Stop looking for a center here
OK, it’s been a while and I’ve been running, but I can’t focus on running right now. We all know what happened over the weekend and we know the piece of garbage occupying the Executive Branch has shit all over himself on it. Listen, there’s no “center” position here. You are either a racist, fascist, Nazi piece of garbage or you’re not. If you want to cape for these people, try and say, “They’re not all bad”, try and mitigate some of their positions as possibly being sensible in some light, you are one of them. And I will fight you.
This shit needs to stop, there’s no excuses anymore. “Well that’s how they were raised.” No, fuck that how long are we going to continue to ALLOW people to be raised this way? It’s been going on for generations and it never gets better and it never stops. I said it earlier, fascists, racists, etc. are easy to fight. But the people in the center, or searching for the center are the ones that keep it going. They turn escaped slaves in and send them back into bondage, because they don’t want to cause any waves, they don’t want to rock the boat. They want reconstruction to end and the freed peoples to not get reparations because the traitors of the confederacy are still our “countrymen”. They kept an apartheid regime in place because it was what the “people” voted for. They talk about how it is just for police to “fear for their lives” at a rate of 7:1 against POC, and that these murders are just because maybe those victims did something bad in their past. Now they sit there and tell me and all of us, that it’s both sides here, and it’s not. One side has always been about protecting the exploited, protecting and elevating the downtrodden, making the world a better and just place. The other side has been about murder and mayhem, slavery and exploiting peoples, and telling them they should be thankful for the opportunity. There is no comparison here.
Nazi Germany modeled their apartheid on ours. You don’t understand the link between the US and Nazis, you need to read. There is nothing that makes any of this acceptable. Anyone who wants to try and tell me that the people fighting against the models of what the Nazis did in Germany are the same, you have no clue what you’re talking about and you only prolong the pain and suffering of millions of people in this world. Shame on you.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
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A new start, and immigration on the brain
OK, I took July off basically, from here. It’s been tough, I’ve been dealing with some depression, it’s really hard being here. But I have been running, I’m averaging 140 miles per month. Got a good run in today. I’m feeling alright, but the heat and humidity is still getting to me some days. Finally signed up for my motorcycle safety course to get my motorcycle endorsement when I renew my license. That’s something to look forward to. Still have to get my ticket back home at the end of the Summer, but that will work itself out.
Meanwhile, I’ve been seeing some pretty heavy anti-immigrant crap showing up. I’m not going to call anyone out, I’m not going to point fingers, well politicians will get mentioned probably. But the right wing seems to be reveling in showing naked, or partially nude Africans as some way of trying to make a point. I see these pictures as prurient and pointless. Trying to somehow shame them, or get other people angry over people bathing in fountains or some such. It’s shit. It’s absolute shit.
Listen, here’s the thing, politicians like Trump, Salvini, LePen, all these other fuckheads, they profit off the exploitation of people. I don’t care if a refugee has a cellphone or not, or if they’re begging outside a store, or bathing in a fountain. Someone, somewhere is profiting off of their situation. They are profiting from these people being exploited. Usually, they are the same politicians telling us to hate these people. They have no interest in anything other than keeping them in an unsure, and easily exploitable status. International trade deals create the situations they are escaping from in their home countries, and then they are exploited still when they leave. This is sick and disgusting, but these are the facts.
We know Trump has been caught exploiting undocumented workers. I’ve personally spoken to exploited workers in every country I have visited and lived in. Many times, these people are brought in legally for a brief period and when that status runs out their “employer” offers to keep them on, at a lower wage, for more hours, less protection, and making sure they get less and less as the worker now has no legal standing to do anything. But even the “unwanted” people who are out on the street begging for change. The politicians and that class exploit those people to reinforce their positions, garner more votes and more power, to keep the system working where they profit off the exploitation of others. It’s vicious.
This planet has more than enough for everyone’s need. Yet our choice to live in a system which creates deficit and scarcity causes this, and those people in power absolutely know this and they absolutely revel in turning the rest of us against the very least of us in order to continue to live off their misery, like a leech or a vulture. It sickens me when people fall into this. Usually, I’ll just tell people to their faces, but honestly I am an immigrant myself, I don’t even know how to approach it. It fills me with so much anger. Sure I’m not really an “immigrant” I’m a citizen, jure sanguinis, and I serve a very important function. But that doesn’t matter, I’m an immigrant, and I see all other immigrants as the same as me. They should all be given a chance, regardless of their status, and they should be protected and defended. Immigrants or not, all people are my brothers and sisters, I’ve said that before and I’ll keep saying it, and we all deserve basic dignity and respect, we should all be allowed to live free.
So, these images sicken me, the exploitation of people sickens me. Anytime, anyone in a position to help instead harms a vulnerable person it fills me with rage. When other people then use that harm to try and tell me or anyone else I should be angry about the exploited person, it fills me with an indescribable pain. I don’t have much of a vent for this. It’s all just so fucking insane, and people seem to just look past the obvious. It’s like no one ever can just land on the simplest explanation for things. They must complicate matters. When the fact is, always follow the money.
I’ve laid this out before, this isn’t some hypothesis, this is provable fact. People like Salvini and Trump, etc, simply want to keep the people they complain about in a position where they have no voice, so they can profit off them. They need a group to exploit for their interests, and they need to make sure these people can’t fight back. It’s weak, sure, but in the end it’s all about money for them. Well fuck them, and fuck their money. It’s criminal, it’s the true criminality in this world, instead of recognizing our common human brotherhood, we turn people against each other all in the name of profit.
What’s worse is, those who buy this shit and spread the hate and stupidity further, thinking it will aid them in some way. But they’re just helping these conmen and conwomen continue to exploit people, hurt people. The really fucked up part, they’re also exploiting those who support them. It’s garbage, I don’t care where someone was born, I don’t care who their parents were, what god they believe in if they even believe in one, or any of that shit. Everyone is welcome and everyone is my brother, everyone is my sister. I face this world with the knowledge that we are wasting our talent, everyone is wasting their talent. Everyone. I have the humility to say I don’t know, I have the humility to say other people may have a better idea. But dammit, I know we aren’t supposed to be doing this shit. I know we’re not supposed to be fucking each other over, I know we’re not supposed to make misery in order to collect imaginary bank notes. I know we’re not supposed to destroy our fellow creatures, human and otherwise, destroy our planet in the pursuit of economy.
So if you’re falling into this shit, expand your mind, look to what is really happening, and throw out the bullshit. I’m just out of patience with that. The more I run, the more my consciousness expands, the more I see this shit as flat out wrong, the clearer my thoughts become on this. So listen, if you’re hung up on this immigration shit, if you’re hung up on language shit, if you’re sharing pictures of half-naked immigrants, just fucking stop. If your answer to whatever perceived threat to you isn’t based in the idea even someone trying to directly harm you is your brother or sister, then you need to just stop.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
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