Guest author: ​ Josh Montgomery

Here's one going around as of late:
​

There is so much happening in this tweet and so much wrong. Let's break it down, shall we?

1. So only blacks live in urban areas? There's no whites, Hispanics, etc. in urban areas? And if they aren't the only ones there, are they the only ones not getting access to education?
2. "Poor" doesn't equal "stupid." Never has. I've seen a lot of really smart folks come out of poor neighborhoods, and I've seen a lot of educated fools. I've heard a lot of awful big words come out of the mouths of folks in poor neighborhoods. There's an awful lot of people with masters degrees living on the streets or in affordable housing, and drop outs making billions of dollars a year. 
3. "Educated" doesn't equal "smart."
4. Instead of trying to convince people to use smaller words because you think an entire race of people is beneath you, how about you take action to improve the quality of education in poor neighborhoods? How about you volunteer as a tutor? Maybe apply for a job as a teacher at one of those schools? Volunteer at or start after school programs for kids in poor neighborhoods? Too much like work? Or are you scared? 

I hate tweets like this. Seriously. Here she is, thinking she's the queen of the virtual signal and she's being benevolent by standing up for the poor blacks in the United States, when the fact is that she just assumed way more than she was entitled to and spewed more racism than anyone can fathom.

It's blindingly obvious she's never spent a hot second in a poor neighborhood. Because if she had, she'd know everything she said there was hateful and racist. There are an awful lot of successful people in our world of all races who came up in a poor neighborhood. There's an awful lot of really smart people with large vocabularies in poor neighborhoods. Most of those people are working their butts off to get themselves out of there, or to give their kids a shot at getting out of there. They may not be getting a formal education in all cases, but a lot of them are getting a better education than you ever will. And most of them are smarter than you, lady. 

If the issue really is the education system, then stop telling everyone else to treat folks from poor neighborhoods like they're stupid, and start working to fix the education system. Maybe stop screaming at the sky because orange man bad for five minutes and start protesting the education system. Apply for a job as a teacher or counselor at one of those schools. Volunteer at or start after school programs and tutoring programs for kids in poor neighborhoods. Do some work to bring about real change. Change isn't convincing all your liberal white friends to treat black people like they're stupid to make yourself feel better. Change is getting stuff done and giving folks in poor neighborhoods a hand up. Up, not out. 

And, most importantly, don't treat anyone as if they are beneath you or too stupid to grasp your oh so advanced vocabulary. Feel free to speak to everyone you meet as your equal, regardless of their race, upbringing, where they live, or economic status. If someone doesn't know what a word means or can't figure it out from the context, they'll ask. 

Want to stop white supremacy? Then stop acting like you're better than anyone else. 

By now, I am sure you have seen the Gillette toxic masculinity ad about 65,000 times, but I will post it here in case you somehow haven't seen the actual ad for yourself. I suggest watching it before moving forward to the article. This is from The Guardian's YouTube channel, as you can tell by their weird branding on the video as if they own it or something. 

So, now that you've seen it, odds are, you have an opinion on it. Either you think this is the greatest ad ever made and everything in it is a solid truth and showcases the issues with toxic masculinity in society that it is beyond time that we highlight and discuss so we can change it, or you stopped reading this article to set fire to anything made by Gillette and are screaming about how not all men are rapists and this advertisement was sexist. 

And... you're both wrong!

​Let me explain. I don't hate the ad, but not for the reasons you are thinking. I actually kind of like it. Not because it is showcasing toxic masculinity, but it is a subtle nod to the beauty of capitalism. As this tweet so eloquently puts it:

And that is exactly what is going on here. Regardless of what you think about the people this ad was meant to entice, this is general thought process of Gillette.

1. Older men are most likely not going to switch brands. They've been using this razor for 20 years, it works, they are going to keep using it. They may never even see the ad. If they do boycott, it will be short lived, because we can do something later this year to make them feel good and come back.
2. The younger generations are still trying to find a razor that works for them, and these kids either shave nothing or everything. 

I've heard all the comments about feminists who don't shave, but the fact of the matter is... the vast majority of women still shave everything from the chin down. Feminist or not. And even if they don't, Gillette sells more than razors. 

Here's the story, though. Right now, we live in a nation that is heavily polarized along the lines of social issues. We're obsessed with them. Some companies, like Ben and Jerry's, are using the sale of their product to fund their activism. We know that. We also see the irony in them using capitalism to fund their desire for socialism. 

They also know that people over a certain age know that boycotts can be fairly useless in the long run and won't take part, because, after all, if you boycott everyone with different opinions from yourself you are left with very little to fill your needs. And, let's face it... most of these companies are giving their money to both sides. The payout goes to who does the most for them. And they pay everyone to get what they want done. Boycotting can be so fickle. They say one thing one day and this side boycotts, and next week they say something else and the boycott stops but now the other side is boycotting... but both sides have no purchased their products regardless. And memories are so short that the boycotts will end on both sides in a few months when they have a fantastic sale.

​The younger folks are so wrapped in what they believe that it consumes their lives. Therefore, shave or not, they are going to go out and buy the heck out of their products to counter act the boycott from the people who didn't like the ad and to show support for their beliefs being justified by a corporation. 

Do you see something missing from this thought process? No?

What's missing is the actual giving a crap. These corporations are selling a product. They don't give a rat's patoot about social issues. You can tell the ones who do - like the aforementioned Ben and Jerry's who doesn't care if their brand goes down the toilet as long as they can ironically fight for socialism for a little while with the profits - but 99% of them don't.

