The Rant I Meant To Rant Earlier
Okay, I've been debating typing this out, but, as my brain refuses to drop it, I guess that means I have to bite the bullet and do it. Sooooo:
I am not a social creature. I make no secret of that, and anyone who's read my entries can attest to that. I like to get through my shift with minimal human contact, just because people think I'm interested in stupid fucking small talk.
I. Am. Not. Interested. In your pointless small talk. And if you want to discuss something heavy, you better be ready for me to come prepared.
But I generally make it a rule that, small talk or heavy, I don't discuss politics at work. Especially with guests. Even if they try to engage me in it, I keep my tongue bitten. I have my reasons, but it mostly boils down to this: the bulk of our guests support a person (and I use that term very loosely) that I absolutely cannot bring myself to support. Or listen to, or look at, or think about without wanting to vomit and sending my blood pressure into the red. Or in his case, the orange.
But it never fails. They want to sing his praises, and expect me to share their enthusiasm in it, especially when they decide it's really cool to start slandering liberals. I will not engage, but christ, my tongue has permanent teeth marks in it these days.
So, the other day, I find myself stuck in this situation. Guy comes down and starts in on Biden and Harris, and Liberals in general, and I'm trying. Gods help me, I'm trying, but he keeps on going. Then he comes out with this:
"They're trying to destroy my America."
This. This bullshit right here. "They're trying to destroy my America."
Back the fuck up, there, Sparky. This is not "your" America. This is OUR America. Yours, mine, his, hers, theirs, ours. It belongs to ALL. OF. US.
Like the song says, "This land is your land, this land is my land... This land was made for you and me." It's this "mine, mine, mine" bullshit that Trump and his criminal enablers are building their entire platform on, and that right there is not how any of this works. At all.
There's a reason why the word "united" is right there in the name: United States. It means that everyone, EVERYONE, has a stake in the game, and a voice in how it's run, and that shit isn't happening anymore. If it ever really did, but that's a rant for another day. The idea, and the ideal, is that everyone is able to state their case, then discuss, and come to an informed compromise to benefit the greatest number of people. It's civil fucking discourse to come to solutions to move the country and its citizens forward, and keep us not only healthy, but in a position where we are able to keep up with the rest of the world, and maintain a position of legitimate leadership, etc, etc.
We are so far away from that at this point.
And before you lot start sharpening knives, sit down and shut the fuck up, because I'm calling out everyone in this. Because it quite literally is everyone's fault that we are where we are.
Liberals: while I share your ideals, I'm going to go on record and say that we generally lack the courage of our convictions when it comes to fighting for those ideals. We're so concerned with taking the high road, with trying to play the moral superiority card, that we castrate ourselves before we even enter the arena. We show up at a gun fight with a lead pencil. It's no wonder no one takes us as seriously as we want them to, when we preach from our soapboxes and wag our fingers at people and tell them to behave. We refuse to get down in the mud and get dirty for what we believe is right, and that, boys and girls, is why we have trouble winning office. We're perceived as weak by the right wing because, apparently, our balls have yet to drop. This cannot continue. We should not have to keep playing squeaky wheel and grease in order to get you motivated to do something. And I get it; it's hard for us to believe that people can be nasty, hateful, bigoted swine, because we try not to be. But we need to burn all of our illusions to the ground, immediately. We can't afford that kind of blind naivete. If we want to move into a brighter world, then we have to realize the devils that live in all of us, and work through that shit to be stronger, because we're getting our asses handed to us for being idealists. We need to ground ourselves in reality and be willing to get hands dirty for what we believe in. And we do not have a good track record of that.
Conservatives: we don't like you because you're assholes. Plain and simple. You fight progress tooth and nail, you fear any kind of change, you're selfish, arrogant, and, by the numbers, undereducated. Critical thinking and logic are scoffed at, while you spread idiotic conspiracy theories as "facts" (anti vaxxers, anti sciencers, anti maskers, QAnon idiocy, etc.), and have the nerve to call us stupid while the entire world is pointing and laughing at you to your faces. Your "my way or the highway" mentality and inability to admit when you've made a mistake make you unpleasant to talk to, and your bullying techniques gain you no respect. You may get the upper hand over us libs in that regard, but it's only because your grunting and chest thumping is louder and more grating than ours. You need to learn how to listen to others, and recognize that progress is going to happen, with or without you. Oh, and just a personal observation: for all that you lot call us "snowflakes" and talk down to us, y'all are some of the whiniest, most thin-skinned people around. Your best arguments are grade-school name calling and made up, easily disproven misinformation, and when you're called out on it, you start screaming censorship and hiding behind the First Amendment. True fact: being corrected for saying something inaccurate or dishonest is neither censorship nor suppression of your rights. It's keeping you honest. You know how you punish your kids if you catch them lying? Exact. Same. Fucking. Thing. Grow up and get over yourselves.
