Americana

Anyone who has a decent amount of self awareness, I'm sure you've done some soul searching in the last few days as I have. I couldn't put my finger on an instant assumption when I saw that a person attempted to assassinate a former president. It felt very disgusting and confusing, but now that I've heard most of the story and witness all the reactions, I think I've found some words to utilize. They will help those of you who have a sense of dignity & respect for yourself to know a loss of life through a senseless act is a bad thing. I believe that is what is so alarming about this event is that we are so numb to it in this day and age. Violence, however apart of human history is not most of our first instinct that is the majority of the population that I am referring to. If it were, all of us would be in "Combat mode," one hundred percent of the time. When the realization of this event sunk in and I decided that something happened and I was able to clear my thought process from all the distraction of people saying, "it was staged," or the "other side is to blame," and all that, I started to understand why it was hard for me to accept. I'm going to go away from the subject matter, but I'll come back to it, so that you will see and maybe even understand why some folks don't react right away. I'm a member of a minority, Native American that has had the pleasure of a decent education and some exposure to the world. If you've ever traveled off of this continent, America, you realize a few things right away. One, you realize how big the world actually is and two, you sort of recognize American stereo types. What I mean by it is that most of us have been around each other all our lives and we tend to become pretty tolerant to a lot of behaviors that we consider strictly American behavior. Framing things this way might help people understand the majority of the populations hesitation on offering any type of opinion about what happened in Pennslyvania. In life, you are taught a lot of things, but most people will pay attention to things that seem to gravitate within themselves. Things like being kind and courtesy to others. You learn good behavior and this leads you to enjoy and seek the attention of others that have the same kind of behavior that you learned to emphasize. I notice it comes pretty natural for females, as they have a nurturing that is associated with motherhood and the caring for children. Men on the other hand are sort of discouraged from emphasizing these behaviors, but most of us have them anyway and it works to our advantage. When you grow up, you find these behaviors out in society. You enjoy them on occassion because it really makes things become less complicated. When your in an educational setting, it fits into the learning environment like a hand in a glove. If your able to travel, you'll seek this kind of behavior and start to understand "Good Manners," is universal. I've done this and have had the privilege of experiencing it. So that is the "tone," or the motus operandi so to speak. It's called being aware of your own behavior and it is at times associated with people who enjoyed all sorts of privileges in life, like education and employment that allows a person to experience many different things in this world. Let me tell you, it's a very big world. You could travel the majority of your life and not witness or observe all of it because it's very big and way more detailed and intricate that can be imagined. That is the idea I want to start with when discussing something less complicated. It's like my idea and inspiration to become better as a human being and to discover the things around me is a bit threatened when I encounter less fortunate individuals who don't share those qualities with me. What I am describing is a stereo typical American. You see them at the airport doing many obnoxious and not so self aware things constantly. They're rude to people and just generally uncomfortable to be around. It's not because anyone is superior to them. They just sort behave badly and other Americans distance themselves from the people that make life difficult for Americans. I believe a clever quote that can be applied here is "When in Rome, act like the Romans." A lot of people do that and it's especially interesting when you go as far to learn other customs and languages. You start to become educated about other places and people who live there and it creates an experiencing of understanding which in turn helps you to learn even more about yourself and where you come from. That's a quality I believe we can all enjoy, Being American is a proud thing because in this environment with this type of mentality, you really start to understand just how fortunate you are to live in such a great place. We have unlimited freedom and that is what I believe makes America, the place, a beacon to the world. I'm Native American, so I can actually say, I'm indigenous from the land of America because my ancestors didn't travel from some other country. We we're and still are right here. Now think about this, foreigners when they came to this land they didn't know how to survive. The climate here, depending on where you live in America can be different from place to place, but generally every severe characteristic of weather can be experienced somewhere in America. Native people knew and understood this because we've lived here for thousands of years. Once Native People had helped foreigners through the spirit of cooperation that I'm describing as a decent human behavior had occured, the foreigners turned on my people and killed them for the land until what was once millions upon millions of Native Tribes became just a few of us. We're survivors of genocide. We know still to this very day, the bad spirit in human beings. We know violence and most of us witness poverty and discrimination on major levels that other "Americans," can't even imagine. I believe this is what allows for a certain insight into the activities of late. When you're Native American and you get to travel around the world, you connect with other people instantly from other lands because you have had an experience much like their own. Colonization of foreign land is unfortunately also a universal experience. So when in these lands, we, not just Native Americans but I'm sure most Americans have a sense of