The ad is too long to run on TV, at least in it's entirety. They put this ad up online. And now... everyone is talking about it. It doesn't need to go on TV. Mission accomplished. They've already made back the money the spent making the ad with all this free advertising. It's been discussed on the news. It's all over YouTube. It was trending on Facebook and Twitter. And every time someone mentions it they call it "the Gillette ad." Their name is out there. And they didn't have to spend money on advertising.

It's the latest marketing ploy. Make an ad that is politically charged and everyone will talk about it for weeks, everyone will play the ad all over the place, there will be boycotts and runs alike on the product, etc. This is big, hot news!

This is capitalism, baby!

Sure, the message wasn't great since it demonizes men and plays into a narrative that is dangerous. But that's the point! If it didn't, it wouldn't be getting talked about endlessly! And the topic has to be polarizing but not hideous. This marketing strategy wouldn't work if they, say, made an ad ridiculing various races or religions. That's something the left and the right would get behind in boycotting. No, they have to play the sides against each other, because the sides have been getting played against each other in the political sphere something hard for a decade or more now. NOW they can make money on it. 

So yes, these corporations are going to pretend - and they are pretending - to give a crap about these issues to cause the endless analysis, social media trending, buying frenzy to counter act boycotts, etc., because it does cause people to go out and aim right for their product. And since it was an issue the left cares about... the right will boycott and the left will over buy in support to make up for that boycott. Plus, aiming to please the left works better since the left tends more towards hard boycotts, violent protests, or complete buying frenzies than the right is. We wouldn't want Antifa burning down the factory now, would we? No. But we do want them going out and buying everything they see with the Gillette brand on it, which they will, especially if they are under 25. So they're pretending to care about this issue to capitalize off of socialists who don't make the connection that they are proving capitalism works... because this is pure capitalistic marketing and they don't see it. Now, in a few months, Gillette will probably do something that supports the troops or something like that, because that will bring the right back off their boycott and they'll buy because Gillette supports the troops. It will spark a small boycott by the left, but not one big enough to notice. And that's how you create a profit in 2019!

If you followed along at the home page section of the site, you saw the lead up to the event I attended yesterday. It began with a simple daily email from a job board. In that email was a listing for "activist." I was so taken aback by this that I did a video showing off the add and the page to request information. Jokingly, I said I should attend. Well... my YouTube viewers thought that was a great idea, and I started to think it was, too. So I began the steps, went through the interview, and jumped though a couple of hoops. Then yesterday morning I found myself sitting in a very bougie room with a bunch of women and a few men.

Now, my intention was not to disrupt. I intended to go in, pretend to be a liberal feminist, make it through the day, and leave without them being any wiser. Trolling is not my style. I made it through the event exactly as planned, although I did leave about two hours early. 

Basic Run Down

What I attended was the HER Summit. There were about 50 attendees and Rep. David Price (D-NC) was the key note speaker. Everything was done in 45 minute increments, with breaks in between. It began with everyone breaking off into groups to introduce ourselves, declare our pronouns (pronouns were very important, they were even on our name tags), give our experience, and tell everyone our first concert... which is a lot of fun when you are middle aged. LOL! No, I wasn't the oldest person there by a long shot, but I was in the top ten.

After that we had a speaker who gave us the break down of how many women on Earth are going to die if the USA doesn't fund their abortions and present abortion as a first option to these women, a lot of anti-Trump ra-raing, and making fun of right wingers. After that, we had a young woman address us about petitioning the public, at which point we broke off into groups to roll play asking people to sign petitions against the Trump gag rule (link opens up Planned Parenthood's website. Also read these links here and here). 

Lunch was followed by the key note address by Rep. David Price, and if you'd like to know what he thinks of you, you can watch his speech below. I will give him credit... some of the things he said were dead on, especially in the Q and A portion at the end. But a lot of his speech was what you would expect. Now, before anyone gets their knickers in a knot, this video is mostly unedited. The only editing that was done was when my phone's video cut out because of the length of the speech and I had to start a new video and then splice everything together. I think I missed about two sentences of his speech. The video is almost 48 minutes long, just so you know ahead of time. 

​Make sure to turn the audio on in the video.

After this was the workshops. 

We were given three options, of which we could attend two. The options were:

1. Using the Power of the Vote
2. Strength in Voice: Protest & Letter Writing
3. How to Advocate for Reproductive Justice

Obviously, the second one appealed to me, but I declined due to it being very hands on training wise, and I wasn't sure I could pull that off without losing it. So I decided to attended the one about voting and the reproductive justice one.

I didn't make it past the first workshop. 

No, I wasn't kicked out. I opted to slip out and make a run for it towards the end of that workshop, because they decided to hand out a paper that requested us to give them the information of 15 - 30 friends and family members. This was names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, and age range. They weren't good about taking no for an answer, I didn't want to argue with them and draw attention to myself, and there was absolutely no way on God's green Earth that I was going to hand out the information of anyone I know, unsolicited, to a group at a summit those friends chose not to attend. I have a line, and that was it. I also wanted to get out early before they began trying to get me to sign up to volunteer to protest or get people to sign a petition I myself wasn't going to sign. 

Why Did I Do This?

Actually, I had several reasons. Due to the nature of how I found out about the event, my inner reporter got so curious the only way to quiet it down was to give in. But I had questions I wanted answers to. 

