I had something else planned for this Confession, but in the days leading up to the US Presidential election, all thoughts of blogging left my head, and now that potential post no longer feels like the right thing to post today.
So I guess what I have to say instead is only peripherally related to Doctor Who. I like to think that the Doctor stands for equality and justice for all people, no matter their color, religion, species, or other identity. I like to think that he calls us to do the same, inspired by his example—including when he messes up.
I really think the US has messed up. There are many who disagree with me, who think that anything to change the status quo is an improvement. And while I agree that there is a lot that already needed changing in our country, I firmly believe that the results of this election will not lead us to improvement. I think a lot of people are going to be hurt—and by hurt I mean economically, emotionally, and physically, even to the point of death—rather than helped by this incoming administration.
As for the "progressive left" here, the supposedly forward-thinking white liberals, I really hope the scales have finally fallen from their—from our— eyes. I hope we finally answer the wakeup call that POC have been trying for decades to get us to acknowledge. Our country has never "gotten past" racism and anti-Semitism; there's no "post-racial America." We need to recognize, call out, and change the ideas and practices in our society that allow the marginalization of so many.
For right now though, I'm still kind of numb. I'm at a loss—not to understand how this could happen, but to know how to move forward and help make positive change for the betterment of both the marginalized and the frightened, one-time majority who see their own way of life disappearing. I want to believe it can be better, but I foresee a vast amount of pain and suffering between here and there.
And I am afraid.
It CAN happen here.
Once my father showed me an article in a history magazine. It was about a little town in Poland where the Nazis swept in, herded every Jew in the town into the Synagogue and set it on fire, burning every single man woman and child alive. He told me that my grandfather came from that town and if his family hadn’t emigrated to America he would have burned to death with the rest.
I still think about that.
Will Trump start carting illegal aliens and Muslims off to concentration camps and murdering them wholesale? I certainly hope not. He couldn’t do it right away. People wouldn’t stand for it. But I haven’t ruled out that it might happen a few years from now.
Even short of that, our PC culture is done for. People will now feel free to be rude to and insult anybody they feel like. After all, the President does.
Yeah, Washington needs a new broom sweeping clean. But I really wish that broom was Bernie, not Trump.
Not hopeful
I agree that our system has long been in need of reform. The president-elect and his cronies will burn it to the ground, and—I fear—a great number of citizens with it, both figuratively and (Prime, please let me be wrong) literally.
Hope for the best, prepare for (and fight against) the worst…
Nothing is permanent
I think my hope lies with the fact that in the USA it was about 6-7 years between the height of MacCarthey and the election of JFK.
“Go forward in your beliefs and prove to me that I am not wrong in mine”.
Optimism
That is a more optimistic outlook than mine, for sure. I hope with all my heart that you are right, but I fear the US is in for a horrible several decades…