dignity and pride that we're aware of that might be viewed as superior. Most of us that know this about ourselves, "tone it down," because a basic issue of trust is associated with equality. All the common grade school cliche sayings apply here. "Treat people how you want to be treated and respect is earned not given." These are basic lessons in life that many of us learned in the household we grew up in. The idea that I might be "better," than anyone has never occurred to me, I believe because I know and understand that everyone has something to offer. To me this is what it means to be, "Civil," and yes I'm using the old phrase, "We live in a Civil Society," even though it's history is pretty violent. The next thing you learn about in life after manners & behavior is the law. The saying is, "We're a nation of laws." In fact, in my own culture we have the same teaching. Our's just goes, "We follow the unwritten law." Basically, there are laws that govern the universe and to make everything simple to understand if there is a law that can be confused with something, it's written down to avoid confusion. Even Christians have this in their religion. They call it the Ten Commandments. Behavior and the law, I believe are basic principles of a civilized society. What is the basic understanding of these things? I don't mean to sound like I'm speaking to a grade school audience, but the answer is, "Consequences." You're taught this or I should say, "we're all taught these things from a very early age." Like I mentioned before many of us learn it at home before we are old enough to go to school. There you have it. My big soap box speech about things a child could understand. Before I move on, I want you to understand something also very simple. You don't have to have a lot of education for this. Like I said this happens at home. You don't even have to travel to understand what I'm talking about. People can come to you. What I'm saying is that you don't have to be privileged to be a good person. Having said all of this, I looked long and hard into my own heart to apply this knowledge to myself first, before I decided to pass judgment on someone else. At some point in a difficult situation, a decision does have to be made though. This all happened on a Saturday and my first instinct was, "No way that happened, it has to be a mistake!" The reason I felt this way was because it was just to obvious of an event for me. You see, I haven't just learned these things in the last decade or so. I've been educated on history ever since I've been exposed to it. I was born in 1969. JFK was assinated in 1963. MLK was assassinated in 1968, the year before I was born. John Lennon was killed in 1980.The Reagan attempted assassination was in 1981. I was eleven years old for the last attempted presidential assassination. That was 44 years ago. I will say this. I was more worried that the 44th president would be assassinated. In away, it makes sense because people we're saying real horrible things back then, so the vitriol didn't just start like I said before it's been a good ten years or more of real bad politics in America. I don't ever remember it being this bad though. The tone isn't civil at all and it's not a your fault or mine kind of situation. It's the leadership. Without getting back on the soapbox, I can say the average American votes like once, twice or every four years or so. It's just been accepted that if your candidate doesn't win, you vote again soon. We made it through the former 45th president without uncontrollable violence even though there were a lot of threats and a lot of civil unrest. Like I said, I thought it would be the guy before him. This is an issue that we can't just sit back and say, "We didn't see this coming." It's been coming. That's what I meant when I said the word consequences and I don't mean to say it lightly or point fingers in anyone direction. It's what happens when there is no civility. The thing is, I think there is still civility in society. It's just there is a lot of motivation and maneuvering for it not to be the case. I don't believe it's coming from the base of either political party. A group of people don't just up one day and decide, "We're going to be violent." Leadership does it. If your leading people down a road of violence and misfortune than it will come back on you. Just look at history. Look at wars and genocide. Look at invasions and colonization. Look at the world around you is what I am saying. If you don't see anyone being violent, maybe you're the one being violent. What happened? A young kid got up on the roof apparently with an AR15 and managed to shoot a couple of shots before he was shot. Who is he? What's his motivation? How does that one act spell doom for a whole country? In reality, it doesn't, but that's not all that is at play here. This isn't the first time someone has gone off and did something like this in society. I looked at myself first before doing anything else because I was taught that judgment sometimes comes in the form of self defense. We often jump to conclusions without knowing all the information. I'll admit it. I was already thinking something like this would happen, but I was concerned it would happen before this with a different guy. It doesn't matter though. It did happen and it happened to this guy, so all the people who are upset, I agree with those folks because it's upsetting. We're Americans. This isn't supposed to happen here because we pride ourselves on the life we live and that doesn't involve this sort of behavior. It's there though. It's been here since the founding of the country. All my leaders were killed eventually. If violence didn't get them, being exposed to violence eventually did. I don't believe humans in society have the first instinct of violence. If we did, none of us would be here. We'd be extinct a long time ago. Having said it, when is the right time for violence? What justification do we have to commit violent crime? People will say, "In defense of yourself." Okay, I will accept it that's true. What did the president say when he got back on his feet? "Fight, fight, fight." Here's a question. Whose he fighting? Take some time to think about it because I know the answer came instantly, but really think before you answer. If you gave it some thought, the answer is Americans. He's fighting Americans