Moderates, if there are any left: you're supposed to be the balance, the ones who tell the extremes to shut the fuck up. You're supposed to be the ones setting the example for how to speak, and how to listen, to each other. But it looks like you've abandoned the middle ground and joined the rest of the crazies. You're the ones that hold the rest of us accountable whenever the bullshit starts flying, but you're just throwing it now, too. Where the fuck are you? Why aren't you being reasonable? Or was that just your own bullshit you told yourselves so you could sleep better at night? Either speak up and demand sanity, or fade away. We don't need more extremists.
And the Greens/other party people: really? Don't pull this vote splitting bullshit again this year. Just don't. Look, I get it, you hate the duopoly. I hate the duopoly. Anyone capable of rational thought knows the duopoly is what's gotten us into this shit. But no one takes you seriously, for one reason, and one reason alone: you trot out someone that practically no one has heard of every election cycle and demand a seat at the table. And every cycle, you fail miserably, because you have no foundation to work from. If you want to be taken seriously, you're gonna have to start at the local and state level. Get your guys into a position to be seen up close and personally, and see what you can do. You have got to lay a foundation first, and build from there. No one takes you seriously now because you have nothing to show for it, just demands for respect. And this year, we cannot afford that bullshit. So, seriously, just don't. Not now. Do your leg work, get in on lower-level politics, and earn your cred. Then come back, and we'll talk. Until then, just don't pull this protest vote bullshit. You're not impressing anyone; you're only hurting yourselves, and the rest of us, when you pull this stunt.
I fucking swear, I'm so tired of the hate. I'm tired of the sniping. I'm tired of the bullshit, of the misinformation, of the finger-pointing and the blame throwing, and the constant goddamn whining. I want to puke with every example of people acting with all the self-awareness of a dog licking its ass on the sidewalk. I'm tired of the disrespect, I'm sick to my soul of people being torn apart by the endless bickering. I'm exhausted with trying to think down to the mentality of willingly getting mule-kicked in the dick just to prove that you're better than someone else. I'm so done with people who's only motivation for anything is to "own" someone else. I'm worn out by the 24/7/365 fucking romper room idiocy everywhere I look.
The one simple truth every fucking one of you seem unable to grasp is that if this country is going to survive, then it's because we got there together. As a united people, working toward a common goal. It's the realization that everyone in this country has a voice, and has something, no matter how small, or weird, or different, or grand, to bring to the table. You're so self-absorbed and determined to be right about every little fucking thing that you've lost sight of the fact that WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
I admit, I don't expect anyone to actually read this. And if you do, I don't expect it to be taken to heart. I don't expect it to affect you, I don't expect it to create any sort of change or growth. I think we're too far past that point. I have no faith in anyone to be willing to step up and say "Enough is enough. Nothing, no point of view, no idea or ideal, no belief, no stance is worth destroying peoples' lives over." I have no faith that anyone is capable anymore of looking beyond themselves and seeing how all this shit is affecting the world around us. I have no faith that anyone will do anything more than what they've been doing all along: fucking everyone around them in the ass while simultaneously expecting to be praised for being right.
When everyone has to be right, no one can be right, and you're all so intent on being right, that you'll burn the whole fucking thing to the ground just to spite anyone you disagree with.
I'm so close to just saying fuck it. Let it burn. At this point, I think we deserve what we get. We've brought all of this on ourselves, and whatever we get, we had coming to us anyway. If this is what "your" America looks like, I want no part of it. We're supposed to be the guiding light for the world, the shining example of what is best, and here we are, desperately struggling to be King Turd of Shit Mountain, and thinking that's a perfectly acceptable state of being.
If this is the America you're afraid of being destroyed, then, honestly, it deserves to be destroyed. Because, as it is now, this land wasn't made for you and me; maybe it was made for someone else, someone who might actually be proud to welcome everyone in instead of trying to keep them out. Maybe this land was made for better people than us. But it sure as hell isn't for you and me. Not as long as we're all determined to shut out everyone who doesn't line up with the same things we think. Not as long as no one is willing to listen to anyone else. Not as long as hate and disrespect run rampant here. No, this land wasn't made for you and me.
