Weaponizing Language, a GOP tradition

 It seems that the right wing in the United States has a long history of taking words and phrases used by the left and turning them into weapons by redefining them.  It is an on-going pattern that truly is genius because it appears their followers are easily lead to repeat their nonsense.  Some words and phrases stand out in my experience. They are politically correct, woke, and DEI.  This is not a limited list because other words and phrases have also been bastardized by the right, I am going to stick with these.  

I first heard politically correct (PC) in the late 80s or early 90s but it is much older.  Many say it originated in the former Soviet Union, used to explain how people who are in line with the political acceptable ideas of the ruling government.  Later used by Nazis in the same way.  In both cases being politically correct were necessary for success in the culture or simply remaining alive.  When it was first used in the 80s it was used by liberals, sometimes as self deprecating and others as a way to make fun of someone.  The idea was someone was more in-line with the current way to be counter culture.  I once heard someone say "He is so politically correct that he doesn't eat honey, he doesn't want to exploit the bees".  It was often seen as a joke or a way to call out the person trying to one up others.  That was true until President George H. W. Bush used it in a commencement speech at the University of Michigan to call out people who were trying to change hurtful language and imagery that was used in government and media. (Phrases like retard for example).  Over night the right wing noise machine, then mainly on radio with a few on TV, were calling out politically correct to the point that calling out anything hurtful was called PC.  Two comedians used the phrase in stage and TV shows to challenge people who suggest some things are not fodder for comedy.  This continues today.  When someone suggests a person with a disability should play a disabled person in a movie they can still be labeled politically correct.  Also we can still here people telling us they are not PC before saying something offensive, like it a vaccine against consequences.  The reality is what society will accept changes, and it isn't about bending to a political ideology, but today questioning phrases of all kinds gets you called sheep of the THEY that is THEM.  That is sad.

Woke, a word whose history goes back to the 1930s in the African American community, was originally used to describe one who is aware of the systemic issues that effect the Black community down.  "Stay Woke" is a phrase calling for being aware of what is going on in the world.  It was not unusual that some saw plots where their weren't any, but for the most part it was a way of helping people see a bigger picture that is not often shown in media.  In the last several years woke became an insult from the right for people standing up not only for minorities, but LGBTQ+ groups, women, people with disabilities and others.  Books were written talking about how being WOKE has led to discrimination against straight white (mostly) men.  One such author was ask during a news interview and couldn't define it.  Apparently it is like pornography, she knew it when she saw it.  Banning WOKE because a Republican agenda which led to banning books in schools, changing language to be less inclusive, and seeking out what is WOKE in education.  Again without knowing what they are looking for.  Anything that made them uncomfortable, like teaching about the Trail of Tears, Ruby Bridges, or Slavery was considered WOKE and thus it must be anti-American.  I still think it is fascinating that so many people use this phrase when talking about all kinds of things.  It is often embraced during the fictional war on Christmas when the age old phrases like Season's Greetings or Happy Holidays are considered WOKE, the word has no meaning.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is the latest ubiquitous phrase in right wing universe.  DEI is a systematic approach that tries to open doors from people that have been systematically been closed due to active bigotry or lack of thought.  DEI creates an environment where people who are often not considered for employment, awards, college admission, or even acknowledged are given a chance to compete.   An example of DEI that is well known and has been accepted in our culture is the Rooney Rule in the NFL that requires teams to interview minority candidates for important football jobs like Head Coaches.   Implemented in 2003 it has lead to teams to take a closer look at qualified candidates who would likely be ignored in the past.  However, even today the Rooney Rule is called racist by a sports writer on a right wing sports outlet.  It suggests that black coaches didn't deserve the interview, let alone the job.  Now whenever anything happens, like a helicopter crashing into a jet, the current President blames DEI. Seriously, it is nuts, but it seems part of a bigger ideology.  DEI is a being expunged from government under the right wing control in some states driven by the current administration.  It is funny, the Governor of Texas wants to end DEI, the same DEI idea that created the ramp that allows this wheelchair using Governor to get into the State House since it wasn't build with one. 

I am not going to dissect each one of  these and how the right manipulates it for their followers.  In writing this I want to start a conversation about how the left can take them back or begin to guard our language of reality and challenge attempts to turn them against us.  I am not sure how but I am willing to try.  We can't lose the narrative.   

It Is a Bad Idea to Teach from the Bible

The rise of Christian Nationalism and its influence on public policy is a troubling development in the current political climate in the United States.  I fear for the future of that which makes our country a free and open society.  While many times throughout our history religious zealots have held positions of authority it seems different today.  I remember a few years ago a local city councilman in a small town in Indiana wanted to have city parks closed on Sunday so people would go to church.  It was met with giggles by many.  Today I wonder how many votes it would get in US Senate for that regulation of  Yellowstone.  

One of the most interesting results of this shift in power is the growing attempts to put the 10 commandments and the Christian Bible in schools and have them be used as teaching instruments.  One state Superintendent said the Bible is an historical document and used to help the development of the nation.  I am not sure what he means by the Bible being an historical document, while it cites people, places and some things that we have evidence for existing, much of it cannot be proven and in fact can be disproven easily.  As for the founding of the country, while the great minds that created our government were influenced by post-Enlightenment thinking and were influenced by an intellectual exploration of Christian and Jewish thought of the time;  they were not nearly the religious people that so many suggest.  In fact they would be appalled by the efforts of some of today's so-called Christian leaders in government. 