and he's the one who wants to lead them. I've witnessed all the posts and the commentary. The opinions and the "Back and forth," blaming. No matter how you put it. It's America and the citizens that our leaders are saying, "Fight each other." They're telling you to fight each other and die if you have to and there are a lot of people jumping on board with the idea. Let me tell you something. Even though I tried my best to explain the fact that sometimes it's another American that makes you ashamed to be an American, I don't have any reason to commit violence against them. In fact that is like the golden rule you learn as a child, "Don't hit," and "don't yell at people." Sure, I know it's not real popular right now because a lot of people haven't been acting right for a long time, but that isn't a reason I should just resort to acting like I'm eight years old and start fighting with everyone. I'm not eight years old and neither are you. If anything, someone like me has way more reason to act out because of my people and what was done to us, but I don't hate anyone. That's the underlying truth at the end of the day. Did that kid "hate," his target? Probably not. Did he still get up on the roof and carry out a hateful task? He did. So no matter how you react, it happened and there is nothing we can do to change it. The point is what do we do now? Do you want to hate someone because your being told to? Did you ever think that "You do need to be told who to hate?" Do you ever consider that kid was told who to hate? Of course he was. He made the mistake of listening to someone who got him killed. That's where were at no matter which side of this your on. If we listen to leaders who tell us to hate each other, we will end up just like that kid. It might not happen right away, but like I said, "Being exposed to violence will eventually kill you." That's what violence and hate does to people. You don't have to have a big education or social status to understand that. You have your own mind and your own heart and that is called "Freedom," because no one can tell you what to do. That includes me right now. But right now it's probably the most critical juncture to stop and think about all this and really consider the consequences. I'm not talking about leadership anymore. I'm talking about you and me and about 3 million other people. That's a lot of people and like I said this is a real big country. It was all mine and my relatives at one time before political parties and government. I hear it all the time. Native Americans fought each other and had wars. Yeah, that's true. We also had something called pride and honor. In my culture it was a more legendary honor to touch your enemy than to kill him. It is called "Counting Coup." There were even special sticks for it. In our culture it was a recognition that for an enemy to be hit with a stick rather than killed, it took more skill. Those old time honored traditions went away with the coming of foreigners on our land because they don't have the same set of honor and principles as we do. The idea behind counting coup is that it is the traditional way of showing bravery in the face of an enemy, persuading him to admit defeat, without having to kill him. You see what I'm saying? Honor & Respect are ideals that go further than violence. The Native American understands this. We still understand these things that don't exactly work in the modern high powered rifles and weapons of death world, but we still believe that in the culture of a warrior behavior there is much to be said for winning a victory without violence. These ideals factor into the forms of self governing strategies and uniform organization that American principles are based upon. Self government is about people's power and how the leaders carry out the people's wishes for how they want to live. It carried us for a millenium and then some, so far. The idea that I should hate my neighbor or carry out violent acts against him is as foreign as it gets. That's a barbarian frame of mind and has no business in the modern era. What does it say about us Americans? What does it say about our leadership. I'm with you now and want you to know I'm on your side. I'm watching the same thing your watching. My father fought for and eventually died for his country and people. Sure, it took 84 years for it to finally catch up to him, but it did. He saluted the flag. The flag of this country, even though most of the country's history involves doing everything to eradicate him and his people. That's what true respect and honor look like. I grew up with the principles and lessons from a child in his home. I was taught to respect people. Even people who don't deserve my respect, I show them respect because they might not know what it looks like. This is what I'm talking about when I say sometimes we get ashamed of our fellow Americans. Sometimes we even get angry with them, but at no time do we ever see them as our enemy. If you know a warrior, you know someone who is willing to die for the man or woman next to him regardless of how he or she feels about them. That's what it means to be a warrior. If your leaders are not warriors then they tend to do what is only good for themselves and that becomes a reflection of their leadership and a reflection of their following. So when leaders talk about making sacrifices, standing at a podium and getting shot is what their talking about no matter how we look at it if that's the type of leader they are. They're asking our boys and girls in the military to do that for their country and for their leadership, so it works both ways. That is honor and what patriotism, to my understanding is about. It's not about being hateful towards your own people. It's about defending them. If you notice, I have not made one single accusation in this writing. None at all. I only stated what I understand to be facts and I'm just sharing it. I've even suspended judgment just to provide. a point for people to understand there is a very fine line in decisions that lead to consequences for actions and words. I don't rush to judge that boy on the roof or say it was all staged. He did what he did and that's on him. But we, all the bystanders need to realize that it was wrong and there shouldn't be a place in this great big country of ours for this type of behavior. We're the only one's who can change it. Not a leader or a financial backer of a leader. Their job is to listen to us not the other way around. What does it take for people to understand it? It's written in the founding documents of this country. It say's "We the people," that means all of us no matter what race or religion you are. If you don't believe that than you might as well get yourself a ticket and ride a boat out of here because my people, how many of us that is left would love to send you on your way. We we're fine before your ancestors came here and I'm pretty sure we'll be okay if you go. It will take us a while to undo a lot of bad things that been done, but we'll manage. That's truth and respect for the earth and all living things. Those are the laws we follow. We don't have to write it down and debate it. It's obvious and has carried life since life began. