You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.
During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug) -- while praying to the same God -- with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the "white" Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana. We were truly all the same (brothers) -- because their belief in one God had removed the "white" from their minds, the 'white' from their behavior, and the 'white' from their attitude. I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man -- and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their "differences" in color.
With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called "Christian" white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster -- the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.
They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most. . . . I said, "The brotherhood! The people of all races, color, from all over the world coming together as one! It has proved to me the power of the One God. . . . All ate as one, and slept as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the Oneness of Man under One God.
~Malcolm X, Letter following the Hajj.
...
hiding inside the black granite.
I said I wouldn't
dammit: No tears.
I'm stone. I'm flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night slanted against morning.
I turn this way—the stone lets me go.
I turn that way—I'm inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
I turn that way—I'm inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
I see the booby trap's white flash.Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.
A white vet's image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I'm a window.
He's lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black mirror
a woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair.
~Facing It, by Yusef Komunyakaa, US Army Veteran
...
The dark is generous and it is patient, and it always wins.
But at the heart of its strength lies weakness.
One lone candle is enough to hold it back.
Love is more than a candle; Love can ignite the stars.
~Matthew Stover, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith novelization.
And somehow there's no Starbucks in this dude's dream-world because something something Gazpacho. Apparently he's unfamiliar with the Arab (and Muslim) love of Coffee.
Bro I've been all over the Middle East, first when I was in the Air Force (primarily to Israel, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) in the mid-1990's and then going to Egypt and (briefly) Israel and Jordan in 2002. Except for culture, language and religion (and the emphasis on certain things) people aren't that much different over there from how they are here...and where there are such differences it's generally not the choice of the people.
People are people, wherever you go.
I'm just sayin' there's 200 Starbucks shops in Kuwait, which isn't even that big of a country. I got that statistic from my cousin, who was over there when he was a Marine.
Honestly, it was probably half that when I was there in the 1990's as an Airman.
Probably more than 200 by now.
I mean, I get it, these fucking people don't know jack shit about jack shit.
Here's Erika Kirk, patroness-saint of leather hot-pants, talking about how supposedly Charlie Kirk died with a smirk on his face, and reading into that some tale of martyrdom and unstoppable Revival.
That's not even what the Lord's Word is for.
I have more of a church background than Erika Kirk does, and I've been to a lot more church camps house church services and Revivals and tent meetings than she has, and while my partner and I sometimes joke about "Dry-humping like church-camp teenagers" (and we have, LOL. Why? Both because that's our background and the second time we dated she was going through a major Christian phase to cope with life issues and I absolutely respected her bodily autonomy and consent.) I can honestly say in all the years of doing all that church crap from when I was a kid on up through being that church-camp teenager on up to being an adult active in ministry and considering ordination in my mid-20's to questioning in my 30's to when I finally quit the Church in my mid-30's I ain't never seen nobody at no church camp that was wearing no leather fuck-me-pants, Let alone on stage or that was a speaker.
Like not even one time.
I mean, like, you're kidding, right??
Anybody with a brain in their head and the ability to observe behavior or read a book absolutely should know this, correct??
Like "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" and "Whoever looks at a person with lust in their heart has committed fornication with them" and shit like that, right??
But then, you have to remember that These Fucking People's idea of what Christianity or "Revival" is, is simply one more thing to feel "superior" and smirk about.
Like their whole point is to be able to say to another person "You're going to Hell!" while thinking "And I'm Not!" while mainlining Narcissistic Fuel in their minds.
Worse, they think they can manipulate God into thinking that's Okay, regardless of what the Word says about exactly that.
"Self On The Throne" describes these fucking people exactly.
Evangelical churches are narcissist factories.
I've occasionally wondered what it was like to read something like the story of the rich man and Lazarus and completely miss the point...but I've never actually wanted to take the chance of experiencing that shit myself.
Now, because Republicans got their asses handed to them on Tuesday and women were a big part of that, these motherfuckers are trying to say women's votes should be taken away.
No, bro, no.
First off, it'd take another Amendment to undo the 19th Amendment and women would get to vote on that, so it's not gonna happen that way.
Second, this was something our ancestors decided over 100 years ago.
"No."
And that's both a complete sentence and a conservative point of view.
You either believe in freedom or you don't.
If you don't think I'd die with a rifle in my hand to protect my partner's (or anybody else's) right to vote you ain't been paying attention, yo. And I say that knowing she ain't always gonna vote the same way as me or how I'd like because we've always been different even though our end-goals are very often similar. We'll argue for days about how best to achieve such things.
