Filosofa’s Broken Heart 💔

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, guns, History, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

As I sit here on Monday night perusing the news of the past day, I find myself feeling very sad, heartbroken actually.  It saddens me to see the state of this nation, the nation I live in and have done so since my birth.  I first wrote about what I call “the great divide” around 2016, for obvious reasons, but I thought that people would find reasons to come together, to narrow the gap between right and left ideologies.  I thought that at the end of the day, we would remember our humanity, our shared interests and concerns, and mend some of the fences that were torn down during the 2016 election cycle.

Instead, we have pushed even further apart, we have gone from bad to worse, and today I do not even recognize this country.  On any social media site, you will find people spewing hateful rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and incitement for violence.  You will find people like me who care more about humanity than about wealth, who support what has come to be known as ‘woke’ ideas, denigrated and taunted, called ‘Communists’ and any other label they can think of to pin on us.  I don’t see many like myself fighting back, except for an occasional one-liner, something of which I have been guilty as well a time or two.

A monster of a man who has broken the law multiple times, even while sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, is about to be indicted for just one of his lesser crimes, and half the nation is going nuts, calling for riots, violence, and even executions.

Tonight, I read of a man, a right-wing radio host named Pete Santilli, who has called for the execution of former President Barack Obama, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice.  Execution!  That’s … murder.  When did we come to this point, and where are the limits on free speech that need to nip this sort of talk in the bud?  Is this who We the People of the United States of America have become???

There are so many important issues that we need to take a stand on, but each one seems to only add to the divisiveness.  Covid, the war in Ukraine, climate change, world hunger, wealth inequality, the gun culture, voting rights … all need serious attention, but instead of researching, thinking, and coming together to help solve problems, we take it out on each other, don our weapons of words and sometimes guns, and take to the streets.

I don’t see how this level of hatred can continue.  Already, it has split marriages and families, wrecked friendships, and made many of us feel isolated, hopeless.  President Biden ran on a platform of unifying the nation, and I sincerely believe he has tried his best, but … people can only be unified if they are willing, and if they can find common ground.  Have we completely lost our common ground?  Did it fall through the huge crack we created with the great divide?  And most importantly, have we lost our humanity?  The reason for my sadness tonight is that I think we have.  I think we have lost our humanity and that the divide we created is too wide to be healed.  Might a bridge be built?  I wish I could say I had hope.

59 thoughts on “Filosofa’s Broken Heart 💔”

  1. Humanity really is a weird mix of angel and demon. If all humans had a healthy dose of empathy, we would not constantly cycle through these periods of hate. It’s as if we develop a social/psychological ‘boil’ that just grows and grows until it finally bursts. Then there’s peace for a while until most people forget how awful the boil was in the first place.
    I think that what we have to acknowledge is that there are a lot more people with little to no empathy than we’d like to believe. And there’s nothing we can do about it because it’s /in our genes/. Even if we found the gene[s] responsible for the lack of empathy, what would we do about it? Selective breeding? Gene therapy? Killing off all infants that don’t test at a high enough standard? That’s the stuff of nightmares. 😦

    Liked by 1 person

    • Exactly so! The Chinese believe that history is cyclic, and your explanation is spot on. After time, memories fade, the old ones who lived through the worst of it die out and their stories fade with the telling by future generations until they are no longer told, and then it begins anew.

      Sadly, you are right and it’s only in recent years that I’ve come to realize just how few people have empathy for any but themselves. I don’t necessarily think it’s in our genes, but rather in our upbringing. We pass our own values, or lack thereof, to our children. In some cases, for better or for worse, the children rise above their upbringing, and that is the slim hope the world has now.

      Frankly, I think that the human species is signing its own death warrant by ignoring the scientists’ warnings about global warming and its effects, so we won’t need to worry about selective breeding and such, for nature will do that for us.

      Liked by 2 people

  2. When looking at the antics of the American Right I try not to think too much on Bloody Kansas, Civil War of the 1860s and our own Northern Ireland’s low key civil war of the latter third of the 20th century, that said it is difficult not to dwell on the first and last of those three.
    Amongst the glimmers of Hope, for there must and always will be Hope I consider the more popular media / entertainment industries and their performers, in film, tv and bless ’em comic books. Now many despite the usual slew of Human failings are trying to broadcast equality and opportunity. Of course this is not a place awash with saints and nobility- never come across that yet. BUT….Slender Hope these are the outlets which broadcast the Positive Outlook….
    Which is why you can always tell a racist, a misogynist, a reactionary and MAGA because they use the word ‘Woke’.
    I am trying not to sound naïve and threw Sunshine and Lollipops all over the place but if the entertainment industry over all can get to the kids, there is some Hope.

    PS: If you encounter anyone using ‘Woke’ as a complaint over film or tv etc , respond with this clip from a legendary Irish TV series:

    Liked by 1 person

  4. And from Robert Reich today

    “Trump’s third campaign for president is exploiting the same void that empowered his first two — America’s dwindling social trust. He has done everything possible to further deplete that storehouse. He will now do whatever he can to reduce social trust still further — to the point where he wins (or takes) the presidency of a nation literally coming apart.

    We must not let him.”

    Liked by 2 people

    • Hmmmm … good question. I’m inclined to think it would end with the termination of the human species either from the effects of climate change — lack of water, air, and food — else from nuclear armageddon. Sadly, I think many other species in either scenario would also die, but some would likely survive, and ultimately the earth would heal itself.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. The following is a quote from Heather’s most recent newsletter. Not directly pertinent to your post, but then again …

    “American history is built on arresting a black man for stealing a loaf of bread from the 7-11 to feed his family, since, of course, nobody will hire him – while simultaneously ignoring the stealing of billions of dollars by white men.”

