A constant menace

There is a thread that periodically comes up on Twitter, that relates today:

https://twitter.com/IamRageSparkle/status/1280891537451343873

To sum up, the tweeter is sharing about seeing a bartender kick a guy out of a bar just as the other guy sat down. It was because the bartender saw Nazi symbols, like Iron Crosses and things. 

The bartender explained that it is a pattern: one Nazi will come in and be fine. Eventually he will bring a friend, and they are both fine, but then they bring more friends who are not fine, and you have become a Nazi bar. 

"yeah, you have to ignore their reasonable arguments because their end goal is to be terrible, awful people."

Usually when it is brought up, it is a reminder that you need to speak up right away when people are saying awful, racist, fascist things. Sometimes there is an added reminder that one reason the bar that doesn't kick out the Nazis becomes a Nazi bar is that everyone else will leave. Those are perhaps more of a focus on whether you are looking at it as an individual or as a business or group.

What I have been thinking about lately is that I don't think it's a coincidence. One well-behaved Nazi doesn't just happen to walk into a bar, return a few times, leading to a gradual-then-sudden increase in Nazi attendance.

That's planned. 

They don't even have to be looking for a place that is receptive to their ideas; a place where people don't want to make a scene will suffice.

It is possible that I am thinking of it more because I am currently reading about the 1964 election. Organization around Barry Goldwater, with overbearing, overwhelming volunteers working to drown out anyone who disagreed with them. Racism played a huge part then too.

They were ultimately unsuccessful, but many techniques and talking points for Republicans got their start then. There was limited success until they weakened the Voting Rights act, but the groundwork was laid early. 

(And I am sure they did not all want to be full-blown fascists, but they let them in.)

My thoughts are also definitely influenced by failed Beaverton School District candidate Jeanette Schade and her persistent efforts to bully, harass, and degrade.

Most recently, she is using her page to target harassment against specific teachers and against Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, while also helping others learn how to defund schools.

In the case of THPRD, their crime is having an Equity & Inclusion statement on their web site. It acknowledges that many government programs having roots in systemic racism and oppression, and commits to advancing social and racial equity.

How awful! It is if you are committed to your racism. That commitment may involve a refusal to acknowledge that commitment, and it might be mainly a vague discomfort that gets worse as you refuse to think about it, but still, loudly, the only reason to be against equity is if you are committed to the inequality.

My purpose in this is not to target harassment against Schade, though it makes me wonder what the other losing candidates are up to now. For some of them, it was probably mainly an ego trip to be recruited to run. While they are certainly being irritated by new mentions of COVID fighting measures and equality, they may not be doing much about it.

But the organizers are. Communities for Sensible Schools (the Hillsboro group) is planning on running candidates in 2023 as well. For them, "sensible" means not questioning institutional racism, keeping students vulnerable to sexual abuse (which they find superior to giving students ideas that could lead to promiscuity or any sexual agency), and believing the virus is a hoax. That all correlates strongly with being a member of the Trump death cult.

No, we do not need to be organized in harassment of them, but we better be organized in supporting teachers. We better be organized in supporting THPRD and other targets. We better be organized in voting, and fighting voter suppression, and supporting science and equality.

Remember, the Church believes in vaccination and is partnered with the NAACP.

Also remember that the fascists are recruiting Church members and their recruitment efforts are discouragingly successful.

It's great that you're not a Nazi. Don't be the person that lets the Nazis into the bar.

They are constantly working to take the whole thing over.

Not procrastinating issues of life and death

In a Facebook group that was based on people from church (perhaps what made it seem relevant to this blog), one member was doing research. They were polling who had filled out end of life instructions like Advance Directives.

That in itself didn't strike me as much as that almost all of the responses were people saying they were going to. It felt like they were answering confidently, as if filling out and signing the paperwork is a mere formality.

It is not.

Well, it can be, if -- and this "if" is huge -- that intent means that family members have discussed it and key people understand each others' wishes and will honor them. 