It is easy to understand why teaching the Christian, and particularly the Protestant understanding, of the Bible could be troubling to non Christians. There is no reason to ask a person of different faith or no faith to learn and somehow be held to the religious laws of another faith.  In fact it would be detrimental to such a person to have to sit in a classroom where posted on the wall is an indictment of their beliefs and the 10 commandments would do.  While the Bible was used in the early days of public education as a tool to teach reading, small local schools were made up of a far more homogenous population.  Today our country boast a rich tapestry of beliefs and understands both across many faiths and within faith communities.  Within a few miles of my offices there are very conservative and remarkably liberal United Methodist Churches.  How they approach the Biblical narrative would be very different.  As a liberal Jew I too see the text differently than the Orthodox synagogue I can see through the trees in back of my shul.  

And that is the problem.  The Bible can be sacred to a number of people and the translation chosen and the discussion of the meaning of the words can actually be disturbing to very people who are pushing this on the schools.  Imagine if you will if you think the Bible is the univocal, inerrant, word of God.  Then while studying it in a classroom you come across a contradiction that is hard to rectify.  You ask the teacher who gives a viewpoint that doesn't meet the doctrine of your fundamentalist church.   Should the teacher have to adhere to your faith's position, what of the child in the next desk who has a community that views it differently?  Would someone in the room have to have their faith attacked to meet the need of other?  This is the problem with  using sacred text, they cannot be studied in the same way you explore Shakespeare or Alice Walker.  It can't be picked apart like you might the theories of Piaget versus Vygotsky.   The notion that you can will always hurt someone.  That is just what will happen. 

Deeply religious Christians should be more troubled with the text being handed over to high school students who will look for the problematic passages, the contradictions and of course the translation errors and poor choices.  (For example: The first line of the Bible should not be translated In the Beginning and the commandment says Don't Murder not Thou Shalt Not Kill.)  But smart kids will challenge things they have read and smartass kids will push harder.   What does a teacher do in a class where discussing space exploration brings up the idea that we are living under a firmament.  You don't have walk very far down the information superhighway to meet a person saying that space isn't real. We live on a flat earth and there is a dome at that protects us from the waters above.  Do they acknowledge the Biblical cosmology to tell the truth? 

Atheists and others will challenge these attempts to sneak a particular religion into a public school.  The supreme court has ruled on this in the past.  While this court might overturn the concept it will really seal their legacy as the most anti-Constitutional court.  But if we allow for the Bible to become a classroom text books those who understand it is not will be fine, those that reject it out of hand will just challenge it and those that truly hold it sacred and the word of God will be the ones who have to balance how they learn it in their house of worship and how it is discussed in school.  They, I think, are the ones who will suffer from this most of all.  Oh the irony. 

They Are NOT Eating Cats A New Kind of Blood Libel

Last week we saw just how insidious the right wing noise machine and the new voice of the Republican party truly is.  A self-proclaimed white nationalist made up a story about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH were stealing pets and eating them.  They pointed to an early story in Ohio from Columbus were a mentally ill woman, American born, appeared to be eating a cat.  Then a flurry of images, one of a man cleaning up a dead goose, one of what looked like poultry on a grill, and one of what looked like a weird ritual came out.  None were from Springfield, none seemed to Haitian immigrants and none were confirmed to be illicit.  Yet it was an anti-immigration story and it had legs.  

Then Donald Trump repeated this crazy thing during the recent debate.  He was fact checked in real time and didn't back down.  He has since repeated it over and over.  The city of Springfield has said it isn't happening.  The person who started the viral spread of the story said she had no evidence.  But then people came out of the woodwork saying the heard it from someone. Sometimes getting more fantastical than the last time.  Trump now says that he will send ICE into Springfield to deport all the illegals there.  But the Haitian immigrants are not in the country illegally, the city sees them as good citizens, and the community is rallying around them.  

But since the elevation of the story we have seen bomb threats at municipal buildings and schools.  Threats of violence against Haitians from many online.  And the Proud Boys, the white nationalist supporters of Donald Trump who helped lead the attack on democracy on January 6th, marched through the streets of Springfield.  If not deescalated I am sure blood will be shed.  But today, Sunday, September 15th, 5 days after Trump and his Vice-Presidential nominee started the fire of hate and fed the flames with nonsense and bigotry, Vance went on national television and said in reference to this "Dana, the evidence is the firsthand account of my constituents who are telling me that this happened… The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast." So he admitted the story is false, he knew it was false, he promoted it even though it was false and not the Haitian community, a community he says are illegal, they are not, is being terrorized.  I would say this is something new but it isn't.

For centuries we have seen this kind of thing said about the Jewish community.  Jews have been called outsiders, agitators, and of course accused of killing Christian children for their blood.  Throughout Europe in the middle ages through today on the same internet channels that promoted this false story we still see this and echoes of it.  The results of these kinds of made-up lies about the Jewish community led to pogroms where entire communities were devastated by angry mobs of people who believed the "first hand accounts" that turned out to be false.  When I heard the Proud Boys were coming to town I worried this is the start of something not the end.  As JD Vance, a Senator, a candidate to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, told the American people he is willing to make things up about and entire community to rile up the hate in others I can't for the life of me think what kind of person would continue to support such vile people.  This isn't about immigration policy, Trump certainly doesn't care about that, it is about attacking a group of people who have no real voice to gin up that hate.  To give people someone to blame for their own situation in life.  This cannot be what a major political party in our country stands for and should not be something that is lauded.  

