Common sense isn’t common…
Part 1: Why I Post The Obvious
If you look at what I post whether on social media or on here for the past 3 years it all boils down to hate is bad and you should feel bad. Whether we are talking discrimination, genocide or any other kind of hate and violence. Or whether we are talking about the system that encourages and enforces this violence, which we will touch again on a bit later. Because this is always going to be part of the context in which exist and coexist in. And while I know that there are people agreeing with what I say or think and care for what I have to say or write. I have found myself many times coming face to face, sometimes in a literal manner, sometimes online, with people advocating for violence and hate. Whether it’s anecdotal with what I used to call friends or strangers. Weirdly enough, I have to keep brining things back to the essentials in these discussions. If genocide is bad, how can you defend the genocide of a group of people? If discrimination is bad, how can you advocate for it and tell us that some people shouldn’t exist because you don’t like them? If we all deserve the same human rights why are you championing for some to not have the same rights you do? If racism is bad why are you saying that these people are lesser than you? And I could go on an on an on with examples where people forgot the obvious, being hateful and bad is bad. I can bet that many people that disagree with me and my point of view think the same thing, yes, these things are bad, but many times their reaction, actions or thoughts are in contradiction with hate, discrimination and violence is bad. Why do I say this?
Part 2: Progress or the lack of it is painfully observable
Progress is easily trackable. Whenever there was a progressive step taken in our society and we made a change towards something better for all humans, you can see an uptick in a better standard of living. Yes, some progressive steps come from the wrong people and for the wrong reason, like the weekend, if you are to believe that Henry Ford gave workers Saturday as a free day in order to buy more cars and spend more money. And not because of the workers strike which coincidentaly happened at the same time. But the point remains, that whenever progressive policy is enacted, the quality of life goes up. Some of these could be affordable or housing for all, free healthcare for all, public transport first, better education, high paying minimum wage jobs, caps on profit margins for essential goods, high taxes for corporations, cap on bonuses for investors, chiefs and directors and managers of companies, wealth taxes, 15 minutes cities, and all these things that go for a kinder, better world for everyone which some people take as an attack on their freedom. Freedom to what? To do violence, to keep society divided and hateful and to keep the need for violence. And you can easily see this when liberals, conservatives or fascist gain any kind of power. Because they need a boogieman, whether it’s muslims, jews, brown people, black people, drug addicts, poor people, the LGBTQ+ community, people from neighboring countries which might be poorer and work for cheaper, or anyone else they can target to bring violence upon which they can justify by saying that those people steal their hard earned tax money or that those people are a threat to their freedom. Again, which freedom? Freedom to be and do violence. And whenever they are in control, the quality of life goes down. Inflation goes up, housing is unaffordable, healthcare becomes worse or less accessible, the quality of education goes down, and there is always turmoil and corruption at a very high level. The turmoil can come from their own brand of violence or from resistance to that violence. So when you put it in this context…
Part 3: I’m in a Minority
Why do I have this feeling? Because for the past 10 years there has been a lot of regressive policy, housing has become a dream for my generation and those that follow, hate crimes are on the rise again, we are witnessing multiple genocides and ethnic cleansings, there is war for the first time in 100 years in Europe, fascism is on the rise again, and I could go on and on about how this system created, breeds and festers hate for profit and thrives due to hate and violence. So when there is such a thing as a silent majority, or many people that can see “the both sides of the issue” or nimbys or people that discriminate against groups of people. And when you have to face those people day after day, it feels like saying the obvious needs to be done because there aren’t many people out there saying the obvious. If we all think that we have the right to afford housing, why are we saying that we need to work harder? When in the past 50 years all generations have been working more efficiently and better than ever before. Why instead of raising the quality of life for everyone, we punish those the system created by imprisoning them instead of giving them the means to thrive and not have the need to do crime? And there are many such examples I could go on about which sadden me. So when there are other kindred spirits I can’t help but want to stick to them and tell myself that I am normal and that this world is crazy and violente. Because hate and violence no matter how you want to justify it should not be the norm. And the resistance to that and the system that breeds is are not equivalent. And it seems that saying and posting the obvious is resistance, which is tragic and very much very silly.
PS This post is not to say that I am the savior of the world or have any kind of such complexion. Nor do I expect anything in return for my “bravery”. I am simply putting out what weighs deeply on my heart. And these posts are taking heavy burdens of my heart and my shoulders.