See You at the Polls...I Hope

It’s a Friday.  Admittedly, I am a little groggy as I sit perched at my desk, resenting the fact that work continues on this day despite its proximity to the weekend.  I open Facebook in an act of unconscious rebellion against the workday and peruse my newsfeed with little happiness.  It is full of impassioned rhetoric from two, at first glance equally, fanatical groups of people: Those who support Donald Trump, and those who support Hillary Clinton.  Two other groups exist alongside them as well: Those who live only for Pokemon and those who simply live.  If you fall into one of the three former categories than you have much in your life with which I disagree.  If you are of the latter, you are my friend.  But it is not my intention to insult or discuss each and every individual categorized above but to, instead, narrow them further into two broader categories: Those who support Donald Trump, and those who do not.

Let us first state the obvious; no one thought Trump to be a legitimate candidate, not even his own party.  He has surpassed our wildest expectations and now, officially, seized his party’s nomination.  Since then he has selected as a running mate, Indiana Governor, Mike Pence.  The duo will be running against the Democratic cancer known as Hillary Clinton who, despite being hated, nearly indicted, publicly blamed for US deaths in Benghazi and publicly humiliated by a philandering husband, will not seem to fade into darkness.  If anything, such perseverance should be respected but her ability to avoid eradication is certainly what prompted my comparison to cancer.  Could two more disliked and contentious people really be vying for the world’s highest office?  How did we pit these two people against each other when either party had simply to nominate someone normal to secure almost certain victory?  Are we selling airtime?  If so, it’s gotta be going for Super Bowl-esque premiums at this point!  But, that aside, let’s see just what we’ve gotten ourselves into.

We can start with Hillary.  Does she suck?  Absolutely!  Was she careless with her email?  Totally!  Would you have been, too?  Probably.  Did she underestimate the threat level in Benghazi?  Yep.  Does it happen all the time and has it always throughout the history of humanity?  You better believe it!  Is Bill an asshole?  What President isn’t?  Is he still cool?  For sure!   Is Hillary just about the most unlikeable person ever?  I think so, too!  But….is she a competent and experienced stateswoman?  Yes!  Will she be an example to young women and girls across the globe?  Absolutely!  Will she inspire them to dream for more?  I hope so!  Will she represent progress in a country that has never before had a female leader?  Without a doubt!  Will she be more respected by world leaders than some blowhard business man with a comb-over?  I believe so.  And, perhaps most importantly, will her victory mean that we do not have a leader who persists in and exploits fear, divisiveness, inequality, bigotry and anger?  Yes, yes, YES!! 

Now let us move on to Trump.  How can one really speak to Trump’s politics?  His statements are vague and all too often contradictory.  He’s a populist and as such cannot speak in absolutes but only vague ideals meant to appeal to whichever crowd is listening at that particular moment.  But here’s one thing we do know.  Trump says he can make America great again because he is a great business man, but is he?  You decide!  He has filed for bankruptcy four times.  We’ll start with that.  That’s four times more than most of us!  He is also currently involved in over 3,500 lawsuits, many against his mid-level sub-contractors who have worked on his building projects.  Most of these lawsuits stem from Trump neglecting to pay them the money he owes following the completion of their work.  These are middle-class, working people, keep in mind.  Most of these claimants lack the money needed for a continued legal struggle and are forced to settle for a fraction of what they are owed.  The alternative is that they declare bankruptcy.  Sadly, this seems to be Trump’s go-to tactic for dealing with these workers.  Bully them and bleed them dry in drawn out legal proceedings.  Imagine if that was you?  Trump uses his financial strength as a way to do business dishonestly and that is not very Presidential in my opinion and certainly negates his claim that he is a great businessman.

Next, let’s acknowledge that his views on immigration are nothing short of dangerous and terrifying.  He wants to build a wall and he wants Mexico to pay for it.  I assure you, Mexico is going to do no such thing and if you think they will you’re a crazy person (although you are anyway by definition as a Trump supporter).  Next, he wants to round up all the illegals and deport them.  Anyone familiar with the process will concur that the cost and logistics of doing so would cripple the economy and the effort would STILL be fruitless.  Third, he wants to register all Muslims so he can track them.  This is perhaps the most dangerous of his plans.  In case you weren’t paying attention in your World History lessons this is exactly what Hitler did to the Jews in the 1930s.  And we all know how that ended.  Finally, he wants to ban all immigration from anywhere associated with terrorism.  Well, I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news lately but that’s just about everywhere these days!  Including America, so what now?  We won’t even discuss the fact that America was born out of immigration (See: the inscription at the base of the Statue of Liberty) and most of us are the decedents of immigrants (See: White People).  I just thank God that Trump wasn’t around then or none of us would be here!  But I guess Trump thinks the doors have been open long enough.