Donald Trump and JD Vance appear to be comfortable lying about groups of people who were embraced by a community that need a work force to grow or simply sustain themselves.  I am happy to see Republicans in Ohio, including the government and the local government push back on this nonsense.  But history tells up that it is no laughing matter as so many have taken to making it.  Donald Trump and JD Vance are toying with embracing crimes against humanity.  You can join them or stand against them.  You have a choice.  Choose wisely.  

The Eclipse Is Bringing Back Memories of My Dad

In less than a day Indianapolis will be in the path of totality for a solar eclipse.  There has been a great deal of hype for this around here.  Well deserved hype as it is rare to be in the center of this amazing astronomical event.  Eclipses have been important to humanity since we first looked up at the sky.  In ancient times it was seen as a bad omen by some.  It sparked curiosity in early scientists that helped thinkers develop a better understanding of the movement of celestial bodies.  While we understand and can predict these and so many other movements today, there are still some people who try to link it to the supernatural.  A certain member of Congress and her propagandist boyfriend have both said it is a sign of God punishing us.  These, of course, are not serious people but do have a following.  I hope the eclipse brings out the best in people as they observe the moon pass between the earth and the sun and we have a few minutes of night in the middle of tomorrow afternoon.  I honestly can't wait.  

When I was young, like many small children in the late 60s, I was obsessed with space.  Rockets that eventually took humans to moon, satellites, and of course the mainstream science fiction has me thinking by the time I was going to be the age I am now we would be colonizing the moon and maybe Mars.  So in the spring of 1970 when an eclipse was happening that crossed New York State I really wanted to see it.  I honestly can't remember how much of it would be seen by us in Ogdensburg as I believe the center of the event would be over New York City almost 400 miles away.  So I have no recollection of the day of the event, I do know I missed seeing it.  However, one night not long after the eclipse my dad came to me in my bed, he had the cardboard with the hole punched in, a flashlight and piece of paper to project onto and showed me what I would have seen if I could see the eclipse.  I can't recall all the details of that evening, but the fact that he did that left an indelible mark on my memory and nearly 50 years later I still remember that he did that.  I lost my dad when I was not yet 13 years old.  All of my memories of him a childhood memories.  Some good, some bad and some just natural family stuff.  I remember that day we got cable in our house for the first time and my dad sitting in front of the TV watching his Yankees on WPIX with Phil Rizzuto, The Scooter.  I remember him in the kitchen making dozens of loaves of bread as he ended his army career in the mess cooking for the troops, I still have his fry cake maker an invention that you poured the batter in and it made round blobs that seized up when it hit the hot oil to make doughnuts.  But the memory of the eclipse lives with me because it felt like a one-on-one.  My brothers and sisters were not involved.  I am sure they all have similar moments and being older, maybe even more.  But what I have is a special memory I will always have. 

On Monday, as I look to the sky, I will be amazed by the apparent swallowing of the light of the sun.  I will watch through the special glasses and will likely also make a little cardboard device to see the projection.  At totality when we remove the glasses for those brief seconds and see the sun's corona, (if there isn't a lot of cloud cover) I don't know what other people will be thinking, but I will be thinking of my dad, and I will certainly make that memory a blessing. 

It is All a Conspiracy

 Sometimes an event could have a giant impact on the world we live in, but not have a similar cause.  A disgruntled man takes aim from a six floor window and a popular President loses his life, terrorists discover an easy way to wreak havoc in the United States and iconic buildings are destroyed or damaged, a virus jumps from animals to humans and a world-wide pandemic ensues.  For some these kinds of events demand in their minds a larger genesis or reason.  So they create a story of a hidden cabal of individuals that planned this out for nefarious reasons.  It is often not sure who did it, sometimes the ideas are several different groups.  Even worse when pressed, the why is often an amorphous answer that may or not make sense with reality.  We call these views of the world through the Picasso colored glasses conspiracy theories.  

Conspiracy theories all link to each other by the common thread that there exist a group or groups that want to control us by manipulating the world in ways big and small.  The big events are covered up by their partners in governments and the media.  This notion is that most people are sheep who just believe what they told but the conspiracy theorists have inside knowledge.  What is somewhat interesting is that there is even a conspiracy theory about term conspiracy theory.  There are those that say the term was invented by the CIA to discredit people who challenged the prevailing story of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  People swear by this but in fact the term appears in print as early as 1863 in reference to a wild idea of how England should engage with the combating armies in the American Civil War.  On January 11th in the New York Times the term is used to reference the idea that the British Elite would look to support one side to help make the young reforms that led to the United States government fail.  Thus take over the country once again.  There are also printed accounts using the term in the 1870s and early 1900s.  

Conspiracy theorists for decades made their pitches to like minded individuals or people like me who dive down rabbit holes when I grow interested in a topic.  For example I have read, watched and listened to so much material on the Kennedy assassination that it seems like everyone was in Dealey Plaza with a gun and a plan.  When in fact, if you take a sober look at the events of November 22, 1963 the only conclusion is that Lee Harvey Oswald, a complicated and disturbed man, looking for some personal value, shot and killed the President of the United States.  

