The current administration has found a way to attract and recruit sociopaths and sadists to turn this entire country into the hellhole that is a living, breathing, in-the-flesh version of social media. There is no talking sense into those people. They are rotten to the core. We need to have a unified message that this is pathological behavior and gather the numbers to stand up to the bullies and overwhelm their cowardly followers. Trump clearly has dementia, and all these so-called experts are acting like he’s a genius. None of them can admit he would be better off in a health care facility. Instead they are all using this dementia patient as their own corrupt personal paths to power and wealth. I hope they all rot in hell.
I'm sorry for the tormenting you received as a kid. I know families who are dysfunctional and toxic as you've described. People who have never experienced that type of bullying will never understand the trauma that it creates and is carried for a lifetime.
As for the right-wing followers, pleading and screaming only brings them joy. They want to see you suffer. There is no humanity in them. One of the reasons they elected Trump is because he said he would be their "retribution." This reinforces the white grievance ideology that he has peddled for 10 years. They elected him to exact pain on people who don't look like them or think like them. They wanted him to target women and people of color. They get off on persecuting people they see as less-than.
I'm sure they are triggered when they read your articles because it is calling them out for who they really are and they refuse to look into the mirror and acknowledge it.
The only way all of this stops is if the rest of us stand up to them. And, for them to continue to feel the consequences of Trump dumping on them as well as everybody else. Maybe when they lose everything they depend upon- Social Security, their retirement, SNAP programs, Medicaid and Medicare, and programs that support their children through the Department of Education, they will come to realize that Trump never gave a damn about them. That they have been conned by a lying liar who lies.
It's a damn shame that everyone has to be put through this, but only then might they understand what they've done to themselves and to this country
Thanks for that thoughtful and helpful comment Sarah! In my conversations with Will, we often discuss ways to deal with them too. The article I wrote about the lie of a rural life really struck a nerve with them too. But I think you're right, pleading and screaming only make them more excited.
Great piece. Reminds me of a neighborhood game where we ran through backyards at breakneck speed to come to a sharp stop before the only fence in the “course”. One time I missed and caught it full force in the midsection. The only thing to do was sit catch my breath and do it again. What hurts more than the initial pain is the fact that such a person has procreated and passed on such bile. We do what we can to sow seeds of knowledge. We have to keep shing that candle, just as you are.
Hate is motivated by Fear. Fear is a Bully’s rifle. The best way to defuse hate is to stand up to the fear (that defuses the Hater) and show Grit and Guts. Never let anyone fill you with incapacitating Fear to take away your personal power, ethics, beliefs, stance. Stand strong and you won’t go wrong. Amazing how the Bully’s of our childhood Carrie’s weight into adulthood. Some of us might call that child abuse. And it is.
Thank you for writing about your history with family members on the far right and how they feed into American society Walter. I would never stop reading your excellent work simply because others don't appreciate it.
I began traveling the third world when I was twenty-one. I wanted to experience cultures vastly different from ours so I could remove the blinders donned in the U.S. bubble of presumed safety and freedom.
Peshawar, Pakistan was tribal territory when I passed through it in 1973. No laws are in place.
I was in the market when a man tried to steal a tomato and the vendor shot his hand with a rifle.
Boom! I ran like everyone else and my perception of human behavior expanded exponentially in this brief moment. I know what you're talking about in terms of human cruelty. I've seen and also experienced some of the worst.
Like you, I don't give up and will continue working in every way I can to share my voice regardless of those intent on causing harm.
My compassion for what you've endured in your family.
You motivate in the coolest way possible. Sorry about the hate comment on your post, these things happen not everyone is meant to agree with what you do...
I agree we must stand up to hate. I am sorry for your PTSD from childhood. Reminds me of a hateful cousin that sexually abused me while my mom was at the hospital in Memphis where my dad was dying of a brain tumor. It happened daily. I did not tell my mother figuring i would e blamed as a 16 y/o. He was 21. I finally told her when I was 40 y/o and in nursing school. She never said I am sorry or anything. I stepped away at that point and only reconnected in my early 60's when she was ill and I was assigned as executor and decision maker due to her inability to manage her affairs. i brought it up one more time and her only comment was he got what he deserved dying alone of colon cancer. Never acknowledge my pain. the attacks were in 1968. The second time I said something was 2018. Strange how life is and I found the #METOO movement brought everything back to the surface. Thank you for listening and for your writing.
Thank you for sharing and I'm sorry you had to endure that. There are a few family members I've never gotten an apology from and they're out of my life too. Strength to you and thanks again!
Hoping he’s suffered from others dismissing him for who he decided to be. He deserves endless shaming and loneliness, that’s what he’s asked for (and I bet he actually got it. )
If you are losing support that is because your characterization of the right is unhinged, mean spirited and unbelievable. Being viscious toward everyone on the right, everyone in rural America, everyone from your childhood and your dad, is just not going to be very attractive to very many people over time.
