RC ROMINE: Sadly I Have Come to Believe This is a Lesson We will End Up Learning the Hard Way

 

Sadly I Have Come to Believe This is a Lesson We will End Up Learning the Hard Way

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From the BBC

“Ethnic tension in Rwanda is nothing new. There have always been disagreements between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, but the animosity between them has grown substantially since the colonial period.

The two ethnic groups are actually very similar - they speak the same language, inhabit the same areas and follow the same traditions.

However, Tutsis are often taller and thinner than Hutus, with some saying their origins lie in Ethiopia.

During the genocide, the bodies of Tutsis were thrown into rivers, with their killers saying they were being sent back to Ethiopia.

When the Belgian colonists arrived in 1916, they produced identity cards classifying people according to their ethnicity.

The Belgians considered the Tutsis to be superior to the Hutus. Not surprisingly, the Tutsis welcomed this idea, and for the next 20 years they enjoyed better jobs and educational opportunities than their neighbors.

Resentment among the Hutus gradually built up, culminating in a series of riots in 1959. More than 20,000 Tutsis were killed, and many more fled to the neighboring countries of Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda.

When Belgium relinquished power and granted Rwanda independence in 1962, the Hutus took their place. Over subsequent decades, the Tutsis were portrayed as the scapegoats for every crisis”.

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In 1994 some 800,000 were killed in a slaughter orchestrated by a powerful faction that probably murdered the sitting moderate president and had organized this genocide well in advance.

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In Rwanda, it wasn’t skin color, it was being of a different tribe. But the distinction is of little importance. It is racism, the hatred of difference, real or perceived at its worse. And I ask you a question, what would have happened if a genocide like that in Rwanda happened here and someone like Donald Trump was President? If it happened in Texas under Greg Abbott? As the power of the Federal Government is intentionally weakened by those I call the Cons and their allies the Regressives, how long will it be before we have “Yahoos” in pickup trucks enforcing “Sundowner” or other laws of segregation? The Federal Government has been the driving force behind Civil Rights and now all of the election audits, all of the bullshit, and the lies, are directed to make sure they have cut the balls off of that.

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The Trumpster movement is the same old racism that we saw in the 1950s. The same community standard of racism and enforced by the violence, threats, and displays we saw then. And they along with other authoritarian groups are winning! They are in no way afraid of laws or of the Democrats because they can’t even fix themselves. We are living in a time of milk toast on one side and full Nazi on the other. That will not end well! “It can’t happen here” is the worst possible way of looking at this. Because it can and will if the Federal Government is continually weakened to the point of a near failed state. And we are dangerously close to that right now. What happens if democracy fails? This is what the Regressives are counting on. Then the Trumpster pickup trucks will roll and it won’t be for another parade. The more we back off, the more they are emboldened! And the police? Well, some will try to stop it, some will join in. There is only one group that can stop this and that is a democratic federal government dedicated to law and justice.

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The Cons are the ones that have done this. With their tsunamis of money, their think tanks, and propaganda machine. And they will happily have millions murdered, to make sure they are in charge and don’t pay taxes.

RC Romine

Giving Up and Then Falling Into the Comforting Arms of Racism and White Supremacy

 

Giving Up and Then Falling Into the Comforting Arms of Racism and White Supremacy

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How many people out there became the person they expected? To do the job you expected to make a career, to have the life you expected? While we all have unexpected events happen in our lives, opportunity, and disappointment. Rarely do we end up as expected. And so often, we give up on our hopes and dreams. Then it all, many times turns to shit, racism, and hatred. If you have ever wondered why Fox news exists, it is because they want to make sure the wrong people are blamed for something that was at least in part, their (The Con’s) fault. It has always been all too easy to blame “The Others” for disappointments, in their own lives. Then there are the well-paid shills of right-wing or the “Insurrection News” to give you a soft shoulder, tell you it’s not your fault and make sure you know exactly who they want you to think it is.