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe life is the thing that bothers these leaders and that's why they want us all to turn on each other. I'll tell you something I did when all this happened. I thought of the worst example of leadership I could and I researched it. I'm not talking about the obvious characters in history that everyone refers to when stuff like this happens. To me, since I was an eighties kid. I remember this guy name Muammar Gaddafi. He was a character for sure. A Libyan General of the People's Congress. Before that he was the Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and the Libyan Prime Minister. All I remember is he wore these bright shiny clothes and big huge elderly glasses like they give to seniors after cataract treatment. He was this guy that when you saw him, you never forgot seeing him. I'm not sure why that is, but he was one of those unforgetable leaders. It turns out this guy was a genius because he experienced all of the atrocity that dictators carried out with regimes. He basically was against monarchy because of what it did to his family personally. He was in three different branches of the military and he studied every thing he could. Eventually he was sent to England and he went to English language training which he refused to learn English because in his words, "British Army officers had racially insulted him and finding it difficult adjusting to the country's culture; asserting his Arab identity in London, he walked around Piccadilly wearing traditional Libyan robes." Let's think about it for a minute. This guy was defiant. He was in England to learn English and he walked around in Libyan robes in the eighties. Maybe that is why he was so unforgetable because, you know we always make jokes about the Banana Republic which is literally a racist metaphor for Africans and there is this guy who fit all of the description. You know what he did after he was in charge of everything? He formed the RCC the Revolutionary Command Council that had no Bureaucrats, but only regular citizens and then eventually he, "nationalized," the Libyan oil industry which was basically British Petroleum. This lead to a price increase of crude oil and that lead to The RCC's Tripoli Agreement of 20 March 1971, in which they secured income tax, back-payments and better pricing from the oil corporations; these measures brought Libya an estimated $1 billion in additional revenues in its first year. The RCC doubled the minimum wage, introduced statutory price controls, and implemented compulsory rent reductions of between 30 and 40 per cent. Gaddafi also wanted to combat the strict social restrictions that had been imposed on women by the previous regime, establishing the Revolutionary Women's Formation to encourage reform. That's the man everyone made fun of because the truth is he had the world by the balls and they knew it, so all they could do was attack his image. I'm sure that is why I remember him. The reason I bring it up is this, "Gaddafi was especially critical of the US due to its support of Israel and sided with the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, viewing the 1948 creation of the State of Israel as a Western colonial occupation forced upon the Arab world. He believed that Palestinian violence against Israeli and Western targets was the justified response of an oppressed people who were fighting against the colonization of their homeland." There you go, violence has entered the chat! I have to summarize what happens between 71 and 79, but just imagine world politics at it's worse with an assassination and Gaddafi infuriated with Egypt and Syria. Here's how he finished the decade. 1979, Libya provided $500 million in aid to African countries, namely to Zaire and Uganda, and founded joint-venture companies throughout the countries to aid trade and development. He eventually partnered with Morrocco, Tunisia and Pakistan to form the Arab Islamic Republic, a political organization. "Seeking to diversify Libya's economy, Gaddafi's government began purchasing shares in major European corporations like Fiat as well as buying real estate in Malta and Italy, which would become a valuable source of income during the 1980s oil slump." I also have to summarize the 80's because it's just to long, but it starts "In 1980, Gaddafi hired former CIA agent Edwin P. Wilson,.." It goes on and on about all kinds of plots and a assassination which eventually ends "In Operation El Dorado Canyon, orchestrated on 15 April 1986, US military planes launched air-strikes, bombing military installations, killing around 100 Libyans, including civilians. One target had been Gaddafi's home. Himself unharmed, two of Gaddafi's sons were injured, and he claimed his adopted daughter Hanna was killed." That's the Reagan years. In fact, Reagan is credited for ordering the strike. Gaddafi was observed as an Anti-Imperialist in the Islamic world and it eventually leads to formation of groups which one of becomes the Muslim Brotherhood. Gaddafi founded the Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights, to be awarded to figures from the Third World who had struggled against colonialism and imperialism; the first year's winner was South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela. In 2003 Gaddafi gets into it with Saudi Arabia accusing them of "having made an "alliance with the devil" when it invited the US to intervene in the 1991 Gulf War. In 2004, Gaddafi traveled to the headquarters of the