Lastly, we simply can’t have this conversation without taking a much deserved jab at Mike Pence.  This is a man who wrote an op-ed that claimed smoking was NOT bad for you!  This is a man who said on CNN both that he would shut-down Indiana’s economy simply to defund Planned Parenthood, AND that condoms are not effective at preventing STIs.  Further, he claimed that the Disney movie, Mulan, was “Liberal Propaganda”.  This guy sounds more like a comic book character than a politician although it seems they are pretty much the same thing these days!  How can a rational mind possibly take this man seriously?

In conclusion, the choices this year show us that we are undoubtedly stuck between a rock and a hard place.  However, the things that Trump represents are nothing short of evil and the implications are dangerous and staggering.  Supporting him is representative of a total denial of one’s humanity.  Unfortunately, I personally believe that there is a VERY good chance that Trump will be our next President.  What his detractors fail to take into account is the fanaticism or his support-base.  Fanatical people are, by trait, highly motivated (See: the NRA) and I can guarantee you that they will be out at the polls in droves come November!!  You better believe it!  Sadly, the same cannot be said of those who are against him.  They are marked by logic, reason and those go hand-in-hand with apathy.  Does anyone wonder why Millennials don’t vote?  It is because they are lazy and apathetic and the world suffers for it!  They are quick to post their opinions online but slow to participate in the actual process.  Because of this, evil may very well triumph over good in November.  Trump may very well be our next President and we will have just sat back and let it happen (although we did our fair share of complaining about him online).  My plea to you is to GO OUT AND VOTE!!  And don’t vote for the Green Party or Libertarian Party because you don’t like Hillary.  Any vote not for Hillary is a vote for Trump.  You better believe that Trump isn’t losing any votes to the Green Party.  The only way to defeat him is through Hillary and, though she sucks, she is the only conscionable choice one can make.       

Give Them Liberty or Give Them Death.

It was still dark outside when I awoke in a panic.  “Had they gotten it?” I asked myself, frantic.  I could still hear the alarms clearly sounding which meant that the lab had indeed been breached and the soldiers were undoubtedly on their way!  There was no time to think about it, I had to get out of there to avoid capture, not to mention almost certain torture and death.  I made to leave, but wait….what is this soft material surrounding me?  Why is it so dark and quiet all of the sudden?  My heart pounds.  My eyes focus.  Is this my bedroom in San Antonio and not my secret, Level 4 Bio-lab two miles beneath the scorching sands of Chile’s Atacama Desert? Am I not in mortal peril?  But, I can still hear the alarm?!  My wits return, my mind clears.  I turn my head in the direction of the sound and realize that the alarm had come from a cell phone that now sits placidly at my bedside, no longer sounding.  I realize quickly what has occurred and understand that the alarm sound that had integrated itself so successfully into my dream world, molding and guiding it, was nothing more than a cell phone notification in the wee hours of a morning still too new to be faced.  

Well, as it happens, the notification was that there had been a kidnapping in North Texas and my phone had felt it prudent to give me the ole heads up in the (I guess likely in my phone’s estimation) event that both abductor and abductee may at that very moment be entering into my bedroom some 250 miles south of the scene of the crime and that I may be able to subdue the former and rescue the latter saving the proverbial day.  I disagreed with that assessment, however, and, selfishly cursing this unsolicited Amber Alert notification and the Apple Corporation as a whole for leaving me vulnerable to it, darkened my cellphone screen and, slamming it back down onto the bedside table, rolled over to reenter sleep.  My sleep, however, as in most cases of abrupt and unexpected interruption, was sadly not to be so instead I sat, wide-eyed and hating Apple, staring at my ceiling and thinking about how I was going to turn off those notifications just as soon as I woke up.  But I was already up, I guess.  As I lay there thinking, wallowing in that moment of clarity that often succeeds subjugation to a frustration beyond one’s control, I was able to probe something that I hadn’t considered before and that, in fact, few of us ever do in our fast-paced lives.  It made me a bit uncomfortable as our late night thoughts often do.  It was a thought of how little I cared about this kidnapping victim.  My first thought at seeing the alert was one of frustration, not compassion.  What had become of me?