The original questions:

1. Why was this posted on a job board instead of an event page? Why does it require an interview to attend? Is this a paid position? Are they paying people to protest? And if so, who is paying for it? That's a bunch of questions, and they only got partly answered. No, this was not paid activism. That was a big question, and probably the biggest one I wanted answered. I promised to be honest about this event, and I am doing so. All activist positions were on a volunteer basis only, although the organizations had some paid job openings. They were legit jobs, though. Sorry if that busted anyone's bubble.

I never got an answer as to why "activist" was specifically posted as the job title, or why it was listed on a job board instead of an event page. I assume they wanted a smaller turn out for the event, which they got. However, David Price eluded to being surprised that so many actually came, and a big part of the petition signing process was getting people to agree to volunteer and/or attend a future summit. So I don't know. 

The interview portion opened up a can of worms. This event was super secretive. I had no information until a few days before the event. All I knew was the city it was being held in, but not the actual venue. Due to the city, I assumed it was a college campus. I was partially right. It was held in a hotel on the college campus. Parking was scarce. The hotel staff didn't know what the summit was about and when numerous attendees asked for "where is the feminist summit being held in the building" they had no idea what they were talking about. 

Staff didn't answer many questions, but other attendees were as curious as I was about the secretive nature of it all. A few others came through the same job board as I did, a few came after signing the petition and being talked into attending, some were recruited on the college campus, and others weren't specific with me. No one was willing to speculate aside from one woman, who assumed it was to deter "right wing protest." I would assume the same, honestly. With the way the extreme left acts whenever someone they don't agree with assembles, I would assume they'd expect it from the right as well. And who knows, maybe they would have showed up. After all, one of our representatives was there to speak and it was supposedly about abortion (it was, mostly. But the workshop I went to was about voter ID laws and several other democrat issues).  

2. Some of the things on the website were a little questionable, so I'd like clarification on some of their stances. I got the clarification I wanted to a point. Their big issue was the supposed "Trump Gag Rule" that "every republican has put in place, but Trump has expanded on." I provided three links above, two news articles and Planned Parenthood's piece on it, in case you want to know what that's about. The focus at this summit didn't appear to be mostly the domestic side, but the international side. There are audio links at the bottom of this article if you want to hear what was said. I honestly can't see what the huge issue is, but I may not be understanding the issue completely. Abortion isn't a big issue to me, I don't pay it much mind. I know that may bother some of you, but it isn't in my top issues. So many groups on both sides are all over that issue that I chose to take on others. It sounds to me like they are bothered that referrals aren't given for abortions and it isn't presented as a top option or an option at all (although it doesn't outlaw the act). I honestly don't see the issue and how this is killing women. Everyone knows abortion exists. And abortion shouldn't be handed out as a first option. Anything involving death should be a last resort. And even my mom agrees... and she's a big time democrat feminist. Again, though, like I said, I might be missing something. I'm currently doing research on the topic and not having much luck finding non-biased sources on it. I don't feel comfortable giving a solid opinion on it until I know everything I can find on it. So count me as neutral on the topic for now. 

3. I am interested in a first hand view of the "other side," instead of just getting hearsay. Yes, I plan to go in with an open mind and hear people out. I am, and always have been, the type to let people state their case. Obviously, I have my own opinions and I have my own inner circles. I think the best way to sure up your own opinions is to understand the opinion of your opposition. How do you have an honest conversation if you really don't know their thoughts on topics and the reasoning behind it? Besides, we get told all the time how insane the other side is - and they are told how insane we are - so I thought it a good idea to go in to the belly of the beast and see for myself. For example, voter ID. I don't agree with their stance or their reasoning, and I support voter ID laws. But I now have a better understanding of how they view it and why they seem to think it is racist. You'll hear that below in the audio. 

The Major Take Aways

So, what did I take away from all of this?

1. The left is just as paranoid as the right. No, really. The things the far right think about the far left is exactly what the far left thinks of the far right. A lot of topics were exaggerated. A lot of emotions were running heavy. There was a lot of time spent discussing how insane the right is. There was a lot of complete garbage about Trump. And local republicans, too. But a lot of what I heard them saying about the right was exactly what I hear the right saying about the left. A lot of their complaints about Trump mirrored the right's complaints about Obama.  

2. The actual people I interacted with at this event... were really nice people. There was, obviously, the occasional nut job militant feminist. There were a few there who very obviously hadn't formed solid opinions and were looking for people to latch onto and follow. But my general interactions with these folks were good ones. They were immediately engaging with people around them, even me, and I wasn't exactly... approaching anyone, at least at first. I was playing it cautious because I was alone and didn't know anyone there. Not all of them were foaming at the mouth Trump haters. While none of them were jumping on the Trump train, the overwhelming sentiment was that he's the president and they had to make due with it, getting out to vote and hoping to change the outcome next time... that raging and being horrible and screaming at the sky weren't going to change things. A lot of them kept steering the conversation away from Trump. I can respect all of that. You don't have to be happy about it, but accept it and move on. Instead of whining, they were planning for the next election. Cool. I respect people like that. 

3. Reaching across the isle was a foreign concept. While they were willing to move on from the election, they weren't willing to compromise, which is something the left keeps telling the right they have to do. 

4. Rep. Price doesn't see people. I've had interactions with him in short bursts before, but nothing like this. He entered the building while we were on lunch break. I spent my lunch in a rocking chair on the front porch of the hotel. He walked right by me and made no indication that he saw me. Inside, he spoke to his aid and some of the people who worked for the campaign, but not many others. Once on the mic, he seemed open and friendly and answered questions. As soon as his time was up, he reverted. He sat out front with his aid in the rocking chairs, and a lot of the attendees were around. He interacted with none of them. Didn't even look or indicate he saw anyone else was outside. 

