On this 4th of July, the USA is on the edge of
civil war. It could happen today. Who knows.
Really. It’s that tense.
The Republicans have gone fascist. Assault rifles are everywhere. The fascists think it is a right for angry citizens
who hate their government to openly carry military-grade weapons anywhere (not
what the Constitution had in mind). There
is open hatred for the LGBTQ community.
There is open misogyny and enslavement of women, in the form of making
abortion illegal, thus controlling woman's bodies and life path. There is denial of climate change, backed by big SUVs and V-8 trucks that spew greenhouse gases.
And there is White nationalism in the eyes of the White sea of faces, led
by White males (do not be fooled by the Potemkin Village of non-White faces, carefully arranged in the audience).
The original Civil War of the 1860s was about the South
wanting to keep slavery. How disgusting
is that? It's about as disgusting as starting a civil
war to advance White patriarchy, and to demonize/criminalize LGBTQ people.
This has everything to do with a cult-religious takeover,
based on raging fanaticism, and nothing to do with what is best for the country
or the planet. It is rulership by demagoguery,
gaslighting, bullying, torment, fear, incarceration and (inevitably) torture.
The USA has always done this to Black people, Indigenous
people, and other people of color. It has always kept up an epidemic of violence against women. But if
the Republicans take over, all progress in terms of human rights will be destroyed. And there has been great progress.
The Republicans want to take us back to the mentality of the
Assyrians in 800BC. Maximize your
militarism, demand absolute obedience to an imposed code, and use your might to
conquer, plunder, torture--and then brag about how great you are; brag that you
are a god.
Civilization has always been rife with plutocracy, monarchy,
theocracy, including enforced loyalty tests and lock-down on dissent. Today, even, dictatorships are on the rise.
But the technology we have now is unforgiving. Nuclear weapons don’t allow second chances.
The narcissism of a dictatorship demands utter fealty. People are oppressed until they become like tool-using ants in a hive. The social structure that results is held
hostage by fear to one person’s disordered view of reality. The bottomless insecurity of a tyrant means
they must always be right, without question.
Simply put, if we don’t find a way to advance the psychological
health of society, alongside the advance of technology, war will
destroy us. We have the ingenuity to do
it. If we can create advanced microchips--incredibly
sophisticated computing tools at a molecular level--we can devise healthy
ways of governance--
If
If
If--we can stop dictators and demagogues from imposing their tyranny.
This is not just about a pitiable fate for the anti-intellectual citizens of the USA. If humanity
refuses to advance psychologically, and instead tethers itself to reason-killing, cult
loyalty tests, the whole world is headed for nuclear war.
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