And Wear Your Damn Mask

Okay, confession time. I am horrible at this writing thing. The last four years have been this constant fire hose of bad news and it is impossible to keep up. I cannot even just pick one story to write about because by the time I sit down to start clicking keys five other things have popped up. I have periodic reboots where I have been away for a while and then promise myself and any readers that have still stuck in there to write a little something every day. And every time, thus far, I have failed. Mrs. Kraken has often remarked that I don't actually blog, I write comprehensive essays or just long thinkpieces. Sea monster see, Sea monster do, the bloggers I have enjoyed and followed over the years do the same thing. Maybe I need to be more Digby than Driftglass, just throw a story and link up, pull the relevant quotes, provide a few comments and call it a post. Another thing is I just don't seem to have a niche anymore. I started out trying to use my historical training and knowledge to provide context for current events. But most of what is going on is unprecedented, especially in American history. And trying to compare events from Roman or Medieval history to today just falls flat. Besides that, nobody cares.

So today, how about I just try tossing out some ideas that have been on my mind after watching TV news, scrolling through Twitter, and other random sources. I thought I said just about everything that needs to be said about republicans with the post The Pandemic was never going to fix Republicans, but then legitimate protests started. Now, historically, when mass protests begin they usually expand greatly. It was not surprising in the least to first of all see the cops go into insurrection quelling mode, rolling out the tanks and military riot gear. The term for when cops hit first is "police riot" but it was so much more than that. The worst thing to assume is that any group of oppressed people are automatically angels, but the fact that there were white supremacists, MAGA assholes, and random nihilist provocateurs jumping in to commit violence and vandalism for the explicit purpose of tarnishing the righteous anger of demonstrators by doing exactly what republicans always accuse black people of doing. There is no excuse for gang members and criminals caravanning around Chicago and other cities looting stores, though. My point is just that when things get started they tend to grow out of control.

As much as the provocateurs showing up to break things and paint legitimate protests as riots was disconcerting, I am more dismayed that this is probably just a warm up for the elections in November. But then again, after four years of doughfacedonny's minions in government all but broadcasting that white riots aren't going to be punished, this was the best the incels and boogaloos could do. I mean, I was expecting death squads from day one after donny was inaugurated. Certainly not worth cheering about, what has transpired since those 63 million assholes and Jill Stein voters decided to throw American Democracy out the window has been bad enough. But we should be glad the trump brownshirts are such cowards. I guess they are waiting for the Tom Cotton Administration before they really get bloody. 

I can't believe, as a card-carrying graduate of the Joe Strummer finishing school, that I'm going to say this but Leftists need to chill out. One, you have a lot less leverage than you think. Two, good ideas get drowned out when you deliver them wrong. Three, the "holier-than-thou" look is just as ugly on a left-wing authoritarian who wants to burn it all down as on a fundamentalist wingnut. Honestly, there are still roughly 60 million republicans out there who really wanted to declare BLM protests an insurrection and roll in the Army to start gunning people down, a good number of them make jokes about black men getting killed by police, and itch for the day someone who "fits the description" breaks into their home so they can finally murder a black person for themselves. I throw up in my mouth a little every time I see progressives on social media trying to "out-woke" each other. While the ultra-pure woke people are busy policing liberals for microaggressions, unintentional racial insensitivity, and screaming at anyone who disagrees with them to EDUCATE YOURSELF"!" the right is installing fascist judges for life and mainstream political media is both sider-ing "the extremes on both sides" and welcoming bloody Bill Kristol and Rick Wilson onto the show as the sensible moderates balancing whatever MAGA fascist is sitting on the other side. But I guess, this is the way we're going to do it, again.

Another thing I noticed is that the 'bot accounts and Russian twitter trolls are getting better at their jobs. It's going to be harder and harder to pin them down and call them out. The best practice is to be skeptical of everything posted on Twitter unless it is someone you trust. And even then, it shouldn't be a hill to die on.