All it takes for that to go wrong is for one person to be too distraught too care (which in the case of sudden traumatic injuries leading to brain death, is plausible) or for some of the kinfolk to have moral qualms or disagreement or false hopes (all of which, with humans, it also pretty plausible).

Having signed documents filed with doctors makes it a matter of following the law. It is literally a matter of preparedness.

Unfortunately, people often don't like thinking about death. I get it. That death still happens pretty reliably is a really good reason to spend at least a little time thinking about it. That we can predict the inevitability of death but not the timing is a good reason to get those thoughts in writing and witnessed.

There is a pretty good starting place here: 

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning-health-care-directives#started

I especially appreciate the section on different decisions. It is not a single "yes"/"no" decision. There are different circumstances to allow for.

Personally, I think if I were unresponsive, but breathing on my own and with brain activity, I would want people to start letting me listen to all the books on my Goodreads reading list that have audio files available. If there were still no progress after that, then remove the feeding tube, but at least I would finally have gotten caught up.

(That is probably at least partially facetious.)

The other thing I want to say is that going through my mother's POLST -- Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment -- registry paperwork with her was a really positive experience for both of us. Although she was starting to lose some memories, she was still answering the questions and understanding them. I was glad that she had that faculty. There was less of her mind left when we signed the durable power of attorney papers, and I regretted that.

(I have seen estimates that one in three seniors will get dementia. That's a hard thought, but maybe there is some thinking to do there, if on nothing else but potential prevention.)

Doctors of senior patients can often be helpful if there are questions. That is where we got the POLST paperwork, and where we turned it in when we were done.

It is not the only issue that should be thought about in advance, but it is a good starting point.

An anniversary

As an extension of my Black Music Month reading and listening, I watched a documentary about a special group recording of "We Are Family", organized by composer Nile Rodgers. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIdA9tNfPOU

In it, someone said how in America we don't tolerate prejudice. It struck wrong, but was immediately followed up by a segment on some of the harassment of Muslims that followed. I appreciate that they did that. I think the person who said it was sincere, but he was wrong, and what he was wrong about matters.

Yesterday was flooded with people sharing memories from September 11th of 2001, twenty years ago.

There are three main memories I have from that day.

• Staring at the television in disbelief as they played the footage of the plane striking the second tower over and over again. That wasn't healthy, but I know a lot of us did it.
• Walking on my lunch break and suddenly feeling fear when a helicopter flew overhead. Work was right by a flight school, so there were helicopters all the time. Suddenly it felt sinister. Everything felt scarier.
• Work was also dead. It was a call center, and there were no calls and no e-mails. We talked to each other, subdued, and were on the internet a lot. 

I was on the IMDb message boards. I remember writing that I knew lots of people were donating blood that day, but I thought I would wait a few days to spread it out. Someone posted that it didn't look like they would be needing much blood. I remember that sinking feeling, realizing that they were not going to be pulling living people out of the wreckage. 

I remember people sharing memories and poems. One person asked about another whom he knew lived near the towers. They had actually argued a few times, but he cared. When that person responded that they were fine, well, he was touched that his antagonist cared, and I was touched.

For all of the shock and fear there was caring too. 

I get why the memories keep coming back. I get why people say "Never forget."

That memory needs to be balanced.

Some people have taken to calling September 11th "Patriot Day", but that reminds me of the Patriot Act, which was a travesty. 

Remember that the following time period included euphemisms for torture (which does not work), invasions of two countries (one completely disconnected, so supported by lies, and one that we just got out of), government contracts going to administration contacts (and then not being fulfilled, at least in the case of Halliburton and Cheney), and many shameful things.

Here's some speculation for you: if Gore won in 2000 it might not have happened.

Because the W. Bush administration had such a focus on Iraq, it ignored other intelligence information, including some warnings from flight schools where the attackers sought out training. 

There would be no reason for Gore to ignore that information. That doesn't guarantee that any follow-up would have been enough, but it at least improves the odds.

That seems like it should matter, given the horror we felt, and the grief at the loss of almost 3000 people. However, some of the people most patriotic about September 11th have actively fought doing anything to counter a pandemic for which the US death toll is now over 660,000.

