I edited the piece Monday, 8/14/17, and then later that same day unpublished the piece. After reading some neo-Nazi websites (one was vile, vile) and the main Antifa website (which seems to be anti-to-most-everything-establishment), I realized that my scale for "alt-left" and "alt-right" didn't go far enough to the left or the right. (And I really question if the two extremes can be qualified as "left" and "right." Should "far-right" or "alt-right" really include Nazis? Should "far-left" or "alt-left" really include the black bloc-tactic anti-Fascists?)
(I am anti-Nazi and anti-Fascist. But I'm also anti-violent. I've asked myself if I'm a pacifist. I've answered, Probably not. I feel sure I'd defend myself/family/friend physically, if I could.)
After reading more in-depth, I felt like a foreigner in the sense that I'm a white, middle-class, latter baby boomer. I've never personally experienced gangs, mobs, physical violence (except one-on-one with one boyfriend), hunger (except by choice), homelessness, real oppression, combat, war, et al. I've never been driven to the extreme of violence. I've never even been to a physical protest.
My 8/13/17, Charlottesville, now-unpublished post felt so...quaint.
When travesties like Charlottesville happen (though I feel Charlottesville hit a new level in current times of white supremacy intimidation in the USA), I feel I need to do something. Something these days seems to be to post something on social media. But really, for me, that's not doing something. I don't have credentials. I don't have a following. I'm not famous, etc. My tweets and blog (which are my only social media) seldom get read.
I'm often a fence-sitter when it comes to politics. Others seem so confident in their opinions. I don't have that confidence. I doubt my opinions. And I usually feel I have only partial facts. Perhaps some would say that I'm a coward due to sitting on a fence. But I do vote, and I read about the candidates and issues before I vote. And I've written my elected officials a few times. And I've signed some petitions. And I've donated funds. But beyond that? I haven't done.
The little I do feels so...quaint.
As I'm writing this, I realize I have done something regarding Chatlottesville. I've read, endeavoring to better educate myself. Will I enter into dialog? Probably not much. It's too draining. If I weren't sick/disabled would I enter into more dialog? Perhaps.
The other something I've done is what I always do. I'm kind to my fellow humans and animals. I think about long term impact when making decisions. To the best of my ability, I endeavor to carry my load, and if I can, help another with their's. Isn't that doing something to spread a little peace? If enough folks spread a little peace, that makes a lot of peace.
Today I thought, Tonglen. That's something I can do. I can apply that to the violence of these extremes in our culture. Breathe in the suffering of others; breathe out compassion and peace. But isn't that like prayer? Does it have any real effect? It affects me, and that's real.
I've had a lot more thoughts. Probably too many.
Here's a link to a poem I wrote on 11/11/15: If I were invincible... The Paris terrorist attacks happened two days later, 11/13/15. My poem then felt so...quaint. But I didn't unpublish my poem.
~*~
Links to a few of the articles, and only a few, that I've read in the past couple days:
Following are some pony pics from 8/08/17 from Grayson Highlands.
Three sires gathered to debate their territories.
They never fought. But they were quite vocal and stompy. I loved witnessing the process.
If only more people would follow their examples.
After reading more in-depth, I felt like a foreigner in the sense that I'm a white, middle-class, latter baby boomer. I've never personally experienced gangs, mobs, physical violence (except one-on-one with one boyfriend), hunger (except by choice), homelessness, real oppression, combat, war, et al. I've never been driven to the extreme of violence. I've never even been to a physical protest.
My 8/13/17, Charlottesville, now-unpublished post felt so...quaint.
When travesties like Charlottesville happen (though I feel Charlottesville hit a new level in current times of white supremacy intimidation in the USA), I feel I need to do something. Something these days seems to be to post something on social media. But really, for me, that's not doing something. I don't have credentials. I don't have a following. I'm not famous, etc. My tweets and blog (which are my only social media) seldom get read.
I'm often a fence-sitter when it comes to politics. Others seem so confident in their opinions. I don't have that confidence. I doubt my opinions. And I usually feel I have only partial facts. Perhaps some would say that I'm a coward due to sitting on a fence. But I do vote, and I read about the candidates and issues before I vote. And I've written my elected officials a few times. And I've signed some petitions. And I've donated funds. But beyond that? I haven't done.
The little I do feels so...quaint.
As I'm writing this, I realize I have done something regarding Chatlottesville. I've read, endeavoring to better educate myself. Will I enter into dialog? Probably not much. It's too draining. If I weren't sick/disabled would I enter into more dialog? Perhaps.
The other something I've done is what I always do. I'm kind to my fellow humans and animals. I think about long term impact when making decisions. To the best of my ability, I endeavor to carry my load, and if I can, help another with their's. Isn't that doing something to spread a little peace? If enough folks spread a little peace, that makes a lot of peace.
Today I thought, Tonglen. That's something I can do. I can apply that to the violence of these extremes in our culture. Breathe in the suffering of others; breathe out compassion and peace. But isn't that like prayer? Does it have any real effect? It affects me, and that's real.
I've had a lot more thoughts. Probably too many.
Here's a link to a poem I wrote on 11/11/15: If I were invincible... The Paris terrorist attacks happened two days later, 11/13/15. My poem then felt so...quaint. But I didn't unpublish my poem.