5. Rep. Price has some fan girls. They were fan girling bad. So keep that in mind the next time someone comments about anyone who is a Trump fan. These girls were squealing like he was in the Backstreet Boys or something. 

6. They put huge emphasis on pronouns, but almost no one there identified as a gender other than male or female. There was a guy there that may have been transgender, but I'm not 100% sure (female to male). The organizer of the event apparently uses she/they pronouns, which I've never seen before, so I don't know what that means. Everyone else seemed to identify as what they were born as. Otherwise, the LGBT community was not really brought up. 

7. Their view of age was bizarre. That happens a lot. Believe me, I'm 38 years old, and people on both sides of the isle make me feel like a grandma, and somehow I'm less relevant because I'm over 25. Yes, both sides. But yesterday was weird. As I said earlier, I was not the oldest person there. I was probably in the top ten, though, although there was a major gap between me and those older than me. There were several ladies there of retirement age, and the first speaker was probably in his 50s or so. Even the feminists, however, treated him as more relevant than the ladies over 30. Something they might want to focus on! Anyway, I found myself in several strange interactions with other attendees, with one almost interviewing me. At one point, she asked me about my opinion on how far feminism has come since I've witnessed so much of it. Actually, I haven't. I didn't say that, but I'm only 38 years old! I've never been kept from voting, the issues they are passionate about were never withheld from me, I've never been paid less for equal work to a man, I have been in jobs where my qualifications and promotions landed me on a higher pay scale than a lot of men, and I have usually worked in male dominated fields where I wasn't treated as less than the men (including armored transport, where I was not questioned about my physical strength in comparison to the men). I grew up without an awareness that some people treated women differently than men. I wasn't always treated equally, but it didn't happen enough for me to think everyone was out to get me! I honestly didn't know how to answer her questions without blowing my cover. 

7a. Women need to speak the heck up. I'm not making fun, but these women are supposedly strong, empowered, independent women. Talk like it. Far too many of them speak in almost a whisper at all times, and even in small groups it was hard hearing them. Now, full disclosure, I'm partially deaf in my left ear. Even still, my right ear is fine and my left ear has some hearing left. In those small groups and small spaces, I should have been able to hear. But several women I saw their mouths move but heard nothing. Ladies, speak up. Especially if you are trying to be an activist. 

​8. The biggest take away from the entire thing, and if you read nothing else in this article, I hope you stop and read this. The left is organized and they are organizing. What I witnessed yesterday was a legit training on how to get strangers to sign a petition, to volunteer for their cause, how to encourage others to vote, how to talk about issues with loved ones and strangers alike, a solid laying out of the issues they saw as important (even if some of it was exaggerated or complete manure). I saw a woman with a theater degree get her act together and organize this on her own. I saw them get a major politician so far on their side he was the key note speaker at an event that had little turn out and no real benefit to himself. I saw them present historic facts. I saw them lay out an action plan that was spreadable by the people there, and spreading it was the goal. The right (and everyone else) doesn't do this. The right holds rallies and butts heads with Antifa. The right says, "We have jobs!" These people all had jobs, too. That's why they spent 8 hours on a Saturday doing this. The libertarians, the moderates, the right wing... they could all learn something from what I attended yesterday. If you want to stop socialism from sounding good to more and more people, and if you want the left to remain out of power, everyone else has to organize like this. They have to spend their Saturdays out and about learning real world tactics. They have to get offline and stop thinking memes are enough. Issues need to be clearly laid out, make sure everyone in your camp knows them, and make sure they know how to talk to those who might not. Everyone outside of the left has to become visible and interact with people who disagree with us, otherwise their crap opinion and lines about us become what is believed by the ill informed. That's how you fall out of the mainstream. 

​I would highly recommend to anyone reading this to do what I did. Don't walk in with the mindset of disrupting... go in with an open mind. Observe. Learn. Absorb. Then go back to your libertarian, moderate, right wing, etc. camp and organize. Get things together. Get politicians on our side. Get people excited and fired up. Don't take on the entire world in 8 hours; take on two to three key issues and leave two to three to another group. Don't go in with the thought of fighting, go in with the thought of energizing. Seriously, go to these things on the left and take notes. Then let's all start doing the same thing. All of the non-left groups need to organize and embolden their bases, too. This is how you normalize and get front and center. Memes only go so far. 

The Summit

This is audio from the summit itself so you can experience it. Now, I cut out a lot of things like the group interactions. Also, there's some obvious noise. I used an external microphone and it was rubbing on my bag. 

If you want to hear Rep. Price speak, please go to the above video.

This is about two hours, and is audio only. Enjoy!

Make sure to turn the audio on in the video.

​Update: The graphic has actually been removed. 

The image began making the rounds yesterday. It started out as just an image, then it became a meme, then people started posting the information for the gallery itself - address, phone number, name, etc. Here's what we're looking at:

As I have often said, you can be as crazy as you want and get away with it if you label it "art," which is why the art world is hardly worth our time anymore. 

​I didn't have much to say on it, but did point out that Facebook chose to allow this to remain visible while a video I had posted the day before was covered for our protection. 

The video was a description of types of government with some history in it. There was no foul language, no graphic violence, no nudity, etc. It was actually pretty benign (I was going to embed the video, but apparently they won't let me because it's so offensive). (Update: after some people mentioned it, Facebook did start covering the Trump graphic later on this afternoon after this article was written)

Anyway, it didn't take long for the image to take over most of the pages I visit, and the comments began pouring in. The most common sentiment was that maybe someone should throw a brick through the window. Second was that the secret service needed to be contacted. 

