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Thread: I Don't Grieve Over His Cruelty, I Grieve Over Yours

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    Default I Don't Grieve Over His Cruelty, I Grieve Over Yours

    I really don’t care about him.

    I know you think I do, but my sadness really has nothing to do with him.

    I know who he is—and more accurately, I know what he is.

    I know that he is just a mirror.

    He has simply revealed clearly the disfigured ugliness of the place I call home and the people I live here alongside—and that is the thing I grieve over. And this is not the mourning over a singular loss, it is a daily grieving.

    I grieve when I see elementary school teachers dressed up like a border wall for Halloween.
    I grieve when I see white a woman screaming obscenities at two Muslims teenagers at a stop light.
    I grieve when I see a Jewish professor’s office littered with spray-painted swastikas.
    I grieve when I watch a father of four being tackled by ICE agents outside immigration offices.
    I grieve when I witness white high school seniors making a “Heil Hitler” arm gesture during class photos.
    I grieve when I see the contempt from white friends, when young black men die at traffic stops.
    I grieve when I find the most vile sickness on my social media feed, hurled toward people of color and women and transgender people.
    I grieve when I hear professed Christian pastors calling for the killing of LGBTQ people.
    I grieve when I see rambling, racist tirades on subway cars filled with families with young children.
    I grieve when I see supremacist candidates being elected and re-elected.
    I grieve when I overhear dehumanizing conversations from old, white men, about Democratic women leaders, in crowded cafés.
    I grieve when I sit across holiday tables, and witness bigoted tirades that I’d have thought people I knew and loved were not capable of.

    And though all of these things are undoubtedly emboldened by him and encouraged by him and celebrated by him—that is not the source of my despair. It is the reality that all of this vicious, toxic, filth that we are infected with today—is something you are largely fine with. The rising hatred is not alarming or discomforting enough to you, to move you to action or to speak against it.

    Oh sure, you might inwardly twinge with discomfort at one or two of the most egregious offenses, but by and large you’re good with it all.

    With your silence, as much as with your volume, you show me you are more with him than you are against him, that you are more like him than different from him—and that you and I are increasingly morally incompatible.

    So yes, he is a mirror, and I am seeing you my countrymen and women through him.

    That is why I grieve, friend.

    That is why I don’t see America or my church or my neighborhood or my family the same anymore, and I’m not sure I ever will again.

    The greatest tragedy to me, isn’t him. It isn’t that the person supposedly leading our country lacks a single benevolent impulse, that he is impervious to compassion, incapable of nobility, and mortally allergic to simple kindness.

    The greatest tragedy, is how many Americans he now represents.

    And that he represents you.

    John Pavlovitz

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gotcha68 View Post
    I really don’t care about him.

    I know you think I do, but my sadness really has nothing to do with him.

    I know who he is—and more accurately, I know what he is.

    I know that he is just a mirror.

    He has simply revealed clearly the disfigured ugliness of the place I call home and the people I live here alongside—and that is the thing I grieve over. And this is not the mourning over a singular loss, it is a daily grieving.

    I grieve when I see elementary school teachers dressed up like a border wall for Halloween.
    I grieve when I see white a woman screaming obscenities at two Muslims teenagers at a stop light.
    I grieve when I see a Jewish professor’s office littered with spray-painted swastikas.
    I grieve when I watch a father of four being tackled by ICE agents outside immigration offices.
    I grieve when I witness white high school seniors making a “Heil Hitler” arm gesture during class photos.
    I grieve when I see the contempt from white friends, when young black men die at traffic stops.
    I grieve when I find the most vile sickness on my social media feed, hurled toward people of color and women and transgender people.
    I grieve when I hear professed Christian pastors calling for the killing of LGBTQ people.
    I grieve when I see rambling, racist tirades on subway cars filled with families with young children.
    I grieve when I see supremacist candidates being elected and re-elected.
    I grieve when I overhear dehumanizing conversations from old, white men, about Democratic women leaders, in crowded cafés.
    I grieve when I sit across holiday tables, and witness bigoted tirades that I’d have thought people I knew and loved were not capable of.

    And though all of these things are undoubtedly emboldened by him and encouraged by him and celebrated by him—that is not the source of my despair. It is the reality that all of this vicious, toxic, filth that we are infected with today—is something you are largely fine with. The rising hatred is not alarming or discomforting enough to you, to move you to action or to speak against it.

    Oh sure, you might inwardly twinge with discomfort at one or two of the most egregious offenses, but by and large you’re good with it all.

    With your silence, as much as with your volume, you show me you are more with him than you are against him, that you are more like him than different from him—and that you and I are increasingly morally incompatible.

