Oblivion (American Revelation XV, Fifteen.)

In Natal, apartheid is a deadly cancer in our midst, setting house against house, and eating away at the precious ties that bound us together. This strife among ourselves wastes our energy and destroys our unity. My message to those of you involved in this battle of brother against brother is this: take your guns, your knives, and your pangas, and throw them into the sea! Close down the death factories. End this war now! ~Nelson Mandela, speech at a peace rally, February 25th, 1990

...

Blood that has soaked into the sands of a beach is all of one color. America stands unique in the world: the only country not founded on a race but on a way, an ideal. Not in spite of but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength of the world. That is the American way. ~Ronald Reagan

...

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Watch ye therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. ~Matthew 25:1-13

I saw this yesterday, Elon Musk is literally amplifying and agreeing with the racist freaks at V-Dare now.

It's horseshit, but you already know that.

This shit that the goddamn V-Dare Nazis are trying to fear-monger over?? It's illegal to even say that shit in South Africa. In point of fact, the guy they're alleging to have said it...Julius Malema...has been arrested, charged, and convicted of trying to stir up racial hatred multiple times. Does that sound like a nation prepping for a genocide to you? 'Cause it doesn't to me. This dude's basically a minor politician who's routinely accused of saying dumb shit to wind up his supporters, but he then actually does nothing, and still has managed to parlay his shitty politics into some measure of wealth. So, he's basically the Black South African equivalent to *Checks Notes* most House Republicans??

These people have a lot of fucking nerve.

More to the point, a few things: I'm only "Left" relative to current Republicans myself.

I'm an old white man.

And I've met people, Black, White, and Other, from South Africa. 

Also, none of those people were rootless rich dudes like Elon Musk who don't need to have a country.

 Perhaps more to the point, all of the Black folks that I've met from South Africa are devout Christians with the kind of rock-star passion for the Lord that should make the typical American believer question what they're even doing. Politically, a lot of them are basically socialists, but all the ones I've talked to...many of whom were old enough to remember the struggles of the 1980's and shit, hated conflicts and repression and wars as only a person who's lived through such things can.

And honestly, the idea that there somehow aren't White South Africans who are patriots who are willing to fight for their country and their right to be in it just downright offends me. Because yes, that runs counter to my (limited) experience of such people as well.

Hell, I read not too long ago that South Africa's first Black female fighter pilot just completed her conversion training on the Saab JAS 39 Gripen. And I happened to remember (and yes, I looked it up to be sure) that the first Black man to be a South African Air Force fighter pilot got his wings...on the Atlas Cheetah...in 2002. By contrast, America could say the same 30 years ago, and these fucking people didn't like that, either. This strongly suggests to me that other people besides Black folks still play a pretty important, large scale role in South Africa...which is also a lot more diverse than just Afrikaners and Black Africans.

In fact as I understand it, the traditional White Calvinist churches are declining because a lot more of the White people go to diverse, multiracial Pentecostal churches now. Whether I, given my bad history with that stuff, agree with it or not, doesn't matter. Change. Happens.

Sorry, y'all, but I don't think White Flight as some kind of geopolitical strategy is going to work, unless you want Idaho to get real damn crowded...and judging from who does the physical-labor-jobs here I'm-a guess it's not any different in Coeur d'Alene or Sand Point. 

Uno Mas Corona, Por Favor?

Can any of the guys at V-Dare build houses, do physical labor, or lay cables?? More to the point, are they willing to do it in the cold?? 

I didn't think so. Seriously, fuck these motherfuckers.

The only people trying to wage a genocide against White People anywhere in the world, at all, for any reason is *Checks Notes* the far-right's hero Vladimir Putin and his Russian Army.

And it's funny how Republicans like Elon Musk or Tucker Carlson get all soggy and hard to light when you point it out that the vast majority of Ukrainians are white Christian small-C traditional conservatives.

The simple fact is, these fucking people don't believe in freedom and self-determination...not even for themselves.

