Seventy Thoughts on Turning Seventy
Who's the Us in Us Versus Them?
What's the difference between Musk's Nazi salute and Kanye West's sale of swastika T-shirts?
Here's one:
West was dropped by Shopify and his talent agency. Gonna cost him $$.
Musk on the other hand has not faced any consequences and continues to steal from our tax coffers to protect and further enrich himself. In addition, since his takeover of Twitter, he has turned "X" into a haven for MAGA propaganda, dangerous lies and hateful racist rhetoric.
This is loaded territory -- this intersection of racism, anti-semitism and out and out third reich style nazism which is growing in this country and around the world. I'm disappointed (but no longer surprised) that there wasn't the same outcry on the left to West's blatant expression of hate for the Jewish people that there was for Musk's Nazi salute. It is beyond comprehension why this white South African immigrant - a son of apartheid - was initially given a pass by the ADL ( which since changed their stance after Musk treated the reaction to his gesture like a joke on his bought and paid for nazi friendly social media platform. )
The complexity of the intersection of race, gender, religion and power makes simple analyses incomplete and dangerous. What is happening now is not easily understood in small bytes and a bunch of pixels coming at us at breakneck speed in our feeds.
We need knowledge of history and the law and each other to make sense of what is happening in this real time coup so we can band together to stop it.
Swirling in the crosswinds of American history, all of our histories, identities, affiliations and values are being questioned.
We are expected to take sides. "Us vs. Them"
The ones who have created the game are not playing by the rules which in this case is the Constitution which enshrines a system of checks and balances to keep power from being consolidated in one or a small group of individual/s. They are trying to cement their power grab with a scapegoats and lies. It's hard to stand at the center of our own integrity and hold on to that which is good and true and just. And trump, musk, maga and their republican enablers are hoping that there's so much dust blowing into our eyes that it ( momentarily) blinds us to what they are doing... which is using their ( temporary) power to take from us to remake the world to line their pockets.
There is only one "us" and that's millions of American people whose votes put leaders in office, and whose tax dollars should be used to make life in this country better for all of us.
trump, musk and their small band of robber barons who will benefit from their unlawful machinations are the "them."
That "waste" they are claiming to cut? It's services and jobs and programs that make our lives and the lives of our children better. Safer, Healthier, Smarter.
You want to know that "they" think of "us?" We are the human waste they want to cut -- using OUR money to do so.
So yeah. This thing with West is important. But it's also part of the misdirection and division that "they" are so good at.
