What the Rise of Trump Means to Me
I first thought I'd call this "what the rise of Trump means to artists", or "to soul" - but really, this is just my little think party, so take it with a grain of salt. 2 cents won't get you anything these days.
Except matches.
So you can light that shit on fire.
Do you know white privilege?
Trump looks like he might win the primaries.
(P.S. How many Canadians are suddenly realizing that we're paying WAY more attention to the US political process than we ever did to the Canadian one now that Trump is in the ring with his carnival of crazy? Me too. )
This is a real thing that very few people saw coming - Adam Carolla and Howard Stern aside. Though they may have seen it by being part of Trump's demographic... At least Carolla is - though I don't know much about him. I'll just drop this link and move on.
Image Source / The Nib Twitter
Adam Carolla doesn't know what white privilege is.
I'm willing to bet that most white North Americans don't know what white privilege is - especially if you're over 30, you probably have no idea.
I've done a very informal survey (meaning, my friends and family) and none of those white people know what white privilege is.
I tried to explain it to Keith who was vehemently opposed to any such thing. He certainly doesn't see his blue collar, manual labour existence 'privileged' in any way.
I get that - but here's the thing...
THAT'S white privilege... Or at least my explanation to people who probably don't want to be schooled in the history of colonial imperialism. (Who can blame them?)
Keith couldn't argue - it's perfectly clear.
White privilege basically means that, by being white - lots of stuff is going to be easier for you. Period.
The theory of white privilege started in academia - but has since filtered into the blogosphere and is becoming a big part of the dialogue of the new civil rights movement.
WTF - new Civil Rights Movement... WHAT?
Black Lives Matter Protest #BLM
Yep. Welcome.
I didn't know either.
Actually, I didn't know about white privilege at all until last year when I was schooled on Facebook like a little bitch.
It was humiliating... But I didn't get it - so I had to go educate myself.
Fuck it - I still get schooled.
Facebook is my white privilege smack down.
I got schooled a couple weeks ago and had to go educate myself about why " black people are done educating white people on race ."
still
The new Civil Rights movement (not the LGBT one) is picking up steam and unlike the first one, this time around POC (People Of Colour - look, I know not everyone likes POC, but, I didn't make this up, it's supposed to be inclusive... I'm just learning here.) aren't interested in placating white feelings or making white allies - it's about communicating their own truth in their own words and fuck y'all if you can't take it.
I know I'm being glib and off-hand - but there is a LOT to unpack in race relations and it's all being discussed on the Internet - go read a blog by a POC and start your own education .
This time around, the civil rights movement has a communication platform in the Internet and mass organizing tools in social media that they didn't have in the 60's.
The results are the rise in profile of #BlackLivesMatter - greater numbers protesting and a wealth of information shared and available on the Internet.
When you combine the rise and momentum of the new civil rights movement - with the faltering North American economy - you've got a nice little cesspool of fear to nurture the growth of poor white shame and encourage a man like Trump who will assuage their fears.
Fear reveals our true colours
Trumps supporters are generally white, working class and over 40.
"Make America Great Again" is harkening back to a nostalgic Rockwellian view of America that was all apple pies, sweet rides and summer bbqs for white people - but pretty much sucked for everyone else.
Trumps supporters connect with his bigotry and racism because it means that even if they are poor white folks - at least they aren't shamed by being worse off than a POC.
Fear of losing their identity and value is at work here - and that's pretty deep stuff.
Human equality is of no interest to those who believe they can retain dignity and identity by not being 'worse off ' than a black or brown person.
What the sweet shit is that?
This is where you may want to turn away - because my hope for the future is wrapped in a darkness that some find uncomfortable.
The relief of fresh air and evolution by dying
I see Trump and his supporters as the satisfying pop of a pimple - where the pus is out and can be wiped away.
Trump has managed to 'straight talk' enough to get a whole bunch of white people to take down their guards and just be straight up racist as fuck in public.
The frenzy, the violence, the vitriol - this is the panicky death throws of a fly stuck with a pin.
It's the reaction of cornered white folks who see no way forward in a society that does not reward them for being white, Christian (and male).
Trumps' white folks are in fight or flight - and the puss is out of the pimple.
North America is racist as shit.
We can all sit back now and accept that North America is racist as shit - it always has been.
It will continue to be so until the older generation dies.
What did you say?
Yep, I said it.
I know how it sounds - but it's what I think happens to human evolution. Limited beliefs carried by a generation that cannot transform their fractured beliefs can finally pass away from collective consciousness as those that hold them pass away in body.
We clear out our collective consciousness crap when we die.
Body by body, mind by mind... hateful beliefs leave this world.
It's like a gift of grace.
My hatred, my fragmentation and my straight up "getting it wrong" dies with me and the world can breath a little fuller in it's absence.
We can look forward to it getting better.
It's better now than it was.
And a pimple popped can't unpop itself.
We can all see - and I don't want to cover up the ugly.
Nothing in shadow is ever healed.
This is all going to get better - November isn't that far away.
Edit
It’s 2024 and Trump won again and will take power January 2025. This shit is going to go sideways quickly.
“It’s 2023 and Trump is running again, despite being indicted on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records and being found guilty of sexually assaulting and defaming women.”
Stand for your truth
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