European Union. Long story short, Italy paid Gaddafi to the tune of $5 Billion to stop immigration from Africa which was turning Europe into "Black Europe." After the US removed Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2006. "Gaddafi–Abdullah feud came into public view again in the 2009 Arab League summit when Gaddafi accused Abdullah, who had become King of Saudi Arabia in 2005, of being created by Britain and protected by the US." Following the start of the Arab Spring in 2011, Libyan civil war begins. Unemployment was 30 percent. "Accusing the rebels of being "drugged" and linked to al-Qaeda, Gaddafi proclaimed that he would die a martyr rather than leave Libya." After the fall of Tripoli, "it was a suicide mission as Gaddafi wanted to die in the Jarref Valley, close to where he was born." It follows, "At around 08:30, NATO bombers attacked, destroying at least 14 vehicles and killing at least 53 people." this scattered the convoy. "The convoy scattered, and Gaddafi and those closest to him fled to a nearby villa, which was shelled by rebel militia from Misrata. Fleeing to a construction site, Gaddafi and his inner cohort hid inside drainage pipes while his bodyguards battled the rebels; in the conflict, Gaddafi suffered head injuries from a grenade blast while Jabr was killed," his son. "The Misrata militia took Gaddafi prisoner," now I'll stop there because for someone who has been sharing information and continuing with the message that violence isn't the answer, the rest is very graphic. It's my way of saying, "there are people who know what happened to Gaddafi, I don't need to repeat it." The reason I point to Muammar Gaddafi is because he was a polarizing figure. He didn't have a slogan to ride on. He created his own success. Sure, many could point to his viscious "strongman," tactics and say, "his extortion was phenomenol." You'd be right in saying it to. You ever look to see how big Libya is compared to the countries around it? Think about it. How did this guy from this place compete with the Super Powers? The answer, is he used the support of his people to do things that no other leader even thought of in those times. He controlled the channels of oil. He took on the giants and he won. That is until world economics changed and then civil war broke out in his country. Then he was the bad guy in his own land and he was taken out. There you go, He held power from way back in the seventies. He organized the unorganized Muslim World. So if you really think about it, this recent event isn't what you think it is. You can't just point to someone wearing a hat of a different color and say, "That person is the problem," and think it will end there. This is much bigger issue than that. This is situation where it looks like it's homegrown and fed back into an echo chamber, so that we'll fight each other, but this is more clever than that. This is circumstance where countries around the world, most of them non-Christian, are looking at us the biggest Super Power and their rooting for us to take each other out. It's not just our leaders that are saying these things, This is the big Global Cabal that I hear extremists talk about. Only it's not one side they want to see destroy the other, it's a "both sides," we'll be gone and we'll do whatever we want then thing. When you realize that it's the bigger picture, you'll realize that it is American Freedom and our specific form of "Hashing things out," that is our super power. People say "Guns & bibles," is what it's about, but if you really think about it. What makes us different isn't the thing we have in common with the rest of the world, but the thing we don't and that's our ability to be united. We're not United when we're literally taking shots at each other. That's what other countries want to see happen here and it almost did happen here. So if you want to see little small countries with ruthless dictators rule the world, by all means go ahead and hate your neighbor. But, if you want to move forward and see this country succeed, put your weapon down and vow to pick it up when the real enemy shows up. Out of all the peace talk I used when talking about this great country of ours and traveling and representing America, you never heard me or read that I said to be weak and submit. I never used any words like that. I said be aware and know yourself and how you look to others because that is how a person stays vigilant. That's how we stand up and take the honor & respect we deserve on the chin er: Ear if that makes you feel better. You take a shot at us, youve taken a shot at all of us because we're the "United," States of America. That is what saluting the flag means. That's what being a warrior for a cause is. The reason I point to Muammar Gaddafi is because he was a polarizing figure. He didn't have a slogan to ride on. He created his own success. Sure, many could point to his viscious "strongman," tactics and say, "his extortion was phenomenol." You'd be right in saying it to. Doing anything else would just give the rest of the world what they want and that's a bigger piece of the pie because we will be to busy fighting each other to notice. Think about it. Why is the situation so confusing. Why isn't it clear how that kid jumped on the roof without anyone stopping him. In my experience we're going to hear a story much like the same when a school get's shot up. It will be nobodies fault and nobody will be to blame because it was a just one "Lone Wolf." That's not true. Somebody put the ladder there. Somebody put that rifle there. Someone told those snipers, "Hold your fire." We'll never know the truth because all the evidence is gone when he stopped breathing. That's not a political party thing. That's a serious some shady country thing. You just have to wake up to realize this isn't about the American dream and the version that we want to win. This is about America itself and what we have that threatens others. It's our numbers, it's our land mass, but most of all it's what we stand for. That's how a small country takes out a big country is they divide us and make us fight each other. They just about got it done to. Let me switch gears and talk about something just as important, but from a different angle. Well, it seems fitting. The subject was Bebe's speech to congress and at the end the reporter summed it all up by