@stargazer And don't forget the Mercers, who apparently are bankrolling Parler, the right-wing alternative to Twitter. Why can't these people use their billions for good????
I started this thread to focus on the trauma that underlies Trump supporters so that people could heal and perhaps find some possible understanding for their Trump supporting friends and family by looking for the underlying trauma that led them to Trump. I had found an article by Meghan McNiff which I was hoping people would take a moment to read and respond. (It's very short)
I added the post on Charles Koch's latest forgiveness-seeking PR campaign to warn people who are trying to be compassionate, not to enable disingenuous (and dangerous) people like Charles Koch who would use our softness to his advantage. Koch is indeed a traumatized person but like Trump himself, Koch is a psychopath, and a psychopath with huge power.
I do not have the answers to how we heal our divide, but I would not want Republicans to have any power in this administration. They have been part of a dark, sick, sociopathic agenda that has been in power for forty years. So no, healing the divide does not involve (in my mind) giving a dot of power to Republican Party. It is just a possible way to help us not to hate, and to understand each other better.
That is what I was hoping to discuss in this thread--emotional healing by understanding our Collective, rather than hating each other.
I understand when people can't do that. I am able to do it for people I know. I haven't figured out how to do it for people I don't know where all I know of them is the behavior I find repugnant.
And don't forget the Mercers, who apparently are bankrolling Parler, the right-wing alternative to Twitter. Why can't these people use their billions for good????
Because they are the creepliest buffoons in the world? ?
They do loves them some huge control and power!
I do relate to feeling compassion for those who are deserving of it in that they have been hoodwinked by Ye Olde Divil....
Though for those that unabashedly display a complete disregard for human decency and are aware of their nefarious and deliberate manipulations while furtively laughing all the way to the bank ..... not so much and not at all.
One day perhaps we can stand all together in the developed light of the Aquarian Age and look back on these excruciating divides as we would look back on Kindergarten from the perspective of Grad School..??
Here's an article on the subject of trauma as the root of hate, from the perspective of a former white supremacist:
quote from article:
What strikes me most about the people caught up in this is that they are not happy people. From my personal experience with family and friends in this, they are trying to find something and trying to find what will fulfill them. They are so caught up in anger, hate and how the world is against them that when they find someone who agrees with their view the fall to it. I care about these people in my life but honestly its exhausting to be around them. They always see themselves as the victim in this world and their view is always right. You have to watch what you say and do so you don't tip them over into some confrontation. Whenever I deal with them, I leave the encounter feeling bruised and battered...just thankful its over. No matter what you try to do to help or show them care, they are resistant and live behind this wall of self righteousness. For my own mental and physical health, I just have to limit my time with them or step back. I pray for them and send wishes that someday they will find some source of peace but overall if they don't want it, you can't make them.
I’d made a decision this year that I don’t want to hate anyone anymore. When I felt that self-destructive feeling building up for Trump & Co. over the last five years, I realized that I sounded like him/them. And because several-to-many of my cousins (I’m from a large Italian family) support this toxic administration and its sycophants, I couldn’t bring myself to hate them either. I thought of them as stupid, idiots, etc. which is tremendously harmful, both psychologically and psychically. I love my family no matter our differences and no matter how they feel about me.
I’d been on Twitter last year and reveled in telling DT that he’s a loser, etc. Then I was stalked by bots and deactivated my acct. What was I becoming?! I had to pause and look honestly at my intentions and practice. I actually pulled back from some local activism bc the correspondence I receive constantly evokes fear and panic as a prompt. I don’t want to live this way. I don’t want to wake up in fear and go to sleep feeling dread. It’s corrosive.
I decided to join the forum and meditation circle which, truly, has been a blessing. The discussions which raise important questions, contemplation, and revelations, for me, is a gift.
My husband and I have lived w his prostate cancer for all eleven years (on New Years Eve!) of our marriage. It’s exhausting at every 3 month checkup currently. Life’s fragility is ever present and already creates inner turmoil. So, for me personally, I had to release the hold that real feelings of hate had on my heart and my soul. I feel so much better for it. I don’t fear death any longer. So, I’m grateful to Jeanne for this thread bc it forces me to reevaluate my stance in this current and future surreal reality. We need so much grace to survive it w a healthy mental outlook and the perseverance to keep going.
The Koch Bros are sort of reminiscent of the Rothchilds of Europe, when they were playing all sides by funding WWII through their dynastically owned Bank of England.... gawd.
The Koch belong in the Hague now too, along with the T-Rumper....
@stargazer What's your source with regards to your comment about the Rothschilds? Be careful, it sounds like a false, antisemitic conspiracy theory to me. Fact is, the Nazis seized and confiscated all Rothschild assets in Nazi-controlled territory, as they did with all Jews.
Also, obviously, England owns the Bank of England and always has: https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/626/economics/who-owns-the-bank-of-england/
So this was the thread I didn't know I needed. I've sort of held back the last few weeks in terms of coming here and reading. There's a new "knot" in me, and this is in my brain. I left Facebook in July and haven't been back, except to check a couple of messenger threads I was waiting for a reply to. I went in there a week ago out of curiosity and went to my favorite "Anger Porn" people - the ones who generally raise my blood pressure the most - my wife's extended family. These folks - many of whom are on welfare but then decry the use of welfare in others - we generally only see at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas - and this year none of the above. There is a "All or nothing" approach to things for them. In 2016 - when I posted a few times about voting for Hillary Clinton while not agreeing with all of her policies - they couldn't distinguish between that - I voted for Hillary so I agreed with everything she wanted to do. Same time in the primaries when I was a Pete supporter (though dear lord that guy needs a Presidential slot soon). And before I left it was culminating again with Biden supporters. Biden supporters want a "communist system of government" (their words) that will break everything that makes America good. Where as they, as Trump supporters, only seem to see this gilded version of what's actually happening (Laura's article was spot on in this regard) and anything they can't deny away is #FakeNews created by the Media to destroy "dear leader"
I will be incredibly happy to spend Thanskgiving in our pod of four at my house. Christmas as well. Though I feel for my wife who won't be able to see her mother. (My own mother is a massive Trump supporter who went from Uber liberal to "What the absolute hell is wrong with you Mother?" in 2015 and may not be redeemable) Her IMMEDIATE family is not the problem, it's those cousins. But after last year when one thread in the family tapestry came dressed head to to in MAGA gear to Christmas (Him, his third wife, and all 8 of his children) simply because he knew my wife and I would be there -- If we never assemble the entire extended family again it will be too soon in my book.
And I hate myself for thinking that -- So -- expect me to be following this thread while you all discuss and figure out the answer to the problem :-). Because you are all far, far better people than I am!
@dannyboy I don’t think you’re a bad person at all for thinking this way. The beauty of my big extended family and living 5 plus hours from everyone is that I don’t have to see everyone often. Sounds awful but why deny the truth. Too much of that anyway. Our last large extended gathering was many summers ago and I remember feeling disconnected. Besides the incomplete group of 28 first cousins who could make it who greeted, talked, and caught up w each other, many of the offspring congregated in their immediate families and people also cordoned off by age group. So, currently, with so many of this younger generation on team trump, another gathering in the future probably won’t occur (post pandemic obviously). And I can’t deny that I’m relieved. I’m relieved that I don’t have to see my angry bitter T loving parents at Christmas and pretend we’re all not disappointed in their hypocrisy. How sad is this?
I know that this too shall pass and that we do have to take of ourselves first. We matter. And I just feel that the days of sacrificing my convictions and values for family members “just because” need to be re-evaluated. I have a saying that’s helped me these last five years... “Our circle shrinks and then it expands.” Define and nurture your circle.