"I'm also sorry that I suspect some people have probably had to retreat from their support of me because they see I am the target of such attacks. I guess that’s the irrefutable influence of terrorism."
What terrorism in particular are you talking about? Right now, there is a campaign of vandalism and threats against Tesla owners, but that comes from the left.
So sick of fascists! Walt’s right. Gotta stick together with crying, screaming, and pleading! It’s how our forefathers did it (though they are dead racists).
What about the nice, supposedly intelligent people who voted for Trump and are now believing the lies they hear on Fox TV and other right-wing media? I have family members and a couple of good friends who fall into this category. They are as hard to convince as the militant fanatics.
I’m really digging your feminine energy. If you aren’t bisexual you should really consider transitioning! The community would welcome you. Be safe, sister! 🥰
It is unfortunate that your cousin kicked you when he was older and stronger than you, and of course no small child can reasonably be expected to defend himself against a near-adult. However, if this still, decades later, gives you nightmares, you should probably get some help with that. Your injuries appear to have been minor -- got the wind knocked out of you -- and you were probably fine I got hit by a car on my bike at about that age, and I don’t obsess over it now. I had a morbidly obese cousin try to sit on me when I was around eight, and I don’t hold a grudge now. I cannot imagine being so overwrought about a relatively minor incident. Maybe you should lift some weights, or study MMA, or read Nietzsche or do anything rather than replaying this in your head.
First, Walter, I am so sorry that you have a cousin who did that to you. That is not only a bully but just downright inhumane to do that to someone at a young age. I am so sorry you went through this at such a young age. I know the current state of affairs is nauseating to me. The carrot is just a terrible individual. The Uber driver I had yesterday we just have 3 more years. Sad we have to think of things this way. Just awful the whole thing. :(
The current administration has found a way to attract and recruit sociopaths and sadists to turn this entire country into the hellhole that is a living, breathing, in-the-flesh version of social media. There is no talking sense into those people. They are rotten to the core. We need to have a unified message that this is pathological behavior and gather the numbers to stand up to the bullies and overwhelm their cowardly followers. Trump clearly has dementia, and all these so-called experts are acting like he’s a genius. None of them can admit he would be better off in a health care facility. Instead they are all using this dementia patient as their own corrupt personal paths to power and wealth. I hope they all rot in hell.
"using social media was like gazing into Hell itself."
Indeed it is.
Yet magnitudes less than reality.
Walter,
I'm sorry for the tormenting you received as a kid. I know families who are dysfunctional and toxic as you've described. People who have never experienced that type of bullying will never understand the trauma that it creates and is carried for a lifetime.
As for the right-wing followers, pleading and screaming only brings them joy. They want to see you suffer. There is no humanity in them. One of the reasons they elected Trump is because he said he would be their "retribution." This reinforces the white grievance ideology that he has peddled for 10 years. They elected him to exact pain on people who don't look like them or think like them. They wanted him to target women and people of color. They get off on persecuting people they see as less-than.
I'm sure they are triggered when they read your articles because it is calling them out for who they really are and they refuse to look into the mirror and acknowledge it.
The only way all of this stops is if the rest of us stand up to them. And, for them to continue to feel the consequences of Trump dumping on them as well as everybody else. Maybe when they lose everything they depend upon- Social Security, their retirement, SNAP programs, Medicaid and Medicare, and programs that support their children through the Department of Education, they will come to realize that Trump never gave a damn about them. That they have been conned by a lying liar who lies.
It's a damn shame that everyone has to be put through this, but only then might they understand what they've done to themselves and to this country
Thanks for that thoughtful and helpful comment Sarah! In my conversations with Will, we often discuss ways to deal with them too. The article I wrote about the lie of a rural life really struck a nerve with them too. But I think you're right, pleading and screaming only make them more excited.
Great piece. Reminds me of a neighborhood game where we ran through backyards at breakneck speed to come to a sharp stop before the only fence in the “course”. One time I missed and caught it full force in the midsection. The only thing to do was sit catch my breath and do it again. What hurts more than the initial pain is the fact that such a person has procreated and passed on such bile. We do what we can to sow seeds of knowledge. We have to keep shing that candle, just as you are.
They won't listen to the truth even if you put a gun to their head. And even if you shot them, they'd deny they were shot...
Exactly.
Hate is motivated by Fear. Fear is a Bully’s rifle. The best way to defuse hate is to stand up to the fear (that defuses the Hater) and show Grit and Guts. Never let anyone fill you with incapacitating Fear to take away your personal power, ethics, beliefs, stance. Stand strong and you won’t go wrong. Amazing how the Bully’s of our childhood Carrie’s weight into adulthood. Some of us might call that child abuse. And it is.