    Liked by 4 people

  7. I read about Santelli’s call for executions. His justification is because the three people he named were “…the people that perpetrated the murder of John F. Kennedy.”

    In addition to his monstrous hateful bloodlust, he is guilty of monstrous hateful stupidity. On the day President Kennedy was shot:

    Barack Obama was 2 years and 3 months old (born 4 August 1961)
    Eric Holder was 12 years old (born 21 January 1951).
    Susan Rice was somewhere around 3 months pre-conception (born 17 November 1964)

    Rather a precociouus bunch, weren’t they? But it’s the kind of thing that will be believed by people who wonder why President Obama didn’t fight in Vietnam, or was playing golf instead of being in the Oval Office on 9/11 and during Hurricane Katrina.

    I don’t know which is most disheartening – the rampant willful ignorance, the abject stupidity or the willingness to blatantly and (to the noncredulous) obviously lie to achieve political ends. It’s enough to make one ashamed to be an American. President Biden may have restored some of the world’s confidence in our leadership, but when it comes to the average American, much of the rest of the world (when they think of us at all) consider us a bunch of pathetic buffoons.

    Liked by 3 people

  8. Pingback: Filosofa’s Broken Heart 💔 — Filosofa’s Word | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  9. The nation is in the grips of a thoroughly evil religion. They call themselves “Christian” and they call their religion “Christianity”. But their religion is not anything like the Christianity that I read about in their Bible.

    Jesus said “Love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matt 22:39). And he said “by their fruits yes shall know them” (Matt 7:20). Those who call themselves “Christian” fail to meet this test. I left Christianity and religion many years ago, because there was so much hypocrisy.

    For myself, I still try to practice “love thy neighbor” and I still try to set a good example. If those who call themselves “Christian” were to do that, the divisiveness would soon dissipate. In the meantime, the rest of us carry on as best we can.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Exactly so, Neil. They … not all Christians, but certainly the evangelicals … cherry pick their book, claiming only the parts that fit in with the lifestyle they want to force upon the nation, while ignoring the parts about kindness, forgiveness, taking care of others, etc. I have long said that most of the world’s problems are either created or exacerbated by religion. Nothing so far has proven me wrong.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Jill, it is sad. We have had too many politicians who are not only leery of saying something, some are fueling the fire. Some politicians are playing both ends against the middle, scared of the zealots on one end while trying to mildly placate the more diminishing rational end. When they call the deceitful comments and actions on the carpet, they caveat their criticism. The ones who truly speak the truth get ostracized and vilified.

    We must have rational discourse. We must recognize truth and demand it be part of discourse. The truth is the former president is not the victim, he is the culprit. Prosecutors do not take lightly the use of their time and reputation to bring charges against anyone. He has litigious history for a reason. He has lost (one was settled) two separate tax fraud cases in the last few years for a reason. He was guilty.

    The comment I would make to those people fanning flames is to stop. There are enough zealots out there who do not realize a truism, the folks shouting the loudest are trying to convince you they are the victim, when they are guilty as all get out.

    Keith

    Liked by 1 person

    • Until recently, it just made me angry. It still does make me angry, but recently I find it also makes me feel sad, depressed, a sense of hopelessness. It seems that some humans, perhaps a significant number, are defined by their narrow-mindedness, shallowness, greed, and are just all-round awful people. I guess I’m just getting ‘woke’ to that side of humans.

      As for Trump … he and his sycophants seem to honestly believe that he is above the law, that he will slide through the closing doors as he has always done. If some of the charges and pending charges against him don’t stick, the situation for those of us who care about our nation will become even more bleak.

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  11. Aww, it is indeed very dismaying to think about Jill. One of the best things I did recently, thanks to Elon Musk, was to delete my Twitter. I just couldn’t anymore with people constantly screaming at each other and pushing misinformation. It’s been wonderful! The news is also a business at the end of the day and what sells headlines these days are things that get people riled up and raging – and what sells these days is also rage unfortunately. I do remember taking a news and social media cleanse and it may help. Hang in there!

    Liked by 2 people

    • This is my source of hope ~ but I think we’re going to have to screw things up so thoroughly that everybody sees it before we’re humble enough to accept extraterrestrial outreach. There is a body of ascension writers who feel we are right on schedule.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Though I really don’t have any references to Mulder and Scully as I have never seen a single episode of X-files (It was on during my anti-television phase, I guese!) what we really need are the show’s writers to write the script for life in the 21st century. It wasn’t Mulder and Scully who were the heroes, but the writers who created their roles and accomplishments.

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  13. Until the Bombs are dropped, or the Ultimate Earthquake breaks our world into pieces, we can still have hope, dear friend. I have enough to share, though some days are harder than others. I don’t start with humanity, I start with all living beings. Life has been around for at least 4.5 billon years, according to the evolutionary scientists, and that is just on Earth. It will last for another 4.5 biliion years, minimum!
    And human life is a part of that life. We may not survive, but probably we will, though maybe as a new species of homo sapien. Evolution rewards progress. We still have a chance!

    Liked by 4 people

  15. All that the Republicans have, is to try and sway the masses, playing that race card, in support of white supremacy, and because, there will, always be, followers of these, bullshitting ideologies, that’s why, they still have, as much influences on the people as they do. And, there’s, nothing that we can, do about it, but to, watch the countries we live in, go to, hell.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I don’t think we should accept the defeatist attitude of assuming there is nothing we can do to change things. We haven’t figured out the solution yet, obviously, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

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