And here I am just thinking it was an unoriginal way of getting free advertising. Kathy Griffin already did it, try something new. 

Let's face it... most of this trash is just that... an attention grab. 

It is well documented that when something like this happens, the right wing tends to talk about it non-stop. Like so many other things, it won't be allowed to fade into obscurity as it should. It gets talked about. Calls start coming in. Protesters show up. Threats of more protests roll in. The graphic gets shared all over social media, usually with all the information for the place. And while the right is outraged, those who aren't so outraged just learned about a new place they didn't know existed. 

How many of you knew the Red Hen existed before Sarah Huckabee Sanders got kicked out? Heck, how many of you knew Kathy Griffin was let out of the nut house for more than New Year's every year?! 

Take a look at the long list of Hollywood folks who have come out and made absolutely bizarre comments about Trump and, in lesser cases, other members of the GOP. How many of those folks are actually currently active? Seriously, most of the people making the biggest stink are people who haven't been in any movies or cut any albums in a good long time. But the minute they come out and say something bizarre about Trump, everyone suddenly knows who they are again, and these long forgotten "stars" are reborn, if only briefly. 

For businesses, it brings media attention, and if nothing else, it gets their info passed around. They know the outrage won't last long, but they've reached a lot of folks who didn't know about them before, and it didn't cost them a dime. 

It's all marketing. And it works, while obviously being cost effective. Of course, in order for it to continue to work, the stunts have to get more and more bizarre. The run for this type of marketing, for now, will pretty much expire in 2020. If Trump loses, the topic has to change or go away completely if the winner is someone they like. If he wins, they may have to admit the bulk of the country likes Trump and this might not be worth it anymore (of course for some, I wouldn't hold my breath). 

Keep this in mind when the next one pops up. I'm not saying to not share it. Just keep it in mind. It's a marketing tactic, and sharing that info is helping them out. And maybe, just laugh at it instead of getting all outraged. They know the outrage won't last long, but the free advertising is forever. 

In the past week or so, a viral video has taken the internet by storm. Millions of people have viewed the video, the man in the video has been doing a tour of shows on TV, and it's been an extremely hot topic on every social media platform you can think of. 

But what does it mean for the USA? 

Well, as I said millions of people have seen the video. It has apparently made enough of an impact that a lot of liberals and liberal media outlets are now calling it a fake campaign by Russian bots. Once you are labelled a Russian bot in this day, you know you've made an impact. As of this writing, there are 89.316 members of the Facebook group, and that number is ever growing (by the time I hit publish on this article there will be hundreds more members). 

If you take into consideration that some of those people aren't walking away from anything and are just there to support the people who are, you can assume about 3/4 of the people, give or take, are people who are actually walking away. There are women, transgenders, homosexuals, African Americans, Hispanics, etc. all joining this thing and leaving their stories as to why they decided to walk away. 

​Still, the about 90,000 members isn't really a huge swath of people considering it is a political movement. So why is there such an impact? Why are people getting scared of this enough to start accusing the group of being run by Russian bots? 

​I think we need to walk back a little bit toward Kanye West. Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not taking away credit for this movement and giving it to Kanye. But if you think back towards that whole debacle, you'll remember the outrage over Kanye saying pro-Trump things and all his Hollywood elite friends were unfriending him and stuff... and he didn't apologize. He moved forward unapologetically. The heat cooled down eventually and he's really not in the news anymore. But he got away with "being a free thinker" without his career going down the drain. 

After that, the approval ratings for Trump among African Americans began to rise. Now, there's this growing movement being led by a gay man who is now all over TV and seemingly overnight became a very recognizable face. It is packed full of people the left thought they had a monopoly on. These are people they have been telling for years that the right despises and wants destroyed, people they tell that Trump was elected to rid us of. 

The movement is getting so much attention because it is challenging the minority monopoly. 

​A common theme I am reading in these testimonials - and I admit, I've read hundreds of them - is that these people were taught to believe that only the left cared about them and everyone else hated them, but now they are seeing that this isn't true. They are watching the left talk a lot without any action. They are watching non-citizens and criminals getting preferential treatment. Many had long time good friends who cut ties with them when they began to question the left. I am seeing a lot of those stories, many of them are heartbreaking. Decades long friendships ended immediately because of one questioning moment. They are watching the reactions to that one questioning moment and realizing in seconds a group of people who claim to be tolerant and supportive of them are suddenly not so much when they question anything... while the side who was supposed to hate them is answering their questions and not really caring who they are. 

Right now, Americans are tired of the division. Everything is racist. Everything is sexist. And it's getting tiring. I watched a news story tonight about a woman who was questioned while entering the pool of a housing development, and I listened as she and the reporters - both local and national - immediately decided it was because she was black and compared it to other incidents that have happened. Seriously, the local news reporter actually began the story by saying, "There's been a recent rise in the amount of white people calling the police on black people while they do every day things." I watched the video, and my response was "I need more information." I didn't pass off their claims of it being racially motivated, but I refused to immediately call the man racist. My complex has a pool. I don't use it much, but when I did, there were times I was asked for ID to prove I was a resident. Once I was actually escorted out because I hadn't brought my ID. So yes, I need more information.

But we don't do that anymore. The news is a race to report first, and apparently making sure you have the correct reports isn't necessary. Everything is motivated by hatred and there is no more supply of evidence or allowing the other person to have a side of the story. 

