Saturday, August 1, 2020
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Sunday, August 27, 2017
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Sunday, February 5, 2017
"The Golden American Dream: But Only for the Blue States
There's so much hate going on today
On the right and on the left You see, we hate our brothers Yes, we do, and we hate our own self There's even hate going on today Between the young folks and the old Can't see all this hate is really Eating up our very soul from the song - "I Hate Hate" by Razzy Bailey
There's so much hate going on today
On the right and on the left You see, we hate our brothers Yes, we do, and we hate our own self There's even hate going on today Between the young folks and the old Can't see all this hate is really Eating up our very soul from the song - "I Hate Hate" by Razzy Bailey
So many Democrats are writhing in a sea of despair now that Trump has become President of the United States.
First though, we should have respected the office of the President and let him peacefully take his place.
Then, that is now, we must protest every unethical and unlawful policy he puts before us. But maybe
before we get in the full-on resistance mode, we should do something else first.
Before America can effectively begin on the pathway to progress, we Golden People, those from the few Blue
American states that are prospering, must commit to understand those people who voted for President Trump.
I have no empathy for the man, Donald Trump, who obviously didn't do a lot of studying in school or learning
in his blessed life. I do however, have compassion for the millions of Americans who voted for him. Many were
people who knew candidate Clinton would not represent their interests and so in desperation turned to Trump.
The film, "American Honey" provides a small window into the world of Middle America. There are people
from the parts of America I come from: Nebraska, Iowa, North & South Dakota. People from America's
Heartland where meth has made towns with parentless children, no work and growing poverty.
Maybe this film and others like it should be "required study assignments" for those of us ready to begin on the
path to human rights resistance. First we much meet those among us, human beings who have been
hurting all along and we haven't even noticed. Without compassion, those of us who believe we choose the
higher ground will fail in our quest for a principled Democracy for all Americans, even Donald Trump, that
is President Donald Trump.
Merylee Shelton February 5, 2017
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Monday, January 23, 2017
Saturday, January 21, 2017
"One Angry Dog"
The Angry Dog bared her teeth and finally came out from behind with a vicious growl.
My father was a Republican and my mother was a Democrat.
Everyone in town loved my dad, even the politicians, but he thought politics were a distasteful activity and his only exposure to them was in the voting booth.
My mother however was a dedicated liberal. She only had the most "bleeding" kinds as friends. They stuffed envelopes, went to endless meetings, marches and demonstrations. In their little reality ghetto, they never hardly associated with other types: the unenlightened.
Out of the charmed environment of my father's successful world and my mother's militant one, I emerged - a righteous mutt.
Perhaps it is only logical to conclude, since Dogs have a naturally intuitive compassion for humans, I would have a different take on American Politics 2017. I've found though, after years of participation in my county's Democratic Central Committee, that they don't like me. No wonder, many Democrats are elitist and prefer purebreds,
like for example, Portuguese Water Dogs.
Since the local Republicans seemed devoid of the effection a caring Dog would need, I have spent the last few years of my life in my house. The Trump election has changed all that. Here I come. Out of my doghouse, into the American reality as it currently is. Not how we want it to be, or how is should be, but in it's rough, unedited form.
I forgot to mention, I was born in Nebraska and maybe that's another reason why I don't always feel welcome in the place I was raised, California.
Californians seem unaware the rest of the United States exists. And they don't care. They believe until you get to the East Coast, American are simple-minded ignorant fools. So, of course Californians are Democrats.
The recent reactions human Democrats have to the election of President Trump have made the hairs on my back stand strait up!
The real issue is: Hillary Clinton, Democratic candidate and Party leader, lost the election herself. She did not act like the leader she was supposed to be for all of the states. She didn't even show up in many important states where humans were hurting and in pain. When she showed up in California, it was mostly to raise money. Lots of Democrats didn't show up to vote and the national election was given away.
Meanwhile candidate Trump identified the pain, despair and hopelessness of many Americans. He told them what they wanted to hear and he won the vote.
In this country, the Land of Professional Football, sportsmanship is a salient value. Win: fantastic! Loose: congratulate the victor and prepare for another day. Evidently that's not what Democrats do in 2017.
Many Democrats have forgotten those American principles of good sportsmanship. When we think our opponents "go low", we go lower. If I see another photo of a mother and daughter with matching "pussy hats", I think I'll howl!
The Americans who didn't vote for President Trump better start learning about empathy and compassion. There really are towns throughout America that are abandoned because employers have left. There are major cities like Detroit, where acres and acres of neighborhoods are ghost towns with burned out buildings and people. Those people, in the depths of despair have medicated themselves into functionless humans incapable of parenting, going back to school or any self-help productivity. They have no answers for their misery, but Candidate Trump did and they got themselves together enough to go to the polls and vote.
If America is going to continue to be great, we must take a better look at ourselves. We must be as inclusive of those American humans in despair as we are with minorities, the disabled and immigrants.
It is time for all humans in the United States of America to be compassionate, loving, gentle, faithful and trustworthy Dogs.
Merylee Rucker Shelton
Professor, Emeritus
Communication Studies
Program Founder: Community Arts & Lectures
San Jose City College, Silicon Valley, California
Monday, October 17, 2016
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Saturday, June 25, 2016
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