saying, "40 years this man has been a fixture in congress with messages for everyone by the way he talks, but now no one wants to hear his message." It was finished up with calling him the irrelevant one. I don't want to point fingers or "look down," upon anyone. I just find it a bit amusing that the same message that fell flat this time is because the words don't match the actions. He's talking about victory in a situation where he is eradicating people. It's really the "wrong time." The idea of colonialism and imperialism are not popular ideals. This "Hamas," attack which Bebe is saying "Iran," is a bit more complex than that. It's a "poignant," attack to get him to do exactly what he has been doing, so that all people can see what he is and what that means for the countries all around him. That's the part of "Brutality," that he is missing. It's good to be tough, but it's a fine line between "interests," and dominion over others. I'm going to go "off script," and talk about something locally that doesn't appear to have anything to do with "Global power." I will start by using the word, "Foe," in a compassionate way. I believe the youngers use the word "Frenemy," as an abstract thought that a person can be your focus to defeat, but you don't harbor actual resentment towards them. This is the thing that is happening right now in American culture. In case you haven't been paying attention, Americans, especially young people have been coming to realize that structured social/political/economic contructs do not work for them. This application of awareness is often spoken in a negative fashion by people who wish to keep social construct intact and they call the young people, "Woke." The term itself, I believe, originated in the African American culture and use of language. It's, in my opinion, a term of endearment to help guide others towards more possible and peaceful co-existing ideas that reveal cultural power. I mean, specifically African American cultural power and language. This term was co-opted by people who engage in cultural warfare to stigmatize the opposition. People often use the term with negative connotation in order to "Victim shame," others. I know I'm getting into the 'weeds," here because I'm using terminology that I am not super familiar with. I know the words and their meaning. It's just not a normal part of my vocabulary. Painting a picture of modern citizens isn't just a "cut & paste," option anymore. It has nuance and complexity. Subtle variations to "play," on words and associate active lifetyles that are a melting pot if you will of different people, races, stereotypes and cliches. For example, if I use the term, "white cracker," it doesn't take a wide stretch of imagination to know that I'm being negative and I'm describing a person of caucasian descent. So when you hear someone say "Woke," it's a reference to someone who would be the opposing or opposite of the cliche stereo type used to describe a caucasian person, but not neccessarily African American. These are the political/cultural camps or groups that appear to be at odds with each other. Not all the caucasion group are caucasian and not all the "woke," people are African American. It's more conservative vs progressive values and traditions at play. People like to over-simplify these things and label one "Good," and one "Bad," and that is just the way it is. Of course whatever side your a member of, "That's the good side." Going back to Bebe and his speech. He isn't considered, "the good side," because of the violence and the violent rhetoric. What is real odd about all of this is were now entering a even more complex time where if you look at the social-political impact of the Bebe appearance and speech in context of the "new generation," of voters and political party enthusiasts, you have everything mixed together. I mean, you could be an Israeli supporter, but not neccessarily an anti-woke supporter and vice versa. You could be a Palestinian supporter, but also not anti-semite or support antisemitism. That is the part that confuses people in the "you can be both," era. It just means two things can be true at the same time. The whole binary idea that it has to be one or the other is literally an outdated idea. Full disclosure, I wrote an article about feminists using their gender to be successful. It doesn't mean I'm a "gender warrior." I just wanted to present an area that hasn't been covered, so don't assume I'm a full on extreme left progressive. I'm not. I consider myself a moderate. The thing is, it's not honestly genuine for me to sit here and see all the crazy conservative over the top rhetoric and then pretend I don't see it on the other side as well. It's just easier to talk about and write about the obvious. It's literally what I believe is a progressive think tank disadvantage. People don't have long attention spans, so to get in real depth of some of the more complex ideas is a challenge. It doesn't mean it shouldn't be done though. Here's an example that will ironically explain and break down what I'm talking about. This comedian from Singapore is in Texas and he asked the audience, "What is the state motto?" People answer, "Don't Tread on me," and "Don't mess with Texas." Also, I think they said, "Everything is bigger in Texas," and "Remember the Alamo." You know, things they thought the motto was. The comedian responds by saying, "you're going to let this foreigner teach you what your state motto is? Then he say's, "the state motto of Texas is friendship." He then follows up with, "the state motto of Texas is the opposite of every commonly held connotation of the state." Now, had the comedian come in and did that bit twenty or thirty years ago, he would've had to run from the stage because everyone in the audience would've been chasing him. You know why they never chased him? They didn't chase him because they are intelligent and they get the joke. I mean, otherwise why would he of said it? The part that is confusing though is if they get the joke and they are intelligent then why don't they know what the state motto is? This is the catch 22 that exists with everything now. Intelligence is associated with some sort of non-binary circumstance in where you have to pick a side or you have to be loyal and if you aren't, you're a traitor. In my mind that's the sort of thing a bully does. A