I will grant that the are in fact conspiracies that take place.  Efforts to obfuscate the facts to outright lying to meet an end.  But there is a difference between a conspiracy and a conspiracy theory.  Conspiracy theories take things that have a rational or easily examined cause and weave an elaborate and often ridiculous plot to explain the event.  

Conspiracy theories have looked to the government as the bad actor in the conspiracy but there is always a hint at something bigger than a single government.  Somehow there is an elite group of wealthy individuals who control banks, money supplies, even the necessities of life who are really pulling the strings.  The government is just another puppet, either willing or ignorant.  This has in recent centuries boiled down to being led by The Jews.  Driven by bigotry and often a sense that someone is keeping them down, people bought into conspiracy theories because it made them feel better about themselves and for some feel like they were special.  In this one area they knew the truth and everyone else was a fool.  So often when you challenge a conspiracy theorist the response is either that you are part of their conspiratorial worldview or too dumb to see the truth. 

In recent years however conspiracy theories have become far more partisan.  People are promoting and supporting certain wild conspiracy theories because it slips nicely into their view over who their candidate for office is.  Politicians and their surrogates have noticed and thus promote those conspiracy theories that garner them support.  Sometime directly and sometimes indirectly, they keep the fire of a nonsensical conspiracy theory alive in the hope of getting votes.

Partisanship driven conspiracy theories are dangerous.  In June John Rumpel, a Florida businessman and a Trump supporter was traveling to New York from Tennessee when the plane changed course and found its way over Washington DC's restricted airspace.  Fighter jets were scrambled to intercept but it became clear that no one on-board was conscious.  The plane crashed in Virginia with no survivors and Mr. Rumpel, his adult daughter and granddaughter among the victims.  This type of tragedy is rare but not unheard of.  In 1999, a private jet carrying Payne Steward, a PGA Gold champion, crashed due to decompression in the cabin cause the people on board to not have adequate oxygen.  The people on-board were likely already dead as the plane continued to fly until is ran out of fuel.  It crashed in South Dakota leading to the loss of Stewart and 5 others.  The flight had been intercepted by Military Jets but there was nothing they could do.  But for many in the right wing noise machine the similar tragedy that befell the Rumpel flight was not a simple accident.  No they suggested that the Biden Administration had targeted this plane and it was shot down because Rumpel was a financial supporter of Trump.  They said that the government is coming for Trump supporters.  Similarly this week, a man in Utah had been making wild threats against the various prosecutors who are working on the Trump cases as well as the Attorney General and President and Vice-President.  When confronted by the FBI, which is standard procedure in cases of threats, he told them the next time they come by he would shoot them.  So earlier this week the man made a specific threat to the President who was going to be in Utah so the FBI got a warrant and went to serve and arrest him.  It is still not know exactly what happened but the FBI chose to use deadly force and kill him.  This man had a stockpile of weapons and had on more than several occasions suggest exactly how he was going to use them on his enemies. Again, the right wing noise machine suggested they killed him because he was on outspoken Trump supporter and that he was old and frail and that he wouldn't hurt anyone.  The same people who dredge up instagram posts of unarmed black kids killed by police when they were teens looking violent and call them thugs don't show the pictures of this terrorist from a few days ago with a ghillie suit and sniper rifle saying he is ready to take action.  No for them this killing of a highly armed man is not part of a conspiracy to take out Trump supporters.  This certainly would be a highly inefficient way to do it.  But because the people killed, one by accident and one by law enforcement, were Trump supporters there must be a cabal behind it. 

The danger of this, coupled with the echoes of the Q Anon conspiracies, is that people will see all people opposed to a MAGA policy not only as wrong, but evil.  One roots evil out and what I fear is that there will be more violence, directed at Democrats and Republicans they deem unworthy of the party.  People die in accidents, people die when they challenge the police with weapons, and people die because the world is not perfect.  We don't have to look for the men behind the curtain on everything.  Mostly there is no curtain. 

I Only Every Saw My Dad Hit My Mom Once

 I only ever saw my dad hit my mom one time. It wasn’t out of anger but frustration. We were in the car, traveling during a terrible thunderstorm.  My dad pulled over as the wipers couldn’t keep up with the rain. My mother was crying and screaming, she wanted to get out of the car to run into the church. The rain, then hail, made the two block walk dangerous and my dad tried to tell her.  She wasn’t able to listen, my dad slapped her, then grabbed her and held her tight.  The storm eventually passed and my dad took us all home, in silence. 

 

We were in the car because whenever a storm came my mother had to get out of the house.

We would leave and go somewhere else, anywhere with people. During the day, if a storm came we would go to the Ames Department store.  We would go inside and walk around, I would mainly look at the toys. We could watch the storm through the big windows to the parking lot but it was impossible to hear the thunder.  

But the real fun came at night.  If a storm was predicted, when we went to bed we would be told to keep our clothes nearby on the floor. Like fire fighters socks in the shoes, pants and shirt handy, we needed to be ready to go when the call came.  