This land deserves better than we have to give to it. And we need to be ashamed of ourselves for letting it get to this state.
I am not a social creature. I make no secret of that, and anyone who's read my entries can attest to that. I like to get through my shift with minimal human contact, just because people think I'm interested in stupid fucking small talk.
I. Am. Not. Interested. In your pointless small talk. And if you want to discuss something heavy, you better be ready for me to come prepared.
But I generally make it a rule that, small talk or heavy, I don't discuss politics at work. Especially with guests. Even if they try to engage me in it, I keep my tongue bitten. I have my reasons, but it mostly boils down to this: the bulk of our guests support a person (and I use that term very loosely) that I absolutely cannot bring myself to support. Or listen to, or look at, or think about without wanting to vomit and sending my blood pressure into the red. Or in his case, the orange.
But it never fails. They want to sing his praises, and expect me to share their enthusiasm in it, especially when they decide it's really cool to start slandering liberals. I will not engage, but christ, my tongue has permanent teeth marks in it these days.
So, the other day, I find myself stuck in this situation. Guy comes down and starts in on Biden and Harris, and Liberals in general, and I'm trying. Gods help me, I'm trying, but he keeps on going. Then he comes out with this:
"They're trying to destroy my America."
This. This bullshit right here. "They're trying to destroy my America."
Back the fuck up, there, Sparky. This is not "your" America. This is OUR America. Yours, mine, his, hers, theirs, ours. It belongs to ALL. OF. US.
Like the song says, "This land is your land, this land is my land... This land was made for you and me." It's this "mine, mine, mine" bullshit that Trump and his criminal enablers are building their entire platform on, and that right there is not how any of this works. At all.
There's a reason why the word "united" is right there in the name: United States. It means that everyone, EVERYONE, has a stake in the game, and a voice in how it's run, and that shit isn't happening anymore. If it ever really did, but that's a rant for another day. The idea, and the ideal, is that everyone is able to state their case, then discuss, and come to an informed compromise to benefit the greatest number of people. It's civil fucking discourse to come to solutions to move the country and its citizens forward, and keep us not only healthy, but in a position where we are able to keep up with the rest of the world, and maintain a position of legitimate leadership, etc, etc.
We are so far away from that at this point.
And before you lot start sharpening knives, sit down and shut the fuck up, because I'm calling out everyone in this. Because it quite literally is everyone's fault that we are where we are.
Liberals: while I share your ideals, I'm going to go on record and say that we generally lack the courage of our convictions when it comes to fighting for those ideals. We're so concerned with taking the high road, with trying to play the moral superiority card, that we castrate ourselves before we even enter the arena. We show up at a gun fight with a lead pencil. It's no wonder no one takes us as seriously as we want them to, when we preach from our soapboxes and wag our fingers at people and tell them to behave. We refuse to get down in the mud and get dirty for what we believe is right, and that, boys and girls, is why we have trouble winning office. We're perceived as weak by the right wing because, apparently, our balls have yet to drop. This cannot continue. We should not have to keep playing squeaky wheel and grease in order to get you motivated to do something. And I get it; it's hard for us to believe that people can be nasty, hateful, bigoted swine, because we try not to be. But we need to burn all of our illusions to the ground, immediately. We can't afford that kind of blind naivete. If we want to move into a brighter world, then we have to realize the devils that live in all of us, and work through that shit to be stronger, because we're getting our asses handed to us for being idealists. We need to ground ourselves in reality and be willing to get hands dirty for what we believe in. And we do not have a good track record of that.
Conservatives: we don't like you because you're assholes. Plain and simple. You fight progress tooth and nail, you fear any kind of change, you're selfish, arrogant, and, by the numbers, undereducated. Critical thinking and logic are scoffed at, while you spread idiotic conspiracy theories as "facts" (anti vaxxers, anti sciencers, anti maskers, QAnon idiocy, etc.), and have the nerve to call us stupid while the entire world is pointing and laughing at you to your faces. Your "my way or the highway" mentality and inability to admit when you've made a mistake make you unpleasant to talk to, and your bullying techniques gain you no respect. You may get the upper hand over us libs in that regard, but it's only because your grunting and chest thumping is louder and more grating than ours. You need to learn how to listen to others, and recognize that progress is going to happen, with or without you. Oh, and just a personal observation: for all that you lot call us "snowflakes" and talk down to us, y'all are some of the whiniest, most thin-skinned people around. Your best arguments are grade-school name calling and made up, easily disproven misinformation, and when you're called out on it, you start screaming censorship and hiding behind the First Amendment. True fact: being corrected for saying something inaccurate or dishonest is neither censorship nor suppression of your rights. It's keeping you honest. You know how you punish your kids if you catch them lying? Exact. Same. Fucking. Thing. Grow up and get over yourselves.