bully accuses you of some mistake in discernment on your part to justify bullying you. Likewise if you fail to adhere to the total lack of self awareness that it takes to be over-the-top Greta Thunberg style of activism than you are also consider disloyal and outcast from the social circle. I have a problem with both of these possibilities. For one, Greta was just a minor when she started dowm the road to activism, so all the making fun of her, I believe lacked judgment of appropriation. On the same scale, but for an adult male whose also a celebrity and is wealthy, I believe the mockery and the over the top labels of the "Anti-christ," and all the type of stuff that get's pushed so far in one direction that it entails an assassination attempt, is highly unfounded. You can disagree with someone without resorting to violence. It's been a better part of world history for forever and a day. By the way, it was Ronny Cheng, the comedian in Texas talking about the state motto. I saw the video and just was itching to share it with anyone because I read a lot about Texas back when Beto O'Rourke was running for president. Think about it and what I said about telling the same joke twenty or thirty years apart. Ross Perot was also from Texas and he ran for president. Down in the comment section of the Ronny Cheng video this lady said, "Don't forget the tiny sign on the side of the road that say's courtesy pays." This is with regards that Ronny was pointing out that he felt it was a Public Relations failure to be from Texas and not know what the state motto is. That's what I'm attempting to talk about as well. I find it fascinating that many of these things happened quite by accident. It's like the famous video where I believe the "Let's Go Brandon," meme takes place. It refers to a viral video of NASCAR racer Brandon Brown and the reporter was interviewing the driver named Brandon. In the background, people were holding a sign that said *#%* (expletive) Joe Biden, but at the same time they we're chanting "Let's Go Brandon." People saw that and it's how the "Let's go Brandon," chant got started. It's nuance and sort of funny and smart because you're not actually saying curse words at the president, but everyone knows what you mean. To take things a step further, internet culture has a feature called "Memes," which are obscure pictures that have captions. For example, a famous viral meme is Kermit the frog looking out a window where there is pouring rain. The caption reads something like, "I wonder if all the frogs miss me to." It's satirical in that Kermit is a frog, but he's inside while all the rest of the frogs are outside in the rain. Kermit is expressing his longing to be outside with the rest of the frogs. That's the general idea of how people in internet culture communicate through using a post that has a potential viral meme in it. Another example is the "Dark Brandon," meme. I explained the "Let's go Brandon!," phenomenom and how it actually started with an interview of a Nascar race driver on television. In the interview the crowd was chanting "fuck Joe Biden," which the newscaster claims is a chant of "let's go Brandon" instead. I had to double check that on "Know your Meme," which is a website that explains how viral posts started. Before I can continue I must explain something about the trends of these things. Schizoposting is an internet slang term used to refer to the act of posting memes as though one were having a mental breakdown. Schizoposting memes, also called "schizo memes," generally exploit the topic of schizophrenia and mental instability and lean into conspiratorial cultural narratives, sometimes intersecting with occultism or mysticism. Memes often employed in schizo-posts are Trollface and other Rage Comics characters. I don't feel I have the right audience to implicate and start down a road of explaining these two characters. Just know that it's an association that is used on pupose. Think of a comments section where a user uses, "ALL CAPS!," to communicate the tone. The term is often used in relation to the word "shitposting," which is a term used to describe memes that can be considered spam or nonsequiturs. This brings me to DarkMAGA or #DarkMAGA which refers to a hashtag and series of memes that depict a "punished," more unhinged version of Donald Trump running for reelection in 2024. Notice the words "more unhinged," which are not my words. They come directly from the internet site Know your meme. In my opinion the site doesn't describe internet culture from an opinion, but more of just "Facts & Evidence." Before I said, "It's just easier to talk about and write about the obvious." I meant that in the the most civil way possible, as you can see that internet culture doesn't appear to adhere to civility. I had to say all this before I can explain Dark Brandon, so you would understand the context of "trolling," which is the equivalent of arguing with a frenemy, as the kids would say. Most people who argue on the internet don't actually know each other, so there is no civility in this zero sum activity. "Dark Brandon refers to a series of memes centering on a darker, edgier alter ego of US President Joe Biden. Defined by the use of laser eyes and deep-fried aesthetics, Dark Brandon memes frequently depict Biden as cunning, violent and all-powerful." Then we have Dank Brandon. "Dank Brandon is a nickname given to U.S. President Joe Biden following his executive order to pardon Americans convicted of simple marijuana possessions and potential loosening federal classification of weed in October 2022." No matter how you personally feel about policy and action, you are now down the "Rabbit Hole," of the internet which is a way to describe an obsession to verify and cite facts & evidence which is all classified as, "Character, Hashtag, Pop Culture Reference, Slang," according to Know your meme. This is the common "civility," that has changed over the last twenty years or so. People communicate this way and it explains the change in society and most of all behavior. It brings me to the term, "False Flag," operation. "A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party." Wikipedia 2024 In the wikipedia discussion on the topic is this, "The term today extends to include countries that organize attacks on themselves and make the attacks appear to be by enemy