“Wake up, there’s a storm”

We would get up and pile into the car and go out.  Good nights we went to the hospital, the big waiting room that people sat in waiting to visit someone upstairs in a room or being treated in Emergency.  My mom chose there because it was a fallout shelter.  The yellow and black sign that looked like a weird pizza to me, the result of Cold War fears, hung outside the building.  For mom that was safety.  We would go in, climb a set of hard stairs and then sit in plastic covered furniture under the watchful eye of the Pinkerton guard at his desk.  I always tried to getting pennies for the gumball machine and was impressed I got two squares not one round one.

The large window that look out toward the river and the church parking lot gave us a clear view of the storm as it passed. Once, my mother went into the back and came out calmer and more comfortable. She fell asleep on the ride home.

 

If we were in luck however we would go to the all night truck stop at the edge of town,

Aptly named The Edge of Town. There we would cram into a booth as the server brought the children chocolate milk and my parents coffee.  We sat among overnight truckers, drunk college students (Denny’s had not come to the North Country) and often women seeking comfort from a driver or offering it for coin. 

This was my normal.  Storms meant you awoke, went someplace and waited them out.  I didn’t realize how strange that was until college.  When I lived in the dorms I was always surrounded by people so the realization came when I had an apartment and was sharing my bed through a late night storm.  I awoke and quickly turned on the TV to watch the storm information on the weather channel.  I felt anxious and wanted to leave but didn’t know where to go as my companion grunted questions about why I was up and to go back to sleep.  I realized that maybe not everyone reacts to the storms the way my family did.  She fell back asleep in the glow of the TV on mute as I watched the radar show the storm move off to the east.  As the weather quieted I slipped back under the sheets and continued the night.  

Over the years I have mellowed on my reaction to storms.  I watched my son grow up not caring about them.  But I still have to follow them, where they are, where they are going, when the threat is over.  Smart phones allow me to monitor this with stealth I didn’t have before.  I still must be aware of all that is going on.  Storms are always my nemesis and I must conquer them each time they come.  

Now you might ask why I carry this through life.  It is simple.  For my mom every time lightening flashed and was followed by a clap of thunder she was no longer a mother of 7, a wife, a survivor or a warrior that I saw her as most of the time.  She was the small child, one who heard the planes fly overhead in Mannheim 150 times in the years before she was 10 years old.  A child who hid in stairwells and basements and prayed with neighbors that the next bomb wouldn’t destroy their house, their school or their lives.  A child who saw the flashes of light at the city edge and waited for the rolling thunder of the bomb’s concussion as it rolled down the streets in the dark of night.  I have never faced death at the hands of an anonymous pilot dropping explosives on my home, but I inherited the fear that was delivered as well.  I carry with me the scars that she earned as a girl who for her 5th birthday saw her cousin’s house go up in flames from a British incendiary device.  The flash of lightening and the sound of thunder of a simple summer storm carried so much more for my mom, and still today for me.  A legacy of a war fought against an unspeakable evil that spawned this irrational response of punishment on the people of Germany.  My mom is gone, but that punishment lives on in me, a little less pronounced than in her, but still there.  I hope my son didn’t pick up on my reaction to the weather.  I hope my son will be able to sleep through the storms in his life.  But I worry about others.  

As drone strikes rain death from far away on camps in Middle Eastern deserts, as bombs take out both ancient buildings and modern apartments in places like Aleppo and Baghdad. I wonder as cruise missiles shake up the centers of the oldest cities in the world.  I ponder when suicide vests destroy pizza places and concert venues what exactly will their legacy be.  Will there be some mother or father, 20 years from now telling their children to keep their clothes close, there might be storm?  Will those children 40 years from now struggle with the weather like I do, knowing full well it is not rational and yet continuing to live in that manner.  When will it stop, and will we ever have the will to make it stop?  

 

Deplorable

When Damar Hamlin was hit during an NFL game, the Buffalo Bills defensive player collapsed on the field.  It was clear this was a very scary moment and after the ambulance took him to a near by hospital the game was suspended, later to simply be cancelled.  But while prayers both on the field, in the stands and across social media began, there was another voice in the ether.  The anti-vax conspiracy theorists, many who had not yet seen the hit, were proclaiming this was somehow related to the Covid 19 vaccination.  Within a day people were saying he was dead and the NFL was covering it up.  As time went on and we learned that Hamlin was recovering, the voices of the conspiracy theorists grew louder. When Hamlin attended the Bills' playoff game but didn't do an interview and was covered for the weather people people started repeating he was dead and they used a body double.  This suggested that the NFL, the Bills, the sports media, and Hamlin's family were all attempting to hide the death of a young man.  When pushed on it the conspiracy theorists would say it was about money.  Somehow they were even able to suggest that President Biden was involved and a long planned trip to Ohio by the President was somehow part of the effort to keep the death quiet.  Now that Hamlin is making public statements these people are even questioning his existence, calling the videos he is making deep fakes or using an actor.  Hamlin is promoting getting trained in CPR and recognizing signs of heart distress and these people are attacking the videos.  

