we voted for.” No. Hell to the fuck no. I did not vote for this. I have voted against this kind of thing ever since I could first vote. I have consistently voted agains this kind of thing. I don’t accept any responsibility, and it’s this kind of false equivalence that we need to stomp out.
Do Dems need to do better in recruiting for our side? Yes. Do we need to make our message fresh and relevant? Also yes. Do we need to crunch our message down into easy to understand bite sizes? Very much yes. But what we do not need to do is accept blame for something that is not our fault. I did NOT get this guy elected. I reject that will my whole body, heart, and soul.
Given all the things I said above, it is not my fault if the people who voted for this asshole got fooled. One thing I will give this president credit for is that he says whatever is on his mind at any given time. So you know what he’s thinking at all times. Whether that helps in the long term or not , I don’t know. Another thing you know–he will never ever keep his word. Yes, those two things are somewhat contradictory, but they are both true. And if you had half a brain, you knew he would screw you over. This is the most consistent thing about this president. He. Will. Screw. You. Over. I should have put that first, but here we are.
All those people who voted for him who are now whining about how gas prices are so hiiiiiigh; that they can’t buy a PS5 because of tariffs; wah, wah, wah. What the fuck did you think would happen? Seriously. Even if you believed what he said about tariffs, how the hell did you think him jacking them up was going to result in you paying less for the goods you wanted to buy? I mean, the president threatens to hike up taxes, and you think the other countries will not pass that increase onto the consumer? When in the fuck of all history has that ever happened?
So, the cold and furious small corner of my heart is meanly glad whenever they bitch and complain by being hurt by whatever this president has most recently done. THEY voted for him, so they should be the ones most affected by his policies. No, that’s not how it works in the real world, I know. But it should. And I will feel that vicious stab of pleased vindication when they get hurt by him.
Oh, you were affected by the shitty policies you voted for? That’s called reaping what you sowed. It’s also called dealing with the consequences of your action, jerk!
I am a little freaked out at how I feel no compassion when I hear/read these stories. Decades ago, I wrote a performance piece about how I was very compassionate–until my bowl ran empty. I needed to refill it, or it would just keep getting depleted. At a certain point, I have completely run out of compassion for people on the far right. They don’t have an ounce of compassion for people like me. Indeed, they don’t even consider us human. America naturally skews very right (they own nearly everything), so it’s always people on the left being asked to compromise, bend, and think of the children.
Fuck that shit. Fuck that noise. Fuck everything.
*opens mouth*
*closes mouth*
Ahem.
I’ve talked a lot about gender identity, and here’s the sad, cold truth. I’m about twenty years in the future–as I often am–if we even survive our current times. No. That’s not the cold and sad truth. I am going to die before gender diversity is not considered deviant, a sin, and/or subhuman. This was the case for being queer until…well, it never went completely away, of course, but it became somewhat more acceptable about ten years ago.
Now, however, we are back where we started and regressing rapidly. Same with sexism and racism. It kills me that Gen Z and younger people have less rights than I did in my twenties. When Roe v. Wade was repealed, I said out loud, “I did not come back from the dead just so my brother’s kids could have less civil rights than I did at their age!” I was furious, and I remain so.
I do not know how I got from labels to that, but whatever. I’ll leave it at that for now.