Moderates, if there are any left: you're supposed to be the balance, the ones who tell the extremes to shut the fuck up. You're supposed to be the ones setting the example for how to speak, and how to listen, to each other. But it looks like you've abandoned the middle ground and joined the rest of the crazies. You're the ones that hold the rest of us accountable whenever the bullshit starts flying, but you're just throwing it now, too. Where the fuck are you? Why aren't you being reasonable? Or was that just your own bullshit you told yourselves so you could sleep better at night? Either speak up and demand sanity, or fade away. We don't need more extremists.
And the Greens/other party people: really? Don't pull this vote splitting bullshit again this year. Just don't. Look, I get it, you hate the duopoly. I hate the duopoly. Anyone capable of rational thought knows the duopoly is what's gotten us into this shit. But no one takes you seriously, for one reason, and one reason alone: you trot out someone that practically no one has heard of every election cycle and demand a seat at the table. And every cycle, you fail miserably, because you have no foundation to work from. If you want to be taken seriously, you're gonna have to start at the local and state level. Get your guys into a position to be seen up close and personally, and see what you can do. You have got to lay a foundation first, and build from there. No one takes you seriously now because you have nothing to show for it, just demands for respect. And this year, we cannot afford that bullshit. So, seriously, just don't. Not now. Do your leg work, get in on lower-level politics, and earn your cred. Then come back, and we'll talk. Until then, just don't pull this protest vote bullshit. You're not impressing anyone; you're only hurting yourselves, and the rest of us, when you pull this stunt.
I fucking swear, I'm so tired of the hate. I'm tired of the sniping. I'm tired of the bullshit, of the misinformation, of the finger-pointing and the blame throwing, and the constant goddamn whining. I want to puke with every example of people acting with all the self-awareness of a dog licking its ass on the sidewalk. I'm tired of the disrespect, I'm sick to my soul of people being torn apart by the endless bickering. I'm exhausted with trying to think down to the mentality of willingly getting mule-kicked in the dick just to prove that you're better than someone else. I'm so done with people who's only motivation for anything is to "own" someone else. I'm worn out by the 24/7/365 fucking romper room idiocy everywhere I look.
The one simple truth every fucking one of you seem unable to grasp is that if this country is going to survive, then it's because we got there together. As a united people, working toward a common goal. It's the realization that everyone in this country has a voice, and has something, no matter how small, or weird, or different, or grand, to bring to the table. You're so self-absorbed and determined to be right about every little fucking thing that you've lost sight of the fact that WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
I admit, I don't expect anyone to actually read this. And if you do, I don't expect it to be taken to heart. I don't expect it to affect you, I don't expect it to create any sort of change or growth. I think we're too far past that point. I have no faith in anyone to be willing to step up and say "Enough is enough. Nothing, no point of view, no idea or ideal, no belief, no stance is worth destroying peoples' lives over." I have no faith that anyone is capable anymore of looking beyond themselves and seeing how all this shit is affecting the world around us. I have no faith that anyone will do anything more than what they've been doing all along: fucking everyone around them in the ass while simultaneously expecting to be praised for being right.
When everyone has to be right, no one can be right, and you're all so intent on being right, that you'll burn the whole fucking thing to the ground just to spite anyone you disagree with.
I'm so close to just saying fuck it. Let it burn. At this point, I think we deserve what we get. We've brought all of this on ourselves, and whatever we get, we had coming to us anyway. If this is what "your" America looks like, I want no part of it. We're supposed to be the guiding light for the world, the shining example of what is best, and here we are, desperately struggling to be King Turd of Shit Mountain, and thinking that's a perfectly acceptable state of being.
If this is the America you're afraid of being destroyed, then, honestly, it deserves to be destroyed. Because, as it is now, this land wasn't made for you and me; maybe it was made for someone else, someone who might actually be proud to welcome everyone in instead of trying to keep them out. Maybe this land was made for better people than us. But it sure as hell isn't for you and me. Not as long as we're all determined to shut out everyone who doesn't line up with the same things we think. Not as long as no one is willing to listen to anyone else. Not as long as hate and disrespect run rampant here. No, this land wasn't made for you and me.
This land deserves better than we have to give to it. And we need to be ashamed of ourselves for letting it get to this state.