I started to write about a different topic this morning, but Cat Treadwell’s recent post of “Quiet Rebellion” got my mind started in a different direction. Now, I have set back from all the politics, mostly because of my job. But seeing that is not an obstacle any longer, well I’m stepping into the water again.

Divide to Conquer

One particular line from Cat’s post really hammered a point home for me:

We could run away, or as one fine Tweet said this morning, ‘Fuck off into the EU that you love so much.’ We could give up and flee.

Most of the right-wing rhetoric here in the States throws a similar sentiment out. “Send her back” chants erupt at Donald Trump rallies, essentially wanting Representative Ilhan Omar, a US citizen, sent to another country. Those rallies are scarily similar to the rallies held by Adolf Hitler and his political party in Germany in the 1930s. The rhetoric of throwing people out of the country that do not have similar thoughts to a particular group, or are the wrong skin color, or practice the wrong religion, or like the wrong type of sport, or wear the wring color shirt…that’s divisiveness. That’s the process of separating people into small categories. And then using those categories as a basis of who gets to be part of the country. That’s weak thinking, in my opinion.

Diversity is More Inclusive Than You Think

We all inhabit this same ball of dirt. The damage we do to the environment affects everyone, not just folks in one distant corner. To solve this looming crisis, which gets closer and closer to global catastrophe every single day, we will need everyone working together. Sure, I have heard folks say that it is time to find a way to achieve space travel, to jump into rocket ships and find another planetary home. But for who? Currently we cannot even find ways to stay cohesive on small patches of land here. What makes out there any different? Or do we just become similar to the aliens in the movie “Independence Day”, where we go from planet to planet and strip the resources from it, like a plague of inter-planetary locusts? And here’s the thing, to be able to do that, we would have to be a cohesive group of people. Look around you, that’s just not likely.

Human beings are essentially the same creatures, regardless of birthplace or skin color. We have many different cultures that we grow up in. We have traditions, familial and cultural, that we adhere to. All of that makes us who we are – the inhabitants of this planet. There are other inhabitants as well – plants, animals, organisms that we cannot see without a microscope – all living here together. And all dependent on one another for survival. We remove enough plants, we won’t be able to breathe. We kill off enough of the animals, and we alter the symbiotic relationships that keep the “circle of Life” going. But how can we think of diversity in regards to plant, animal and microscopic life when we can’t get past aspects that make us seemingly different from one another, like skin pigmentation?

Power Plays Need to Go

If you watch politicians, particularly those like Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin you will find something in common between them. No, not the mutual love fest between them. They are about power. Power for themselves, and the people that they hold close to themselves. They are about making an elite class of people that control everyone else. Theirs is a politic of power and control. Remember, these are elected officials (yes, even the sham election in Russia means that Putin is an “elected” official). Their sworn duty is to the people of their respective countries, not to a specific one percent. To all, even the people who don’t agree with them and/or didn’t vote for them. If you listen closely to their language, they are not talking about inclusiveness within their voting populaces. They are driving wedges between people based on their voting preferences. All of that runs counter to what representative governments should stand for.

Sadly, here in America, the “loyal opposition” has bought into that paradigm. Trump supporters are treated in the same manner that they treat others. All that does is increase the perspective that control is power, as well as the Us v. Them perspective. Governmental control should not be about power, but about the prospect of care-taking. Our elected officials should be arguing about the differences in how to manage governmental processes for the peoples of their respective countries. ALL of the people. All treated fairly and equally.

Is Revolution Here?

Is revolution here? Maybe. I know many folks feel that we have been backed into a corner, where violence may be the only answer. I, for one, am not convinced. Resistance does not have to be violent. Resistance can be a refusal to buy into the Us v. Them paradigm that is currently rising higher and louder throughout the respective echo chambers of social media and the internet. Honestly, its very easy to scream in anger and frustration, hidden behind a keyboard, monitor, and alias. Where the rubber truly meets the road is getting out into the world and doing something. As a Druid, I commit myself to the concept of “Peace throughout the whole world”. I use that phrase in a lot of my ritual work. I use that concept by refusing to step into the Us v. Them paradigm, as well. Does that mean that I stand by passively while my government seeks to build a divisive wall on the southern border to keep people out that are seeking a better life? To keep out people that are doing what I would do, if our perspectives were reversed? Of course not. I write my representatives, imploring them to do something more sensible with my tax monies. I implore my local governments to not fall into these divisive perspectives. I write them, I call them, I attend their council meetings. Not to get into fisticuffs with anyone who is an advocate of these positions. But rather to provide a logical, impassioned perspective of why these concepts are a bad idea.

Call the instigator
Because there’s something in the air
We’ve got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution’s here

And you know it’s right
And you know that it’s right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now

–the late Tom Petty

Final Thoughts

I am not a violent person. I would rather solve issues through discussion than through the use of my staff. I would rather use my staff for steadying my old, worn-out body while I stand or walk. Resistance is more than beating in heads, and slamming yourself into barriers not of your making. There are more peaceful ways to not participate in the constant hate-fest that takes place. Granted, when forced into a corner with people that mean to harm you, violence may be the only means you have to protect yourself, certainly utilize your abilities in that manner. However, I believe that step to be a last resort, an implied threat that I hope to never undertake. I prefer diplomacy as my first – and hopefully, only option. I resist, just probably not in a way that many would agree with. But I do so because when we stop talking…there’s nothing left.