    So yes, he is a mirror, and I am seeing you my countrymen and women through him.

    That is why I grieve, friend.

    That is why I don’t see America or my church or my neighborhood or my family the same anymore, and I’m not sure I ever will again.

    The greatest tragedy to me, isn’t him. It isn’t that the person supposedly leading our country lacks a single benevolent impulse, that he is impervious to compassion, incapable of nobility, and mortally allergic to simple kindness.

    The greatest tragedy, is how many Americans he now represents.

    And that he represents you.

    John Pavlovitz
    i love this authors pain. this is exactly what I wanted trump to do. This is awesome and brings me immense joy.


    ---

    Quote Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople View Post
    Grind is basically right
    Quote Originally Posted by Phantasmal View Post
    Grind’s got you beat by miles. He is very intelligent.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gotcha68 View Post
    I really don’t care about him.


    John Pavlovitz
    Really powerful stuff Gotcha! But I can't just assume anymore that it was posted with honourable intentions. Was it intended to troll the lowlife? If another 911 happens, or worse, will you grieve for the victims who die, when you know that it's the price America must pay for it's aggression throughout the world against people of the Muslim faith?

    And what if it's nuclear and there's no apparent perpetrator to blame it all on?

    Why not visit the APP section with threads such as this? The replies will still be insulting but somewhat limited to being decent.
    Bringing reform and decency from Canada, one forum at a time.

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    Quote Originally Posted by montgomery View Post
    Really powerful stuff Gotcha! But I can't just assume anymore that it was posted with honourable intentions. Was it intended to troll the lowlife? If another 911 happens, or worse, will you grieve for the victims who die, when you know that it's the price America must pay for it's aggression throughout the world against people of the Muslim faith?

    And what if it's nuclear and there's no apparent perpetrator to blame it all on?

    Why not visit the APP section with threads such as this? The replies will still be insulting but somewhat limited to being decent.
    There is always someone(s) to blame violence on as it generally does not arise from nothing.

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    @ post one.

    Almost all of us were surprised that noted nitwit and prominent bigot Donald Drumpf fluked in on an electoral college victory while losing the vote by millions.

    But, in hindsight, we shouldn't be that surprised. Nor should we lay the blame at Donald Trump's feet.

    Donald Trump is the natural consequence of the path Republican have been pursuing for decades. Everyone one of us on this forum remembers how conservatives relentlessly indulged in Islamophobia, barely concealed racism, xenophobia, and white male resentment....years before Trump was even a possibility as president.

    Some Republicans cling to the fantasy that sentient beings like Colin Powell, Jack Kemp, or George Will somehow represented the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

    They don't. And they never did.

    Donald Trump is the face of the modern Republican Party. There is no way around it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bluedream View Post
    i love this authors pain. this is exactly what I wanted trump to do. This is awesome and brings me immense joy.

    Aren't bitter liberal tears exhilarating?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Legion View Post
    Aren't bitter liberal tears exhilarating?
    Mine are tears of joy over the can of whoop-ass Mueller is opening on trump.


    “What greater gift than the love of a cat.”
    ― Charles Dickens

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    Quote Originally Posted by christiefan915 View Post
    Mine are tears of joy over the can of whoop-ass Mueller is opening on trump.
    You're delusional.

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    Quote Originally Posted by christiefan915 View Post
    Mine are tears of joy over the can of whoop-ass Mueller is opening on trump.
    Mueller hasn't opened anything relating to Trump........

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    Quote Originally Posted by Legion View Post
    Aren't bitter liberal tears exhilarating?
    My tears of joy

    “If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.”

    — Golda Meir

    Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.







    ברוך השם

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    Quote Originally Posted by Legion View Post
    You're delusional.
    I'll graciously allow you to eat your words in the not-too-far off future.


    “What greater gift than the love of a cat.”
    ― Charles Dickens

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    Quote Originally Posted by PostmodernProphet View Post
    Mueller hasn't opened anything relating to Trump........
    Slow and steady wins the race.....


    “What greater gift than the love of a cat.”
    ― Charles Dickens

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    Quote Originally Posted by christiefan915 View Post
    Slow and steady wins the race.....
    Is that what you told yourself in October 2016?

    Answer, Christiecrite.

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    Quote Originally Posted by christiefan915 View Post
    I'll graciously allow you to eat your words in the not-too-far off future.
    If you get your wish I'll be on your side again.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bluedream View Post
    i love this authors pain. this is exactly what I wanted trump to do. This is awesome and brings me immense joy.
    What happens when the pain is brought to your side?

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