It’s Good Friday.

Good Friday. They want you to focus on the divinity. I prefer reality, and historical fact to religious propaganda.

It’s another page of the same old story. Politicians and religious leaders conspiring together to keep the status quo, the ignorance of the masses, using it to effect control, exploiting the talents and labors of the unwary.

Jesus was no saint. He was a fucking radical. He was killed by the leaders of Israel, because he spoke out against them, and they feared a revolt. They feared that Jesus would lift the veil of ignorance, and they would lose control. So they killed him. Today, #GoodFriday is the rememberance if that day. I choose to remember Jesus for the Anarchist that he was, not the ‘Son of God’ they paint him to be.

Over the last 2000 years, his message has been repackaged by church elders and ‘scholars’, to be used to control and exploit the masses, just like before. With the help of politicians, of course. I choose to believe the truth about Good Friday, that it was more like the day they killed MLK.
~jg
#Resist #ThinkForYourself

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How Donald Trump reminds us of an important Good Friday lesson https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/donald-trump-good-friday-warning-far-right-christian-nationalism-rcna24491

Donald Trump – The ultimate tool for right-wing radicals.

To Russia With Love:

It’s up to you, Russians, the children of Mother Russia. Time to stand up and say Fuck No. #FuckPutin. Save Russia. Save Ukraine, and the world. You can be the heroes of this nightmare.

#OverthrowPutin

If you are Pro-Putin now, the whole world is against you. Except maybe China, but they’re still playing it pretty close to the hip. Both Democrats and Republicans even agree, and they don’t agree on fucking ANYTHING.

I think Russians have an important choice to make. You can be on the RIGHT side of history. You can choose to #Resist tyranny, like your Ukranian brothers and sisters are doing.

It’s time for a new Russian government. Actual Democracy. Time to truly be a world leader, rather than just another rogue nation, with nuclear weapons.

It won’t be easy. Doing what is necessary often isn’t. ~jg

Jamie Gray is a New York writer, musician, and thinker of thoughts.

You may disagree and will still be treated with respect, unless you do not show the same respect. #SpeakTruth #BeKind

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.

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*

Happy 2022*. Staying Home. Staying Stoned.

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.

Last Year’s New Year’s Message: Happy 2021 It Might Not Suck

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.

We moved to upstate NY this year. That was a good thing.

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.

We lost Betty White on the last day of this piece of shit year, confirming it’s status as ‘worst year ever’. #RIPBetty

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.

COVID killed businesses across the country in 2021.

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.

Jamie Gray | Musician and Writer. Pessimistic optimist.

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.

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.

Fall leaves in the yard | Original Photo by Jamie Gray

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.

Jamie Gray – Upstate NY Musician, Writer, and Photographer