White people are constantly admonished for being racist, while also being told that we're born racist. OK, so you mean it can't be fixed? Then why are we trying? Trump has a supreme court pick coming up, and everyone is clutching their pearls because obviously abortion is going to be completely outlawed immediately and gay marriage rights are going to be taken away, leaving gay marriages non-valid. Anyone who wasn't born in the USA is obviously going to be deported immediately. Everything is a massive crisis, the world is constantly coming to an end, and only about .0000002% of things being reported are actually things that are true and/or are of major concern. 

We're watching as groups of "marginalized people" are lifting themselves up by tearing everyone else down. Women have to tear down men. Blacks have to tear down whites. Immigrants have to tear down birth citizens. Gays have to tear down straights. Transgenders have to tear down cis genders. No, we don't! You don't have to tear anyone down to lift yourself up! You gain actual equality by raising yourself and your community up, not by tearing everyone else down. And when you raise yourself up, the country is better for it. When you tear others down, we're more divided and less of a nation. 

90,000 people have realized this and are sick of it. 90,000 people aren't going to cause a revolution. They aren't going to cause a wave in elections. But they are a start. They are proof that we as Americans can come together and be just that - Americans. We need to get past labeling each other to death and just be one people. We need to learn about each other and stop taking someone else's word for it when they tell you what someone else is like. 90,000 people were a little surprised to find out that people who don't identify as left wing didn't hate them. Those 90,000 people are going to be the voices that let others know. And that scares the extreme left, because it threatens their monopoly. It creates free thinkers who don't need them to tell them how to feel about things anymore. And I hope it grows. This is the first sign of real 'hope and change" that I've seen in years. 

This week has been an eye opener for me. As I cruise around the internet, I'm seeing more and more opinion articles about a second civil war in the USA. Some claim it is coming, some say we're already fighting it, and some say within five years we'll be in an all out war with each other. And I'm not talking about fellow bloggers, I'm talking about mainstream news sources. 

And I get it, tensions are high. The USA is extremely divided, or at least appears to be. People are afraid to publicly voice opinions. Groups are using fascist techniques to stop what they believe are fascists, and that means riots and violence. Mass shootings. Wanton threats towards politicians and average citizens who speak out. People frustrated because they are being censored or prevented from speaking. People attacking each other at rallies. Accusations of phobes and ists. Friends and families torn apart because of political differences. Doxxing. Anxiety over things they think are going to happen immediately even with no evidence of it being incoming. 

Among all of it, I see people joking about who would win and why. People puffing their chests out and saying they hope for it. They're ready. Locked and loaded. Bring it on. We can end it fast. 

Am I the only person on Earth right now who doesn't want to see us come to a civil war? Am I the only one who doesn't think we're at the point yet where it should even be getting discussed? Can we discuss this like rational adults?

Let's take a look at what civil war would actually look like. All you need to do is pick up a book about the first civil war in the USA and take those lessons... then amplify them because technology has advanced so far. 

What would you do if there was a second shot heard 'round the world? Yes, yes, I know... you're locked and loaded. But if you were face to face with a family member who disagreed with you, could you pull the trigger? Would you be anywhere near as enthusiastic? No one knows how they would really react if it came to that. You can puff your chest all you want, but reality is different than your own mind. 

What would it do to the USA? Do you want the answer?

The odds are, a second civil war would end the USA. Completely and totally. Look at the state of our world right now. If we were busy fighting among ourselves, do you think someone else wouldn't move on in on us? Here comes a bigger problem, because here comes Russia. Or China. And that brings on a second war that would last longer, if we could get on our feet to even fight.

If no one else moved in and the war was fought to the end, our economy would be destroyed. We would need to rebuild more than buildings. The stock market. The technological infrastructure we so depend on. Foreign alliances. Our national debt would be 1000 times worse than it currently is. China would, at the very least, call in their debts, which alone would destroy us. 

We're still not over the first war, so how long do you think it would take to mend from a second? Basically, it wouldn't solve the problem, no matter who won in the end. The country would remain divided. People would be fighting it for generations even after it officially ended. The old tensions would still exist, and new ones would be brought into the fold. 

Look at our soldiers coming home from foreign wars. The injuries. The flag draped coffins. The PTSD. How bad do you think it would be when a civil war was over and you had to live the rest of your days remembering how you had to kill your own countrymen? And we're not using muskets anymore. Now we're using drones with hellfires, weapons on burst, C4, and God knows what else. And there will be video for you to watch over and over and over again. 

This is what you are puffing your chest about. This is what we're discussing openly in the mainstream media. This is what some people are hoping for. Something that should be such a last resort that we'll do almost anything to prevent it. 

But let's step out of speculation for a moment and discuss reality. Before you sit down and decide civil war is imminent, I want you to shut off your TV. I want you to go outside. Not to a rally. Not to a protest. Go out into normal, every day life. What do you see? Do you see people ready to kill each other? Do you see the divide we're being told is there? Are you running in to the same things in person that you run in to online? When you remove people from their screens and their large protective groups, what do you see? 

I see people who talk to each other and don't weigh the pros and cons of it based on gender, race, sexual preference or anything else. I see people going about their normal lives - going to work, planting gardens, walking their dogs. I don't hear people talking about how war is the only way to fix our country. No one is attacking people randomly on the street. The drama online and in the media isn't there. I see people volunteering at homeless shelters and standing in line to help after devastating weather events. I see the drama as being condensed into places and groups and being highlighted for views and advertising dollars. Even people who take part in them stop mostly after the groups disperse and they step away from their computers. 