The reason to them:  The vaccine is killing people in large numbers but there is a large cabal stopping the news of this.  They have no real evidence, so they make it up.  What is worse is that anyone who dies at a young age are lumped into this.  Watch any announcement of a death and there will be someone claiming it was the vaccine.  It doesn't matter if the person had a long history of illness, was a likely suicide, or have clear indications of trauma that caused the death.  This has dragged the names of people who lost their lives in tragic ways into their wild fantasy world.  Most recently a 14 year old named Denim Bradshaw.  Bradshaw was a young man at who was riding a bull at a rodeo and was dumped and stomped by the bull.  The trauma caused his heart to stop.  But the facts don't matter they added it to the so-called evidence that something is wrong.  

What is the most disturbing it is that this is not driven by anything more than politics.  It is a right wing driven narrative that populates social media and so-called news channels who are promoting lies and distorted data about the deaths of mostly young people.  Bradshaw's death was a terrible accident but his friends and family have to see people attacking his parents for getting him vaccinated (even though no one knows if he was).  Even worse was the story of a young athlete that died in an apparent suicide being talked about as a vaccine death.  

When Hillary said half the people who supported Trump were a basket of deplorable she appeared to under estimate by a lot.   He and the right wing noise machine have found that there is no real consequences of this kind of behavior.  So I assume it will go on.  I am glad to see Hamlin recovering from his accident, I am sorry for the families who have lost someone and hope they are comforted by friends.  I also would hope that these people who promote this hurtful nonsense find a way to come back to reality.  But that hope is slipping. 

No Jews are Not Trying to Replace You.

 Recently the channel NewsMax, a right wing propaganda producer masquerading as a news network, ran a segment on the American Girl franchise.  During the segment, which I assume was about some aspect of diversity that American Girl is expressing, a man on the panel said he took his daughter to the American Girl store in Rockefeller Center.  He made a point of calling her his white, six year old daughter.  He said the whole point of the store is that a child can go in and get a doll that looks like them and even get the same outfit as the doll.  But when he went there there he said there were no dolls for white girls.  He said that all the dolls were for people of color and it was a weird feeling.  Well, it is a good thing I buy my irony meters in bulk at Costco.  It would have been interesting if the panel had a person of color explain their childhood experience looking for a doll like them.  But what was amazing, during the segment the control room was scrolling through the American Girl catalog.  The vast the majority of the dolls being shown were white.  So this guy was gas lighting us or he forgot to take his tan sunglasses off.  I have walked past this store a few times in my visits to the city but I have never been inside.  I can't say that I noticed the dolls on display but I can't imagine that the store would only have dolls of color.  

The demographics of who visits Rockefeller Center, a tourist area for sure, would include a large percentage of white families.   But this show knows that the vast majority of their audience will never travel to New York, let alone the American Girl store at Rockefeller Center.  The image of New York that this network portrays is a wasteland populated by non-white immigrants and crime.  So they will believe him.  That is the essence of the right wing noise machine model. Ignoring reality even when you have it and give fuel to those who want to believe the worst.  It feeds the narrative that there is a war on white people, a dangerous conspiracy theory that we know leads to violence.  He basically said the grand replacement theory is happening in a toy store and that drives a growing narrative. 

There are many people, including elected officials in Congress, who believe there is a globalist agenda to replace white people in Western Society with immigrants.  The word globalist is often used to avoid calling it a Jewish plot.  Often mentioned is George Soros, a business man and philanthropist who is a billionaire and supporter of progressive movements.  This conspiracy theory has led to the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in the summer of 2017 which saw the death of Heather Hire, a woman who was killed by a man driving his car into the crowd of counter-protesters.  This theory has been used as justification for other violent acts including the shooting at a Walmart in Texas, a grocery store in Greater Buffalo and several attacks on synagogues.  

On Christmas eve the Governor of Texas, sent a bus with asylum seekers to the home of Vice-President Kamala Harris in Washington D.C. without notifying anyone he was doing it.  They arrived in the midst of a winter storm with nothing but what they were carrying.  He did this because he sees these legal people petitioning the US for help after leaving their home countries for fear of drug cartels and abject poverty as invaders who will destroy white culture.  He and other republicans have done this in the past and have little or no regard for the lives of these people.  Many have referred to them as vermin.  (Sometimes using language similar to how the Nazis referred to the Jews and Roma people).  

There appears to be a fear among conservatives that their long held seats at the table of power will be diluted by the inclusion of others who are finally being recognized in our culture.  Be it people of color, some immigrant groups, LGBTQ+ individuals or those whose faith is not Christian.  I would argue our strength can only be made greater by the diversity that we embrace.  That our country thrives when many voices can come together and find common ground in building a future.  It isn't always easy, it isn't always going to be what any group wants 100%.  But if our own history has taught us anything, diversity and innovation go hand in hand. 

So as the fear that Jews or others are in some kind of organized effort on a global scale to eliminate White People is driving a segment of the conservative movement.  Anyone who has ever tried to organize a Shabbat dinner by committee will know that is virtually impossible.  But what I say is that if people are asking for a seat at the table, put another leaf in and buy some more chairs.  

May the New Year bring us Joy, Love, Prosperity and Common Sense. 

 

What the Midterms Taught Us

There are many things we learned last night and into today as the results of the midterm elections come in.  I want to highlight a few.

1.  Inflation was not the big issue that we were told it was.  The GOP said a red wave was coming and that they could win up to 60 seats in the House of Representatives because of this issue.  That didn't happen and it wasn't for many people top of mind when voting. 

