Twitter

Saturday, January 16, 2016

The End...?

I will more than likely discontinuing this blog.  I haven't kept up on it, it's meandered and meant different things to me at different times.  The message has not been clear and has changed over time.  At times it was a creative outlet, at others a political ranting space.  For a brief time I tried my hand at podcasting, and it was the main site for my podcast.  Grad school, work, and family obligations took priority and that endeavor unfortunately fizzled out.  I enjoyed it while it lasted.  I wish I could continue.  The research required, the recording and editing, re-editing, and publishing took a lot more time than I guess I thought that it would.  I never made any money from doing it, it was simply recreational and therapeutic for me.

This blog has gotten around 3000 page views, and that's 2900 more page views than I would have ever thought it would get.  I'm guessing most of those were stumbled upon by chance, read some of my angsty words and moved on.  If anyone followed this blog and enjoyed it, no one would be more surprised than me.  I guess it seems fitting to retire this blog on my 100th post.  A nice milestone sounding ending.

I mostly did this blog for myself.  If you enjoyed it, wow, thank you.  I don't know what will happen with this. I may just remain as is, sitting in a dark corner gathering electronic dust on the web forever.  I may revisit and revamp at some point, I don't know.  I'm proud of most of the stuff on here, so it would be a shame to dump it.

I've decided to narrow my concentration and start a new blog.  I will probably borrow from the writings I've written here and add to them.  It just seems to me that I attempted too many different things with this one, and that only someone who knows me personally could appreciate the crazy mess that I'm leaving behind.

Again, to anyone who followed this blog or liked it, thank you.  I never met you, probably never will, but thank you.  For anyone else stumbling on this post, thanks for the 3 seconds you spent on my page skimming the title and not reading this heart-felt thank you at the bottom.  You know who you are.  Or do you?  Nope.

Cheers!

Donald Trump and 21st Century Fascism

You saw the freedom kids. You saw Trump throw out a peaceful Muslim in a hijab at a rally. You saw him throw out a black man at a rally. You heard him say he wants a ban on Muslims entering country. You heard him say Mexicans bring drugs and crime, are rapists, and there may be some good Mexicans, but he's not sure. You've heard him time and again insult anyone who disagrees with him.  You've seen him reduce the value of women to their appearance. You've seen him lie unabashedly and criticize anyone who fact checks him, proving the loudest voice is the only voice heard. You've seen him throw journalists out of speeches and Q&A's that challenge his competency or integrity. You've seen his supporters beat up minorities and shout "go back to your country" at US citizens. You saw his proposed tax plan that helps him and his elite rich friends, adds billions to the deficit, and protects the interests of big business. You've seen thousands of misinformed, angry jingoistic xenophobics flock to his chest-pounding war cry; no agenda, no solutions, only a desire for power to increase his own wealth and promote his tunnel vision for America.

What you've seen is 21st century fascism.  What you've seen is a modern-day Stalin. What you've seen is a boy in a man's body lacing up Hitler's boots and walking around in them to the cheers of his rabid supporters who are willing to attack and hurt other people in his name.

The saddest part, is that despite the behaviors he has exhibited that are textbook definition of fascism, you cannot convince his supporters of the dangerous ideology they are subscribing to. They cannot be persuaded. Many who claim to be Christians are too blinded by their hatred of their neighbor to care. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. History is recycling before our eyes. 

Trump's campaign should have imploded by now, but has only grown stronger.  Don't let this man put his twitchy finger on the nuclear button.