The title sounds like driving directions and yet it is not. Instead it is a symbol of what is happening in our country and it is not good. Positions are hardening, people are becoming so adamant in what they believe that they are brittle and break when challenged and to prevent this there is a palpable sense of evil and violence, fear, and so people back off. Principles of humanity are shattered and trashed by the wayside and the poor people in the middle are facing a cruel, new and confusing world.
Alt-right is the new designation for those who are on the right, meaning conservative, side of politics and yet they are not, are they? Instead, they are part of a radical fringe group that has been around for years yet that has always been treated as lunatics and not worthy of attention. No longer is that the case. Alt-right people are great supporters of Trump. They rail at the "unfair' society they live in, raise tremendous clouds of hate and prejudice and bring back thoughts and days that should no longer exist and indeed, were not as visible certainly as they are now. And in reaction, in turn, there is a backlash and the violence mounts.
And what is the hard left? These are the supposed progressive wing of the left of politics but they have taken this "progressiveness" to the extreme. In fact, if one does not buy into them whole hog, then you are out, unworthy of being in the same room as them. You are literally hounded out of meetings or protests or panels or discussions of any and all types.
So what is the difference between them? Really, not much. Each purports to believe in directly opposing ideas and plans, yet in actuality they are two sides of the same coin. Call it Fascism or whatever, but these two supposedly opposing groups of thought are dangerous in the extreme and as usual have one very important point in common. Both of them hate Jews, are anti Semitic in the extreme and are not very fond of Israel either. In fact, for the alt-right, Israel is there to serve a purpose and once that purpose is done, well goodbye - if they even will wait that long. As for the hard left, forget it, Israel is anathema, a racist state, a historical aberration that does not deserve to exist.
Both of these schools of thought? of violence, of backwardness, of danger, ignore the other issues of the day or approach it in weird ways. These are the groups that dismiss the violence of the campus, the rape of women and the abuse of the LGBT community. They dismiss the issues of women's right to choose except in extreme language. They literally throw out any and all people who share in any of their ideas unless they formally disavow Israel, disavow history and profess belief in a revised history in which there is no tie between Jews and their ancestral home, a home which has always been there in their hopes and dreams, prayers, and always has had Jews living within its bounds.
So where does a person like me go in politics. I am a foreign policy conservative one might say, believing in a strong America with a presence in the world, but also one which is careful about boots on the ground policies and a strong sense of what needs to be done to defeat our enemies and terrorists. Yet I am also a domestic policy liberal, believing in social programs, in feeding our hungry before we feed the world for living in a poor area of our country does not make you of lesser importance than one in a foreign country. I believe in seeing to our citizens, in a fair immigration policy, in stemming the runaway abuses of big business, of Big Pharma - hey, I need epi pens for a stinging insect allergy - for the cruel actions of banks, the greedy actions of companies that outsource or even insource by bringing in foreign workers to replace ours and I still look for the union label and try to find Made in America on items.
I believe that this is a time in history when people must make choices and must stand up for what is right. It is time we put away the violence and the hate. It is time we stop shooting those who protect us. It is time we start looking at the "inners" of people rather than the insignificant "outers" such as skin color or ethnicity. We need to see people as people and be very clear about it, no PC ignorance either. It is time we stop being hypocrites as well, for example in The Birth of a Nation issue. Yes, there is a story here, the rebellion of Nat Turner, but it is there in the history books already so I am not sure of what all the fuss is about, other than to pander to more violence and rile up more people, but be that as it may, the movie is starred in and produced? directed? by Nate Parker, a man who was accused of rape while in college and it was mishandled then as is typical, even today. The victim committed suicide - unable to escape the ever expanding circles from the event and by the way, if you wish to read a book that describes very well indeed the timeless effects of rape on a person, read Peter Robinson's latest book. In any case, there is debate about the movie now because of this event and his most recent statements about it, all concentrating on HIS feelings and how it affected him. Really?! If it were anyone else, particularly a white person, there would be no debate and the movie boycotted but the situation is other. I know that I will not go see it, not give my money toward a man who allegedly got away with rape and who still seems to not understand what happened when he allegedly violated another person.
There is much to reform in this world of ours, from physical needs to moral imperatives. Would that we all realized that and its importance for this little ball in space is all we have, so tribal differences in Africa, sect differences among Moslems, distinct tremors in the Jewish community due to differing beliefs, ethnic hatred returning to where it was once gone and the unfairness of society in general along with the deterioration of our planet - do we not have enough to combat without creating more and making up new terms to supposedly clean up and rename hate in any form? That same clock is ticking on us. Tick. Tock. And where does it stand now? How many minutes before midnight? I am too scared to check.
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