We're not there yet. We're not ready to go to war with each other. We're not even close. Every generation deals with the same sort of crap for different reasons. We haven't gotten there before and we're not there now. And before we hope for it, we need to sit down and think about why. To defend the country you love? The way of life that you love? Because both of those things would be gone forever during and after a civil war. 

Loving the USA and being proud of her means you do whatever you have to to prevent an event like a civil war. Knowing when we're not there and when we are. Hoping we never get there. Opening your eyes and looking at the reality of life, not what the media tells you it is and not what it is online. If the time comes, so be it. But let's take our time getting to that bridge.  

Like a good portion of you, I am having a tough time supporting the kids walking out. And it isn't just because they are marching against the Constitution and their own freedoms and that what they are protesting for is something I am fully against. I'm not sure these kids have any idea what they are protesting. Yes, I am sure some of them do. But a good majority of them don't. And from what I have seen, knowing what you are protesting isn't something the schools are freely encouraging the kids to do. 

These kids are being fed. I'm sure they have opinions. I'm also sure they aren't getting both sides of the story. How many of them know the statistics for school shootings? The real ones put out by organizations who clearly define mass shootings and other crimes and keep track of them, not the padded numbers offered by the media. How many know the gun laws? The actual gun laws. How many know what representatives in their state to contact? Who was the protest aimed at? What, exactly, is an AR-15? What does "semi-automatic" mean? What is the difference between an AR-15 and an M-16? What independent research have they done without a parent or teacher over their shoulder? You all have smart phones, check it out while you're on the toilet. 

I'm going to assume not much personal research was done, otherwise this young lady would have realized that shirt wasn't appropriate for an anti-gun march, considering how prevalent that is in pro-gun culture. Like, you really can't do any opposition research without finding that term. 

The other reason I believe these kids are protesting based only on their parents and teachers' thoughts is because of the overuse of buzzwords and phrases. The above sign for example. Every anti-gun protest has that exact same sign. "Common sense gun control." "Gun show loophole." "I don't want to ban all guns, but..." "I'm pro second amendment, but..." The list goes on. The signs were the same generic signs at every gun control event. This is not the sign of independent thought. This is a sign of being showed one side of the story and argument. 

The same goes for the kids who were pro-gun. "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" is not an original thought. It's another over used phrase that, while true, was fed to a teenager. 

However. It goes beyond that. In NC, students were basically forced to participate in the walk out because all the teachers were participating and no students could be in the classrooms alone. Therefore, all the students had to be where the teachers were. 

A young man in Ohio was suspended from school because he wanted to be a-political. He basically didn't want to take a side, and going outside for the walkout was support for gun control, but going to the common area was supporting gun rights. Instead of providing a place for kids to stay who didn't want to take sides for whatever reason, they tried to force them to take sides. 

​This is not a protest. When kids are not being presented both sides of the argument, are being suspended for not taking sides, and are being escorted away for having an opinion against gun control, that isn't a protest or students expressing themselves. That is forced dissent. These kids are being forced to protest something they don't even understand fully. 

The proper way to do this would be to encourage the kids to study both sides. Teach them how to think, not what to think. Do a report on both sides. Do a report supporting one side or arguing against one side. Heck, when I was in high school we had a public speaking team, and one of the categories you could do was called the "Lincoln-Douglas Debate." You gave the kids a topic and told them what side they were arguing - it didn't matter what side they agreed with - they were given time to research the topic, and then they debated each other on the topic. In a learning situation, you could get the kids to argue in favor of the side they disagreed with. What better way to learn about the opposing side then to defend it in a debate with intent to win! It forces the kids to learn about both sides of the issue, they all get to listen to different points of view, and they get to learn how to do an actual debate on top of it all! Win-win! 

But this is the overall issue I have with kids leading the fight. Yes, people listen to kids because of emotion and how hard it tugs their heart strings, and the leftist politicians do love to parade around children even though they really don't give a crud about them past their own agenda, the same as they feel about everyone else. It's power over all. But the reality of it is pretty cold. No, we shouldn't be listening to kids. Do they have a right to protest? Of course. They are citizens, too, and have the same rights as anyone else. But like celebrities, their opinions hold no more weight than anyone else's.  Less, even. Kids are not being taught how to think. They aren't being taught to study both sides of an issue and to form an honest opinion. They aren't being taught to sift through the crap to find the facts. They are being told what to think. They are being given lines and buzzwords and chant like sayings for standard signs and are being pushed in front of cameras to parrot it all back at us, because we feel things for kids. And we were all there. At some point, you believed what your parents believed. Then you believed the opposite of what they believed because that was being rebellious. And then you had life experiences and began doing your own research and really looking into issues and you began to form your own opinions. You stopped caring about being accepted by your peers or making mom and dad proud. Some of your opinions stayed the same, but many changed. Right now, though, these kids are in their teen years. They want to make their peers accept them and they want mom and dad to be proud. They don't want to argue with their parents or stand too far out from the crowd. They don't want to be the weird kid no one talks to and who people whisper about as they walk down the halls. They don't want to be like the school shooters, the weird kids no one bothered with. 

So yes, I believe the kids should be allowed to protest. But I also believe we need to get back to teaching our kids how to think and stop telling them what to think. We need to encourage our kids to learn about a topic before diving into it. And I think we need to stop making national spectacles out of our kids for an agenda they don't fully understand. Let your kids be kids. Let them grow up and get some life experience. Let them learn and be carefree. Those carefree years go by so fast. They don't understand yet that the world isn't a safe place. They want it to be, we all do, but it isn't. But most of all, allow them to become who they are meant to become, not what you force them to be. 