Sadly, my lack of compassion is not something lacking in our society at large either.  I read daily about the struggles of countless Middle-Eastern refugees and the folks who deny them asylum in their countries fearing that the oppressed are but the oppressors in disguise.  That they are angling to first gain access to and then destroy Western Nations from within by enduring countless hardships to achieve something that does not, in fact, even align with their cause!  After reading that sentence you may be wondering what their cause is and even who “they” are.  Well, for the purposes of this post, the bad guys are ISIS, just to keep it simple, and what they want may not be what you think.  So, without further ado, please allow me to oversimplify the shit out of this whole situation for you via bullet points:

1.  ISIS wants to (and did) establish a Caliphate which is in essence a borderless country that follows Islamic Law (very strictly, mind you).  This requires physical land so it does not behoove ISIS to be trying to destabilize America from within when they can do so perfectly well from without.  It is far more useful to take and then HOLD physical land in the immediate vicinity of its current occupation and ISIS is well aware of this you can be assured. 
2.   No one who has joined ISIS would agree to go to a Western Country because leaving the Caliphate once you’re there is an act of apostasy and punishable by death.  Meaning to leave would be a betrayal of Islam.  That’s right, they’re not even allowed to do what you’re afraid they’re trying to do.  Once you’re in you do NOT leave but, for the sake of imagination, let’s say that’s not true and explore the alternative.  If, and that’s a big “if”, ISIS wanted to send its people into Western countries to instigate terror attacks it would almost certainly do so illegally and secretly rather than attempting to navigate the impossible and absurd process undertaken by legitimate refugees.  If refugees were members of ISIS it would take them in some cases about 5 years to penetrate a country’s borders.  Very efficient indeed. 
3.  They want to have this war on their land.  Dabiq, Syria to be exact and, no, that’s not a typo.  They literally want and expect to duke it out with the West, in Dabiq, because that is exactly what is prophesized to happen in the scripture.  According to Islamic end-of-days scripture the Western powers will destroy about 1/3 of the armies of Islam, another 1/3 will abandon their cause (and burn in hell for it of course, not to worry) and the remaining 1/3 will defeat the infidels (us) and then we get our turn to burn in hell.  This is what ushers in the apocalypse and ISIS believes the end of the world is upon us already!  Once it happens all the boys from ISIS get to chill in Heaven with their 21 virgins and presumably laugh at all the rest of us.  So, in summary, this war takes place in Syria (not in America) and ISIS is cool with all that.  Moving on.
4.  ISIS can terrorize the West perfectly well without sending any of their men there.  There are countless ISIS sympathizers in Western countries and those same countries do not let those sympathizers leave for fear of, you guessed it, them running off to join ISIS!  Those folks become restless and anxious regarding their inability to help, ergo, they attack the country in which they are trapped fancying it an honorable deed in service of the cause they cannot otherwise contribute to.  That’s right, it is not folks from ISIS committing these attacks (directly, anyway).  It’s those who are NOT able to join ISIS!  Of course, ISIS is perfectly happy to give them a nudge in the terroristic direction but to say that ISIS is infiltrating these countries and attacking them is a stretch at the very least.  Remember, that once you reach the Caliphate it is an offense punishable by death to leave it! 

Having said all that, let’s leave off ISIS for a bit and digress to the refugees now that I have made my case for them at least not being terrorists.  Why has our compassion been replaced by something more sinister?  Why did I not care about the kidnapped victim that was the subject of the phone alarm that so annoyed me?  Well I think there are a few reasons none of which are that other people are terrorists and I’m afraid of them.  I think it boils more down to selfishness.  A selfishness applied in different ways but adhering to the same underlying principal of self-preservation and lack of empathy.  I think propriety is a common form through which our selfishness is manifested and a good example of what we’re talking about here.  We say we don’t want them here taking OUR jobs, eating OUR food, drinking OUR water or marrying OUR women/men.  It’s easy to say stuff like that but it’s also terrible coming from Americans who stole everything we have from the Native populations when we got here.  I’m not really sure why we feel like we can shut the gates now considering the folks that want in want only to survive.  Where is our humanity?

My beloved Texas, sadly, is at the forefront of the anti-refugee movement and with every piece of flying rhetoric does an incalculable disservice to itself.  Such a rich history of immigration and diversity tarnished with the smudge of irrational fear and hatred.  The landing place of the German free-thinkers (my family) and a home to Mexicans, Native Americans, Spanish and French!  Six flags over Texas and one fanatical, fear-mongering governor willing to shit on it all!  It’s a sad day when your governor sounds more like a conspiracy theorist than competent statesman (See: Jade Helm 15) but we shout praises to him for keeping Obama at bay!  Give me a fucking break.