2.  Abortion rights was important to many voters.  Through ballot initiatives, Constitutional changes and who won in some states, it is clear Americans support abortion rights by a majority.  This is something that will continue to be an issue that will influence voting for some time.

3.  Redistricting is more important that good candidates.  In many states redistricting led to candidates being able to pick their voters and thus won.  Florida, led by Ron Desantis, truly worked the process to help the GOP gain House seats.  His re-election also showed he usurped Donald Trump as the leader of the Republicans moving forward and setting up a GOP civil war.  

4.  To that end, Trump is a drag on the GOP.  His hand-picked candidates lost in many areas around the country.  Some in spectacular fashion.  Trump's endorsement did not have the same cache as one would think.  What is amazing is that the election deniers were the worst performers across the country.  So perhaps the era of Trump is over.  

5.  The myth of the liberal media found its demise as well.  We watched in the last few months at CNN, once called the Communist News Network, pivoted so hard to bring in right wing voices in the last few months they cause so much whiplash they hired a in-house neck specialist.  Every major news outlet had pundits saying we were in for red wave.   That didn't happen.

6.  Punditry itself also took a hit.  There are several people who should be eating crow this morning after making outrageous claims about how Biden was in trouble, that people were going to send the White House a message, etc.  This morning those same voices are saying the opposite.  

EDIT:  I almost forgot 7.  Polls are getting worse.  Not because polls don't work, they do.  But because there are dishonest  biased pollsters who create a narrative, picked up by places like RealClearPolitics and Nate Silver and try to sell the outlier (or liar) polls as legitimate.  This had so many expecting a red wave that frankly was never going to happen.  

Our country is still divided.  We will continue to see nonsense in our politics.  There will be some who will say this election was rigged.  (Even if the Democrats lose the House).  But there is hope that we are still the country that our ideals say we are.  Look no further than here.  Tim Ryan's concession speech last night after losing to JD Vance is what we should all strive to be as a country.  Let's hope tonight is a lesson for all of us.  But we continue to stand up for the things we believe is good for our country.   

The Quiet Acceptance of Antisemitism

A candidate for school board in Zionsville, Indiana recently said on social media that not all Nazis were bad.  His argument was that there were good people who were forced to participate in the atrocities during the Third Reich.  This is not exactly true and so that is troubling for a member who wants to shape the school system that has had some problems with antisemitism.   Just to be clear, many participated in the horrors of the Shoah (Holocaust) and the killing of Soviet prisoners of war who weren't forced, but chose to do so.  His policy positions squarely show him to be conservative. 

Ye, formally known as Kanye West, recently posted he was going “death (stet) con 3 on Jewish people,” meaning Defcon which is a defense condition jargon used by the US military.  He suggested that Jews as a group were somehow holding him back and that the real Jews were black people.  He has been clearly supporting the most radical conservative people and policies and was embraced by conservative voices in the media.  

Former President Donald Trump recently threatened American Jews who don't fully support him and the actions of the Israeli government.  He said Evangelical Christians are more supportive of Israel than what he calls Liberal Jews.  He went on to say they  better " their act together" adding "before it is too late".  This brings up a great deal of antisemitic tropes but also the threat has echoes of history.  

This comes as we see Republicans claiming the mantle of Christian Nationalism and some suggesting that Jews have no place in their campaign.  One even attacked the children's school (a Jewish Dayschool) of his opponent suggesting it is elitist.  

While for many of us who hear and see anti-Jewish rhetoric daily from around the world I don't spend a lot of worry about these particular nonsense statements though I think they should be called out.  What worries me is remarkable silence for conservative elected officials and the noise makers who jump on every liberal's criticism against the government actions in Israel or question American support of the Israeli government.  

When we teach about hate focused on us as Jews or on any other group it rarely starts with actions.  Words that become normalized in a society that tend to dehumanize or demonize a group often will lead to violence.  We have seen clear evidence of this around the world as both synagogues and mosques have been attacked by people citing the dog whistle writings and saying of American conservatives.  But it has become almost white noise of conservative parlance these days.  What is amazing is how no one on the right seems to care.  When the marchers in Charlottesville screamed "blood and soil" it was startling to some, but now when the ideology that led to that phrase is discussed in the halls of power as problem facing our country the lack of response is like living in a sensory deprivation chamber.  

I believe this is dangerous.  While some things written and said from the left is antisemitic it always appears there are more voices on the left calling it out, even if it isn't as loud as it should be.  But it is stunning, if a former President Obama were to say a similar thing to what former President Trump we would be deluged with commentary from the same voices who will find a way to make what Trump said seem banal.  

Hate in any form should be challenged, but if the hate is coming from your own house your challenge should be the loudest.  I challenge those on the right to find their voice.  Violence is not only done in someone's name, it is also done in someone's silence. 