And let's be fair. If the protests are allowed for one, they must be allowed for all, and the schools aren't prepared for that. Kids will find something to protest every day if it gets them out of class. But stop teaching them an agenda. 

It has been a big part of the ongoing story today that the Florida school shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was a member of a white nationalist group, Republic of Florida. According to ABC News:

As of 2/15/18 at 11:40 PM, this is still an active article with no updates, corrections, or further clarifications. Since the reports are unconfirmed - and they admit to it very briefly in the article - this was a poor choice of headline. A good portion of people out there won't read the article, only the headline, so they won't see the claim is unconfirmed by law enforcement. 

Also as of 2/15/18 at 11:41 PM, from the Tallahassee Democrat:

You can click those images above for proof of time, screen shots taken at 11:42 PM EST. 

World News Tonight with David Muir at 6:30 PM EST, was also reporting that the shooter was a member of ROF, a white nationalist (I can't provide a clip because you have to sign in with your cable provider, and I don't have a TV). WNT is also ABC News. 

Now, both articles are claiming that this Jordan Jereb guy claimed the Florida shooter was part of their group. But according to the local source, law enforcement has found no evidence that the claim was true. 

*sigh*

​And then there's this gem:

Source

Confused yet? Hold on, this gets better! 

Below all of this there is a screenshot quote from this Jordan Jereb guy. The quote gets traced back to Gab, so I head over to Gab to make sure the screen shot is for real. Not only is it real, but this guy is losing his mind, and also claims it was a prank and he was had. He is also now not claiming to be a leader in this ROF. Here are the screen shots I took from his gab account. The first one is the one I was checking on, the rest are just the follow ups. Keep in mind, it is being reported that there are only about twelve members in this group, and if that is the case, then they should know if this kid was a member or not.

So now major news networks are still running the story that the shooter was a white nationalist and member of ROF, but it appears this may not be the case. Between a group claiming credit for the prank and local law enforcement not finding any evidence he was a member of the group, it may be time for the major news networks to clarify that this Jordan Jereb is walking it back and law enforcement is not agreeing with their sources. And they need to do it a little more obviously than their small admittance that this is all unconfirmed information. 

Right now, the folks on the left are giddy that they finally landed one that isn't a Bernie supporter. I, personally, don't usually care about the political affiliation of mass shooters. It really doesn't play a roll. It does, however, get forced down your throat if there is any inkling that their first cries of "right wing nut job" were correct, and if they are not correct the political leanings suddenly don't matter to them anymore, either. 

But this story is confusing at best. At worst, it is creating yet more division in a time of crisis, and since the reports are not confirmed, it seems premature. 

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center:

Bottom line: we really don't 100% know if this guy was a member of ROF. The cops aren't done investigating it, but as of yet have found no evidence that he was. At the end of the day, it won't matter. Even if they find no evidence ever, and if this Jordan Jereb guy publicly states he was not a member, the anti-gunners and the far left are going to run with this. And, as usual, we will all immediately be called white nationalists for not being on the far left. 

​Great. More division. 

2/16/18 Update: It is beginning to be admitted this was a hoax. Some media outlets are beginning to add notes stating this news is possibly not true. The law enforcement agency is apparently tracking the membership of this group, which is why there is no evidence. More information:

​So, the latest Hollywood vs. anyone not on the extreme left outrage is care of Law and Order: SVU. Apparently, there is a female right wing pundit - who people claim is very Ann Coulter like - who gets violently raped at a rally or something. Everyone is upset by this depiction, but I saw it in a different light.
​

1. They have to help her and solve the case.
2. It sort of highlights the violence of the left. While the female pundit is the one hurt, she was most likely hurt by people who hated her, or at least this is how this episode is being depicted (it hasn't aired yet, I don't believe. Maybe it has. I don't know. I'll never see it). The left loves to silence people by any means necessary, and this sadly is not an unlikely scenario. This episode forces you to see and recognize that.

​I haven't watched SVU in years, mostly because I decided to do away with a household TV. But the show has been on forever, and depicts rape. Rape of all kinds of people. I'm not as outraged by this scenario as a lot of other folks seem to be. They take topics that are big at the moment, and right now, the silencing of right wing political pundits is still big in the news, has been for a while. 

Yeah, I hate to say it, but those doing the silencing have proven that the use of violence, to them, is justified in silencing opinions they don't agree with. So this scenario, while gruesome, is not unlikely, and not only the women are threatened by it. We've already seen one female pro-gun pundit have to pick up her entire family and move quickly because a guy was sending her death threats that evolved into pictures of her kids at their school. The students practically burning down their own college to prevent Milo from speaking is old news, but news that will be burned into our minds for eternity. Even myself. I am, by no means, a force in the political world, I'm just some chick who likes to talk about current events and politics, and once in a while you folks come over to read it. But if you guys saw some of the messages I receive on an almost daily basis, you'd be shocked. A lot of them are graphic. 

So while a lot of people take this episode as an affront to right wing pundits, I see something else, and hope others see it, too. This is a dangerous game, and people will go to any lengths to silence you. It has happened before, and it is happening every single day. This episode forces you to not ignore that. I'm not saying this isn't inflammatory or that it isn't an attack on the right wing. I don't know if it is or not. But we can take more away from it than that.