Yesterday I woke to learn that white christian presidential candidate Don Trump had blown his mic stand.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

And the TRUMP/VANCE 2024 signs dot my neighborhood. Maybe they dot yours.

And the prodigal son stood isolated from the party of life because he held himself superior.

And children who are never taught empathy grow up to be adults who do not know empathy.

They're out there.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

I don't think the human mind was meant to deal with this level of pure horseshit and hypocrisy and lies and menace—or at any level. I say this because dealing with this shit seems to be traumatizing, evidenced by the fact that we're all traumatized.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

There's so much repugnance coming from the Republican cult, a desire to control our bodies and lives and subject us to hard use, a determination to roll back any positive progress simply to demolish progression, and open glee at the fear, terror, and trauma this creates.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

There will be more today. There will be more tomorrow. The zone is flooded, and eventually it's all just more shit floating by.

I just want to make an observation: all of this is absolutely unacceptable in a decent society.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

Here's what I mean when I say all of this is absolutely unacceptable in a decent society: It cannot by definition be permitted in a decent society, because a society that permits such things cannot be considered decent.

And yet our society does permit it.

So we know our society is not decent.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

Yes, we tolerate the intolerable. More than tolerate it; we enable it. On Tuesday maybe (hopefully not) we are going to give it limitless power.

Yet it cuts against the dominant social narrative to say we need to fight the white supremacist cult; this, because our society is supremacist.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

When you name the Republican Party as the white supremacist cult it is, there's a standard response.

"We can't just get rid of them," it's said. "We have to learn to live with them."

We.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

It's not so popular to suggest that white supremacists have to learn to live with everyone else.

It's not so popular to suggest that the answer to white supremacy is for white supremacists to change their behavior.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

It's far more popular to say we need to heal the white supremacist cult.

It's far more popular to issue reminders that we need to leave paths open for the white supremacist cult to find redemption.

And who could be against redemption? Who could be against healing?

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

I mean, do we not need to heal the white supremacist cult? Do we want these people to stay broken?

I sure don't.

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

Let me ask some other questions.

Do Republicans and other fascists *want* healing? Is that what they're asking for?

Do Republicans *want* to walk these redemptive paths? Are they walking them? If not, why are we so certain those paths are closed or that we have closed them?

[juliusgoat@mastodon.social]

A question: How to heal fascist bullies? How to leave paths open for their redemption?

To answer, let me give you a phrase and a word, which might seem counterintuitive.

Let me give you: Apology not accepted.

Let me give you: Unacceptable.

Full Essay: https://www.the-reframe.com/apology-not-accepted/

[lakelady@mstdn.social]

@JuliusGoat How did the Germans do it? The South Africans?

[burnoutqueen@tech.lgbt]

@lakelady @JuliusGoat

They didn't heal.

The AfD is winning in Germany (not to mention German complicity in the genocide in Gaza)

There are racist Afrikaners in South Africa still who are trying to re implement apartheid

[theogrin@chaosfem.tw]

@burnoutqueen @lakelady @JuliusGoat

The trouble is that this not the 'healing' kind of wound. This is a congenital illness, or a deeply set trauma -- the sort of thing which requires constant care and awareness over the course of one's entire continued existence.

The answer is to deal with it in the same way as any lifelong illness (speaking as a T1 diabetic): remain continuously aware, keep an eye on potential troubles, and immediately work to counteract the developing problem.