Welcome to 1984. Trump is more dystopian than Orwell.

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Three different Orwell experts find massive and unmistakable parallels between the Trump administration and the dystopian nightmare of 1984.

This part quoted below struck me the most because so many of us cried out about lies, fake morality, and deception during the Bush administration, but there were never any social or political consequences. So of course the post-truth war on the reality-based community has continued and intensified.

But this new world has been a while coming. Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts” were foreshadowed by the George W Bush adviser who said in 2002 that the new American empire was “creating [its] own reality”. As in the 1930s, war has been at the heart of the corrosion of trust in politicians. The lies over Iraq and the quagmire of Afghanistan were followed by the financial crash of 2008, and bankers’ bonuses – making people far more willing to disbelieve the remote metropolitan media and be drawn to the false dawn promised by Trump.

Read more in The Guardian today:  Welcome to dystopia – George Orwell experts on Donald Trump.

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“Mother of Exiles”

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The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus

Photo: First Lady Nancy Reagan waves from the Statue of Liberty after she re opened the structure on its 100th birthday, 1986.

Same as it ever was

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16 years ago today I was wearing warm sturdy shoes I had bought the night before with a friend just for the occasion, and was being harassed in the streets of DC confused, scared, and angry with my fellow young-ish people in hoodies. Today I appreciated being able to watch these live videos from Black Lives Matter of the movement continuing. (Embedded below.)

Although I think everything about Trumpism is more dangerous to humanity and to the planet than the craven, corrupt, cynically ideological, and illegal Bush administration was, this is definitely a continuation of the many strategies popularized then, especially by Karl Rove who knew he didn’t even have to bother trying to listen to or govern the “reality-based community.”

I am truly happy to see how many millions of people are now mobilized against Republicans’ agenda of ignorance and fear. But I am also feeling really melancholy about how much it takes to get people to WAKE UP. If this many people had been marching with us 16 years ago, we might have limited their disastrous policies and maybe never even been attacked on 9/11. We would not have been sending troops to protect US oil interests, destabilize governments, destroy infrastructure, and give people reasons to hate us. We might not be dealing with ISIS today.

Once again those of us that are dismissed as “hippies” when we try to prevent violence and militarism were right. Will anyone ever listen to reason? Will our country ever get it right? Is it even possible?

Earlier:

Putting our hearts and bodies where our mouths are

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Best wishes to everyone putting your hearts and bodies on the line at women’s marches and other demonstrations in your towns, states, and country because we believe a better America is still possible.

 

Blessing for the Women’s March

By Erika A. Hewitt (Unitarian Universalist minister)

May you be safe.
May you be free from all harm.

As the road or skies carry you toward your fellow pilgrims,
may you sense the presence of those who travel with you in spirit,
whose hopes and hearts are tucked into your pockets,
who name your journey’s purpose as sacred.

May you encounter strangers-as-kindred,
and may that recognition of kinship bring joy to your journey.

Whether the faces in the crowd number in the dozens, hundreds, or thousands,
may you not only recognize yourself,
but may you also witness a dazzling tapestry of colors, languages, genders, ages, and bodies:
proud testament to and humbling display of our human family.

May the crowds be gentle, friendly, and patient.
If not, may the Spirit of Playfulness appoint you its momentary agent.
May you offer quiet praise for gestures of kindness.

May all bodies — vessels of spirit and soul — be treated as the gift that they are.
May the sturdiest of marchers make space for those who need more time,
more help, or a different means of moving.

May those bearing snacks share generously with others.
May you fuel yourself wisely, and hydrate.
In your hour of need, may you easily find a restroom,
and may it accommodate your body’s gender, size, and abilities.
May the line for the restroom be short.
If not, may you delight in the impulse to connect in ways mundane and profound.

Amid the heady flurry of selfies and hashtags,
may you remember the commitment that led you there,
and what will be required for the road ahead.

Gather it all up, blessed one; let it feed you.
Allow the crowds’ electric thrum to seep into you,
knitting itself into courage;
into holy boldness;
into fuel for the journey back, and for the journey forward.

http://www.uua.org/worship/words/blessing/blessing-womens-march

“what can I call us but lighthouse”

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“Revenge” by Elisa Chavez, in The Seattle Review of Books

Since you mention it, I think I will start that race war.