 

Yom Kippur Lunch, Not A Joke but a Conversation

Emma Goldman was an anarchist political activist in the late 19th and early 20th century in the United States. Fleeing oppression in Russia she came to the US with the idea the it was "the free country, the asylum for the oppressed of all lands."  She quickly realized that oppression of the working class went on in our country as well and she slowly began to become more radical, especially after the Haymarket Square tragedy in Chicago in May of 1886 where a bomb exploded at a rally against police suppression of a strike.  In the aftermath many labor activists were charged and convicted of the violence that would take the lives of several rally goers and police officers.  She realized that she needed to speak out against the working conditions and the brutal actions of what she saw as the ruling class.  But not only did she focus on freeing the body from the oppression she felt as a factory worker and as a woman, but to free the mind of the oppression that she saw was forced on people.  One was that of religion.  While she saw the world through Jewish eyes drawing on the values of emphasizing justice for all, she was a atheist who had no place for Jewish law that was controlling.  She often spoke on Jewish topics, used Yiddish to reach Jewish audiences and found Judaism as a culture to be light to the world.  But when it came to religious practice she found it confining and thus did not create an environment of freedom.  Her open rejection of religious practice led her to promote and participate in a Yom Kippur Picnic in 1907.  A day seen by many as the holiest of the year when Jews fast for 26 hours.  She was encouraging people to gather to eat, in public, in face of religious Jewish authorities that would publicly attack Jews for eating on that day.  It was a challenge that opened eyes of people.  Goldman was a radical that truly made people question the status quo in politics and religion.  Her vision may have been ahead of her time and her legacy is seen in activists today who argue for the rights of many who are oppressed because of who they are.  But Goldman's vision of Judaism not as a strict religion, but as an ethical guide has helped many find a home in Judaism when disagreeing with some of the more traditional views of what it means to be Jewish.  But outrage over something like a Yom Kippur picnic will always exist in the Jewish world, as noted this year.   

 Rabbi Ilana Zietman, according to her biographic blurb,  is a pluralistic rabbi who loves to create Jewish experiences and foster communities that are relevant, thought-provoking and most importantly, welcoming.  She is the community rabbi for GatherDC is a Jewish nonprofit that serves as the one-stop-shop for everything 20s and 30s need to live their best Jewish life.  The goal of the organization is to reach out to young Jews to build relationships between them, connect them with Jewish life they are seeking and the institutions that can help.  Their website, for example, lists over 50 events on Yom Kippur from services at various synagogues from Chabad (A Chasdic Orthodox movement) to mindful Yom Kippur hikes and everything in-between.  But with shades of Emma Goldman, one event is getting Rabbi Zietman and the organization a lot of social media flack. The event is called  GatherDC 2022 High Holidays Intentional Yom Kippur Lunch Meetup, an Rabbi Zietman was promoting it on her account.  The event is described as such:

We know that there are many who do not fast on Yom Kippur for important personal, health, and religious reasons. This is something that should be celebrated because Jewish tradition acknowledges that fasting is just one of several valid ways to observe the holiday. This year, we’re experimenting with organizing a lunch meetup for those who would find it meaningful to gather with other people who also do not fast and even engage in a Jewish ritual to honor the act of intentional eating on this special day. GatherDC will pick a central meeting point on the SW Waterfront following our Alt YK morning experience, where you’ll have time to meet others and Rabbi Ilana for schmoozing and intention-setting before embarking on a self-led lunch excursion on the beautiful waterfront. We’ll be in touch separately with those who sign up. You also do not need to join our morning experience to participate.

Now the idea of eating on Yom Kippur is one of those lines that a lot of Jews feels shouldn't be crossed. Even Jews who have no connection to other prohibitions in Jewish law.  But when I look at this I see a different kind of energy.  There are those who, by Jewish law, must eat on Yom Kippur, if not eating may put your health in danger for example.  There are those who find to concept of fasting meaningless to them and choose not to fast even if they acknowledge the themes of the holiday.  Rabbi Zeitman is trying to find a way to make a space for those people to engage the holiday without feeling like they are on the outside looking in.  She is not Emma Goldman.  

Emma Goldman was a direct attempt to take down religion and religious leadership that she saw imposing rules and restrictions on free thinking people.  Goldman was like an invader in the ancient world that would destroy local temples and use the stones to rebuild a temple to their own gods.  Goldman wanted to use the foundation to build something new while erasing what she saw as oppressive. She maintained some of the visions of Judaism based on justice, but the religion of Judaism she wanted to end.   Rabbi Zietman isn't trying to tear down the proverbial temple.  She is building an approach ramp and creating a new door way in.  Too often there are Jewish people who find it hard to fit into a community and the age group that GatherDC (20s and 30s) find it harder to find a home in many place.  To me it looks like GatherDC and Rabbi Zietman are trying to provide an opportunity for a meaningful Yom Kippur experience, while not judging those who don't follow all the rules. 

There are many who are critical of GatherDC, calling out Rabbi Zietman, even suggesting she is not a real rabbi.  Many who don't appear to have problems violating the Shabbat as many of the posts appeared on a Saturday.  I would encourage them to meet with those who view Yom Kippur and other holidays differently.  On Passover we hear of the 4 children, each approaching the narrative of freedom differently.  One has been called Wicked because that child doesn't see the story as meaningful, but that child is there to hear the story.  There are many who think of a 5th child, one who isn't even at the table.  One who can't hear the story, one who cannot even reject what is meaningful because they will never find a way in.  GatherDC is looking for a way to add a chair at the table for that child.  

While I will fast on Yom Kippur but will not judge those that don't.  I find meaning in the fast, and that is what our tradition and frankly all traditions should be about, meaning.  In the end, Rabbi Zeitman may find a way to make meaning for Jews who had not place to do that, and help with self-reflection.  Isn't that what this time of year is about.