~*~
Links to a few of the articles, and only a few, that I've read in the past couple days:
- Mother Jones, 1/26/2017: The Long History of “Nazi Punching”
- Newsweek, 2/14/2017: Inside the Black Bloc Protest Strategy that Shut Down Berkeley
- The Atlantic, 8/06/2017: The Rise of the Violent Left
- New York Times, 8/13/2017: What Trump Got Wrong on Charlottesville
Following are some pony pics from 8/08/17 from Grayson Highlands.
Three sires gathered to debate their territories.
They never fought. But they were quite vocal and stompy. I loved witnessing the process.
If only more people would follow their examples.
 |
| sires meet |
 |
| Fabio presides |
 |
| sires debate, vocal and animated |
 |
| meeting adjourned |
6 comments:
I am a liberal, so the white supremacist/Nazi/KKK/alt-right disgusts me at every level. That said, there is no place for violence from the groups protesting against these groups. When I saw people who hold to similar social views as mine wearing/carrying firearms, I thought, haven't you guys heard of Martin Luther King, Jr? Violence breeds never ending violence.
Like you I try to be kind, choosing not to be unkind/violent in my words and actions,
People could learn a lot from those ponies ...
SP
Yes.
I may at some point write a bit more or publish the unpublished piece again.The piece shows how naive I was re my initial thinking of what was taking place; ie: a protest about the statue removal and the protesters saying by removal the left is trying to rewrite history. There purpose was far beyond that.
I didn't state it above, but what shook me to my core was a cell phone video I saw that was taken on Friday night by a college-age young man. The video must have been taken early on. There were no counter-protester around, except these college-age kids, about 20(?) of them standing around a statue. The video showed the hundreds of tiki torches with white men chanting as they marched to the park (I guess that's where they were going).
The young man videoing would show the marchers and then turn the phone back and show he and his friends who were quietly standing around a statue...back and forth the camera went. He and his friends were holding a banner but I don't know what it said. The young man was imploring, "Where is everyone? [referring to counter-protesters) Where are y'all? Look at this! I can't believe this is happening in 2017 in the USA!" And tears began to roll down his cheeks. He was really scared.
Along with all the other stuff I'd read, thought about, compared, etc,. that video really got to me. And now I can't find the video. :/
I am still shaken by it all. It really triggered something in me. And maybe I'm as much shaken by my original naivety of the situation.
I saw that cell phone video early Monday morning. Later on Monday, my two adult children and I saw the movie Dunkirk. That pretty much book-ended the day.
Yes.
They do sometimes fight, but not to the death.
Carol, I enjoyed reading this post and the one from yesterday. I do the same thing--read commentaries from different perspectives. I flip back between Fox and CNN for a short time some days just to see if I can find the truth in the middle or somewhere friendlier to my own gut, moral beliefs, and thoughts. Your links look great. I will come back and read when time permits. The reporting on the vandalism in Durham was so peaceful and unquestioning that I thought the city council had voted to take the statue down; however, it didn't make sense for the group to demolish it. Then I found a very good video yesterday on youtube presented by the Durham City Council. The sheriff did the right thing in keeping a cool head. He said he didn't want anyone to get hurt, so that was why they made arrests later. On your point about the people dressed in all black, wearing black helmets, and bringing baseball bats, I agree. They came dressed and armed for what they intended. The media has almost entirely whitewashed their actions. This is wrong. One question: Who was that white murderer who ran over people? Was he in a white hate group. Everytime I turn on the news, no one ever says if he is a lone wolf or in one of the white-hate groups. Do you know?
Hey Denise!
Last Sunday, when I googled James Fields' name (he was the car murderer), there was a photo of him at the Charlottesville rally holding a shield from the white nationalist group Vanguard America (VA). He was wearing khaki pants and a white shirt, which (I later learned) is the 'uniform' of the VA. I also read something one of Fields' high school teachers shared, about Fields' enamour (my word) with Hitler. But, for me, the photo held more weight.
I had never heard of VA, so googled it.
VA has claimed that Fields is not a member of their group, but that VA was handing out (or selling, I can't recall) their paraphernalia at the Charlottesville rally. Thus just because someone displays their logo, that doesn't mean the person is a member. Technically Fields may not be a member but indoctrinally he is.
VA is run by an ex-Marine. His target recruits are youth, ages 18 to 24...which isn't surprising. It's a small group. But we know all groups start small.
Later Sunday and into Monday, I googled other white nationalists/supremacy groups, leaders of the groups, their histories, etc.And what I discovered shocked me. The white nationalists/supremacy sites reminded me of ISIS recruitment videos I watched and followed for awhile back in 2014 and 2015. My naive little brain hadn't realized just how serious this issue is in the US.
I searched my blog this morning and found a piece regarding my response to the ISIS recruitment propaganda that I first watched in 2014. ~http://tossandripple.blogspot.com/2014/12/checking-in.html
Reading it I'm struck that "Yes, my response last week re white nationalists/supremacy groups was almost identical to when I viewed the ISIS propaganda."
The difference I see when compared with the white nationalists/supremacy recruitment propaganda is that ISIS is more "professional." It's like glossy print whereas the supremacists are more like newsprint. Perhaps financial backing is part of the reason?
Re the articles I link in this blog post, I chose them because I found the history interesting. Re black bloc history, one of the articles (I can't recall which one) shares a quote from a black bloc leader from the past - that throwing a brick through shop windows lets out the oppression that lives behind those windows (or something like that). That answered part of my question as to 'why vandalize the property of innocent shop owners?' I guess too the vandalism is making a statement against capitalism. After reading at Antifa's website, they seem to be most anti-everything-establishment.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Peace to us all...
xo
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