I couldve swung either way? But now Im definitely spending
the next 4 years converting your daughters to lesbianism;
Im gonna eat all your guns. Swallow them lock stock and barrel
and spit bullet casings onto the dinner table;

Ill give birth to an army of mixed-race babies.
With fathers from every continent and genders to outnumber the stars,
my legion of multiracial babies will be intersectional as fuck
and your swastikas will not be enough to save you,

because real talk, you didnt stop the future from coming.
You just delayed our coronation.
We have the same deviant haircuts we had yesterday;
we are still getting gay-married like nobodys business
because its still nobodys business;
theres a Muslim kid in Kansas who has already written the schematic
for the robot that will steal your job in manufacturing,
and that robot? Will also be gay, so get used to it:

we didnt manifest the mountain by speaking its name,
the buildings here are not on your side just because
you make them spray-painted accomplices.
These walls do not have genders and they all think you suck.
Even the earth found common cause with us
the way you trample us both,

oh yeah: there will be signs, and rainbow-colored drum circles,
and folks arguing ideology until even I want to punch them
but I wont, because theyre my family,
in that blood-of-the-covenant sense.
If youve never loved someone like that
you cannot outwaltz us, we have all the good dancers anyway.

Ill confess I dont know if Im alive right now;
I havent heard my heart beat in days,
I keep holding my breath for the moment the plane goes down
and I have to save enough oxygen to get my friends through.

But I finally found the argument against suicide and its us.
Were the effigies that haunt Americas nights harder
the longer they spend burning us,
we are scaring the shit out of people by spreading,
by refusing to die: what are we but a fire?
We know everything we do is so the kids after us
will be able to follow something towards safety;
what can I call us but lighthouse,

of course Im terrified. Of course Im a shroud.
And of course its not fair but rest assured,
anxious America, you brought your fists to a glitter fight.
This is a taco truck rally and all you have is cole slaw.
You cannot deport our minds; we wont
hold funerals for our potential. We have always been
what makes America great.

Marvel on social justice in comics in 1969: “We can say we tried.”

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Jill Pantozzi reminds us that “Marvel Has Been Ignoring Fans Telling Them to Stop Being So Progressive Since Forever.” Fan letters are a big part of comics culture since they get printed in the next issue, and in 1969 Stan Lee got a letter (from a Burlington, NC reader) that sounds like it could have been written yesterday. “… I’m not a racist, just a concerned Marvelite who doesn’t want his favorite comic company to be ruined by something that really doesn’t concern you as comic publishers.” (Not just racist, but classic concern troll!)

Marvel’s response is lovely:

But, such matters as racism and equality do concern us, Tim – not just as comic-mag artists and writers and publishers, but as human beings.

Certainly it’s never our intention to portray all, or even most, white Americans as hard-core bigots or screaming racists. Maybe it’s just that we think that many people in this land of the free have too long turned their backs or averted their eyes to the more unpleasant things that are going on every day. Maybe we felt we could do something – even within the relatively humble format of what used to be called a “comic-book” – to change things just a bit for the better.

If we fail, let’s just say that we’d at least like to have it said of us that – we tried.

Learn more of the story and get more context about politics in comics at Jill’s blog: Marvel Has Been Ignoring Fans Telling Them to Stop Being So Progressive Since Forever [The Nerdy Bird].

Republcan NC GA leaders Moore & Berger

Republicans hate democracy and fair play, part eleventy million

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So in case you have better things to do than watch #democracy being dismantled by the #NCGOP at unpredictable hours in Raleigh, here is an important #NCpol update:

After closing the emergency #NCGA session for hurricane (and wildfire) relief funding, the Republicans opened a new session in which Democrats are not permitted to submit any bills, and are now proposing surprise legislation to limit the powers of the governor since the people of North Carolina rejected their incompetent leader. They plan to vote TONIGHT.

Please spread the word so they know we see them, and follow these accounts for updates:

twitter.com/NCPolicyWatch/lists/nc-policy-watch-updates
twitter.com/hashtag/ncpol
twitter.com/ludkmr
twitter.com/lisasorg
twitter.com/binker


https://twitter.com/hashtag/ncpol

Photo credit: Charlotte Observer