Category: blog
Humanity First
Capitalism is survival of the fittest. Dog eat dog. Caveat emptor. Profits and power are the cornerstone of the elite class, a self made royalty in a society that measures value and worth by the dollar and acre.
In contrast, most of us ordinary people see the importance of the common good. We recognize the inherent value in taking care of everyone, not just the ones who would kill and eat everyone else in order to ensure their own survival. As human beings, adopting degrees of Socialism is the acknowledgement that we’ve transcended to those higher places. It’s evolution of the species, to a new place, where we learn take care of our own. ALL of them, even if they don’t look like us or speak our tongue.
Socialism doesn’t mean everyone gets an equal share, like in communism. Instead, socialism seeks to ensure that everyone gets an equal chance, and less lives are wasted. Even a capitalist should be able to grok the concept of less waste. Isn’t prevention of wasted human potential just as important as protecting human life itself?
Our society should be made up of haves and have-mores, instead of haves and have-nots. The rich can still get richer. They just can’t do it by exploiting people to the point of sickness, starvation and homelessness. THAT sounds like Humanism to me…and shouldn’t we ALL be humanists? #HumanityFirst ~jg
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
Happy 2022*
I truly thought 2020 was the worst year ever. I was optimistic when it ended. I thought things would be better in 2021. Here we are anyway.
2022. Pandemic year two. They say it will become endemic. That we will learn to live with COVID-19. Like the flu.
Fuck.
Some really great things have happened this year. Most of them have come with caveats and asterisks. Just like 2020. *Pandemic year. It’s easy to forget the little joys in the big hurt. Lots of hurt.
This overwhelming sadness is what I’ll remember most about these times. So much loss. My spirit feels beaten and bruised. PTSD seems the new norm, in a world where we must fear living among liars and idiots, who would profit or die by denial of the common sense measures to keep everyone well.
I don’t go anywhere that isn’t absolutely necessary anymore. Certainly not the crowded indoor areas where music and alcohol flow. The places we used to love to go. Where life stopped for a few short hours, and the only thing that mattered was how the music moved the crowd. Where we all came together, sometimes encroaching on each other’s personal space, if only because somebody lost their balance in the drunken, drug steeped swerve to a frenzied beat that infected the entire crowd. It was fun. It didn’t feel like a death threat, like now.
If this is what ‘living with it’ will be like, I don’t think I’m ready for that. I’m not ready to go ANYWHERE without an N95 mask and a litre of hand sanitizer. I don’t see that changing because they start calling it an ENdemic instead of PANdemic. Call it whatever you want. I’m staying home.
So Happy 2022 from my house. Where I plan to spend the year, with the (vaccinated) ones I love most. ~jg
*Pandemic year three.
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
Troll Farm?
Grabbed from a Republican on CNN. SOME of them know what’s up.
(You may have to hit PLAY below to view)
Autumn Kindling
I’d like to say I know who I am. I’m pretty sure I’m still finding out.
I’d like to say I know how things really are…that I know a lot about lots of important stuff.
Maybe I used to. The truth is, these days I feel like I know a lot of useless stuff that I’m absolutely sure will someday be important to someone, someplace.
But, I do know a lot of things that could be much better, but for some ‘important’ people who are unwilling to change and uninterested in doing anything for anyone but themselves.
I also know that we all can make a difference if we decide not to be indifferent. I try to do my part.
The sun rises and sets, and all that I know seems everyday madness. But it’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than us.
Another day in the gilded age of Internet and impressions.
Every age of glory fades away or goes down in flames. And…It’s just…well, everything about America right now looks a lot like Autumn kindling.
~jg
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
Or 1 N Big 9 S 8 Brother A 4 Well
…”They have some pretty slick AI that screens for connections and the tell-tale hearts of anti-american hostility and malcontent. It sniffs it out chunks of terrorist cholesterol from the Internet’s arteries, as gigabytes of data streams past their hidden packet snatchers.”…
They know you already. You don’t have to believe it for it to be true, and knowing the truth doesn’t make you crazy. Unless they need you to be, and generally speaking, they don’t.
So…Once the NSA knows-that-you-know that they ‘listen’ to everything you do online, it’s basically #GameOn. Are you a subversive? Who are your followers? Who do you follow? Are any of them ‘terrorists‘? Because since 2001, that’s the best way for the .gov folks to shut down the voices that are violent. Preach revolt. Or maybe just make too much sense.
I know they’re watching me. Because they watch everything. Everyone. They have some pretty slick AI that screens for connections and the tell-tale hearts of anti-american hostility and malcontent. It sniffs it out chunks of terrorist cholesterol from the Internet’s arteries, as gigabytes of data streams past their hidden packet snatchers. Filters the digital goo. Combs thru it all, looking for nuggets of evil against Uncle Sam.
Good ol’ patriotic malcontent used to be ok, back in the day. You can still say the government sucks, if you’re careful, but thanks to the MAGA Revolution, we now know that even patriots can be terrorists…and so does the NSA. Even a gentle grumble can raise the AI hackles these days, which flags you for human eyes to review your dossier. Everyone’s got a dossier if they have any sort of online presence at all. I bet you think you don’t, but if you’re reading this, you know me, so they definitely have you in their crosshairs too.
The good news is, as long as you don’t go too far, they would rather just keep watching. Of course, if you suddenly ‘radicalize’ by plotting violence, or maybe worse, disappear from the Web, don’t be surprised if that generic panel van parked on your street is full of feds with heat tracing cameras and parabolic mics. These are scary times…it makes sense. Sort of. In hugely Orwellian fashion.
I suppose I should worry. I talk a lot about revolution and rebellion. I DO think the government sucks. But I’d never condone violence, except in self-defense. And I’d never advocate for a coup. I think we SHOULD overturn our government…from inside. Through VOTES and legislation and policy. Kick the moneychangers out of the temple of democracy, so to speak. Voting and peaceful protest. Through free speech, empathy and kindness, educating people to see the corruption that is right in front of them, and show them how to be a part of the solution rather than a victim of a system that pretends to care.
I’m not a threat to anybody’s safety. I’m an advocate for a better America. One that takes care of the little guy…and the victim. An America like they told us about in Civics class. Do they even teach Civics anymore?
Most importantly, I’m not a threat to the status quo. Nobody actually listens to me. I’m just a crazy old guy on a couch, with a guitar, a remote control, and a lot of ideas. If I ask my followers to do anything, most of them might get around to doing something.
If it’s not too hard or uncomfortable.
Someday. Soon, for sure.
One of my favorite songs puts it best:
“I’d start a revolution…
…If I could get up in the morning”.
~ Aimee Allen
Thanks for reading to the end. Please #Vote. ~jg
“I’d Start a Revolution (If I Could Get Up in the Morning)” Aimee Allen
Can we save our planet? Is it too late?
Maybe the climate deniers were wrong.
Maybe the scientists were wrong, too, and it’s MUCH WORSE than they thought.
Maybe it IS too late.
But maybe it’s not.
Even if the experts were sure it’s too late.
Maybe they’re wrong. ~jg
Not a tool of corporate greed.
Read the articles that inspired Jamie’s Rant:
These countries have warned they face extinction. They hope climate report is a ‘major alert.’ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/climate-change-rising-seas-may-lead-extinction-small-island-nations-n1276394
Is too late to save our planet? https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2021/8/10/is-too-late-to-save-our-planet