You express my sentiments perfectly and perhaps better than I'm capable of. My parents were Kennedy Democrats and I saw my father changing a bit when he voted for Reagan. Of course my four liberal sisters (now extreme and angry leftists) began to paint him into the same "you're a racist" box that I see happening today and that happened t…
You express my sentiments perfectly and perhaps better than I'm capable of. My parents were Kennedy Democrats and I saw my father changing a bit when he voted for Reagan. Of course my four liberal sisters (now extreme and angry leftists) began to paint him into the same "you're a racist" box that I see happening today and that happened to me when I dared to challenge the cult playbook. I was a special education teacher for 13 years and then a Chicago Public Defender for the next 30 years and worked feverishly to help all of my diverse student and client populations. I voted Democrat 90% of the time, voted for Obama twice, but began to speak out against him and the Party when they began to manufacture narratives, practice cancel culture tactics, and support attacks on free speech. Thereafter, neither my voting record nor my life's work would prevent my own blood from slandering me as (surprise surprise) a "racist," when I dared to stray from the Party playbook. Yes, cancel culture had come for me in the cruelest way but rather than silence me as intended, this event only served to further motivate me to continue speaking out against these hateful, destructive and divisive forces. God Bless All Americans.
James, I'm terribly sorry that your family members were infected by Trump Derangement Syndrome, a virus more virulent than covid. Given your numerous bona fides, your literal life's work, how absurd that you should be mischaracterized as a racist. The loss of critical thinking skills is a classic symptom of TDS. It has infected my family too, and it makes me despair. But so far, somehow, I've managed to evade their impulse to cancel me outright. They have all the symptoms: monocultural media ingestion, which makes people fat while depriving them of nutrition; robotic shrieking of "dangerous misinformation!" and "white supremacy!"; and a vociferous insistence on demonizing the entire MAGA-hat wearing half of the population of the United States.
Thankfully, during the campaign to cancel Joe Rogan (who, much to my family's shock and horror, I was actually familiar with), I was able to orchestrate a detente around the principle of free speech, by reminding them that forty years ago they supported the First Amendment when we Jews realized that we had to let the nazis march in Skokie, Illinois even though we don't like nazis. Whew. That was close.
James, I don't mean to be snide. This is how I release some of my frustration and sadness. I too voted for Obama twice and had never voted for a Republican until this last election. I left the Left gradually after Trump's election, when the liberal media that I once trusted, specifically the NY Times and NPR, decided to eschew free speech in favor of partisan rhetoric, including but not limited to the denial of the human sexual binary.
I applaud you for sticking to your principles. Granted, it's hard not to, once your eyes are opened. But isolation from the people you love most, because they're too ideologically captured to think clearly, is tragic and frustrating as hell. Hateful, destructive and divisive forces indeed.
I'm not a religious person, but I resonate with the underlying sentiment:
You express my sentiments perfectly and perhaps better than I'm capable of. My parents were Kennedy Democrats and I saw my father changing a bit when he voted for Reagan. Of course my four liberal sisters (now extreme and angry leftists) began to paint him into the same "you're a racist" box that I see happening today and that happened to me when I dared to challenge the cult playbook. I was a special education teacher for 13 years and then a Chicago Public Defender for the next 30 years and worked feverishly to help all of my diverse student and client populations. I voted Democrat 90% of the time, voted for Obama twice, but began to speak out against him and the Party when they began to manufacture narratives, practice cancel culture tactics, and support attacks on free speech. Thereafter, neither my voting record nor my life's work would prevent my own blood from slandering me as (surprise surprise) a "racist," when I dared to stray from the Party playbook. Yes, cancel culture had come for me in the cruelest way but rather than silence me as intended, this event only served to further motivate me to continue speaking out against these hateful, destructive and divisive forces. God Bless All Americans.
James, I'm terribly sorry that your family members were infected by Trump Derangement Syndrome, a virus more virulent than covid. Given your numerous bona fides, your literal life's work, how absurd that you should be mischaracterized as a racist. The loss of critical thinking skills is a classic symptom of TDS. It has infected my family too, and it makes me despair. But so far, somehow, I've managed to evade their impulse to cancel me outright. They have all the symptoms: monocultural media ingestion, which makes people fat while depriving them of nutrition; robotic shrieking of "dangerous misinformation!" and "white supremacy!"; and a vociferous insistence on demonizing the entire MAGA-hat wearing half of the population of the United States.
Thankfully, during the campaign to cancel Joe Rogan (who, much to my family's shock and horror, I was actually familiar with), I was able to orchestrate a detente around the principle of free speech, by reminding them that forty years ago they supported the First Amendment when we Jews realized that we had to let the nazis march in Skokie, Illinois even though we don't like nazis. Whew. That was close.
James, I don't mean to be snide. This is how I release some of my frustration and sadness. I too voted for Obama twice and had never voted for a Republican until this last election. I left the Left gradually after Trump's election, when the liberal media that I once trusted, specifically the NY Times and NPR, decided to eschew free speech in favor of partisan rhetoric, including but not limited to the denial of the human sexual binary.
I applaud you for sticking to your principles. Granted, it's hard not to, once your eyes are opened. But isolation from the people you love most, because they're too ideologically captured to think clearly, is tragic and frustrating as hell. Hateful, destructive and divisive forces indeed.
I'm not a religious person, but I resonate with the underlying sentiment:
God Bless All Americans.