In conclusion, our humanity is what is at stake here and the loss of it is exactly what we condemn our enemies for.  To voluntarily wave goodbye to it would be to align ourselves at the same human level as those we despise and the ultimate act of hypocrisy on our part.  It is engraved on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” – yet we seem to not heed the words on which our country was founded.  We refer to ourselves as a “bouillabaisse” of different cultures and I was taught that as a point of pride growing up here and now we turn our backs on those who need us and blame ISIS for it.  It makes me sick to think that we can live so scared and so cruelly and yet still maintain that we are superior to anyone else.  Always remember that doing nothing is the same as doing the wrong thing and shutting your door on these people is as good as killing them.  I for one welcome anyone in need and pray that, were the tables turned, I would be offered a helping hand as well.  If France can be attacked and still honor their pledge to take refugees then how can we, as Texans or Americans, not hang our heads in shame.  We view ourselves as strong but our actions are fraught with weakness and our fear is indicative of defeat at the hands of our enemies.  To deny it would be to lie to yourself.

I'll Have What She's Having!

It’s a Wednesday morning.  Summer has technically passed although the heat that marks it lingers on in typical South Texas style.  I have the paper open on my desk and the weather man on TV chatters on in the background about potential, but unlikely, rain so I pay him no heed.  I read the day’s news, most of which is consumed by a Papal visit to the States, but don’t learn much so I give it up as a bad job and return to my computer to begin the day officially.  This is pretty typical and a routine I’ve grown quite fond of.  It centers me and allows me both a period of serenity during which I can drink my coffee as well as a quiet hour during which I can bring myself up on the goings on in the world.  What would make this particular morning atypical (or perhaps what we would once have considered atypical), however, was the visitor I was soon to receive as well as the substance of our ensuing dialogue.

He was young, proud and had been working at the company for a little less than a year.  This is serious tenure, mind you, for the latest product editions of the American college system.  His concern was that he felt he had plateaued here and that there was no room for growth (from the very bottom) and that he felt stagnated.  He wondered if he might perhaps have several people working beneath him and undertake more of a leadership position within the company.  This is a highly respectable career goal, I admit with pleasure, but simply premature.  He wanted to be running meetings, a corner office, parking spot and fat paycheck with which he could dazzle his friends.  He had been here less than a year and had no previous experience but these considerations were beside the point, I guess.

Sadly, this is not a unique situation.  The young workforce emerging into the job market now are among the most entitled of any that have ever preceded them.  They’ve watched their entire adolescence the astronomical rises of people like Zuckerberg, Kalanick, DeWolfe, Systrom or even that piece of shit, Martin Shkreli, who was recently called out trying to cash in at the expense of AIDS and Cancer patients.  What they don’t understand is that to do this you have to either win the lottery, like the former examples, or sell your fucking soul, like the latter.  What you never saw on the news were the thousands of others with equally marketable products who failed.  They didn’t fail because they were worse or less talented, they failed simply because that’s what the mob decided for them.  The internet is fickle and cruel and a good idea isn’t enough anymore.  The world is awash with them.  People have to choose yours, and no one has figured out the trillion dollar formula for that yet.  You can roll the dice if you want to play the game but it is likely going to come up snake eyes every fucking time.  But I digress.  This culture has the unfortunate and damaging side-effect of breeding an entire generation of young people that want to be on the top of the ladder immediately and without work and unfortunately it doesn’t work that way in the real world.

Now, the fundamental problem in this scenario is simple, although not easily corrected.  Jealousy.  You see a young guy with fast cars, jets and statuesque women (or men) and you say to yourself that you want that, too.  Of course you do, so do I.  Everyone does, let’s be real here.  Jealousy is one of the most toxic emotions and cruelest pranks from God’s joke bag ever to befall humanity.  It’s toppled empires, destroyed families, driven people mad and now produced an entire generation of worthless college grads (I’m speaking in generalities, of course, and obviously a bit unfairly, I admit.).  It doesn’t have to be that way though.  I was thinking about it just recently and wrote the following passage to which all the preceding text has lead us.  Perhaps you will take something of value from it.  Perhaps not.  Either way, it is offered. 

Jealousy.  It is a poison.  Gaining strength continuously through the further destruction of its host body.  It is as damaging as it is unconquerable.  Hated, transparent but unavoidable, despite the protestations of reason.  Paradoxically, people are and always will be jealous of the others among whom they live.  A man is jealous of me because I am well-traveled or because I have a nice car.  I am jealous of him because he plays more skillfully than I on the piano or simply because he is tall.  However, this jealousy does not make me tall nor he traveled.  Therefore, logic demands that instead of despising others because they have what we do not we should embrace them so that together we might have everything.  Only then will he grab something for me that is beyond my reach or entertain me with his piano.  Only then can I share with him my knowledge of the world or lend him my car.  Together we are complete, apart we resent each other because we are not.  

Thanks for listening.

 

Your Friend,

Mac