Either we all have rights, or none of us do.
- President Laura Roslin: You have committed me to holding elections within the year.
- Lee "Apollo" Adama: Madam President, with respect. You are serving out the remainder of President Adar's term. When that term is up, in seven months, the law says, there is an election. I only committed you to obeying the law.
- Commander Bill Adama: You sound like some kind of lawyer.
- Roslin: This is unacceptable.
- Apollo: I swore an oath. To defend the articles. The articles say there is an election in seven months. Now, if you are telling me we are throwing out the law, then I am not a captain, you are not a commander, and you are not the president. And I don't owe either of you a damned explanation for anything.
- Roslin: He's your son.
- Adama: He's your advisor.
- ~Battlestar Galactica (2003) S1 E3 "Bastille Day."
- Think about that, for a second.
- The world these fucking people want to live in is not even fucking possible.
- Not unless you're Okay with a large portion of the population simply dying from back-breaking labor and overwork and a large portion of the ones that survive that starving to death every winter.
- And then they want these same people, broke, poor, stripped of agency and rights and social support without even the capability to theoretically provide for themselves, to have more kids??
For the love of fuck...HOW??
With WHAT??
It costs money and time and work to have kids!
It costs money and time and work to have kids!
You don't just pick them up, fully capable, from an assembly plant for fuck's sake!
If you never paid attention to parenting, most parents rather like to have some say in what goes on with their kids which tends to get expressed in things like what they vote for and shit like that, including the fact that most kids or parents will need some form of support at one time or another.
I mean, I get it, these motherfuckers just want to pump out more drones for corporations and their dictatorial false-theocratic version of the State.
But yo, I used to be a conservative back when that meant something other than this shit and none of this works that way.
Hey, aren't these the same dumbass motherfuckers who bitch about "Sharia Law" every chance they get?
What's this crap but more Sharia Law??
Also, I'm not married, in fact I'm divorced. So's my partner. We've discussed this and we're both not interested in getting married until, at best, much later on. Go ahead, try us, see how that works out for you.
Cuz the next question out of my mouth is gonna be along the lines of "Did somebody order a knuckle sandwich?"
*POW!*
Yeah, fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Heritage Foundation.
The thing is, we're both (as much due to age and upbringing as anything else) a little "Traditional" ourselves and we've consciously decided we don't want to have that kind of relationship.
At least not yet.
Among other things, we're not sure we'd be very good at it, and we love each other deeply but drive each other crazy. We always have.
But "Traditional" in the sense of existing traditions or "Things as they are" isn't what These Fucking People even want.
They want some kind of bullshit Stepford-world that feeds their narcissism where Other People are forced to live like medieval peasants and forced to conform to their fake-ass Christ-less "Christianity" while behind closed doors in conferences the rest of us don't get invited to, they get to ogle Erika Kirk's ass in leather hot pants and secretly crash Grindr or whatever other secret gay hookup apps.
And they want to strip the rest of us of the ability to even say "Hey, what the fuck??"
Fuck all that, if you don't understand why, as far as I'm concerned you ain't an American.
And yes, driving these fucking people from power, stripping them of political power and curtailing their ability to harm or manipulate others is going to come down to a fight.
Why?? Simply put, they won't understand anything less.
Tell them no, make laws about it? They'll plot and scheme until they find a way around that.
Fight against them, shoot a few, and strip them of recourse when they lose the fight. Put them on trial, drive them away to places like Argentina, that's simply what you do.
Yeah, they'll be mad, but these people are mostly cowards and they'll stew about it in infinite, impotent rage forever.
But ya know, even their own holy book says Eternal Life comes by compassion, not greed, and through love, not hate. They want eternal life and eternal power, but can achieve neither.
If the rest of us educate their kids and teach them compassion and empathy and to respect the rights of others, and to (whether conservative or liberal) participate in society on an equal basis, and keep at it until it sticks??
Like I said, either you believe in freedom or you don't..
Either you give a shit about other people or you don't.
Just 'cause you wanna call Babylon "Conservative" doesn't make it that, and doesn't make it be something other than Babylon.
Remember this.
It's gonna be on the test.
Pass/Fail.
And the grade is Eternity.
Or ruling for one hour.
Can't have both.
Your call.
Soon.
Слава Україна!
- Karis Nemik: There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try. ~From the Star Wars series Andor, S1.E12 "Rix Road."
- Seven
- And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. ~Revelation 18:1-10
Stop blowing the narcissist, America.
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