nations or terrorists, thus giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext for domestic repression or foreign military aggression." Wikipedia is not a dictionary or an encyclopedia type reference in that it's content is considered "a discussion." That means people can "refute," the evidence presented, comment or go to the notes and also they can create their own entire page on a subject to give their side of the "Facts." These things were created soley on the internet for the purpose of avoiding "censorship." To me, that's the biggest reason for un-civil behavior because it's considered "censorship," to not provide a media space for people who don't agree. A great example of this is this very Blog post where I write various articles about what I believe to be the facts, but I always include that the words I use are my opinion unless I put them in quotes, so that others will know I am citing. I also turn off the comments to these blog entries on purpose in the same way that I just described that wikipedia is labeled a discussion because I have a communicating tool associated with the blog that if people want to write their own blog and "Tag me," they can. For me that's the "civil way," to handle potential discussions without arguing, trolling, stalking or even harrassing others. There is a term called, "doxxing," which is something that famously Trump supporters do where they post personal residential addresses of people that they encourage others to harass. This has lead to actual violence on behalf of a political character like the attempted kidnapping of Gretchen Whitmer, the Governor of Michigan or the assualt of Paul Pelosi where October 28, 2022, an assailant broke into Pelosi's San Francisco home, shouted "Where's Nancy?", and subsequently attacked Pelosi with a hammer. These aren't theories. They are events that actually happened that include violence. Of course this brings us to the "Big Lie," as it's famously referred to. "The big lie is a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the truth primarily used as a political propaganda technique.[1][2] The German expression was first used by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf." All this information can be verified and it includes that these events are proven and verified with whom they are associated. One of the optics or behaviors of internet culture is that no matter how much verification or presenting of evidence is associated with any one event, a supporter of the opposite side will be "unmoved," by your attempt to convince them. This leads to a discussion that should be had about the book witten in the forties titled, "Politics and the English language." Combined with his great novel 1984, written in 1949 as a dystopian warning about the way totalitarian practice becomes internalized in totalitarian thinking, these two great works gave us the adjective, “Orwellian.” “Freedom is Slavery” was not far from the infamous greeting at the gates of Auschwitz, “Arbeit Macht Frei.” - George Orwell and the Power of a Well-Placed Lie BY ROBERT KUTTNER | JANUARY 25, 2017 This book wasn't written in the forties. It's about a propaganda practice used today. When the first campaign was run leading up to the election of 2016, one of the candidates famously "planted," information that he read the Mein Kampf. This association is also verified with activity in the eighties in the nineties where a character named John, sometimes the last name was Barron and others it was Miller, was impersonated by the former president. It's how he influenced the media in those times and when presented with a recording of a discussion where it's obvious that it's him, "of a man who sounds like Trump posing as his spokesman isn’t him — even though he has admitted in the past to posing as his own publicist under a pseudonym." This is the basis of behavior that was present long before it's time. It's before the internet. I will not convince anyone who doesn't already believe these things, but I am making an effort for people to at least know this information. The reason I'm making this push now is were at the precipice of the end of these events. Don't get me wrong, by far I know it's not over and it will never be over, but we're at a point where we can all make it go away for a while. The reason I say this is because with all do respect to pollsters and surveys of Americana and it's current state politically, there is a slight potential to achieve an improvement. The improvement has happened in just the last week from the time I started writing just after an assassination attempt until now where several things have changed. The bottom line is the number of 77 million or around about the actual number. That's the number of votes the candidate that is running again got when elected. The actual number is like 160 million between two candidates in a presidential election. 77 million is less than half and what the current candidate was counting on was a third party candidate that's dropped out of the race to take away somehwere between 10 -15% of the opposing candidates votes. Now that up to 15% is centered on swing states that the former presidential candidate that was opposing the lower candidates (number wise) polls and statistics, is free to get those votes. There's just one problem. The 77 million doesn't increase and stays at the 77 million mark. It would take three more million in order to break past the halfway point. This candidate lost his last election by that amount. No amount of propaganda, false flag operation, trolling, stocking, intimidating is going to produce 3 more million votes. He could be running against a potatoe and still not get that many more votes. People despise this candidate, unless they love him and they do at the tune of 77 million. In steps HER. HER is an acronym for "Having Everything Revealed." No matter how you personally react to that action, it's a powerful motivation for three million undecided. That's a large percentage to overcome in four months. I'm not saying it can't be. I'm just saying it's pretty difficult. Let's face it. An election is a powerful popularity contest. But given all the information I just shared from False flags to known authoritarian leaders and their tactics to simple understanding internet communication and civil society "norms," which would you rather be a part of?