I can't help but wonder if that election had gone differently, how else we might be different.

It certainly seems likely that if Gore had won, that we would have made more progress on climate change, which was a passion of his. Imagine a twenty year head start on that, especially coming at a time when the government was running a surplus.

If we had not tolerated then that the person running a candidate's campaign was also the secretary of state for a key state; would we have tolerated a candidate who never revealed his taxes sixteen years later?

If we had realized how dangerous it was to have one state have so much influence anyway, and done away with the electoral college then, can you imagine how different the last five years would look?

If we had not allowed Cheney to cheat our soldiers, would we have tolerated all of the grifters and plunderers in the Trump administration? 

And in this what-if, there probably isn't the opportunity for Halliburton to cheat the government, but the point is that what we care about matters. Some of those choices made have made us worse as a people.

That is worth reflecting on.

And since we're doing it, let's remember that part of us still being saddled with Rudy Giuliani is the good will he got as mayor of New York City at that time, but that he was not a particularly good mayor. That included not having updated the radio equipment the fire department used, which may have affected communication and the ability to get some firefighters out. 

It may be too much to say he is responsible for the death of all of the firefighters killed in the tower collapse (over 100), but it is certainly right to say that he did not deserve the adulation that he milked because of this.

And yet, it might still be reasonable to call him "America's Mayor", depending on the America that we choose to be. 

Let me add that the IMDb message boards were deactivated years ago, after having been flooded with racism and sexism where it became too hard to moderate.

There are choices.

Reaching out

I had a disappointing realization a few months ago or so.

I wanted my role in the world to be more heroic, where I could head off bad things and spare pain. It is clear that I will be doing more comforting after the pain has happened. It's disappointing, but perhaps not that surprising.

Last week's post was about trying to decide -- when so many things need fixing -- how to prioritize. In addition to working on improving things (which I have not decided is impossible), it is important to recognize that other people are aware of the crises. They may be angry, sad, scared, and overwhelmed. 

Recognizing those individual needs is an important part of being here.

I had recently been thinking that I need to speak out more. Yes, I am always voicing opinions on the blog, but it occurred to me that I should also be writing directly to key people, and making it more targeted when working for change. 

Perhaps it was a natural extension to then think of it not always being about complaints and suggestions, and not about big world issues.

I just lost a cousin this week, which reminds me that we don't always know how much time we have.

I have also gotten to see some friends, and that helps.

It is really easy to become isolated in these times. That means we need to put in the effort to fight that.

Sometimes it can mean a lot to get a phone call or a card or a text or an e-mail.

• How are you?
• I miss you.
• Just thinking about you.
• Are you doing okay?

Now, for a surprising twist: also consider asking "Can you do this for me?"

I have a tendency to focus on what we do for other people. However, I have been reading and thinking a lot about Audre Lorde's A Burst of Light.

Taken from a journal that she kept after being told that she had liver cancer, throughout Lorde deals with her mortality, making choices about how to deal with the cancer, and the things in her life that are not directly related to the cancer. As much as the writing is fueled by the approach of death, it is truly about life.

Shortly after writing about how her work -- which is often focused on making the world a better and more equal place -- energizes her, she also writes about things that are not work. The most valuable, inspiring service in the world will still tire you, even when it feels like you are gaining a lot from it.

She advises to find what "your soul craves", like a dance class or a quiet spot. That is something we more typically will think of as self-care, but this was the part that was most interesting.

“One secret is to ask as many people as possible for help, depending on all of them and on none of them at the same time. Some will help, others cannot. For the time being.”

That is something that is harder, but if it becomes a common practice, knowing that not everyone can contribute all of the time, but that everyone will have something to offer sometimes, that holds promise.

Yes, perhaps asking someone for help they can't give will make them feel bad, but asking them may also be a vote of confidence.

Asking takes away illusions for the asked about everyone else having it together.

Asking might crush pride and build love.

Asking can build a circle, where everyone is equal.

It's not the only type of interaction to have, but don't rule it out.