Stop Being Reasonable

January 10, 2017

After sixty-three days of the Donald little has changed. Sure, he hasn’t officially taken office yet, so the best is yet to come. But, for now we just have the expected Republican congress trying to deregulate everything, especially themselves. Oh, and vetting cabinet appointments has gone the way of the dodo bird and honest politician – extinct, a historical curiosity.

Apparently weary from six years of investigating, pretty much, everything, our conservative friends have decided enough is enough and it’s time to cut all the red tape. You know, investigating everything Obama just felt right; while, even customary vetting Trump appointments seem, well, wrong. Yeah, we can always count on Republicans to be in touch with their feelings. (Just, no one else’s.)

But let’s not dwell on Republican sensitivities, instead let’s check out a few of our own. After all, the republic stands on diversity of opinion – even unpopular opinion. Or so I’m told.

Mostly, I’m told on social media where I find ideas both confusing and inconsistent, even among people I actually know and respect. Recently, a couple posts struck me as atypical – for different reasons they to allude to larger issues.

The first, I’d have to call the “Head in the Sand” issue. In this case, a friend posted an objection to Meryl Streep using her Golden Globe speech to criticize the Donald. The poster suggested that rich people living in mansions should shut up about politics because the rest of us were struggling.

Of course, up upon the slightest reflection, we find this objection recursively insane. She doesn’t want a privileged person to use a public platform to talk about another privileged person who uses the public platform to gain political power?

Not to mention the whole contradiction when one uses free speech to demand another stop speaking.

I don’t think my friend is anti-free speech or crazy – no, I think she’s tired. And I understand, so am I. A reasonable response her post might be: ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away. But, it would be more sincere to say, if you don’t like what some celebrity is saying – spot listening! Certainly, don’t stretch it out by reposting. Need rest – take a break, turn off the computer.

The other, more concerning, social media provocation was a FB post suggesting that we “relent” regarding the appointment of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son in law as a White House adviser. The gentleman’s opinion, I’m sure, is based upon a deep seeded need to be fair and reasonable. And once again, I understand. Being the fair reasonable person gives one the high ground – so safe and warm.

Wrong!

Thus far, fair and reasonable has given us Trump and a shit load of self-righteous conservatives who are perfectly comfortable playing by two sets of rules. They came to power by acting like relentless pricks. They count on us to not act similarly.

While it’s not in our nature to be pricks, we better learn to be relentless – or follow the dodo bird. It’s not about reasonable, it’s about survival.

Disruption is a legitimate tactic.
Disrupt.

In Peace with Justice,
osv