So, for the past few days I've been fighting a flu. It sent me home from work and has kept me cooped up in my house with pretty much no break until now. That means that my already weak and compromised anti-cable news system has succumbed to unhealthily amounts of MSNBC and CNN. I didn't watch the Inauguration (didn't see the point) but I watched all the usual talking heads and crowds shots from yesterday's amazing parades.
I think this is about the place where a person of my particular background and education is supposed to say something like: "well, this was very encouraging but it won't mean anything unless..." or "I wish there had been a more unified theme to the protest so that we can..." But you know what? I think these parades were just about perfect. My understanding of them is that they were conceived as a statement of protest against the man now sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. In Boston, LA, Denver, Anchorage, Alaska, Washington D.C. and all around the world, that point was expressed forcefully, and with great grace and love.
If you are one of those people that asks questions like, "What are they marching for?" then the what I wrote above answers you. If you don't like that answer then you probably aren't going to support the march. Fine. If there's one thing I've learned in recent years, you can't tell people not to feel what they feel. If #MAGA and Trump's blather made you feel inspired and hopeful, I don't expect these few words to change your reaction to his Inaugural Address. On a topic with much lower stakes - Star Wars fandom - no amount of 'oh but it's just like ep. IV' or 'Rei is a Mary Sue,' is EVER going to make me dislike A Force Awakens. You like what you like.
But that goes two ways, doesn't it?
If I look out on a National Mall full of happy and peaceful people in pink pussy hats, people from every background, race, creed, orientation, and politics, and think to myself - that's what I want to see in America, then you're insistence that I "get over it," is simply not going to work. I really don't think you get it.
We LOATHE Trump. We will never accept him as our president. We will fight him. We will resist him. And one day, hopefully soon, there will be a far larger crowd on the National Mall celebrating a woman or man into office who actually deserves to be there.
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| Awesome signs from Women's March Jan. 21st 2017 (Photo by Lauren Shamitz-Crooks) |
I think this is about the place where a person of my particular background and education is supposed to say something like: "well, this was very encouraging but it won't mean anything unless..." or "I wish there had been a more unified theme to the protest so that we can..." But you know what? I think these parades were just about perfect. My understanding of them is that they were conceived as a statement of protest against the man now sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. In Boston, LA, Denver, Anchorage, Alaska, Washington D.C. and all around the world, that point was expressed forcefully, and with great grace and love.
If you are one of those people that asks questions like, "What are they marching for?" then the what I wrote above answers you. If you don't like that answer then you probably aren't going to support the march. Fine. If there's one thing I've learned in recent years, you can't tell people not to feel what they feel. If #MAGA and Trump's blather made you feel inspired and hopeful, I don't expect these few words to change your reaction to his Inaugural Address. On a topic with much lower stakes - Star Wars fandom - no amount of 'oh but it's just like ep. IV' or 'Rei is a Mary Sue,' is EVER going to make me dislike A Force Awakens. You like what you like.
But that goes two ways, doesn't it?
If I look out on a National Mall full of happy and peaceful people in pink pussy hats, people from every background, race, creed, orientation, and politics, and think to myself - that's what I want to see in America, then you're insistence that I "get over it," is simply not going to work. I really don't think you get it.
We LOATHE Trump. We will never accept him as our president. We will fight him. We will resist him. And one day, hopefully soon, there will be a far larger crowd on the National Mall celebrating a woman or man into office who actually deserves to be there.
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