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The “Big Lie” was here long before Trump. And I’m not talking just about racism and white superiority. I’m talking about selling yourself out. The Hippies had it right, to a point. They had the general idea, could see what the problem was but let themselves lose focus on what was really important. Having lived in the same place and time as them, I have to tell you that for a lot of so-called Hippies they were there for quite literally, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Some were there to promote violence as a solution. But there was a lot that understood the real nature of American society and its “Abuse Culture.” They were seeking to change society into one that reflected who they were. Sadly, you can’t change society, until you change the people that make it up. That is exactly what we are living through, right now.

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American society in particular and human society in general works to create orthodoxy. That the person must conform to the norm in how they make a living. Talent doesn’t matter, nor does ability. The only thing that does count is the needs of the employer. In fact, we live in a dichotomy. A political semi-democracy and an authoritarian workplace. So when the people of your job win, authoritarianism usually wins. I polled some people at the dog park this morning and most eventually got into things that actually used their creativity. But I actually think that to be a modern occurrence. I live in a large metro area and there are lots of job opportunities. But what happens in the countryside, the small towns and places off the well-beaten track?

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That is where we find the dichotomy of American society at its worst. That is the place where there are destroyed dreams and very few opportunities. The place where people are used as the proverbial toilet paper, can’t make a real living on what they can produce so they must sell themselves to someone. And when all else fails, when all of the dreams are destroyed and is a smoking ruin, racism is right there to smother them in its arms saying “We know you, you are really one of us.” If you wonder how it all works, it’s a circle of stupid in action. First, the job that gave them status and things leaves, sent to China or whatever. Then the angry elect professional shills paid for by the Cons. Fox News and Friends radicalize them. All they have left inside is what they are given by the Cons.

RC Romine

VERBIAGE WARS

Verbiage Wars

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From just watching the weather to see if the dog park is dry, to wanting to see if there are any wrecks between your home and work, or just a trip to Target. We are subjected to the “Verbiage Wars.” You can feel the funnel around you if you are paying attention. Because you are being funneled into someone’s grasp, sometimes literally, by just watching anything that is owned by gigantic corporations. At one time they were there to present information, sell anything they could, and draw as many to their programming so they could charge more. Pretty simple actually. As the saying went “The Beverly Hillbillies paid for the news, which was delivered by law as a service.” But that was before the Telecommunications Act of 1994. The net effect of which was “Market Consolidation” and “Infotainment.” And sadly the creation of “Corporate News.”

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We now live in a world dominated by corporate everything. They, corporations are given the same rights as humans, in fact their talking heads may be the robots of our time, the androids that supposedly look human but inside they reflect the machinery and ideology of the corporations. . These corporate robots reflect their ownership, not the ideals of Walter Cronkite ort Huntley-Brinkley Edward R. Murrow. Where in the days of public service, it was a service to the nation. In these days of ideological opportunity, it is a reason to distort facts, allow the right lies, and focus on the right ideological opponent. Because that is the real power of the media and its corporate-ownership. To be able to focus every platform on something they seek to use or destroy, Different versions of the same thing, repeated into infinity, by just the right talking head, in just the right voice working to solicit just the right emotional response. Or as I call it “The Verbiage Wars.”

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Real journalists are starving, yet Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson are multi-millionaires. That is the real and enduring tragedy here. If I could I would fund all of these real journalists myself because of the amazing work they do. But I can’t afford anything and those that can, just want to shut them up. Truth has become something corporate owned, at least their version. Logic fits the needs of their corporate masters and if that doesn’t work for you, then just starve.

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What is lost in all of this is the truth, as in reality. There is plenty of message, of propaganda, of ignorance, and arrogant stupidity. All to benefit the owners of the news, the owners of the corporate truth, those that see themselves as all that counts. NO NATION CAN WITHSTAND THE PRESSURES OF AN INTERNAL PROPAGANDA MACHINE, VESTED IN PERCEPTION CONTROL AND MANIPULATING THE TRUTH! We stand on the precipice of disaster. A disaster built by those that see humanity as a toy, or a tool, perhaps a plaything.

RC Romine