I would think you might believe in both a God who influences your righteous work and sn Evil One who only destroys and has no care.
Lord have Mercy on US all
Thank you for writing about your history with family members on the far right and how they feed into American society Walter. I would never stop reading your excellent work simply because others don't appreciate it.
I began traveling the third world when I was twenty-one. I wanted to experience cultures vastly different from ours so I could remove the blinders donned in the U.S. bubble of presumed safety and freedom.
Peshawar, Pakistan was tribal territory when I passed through it in 1973. No laws are in place.
I was in the market when a man tried to steal a tomato and the vendor shot his hand with a rifle.
Boom! I ran like everyone else and my perception of human behavior expanded exponentially in this brief moment. I know what you're talking about in terms of human cruelty. I've seen and also experienced some of the worst.
Like you, I don't give up and will continue working in every way I can to share my voice regardless of those intent on causing harm.
My compassion for what you've endured in your family.
🗣️⛓️💥🆓⚖️🙏🌞🌷
Thank you Rebecca! I'm forging forward by reviewing these old experiences and seeing them for what they really were.
I moved to Peru when I was 26 and lived there for 10 years. :) so we have a similar experience there!
Thanks so much for your kind words and your kind thoughts!
You motivate in the coolest way possible. Sorry about the hate comment on your post, these things happen not everyone is meant to agree with what you do...
I love what you do and I'm glad I'm a part of it
Thank you Ral!
I agree we must stand up to hate. I am sorry for your PTSD from childhood. Reminds me of a hateful cousin that sexually abused me while my mom was at the hospital in Memphis where my dad was dying of a brain tumor. It happened daily. I did not tell my mother figuring i would e blamed as a 16 y/o. He was 21. I finally told her when I was 40 y/o and in nursing school. She never said I am sorry or anything. I stepped away at that point and only reconnected in my early 60's when she was ill and I was assigned as executor and decision maker due to her inability to manage her affairs. i brought it up one more time and her only comment was he got what he deserved dying alone of colon cancer. Never acknowledge my pain. the attacks were in 1968. The second time I said something was 2018. Strange how life is and I found the #METOO movement brought everything back to the surface. Thank you for listening and for your writing.
Thank you for sharing and I'm sorry you had to endure that. There are a few family members I've never gotten an apology from and they're out of my life too. Strength to you and thanks again!
Hoping he’s suffered from others dismissing him for who he decided to be. He deserves endless shaming and loneliness, that’s what he’s asked for (and I bet he actually got it. )
If you are losing support that is because your characterization of the right is unhinged, mean spirited and unbelievable. Being viscious toward everyone on the right, everyone in rural America, everyone from your childhood and your dad, is just not going to be very attractive to very many people over time.
"I'm also sorry that I suspect some people have probably had to retreat from their support of me because they see I am the target of such attacks. I guess that’s the irrefutable influence of terrorism."
I'm not losing support. I'm gaining support. So, I guess I must be right, or at least, a lot of people agree with me.
Right wing terrorism does scare a few people. Not the majority.
What terrorism in particular are you talking about? Right now, there is a campaign of vandalism and threats against Tesla owners, but that comes from the left.
No there isn't
So sick of fascists! Walt’s right. Gotta stick together with crying, screaming, and pleading! It’s how our forefathers did it (though they are dead racists).
Who is burning what? Who is celebrating assassination?
What about the nice, supposedly intelligent people who voted for Trump and are now believing the lies they hear on Fox TV and other right-wing media? I have family members and a couple of good friends who fall into this category. They are as hard to convince as the militant fanatics.
At this point they're neither nice nor intelligent.
I’m really digging your feminine energy. If you aren’t bisexual you should really consider transitioning! The community would welcome you. Be safe, sister! 🥰
It is unfortunate that your cousin kicked you when he was older and stronger than you, and of course no small child can reasonably be expected to defend himself against a near-adult. However, if this still, decades later, gives you nightmares, you should probably get some help with that. Your injuries appear to have been minor -- got the wind knocked out of you -- and you were probably fine I got hit by a car on my bike at about that age, and I don’t obsess over it now. I had a morbidly obese cousin try to sit on me when I was around eight, and I don’t hold a grudge now. I cannot imagine being so overwrought about a relatively minor incident. Maybe you should lift some weights, or study MMA, or read Nietzsche or do anything rather than replaying this in your head.
First, Walter, I am so sorry that you have a cousin who did that to you. That is not only a bully but just downright inhumane to do that to someone at a young age. I am so sorry you went through this at such a young age. I know the current state of affairs is nauseating to me. The carrot is just a terrible individual. The Uber driver I had yesterday we just have 3 more years. Sad we have to think of things this way. Just awful the whole thing. :(