They seem to believe mostly in privilege and some kind of collective or group-rights (but only so long as it's theirs, and doesn't apply to anything else besides bullshit social status) and various kinds of bullshit "Honor Culture" (particularly the US "Southern" kind) which (having seen how people who believe in this shit actually operate) is an oxymoron if I've ever heard of one. Let's get drunk, talk a bunch of shit, get called out and then fall and bust their own face when they try to fight somebody. And then they piss the bed while sleeping it off and their stepdad calls me for a ride to the laundromat to deal with washing the bedding? I suppose now, these dudes that lose fights against chairs want to bring guns to their drunk-fights?? 

And then when their bullshit behavior and violent tendencies eventually lead to the relatives their unemployed ass is staying with calling the cops, they're babbling drunkenly about "their rights" all the way to jail. Sorry but I have no respect for certain kinds of people, and they earned every bit of that.

And the thing is, this is what Republicans are now.

They're a bunch of racists, rednecks and drunken shit-talkers who turn into cowardly appeasers the second it looks like they might have a real fight on their hands, or even when they might actually have to do anything when somebody else does.

(And also, these are the people who get bored and wander off when there's no liberals to argue with.)

But, sure, they're trying to build up the liquid courage to come out and fight the rest of us.

Yeah, that'll end well, bros. Make sure your affairs are in order first, will ya??

Speaking as a veteran here, I'm not sure these people know what a fight or any situation involving risk actually is.

And these motherfuckers are desperately afraid...and I mean living in pants-shitting fear of the idea...that somebody else is going to treat them the same way that they treated Other People when they had the deck entirely stacked their way.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like it'd be easier and less stressful to believe in things like democracy and universal human rights and be a part of Civilization instead of trying to tear it down all the time??

But these fucking people's whole thing is literally Anything other than "We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident..."

I'm reading Tim Alberta's book "The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory" right now (and I'll highly recommend that book.) It's interesting to me how the second you mention "Love Thy Neighbor" or the Sermon On The Mount or anything like that, these fucking people be like "No...not like that."

The Lord's Word is optional to these motherfuckers.

They Crave A Christ-less Christianity. 

(Seems like if I remember it right, religiosity without redemption is exactly how you go to Hell, just sayin.')

But they'll embrace any shitty conspiracy theory that comes along, so long as it tickles their ears. Like, anything to confirm their shitty view of the world...even if they have to just make something up.

And the truth is, at this point, these "Conservatives" don't even see the rest of us.

The thing is, America and the world as they are...are absolutely refusing to be the dark and nasty places of these fucking people's fever dreams. I don't think Trump is talking idly when he says he wishes there was a terrorist attack.

The truth is, these fucking people...these Republicans...crave Oblivion.

Just so they can be "right" or "Own The Libs" or "Say They Told Us So."

The truth is, these people been preaching about the End Times for 50 years, still ain't happened yet.

Just like four years ago in February and March of 2020, when I first started writing about the COVID-19 pandemic that was then visibly ravaging China, I can't shake the feeling that something is coming, even if the Right has to try and do it themselves. 

And they'll lose, again, but people will still die needlessly...probably their people, just like last time. They don't care.

Freedom isn't free. Sometimes, you have to fight for it. 

And yes, I get that means sometimes you're asked to do stuff nobody should have to do. But, again, either you believe in freedom or you don't. 

The other side will be there waiting to fuck you over whether you show up or not.

You make the call...but remember, you only get to make it once.

Be prepared. That's all.

Слава Україна!

We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. ~Malcolm X.

Fourteen

Nameless One: “Shadow of this life?”

Dhall, Dustman scribe: “Yes, a shadow. You see, Restless One, this life is not real. Your life, my life, they are shadows, flickerings of what life once was. This life is where we end up after we die, and here we remain. Trapped, caged, until we can achieve the True Death.”

Nameless One: “True Death?”

Dhall, Dustman scribe: “True death is non-existence. A state devoid of reason, of passion, of sensation.” [Dhall coughs] “A state of purity.”

Nameless One: Sounds like oblivion, why would anyone would want that?

~from Planescape Torment