progressivemillennial

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Happy 4th of July! Reflecting today on the significance of "E pluribus unum" in American history and its application and meaning in contemporary America.

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Happy Juneteenth! While many gains have been made over the centuries, may we continue the necessary work of liberating our society, our minds and our actions from the tyrannies of colonialism, apartheid, and violent inequality.

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"If your tactics disrupt the order of things under capitalism, you may well be accused of violence, because 'violence' is an elastic term often deployed to vilify people who threaten the status quo. Conditions that the state characterizes as 'peaceful' are, in reality, quite violent. Even as people experience the violence of poverty, the torture of imprisonment, the brutality of policing, the denial of health care, and many other violent functions of this system, we are told we are experiencing peace, so long as everyone is cooperating. When state actors refer to 'peace,' they are really talking about is order. And when they refer to 'peaceful protest,' they are talking about cooperative protest that obediently stays within the lines drawn by the state. The more uncooperative you are, the more you will be accused of aggression and violence. It is therefore imperative that the state not be the arbiter of what violence means among people seeking justice."

-Kelly Hayes, "Let This Radicalize You"

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Flowers come in all shapes and colors and sizes. Some have yet to bloom, some are at the peak of their color, some are withering away. This is part of life.

We too come in all shapes and colors and sizes. Some of us are perfectly healthy, some of us are chronically ill or disabled or incredibly athletic or adequately able-bodied. We are old, we are young, we have just been born. This, too, is all part of life.

Societal forces sometimes deem certain forms of existence as ideal, but it's important to step back and remember that there really is no perfect way to be human.

We can just be--without shame or pressure to be something or someone else--and that is enough. We are enough, just as we are.

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I was touring apartments in the Chicago area earlier this year, and a lot of them were the same places I looked into back in 2010. In every case, the rents had at least doubled.

As an example, I lived in a one bedroom apartment with a $795 monthly rent in a nice suburb in 2010. Now, just 15 years later, the rent for the exact same apartment is almost $1,700.

Back in 2010, I was able to afford that price in spite of having car and school loans to pay and an entry-level salary in higher education. Could someone with an entry-level salary--which has not doubled--afford that rent now? Only if they didn't want to eat.

The path we are on as a nation is not sustainable. Cutting programs for the poor and giving tax cuts to the wealthy while boosting military spending will not make it easier to live in America. Conversely, tinkering with Obamacare and promoting the status quo will only allow pressing problems to fester.

Bold reform is needed to address the urgent problems our society faces if we want to stem the suffering and precarity people are facing daily.

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“If I have one message to give to the secular American people, it’s that the world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don’t know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.”

― Marjane Satrapi, Iranian graphic novelist

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It has often been said that "you should care about [group/issue x, y, or z] because they'll come for you next," and that can be an effective appeal.

But this is not solidarity.

Solidarity is being there for each other because we recognize the fragility and vulnerability in our shared humanity and the importance and validity of our diverse struggles. We all have needs sometimes, some more existential and urgent than others.

We find strength, comfort, love, and safety in each other. That is community. That is solidarity.

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I've been thinking often about the unconditional nature of humanity this year. Once we start dehumanizing people casually (i.e. labeling Palestinians animals, calling transgender people it, referring to immigrants as illegals), we open the door to violations of human rights (i.e. ethnically cleansing Gaza, the legal and eventual literal eradication of transgender people, sending people to gulags overseas). This is understandable as human rights flow from one's humanity. Human rights don't apply to non-humans.

As Americans, if we believe that human rights are unalienable and Creator-given, then we must also acknowledge that one's humanity cannot be revoked, and certainly not by mere mortals such as you and I.

A better world is possible, one where all humans have inherent value and we strive to uphold the dignity and rights of every person, no matter who they are or where they're from. Let us imagine that world and agitate for it. We owe it to each other as humans.

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Episode 2 thoughts are the same as Episode 1 thoughts:

Season 7 is going harder than I could have imagined, and @samreich is a confirmed soft dom.