Quick note: I was apparently putting this post together yesterday at the same time Anne Laurie was putting her “four freedoms” post together. Oh well, there’s no such thing as too much freedom, right?
President Biden has been talking about freedom, and so have a number of our prominent elected officials. Here on Balloon Juice, quite a few of us have been saying we are enthusiastic about the idea of reclaiming FREEDOM, taking it back, first from the right-wing republicans, and now from the twisted and perverted view of freedom, brought to us by MAGA.
I want to share three different views on freedom. I’ll start with FDR’s list of four freedoms in 1941, then share Jamelle Bouie’s reworking of the four “freedoms”, written from the current Republican perspective, and then share a quote about personal freedom from the TV series Queen Sugar.
FIRST
Franklin Roosevelt four freedoms from January 1941.
SECOND
Opinion: The Four Freedoms, According to Republicans (NYT gift link)
by Jamelle Bouie
“There is the freedom to control — to restrict the bodily autonomy of women and repress the existence of anyone who does not conform to traditional gender roles.
There is the freedom to exploit — to allow the owners of business and capital to weaken labor and take advantage of workers as they see fit.
There is the freedom to censor — to suppress ideas that challenge and threaten the ideologies of the ruling class.
And there is the freedom to menace — to carry weapons wherever you please, to brandish them in public, to turn the right of self-defense into a right to threaten other people.”
THIRD
This was an intention for living, a prayer of sorts, spoken by character Nova Bordelon in an episode of Queen Sugar, and I liked it so well that I wrote it down.
Be free from pain.
from fear.
from regret.
from guilt.
and from heartbreak.
Be free.
That strikes me now as being from a simpler time, when there wasn’t an existential threat around every corner. Though I realize now that even in that “simpler time” a whole lot of people already lived surrounded with existential threats. The murder of Trayvon Martin opened my eyes. Once you see it, it can’t be unseen.
I’m not sure exactly where I’m going with this, except to say that I am encouraged by the intention to take back “Freedom” from the proud to be a (white, pickup-driving, confederate flag-waving) American, where at least I know I’m free (and fuck all the rest of you) crowd. They have bastardized the meaning of freedom for long enough for far too long.
Freedom, we’re taking it back.
Gretchen
There was a story going around about someone who called the cops on a young lesbian for being too boy-looking in a bathroom. The cops demanded id. She didn’t have any so they physically removed her. If you’re scared of men in bathrooms that should scare you. Soon they’ll demand that we all dress like June Cleaver or stay home.
artem1s
for me the whole framing of ‘taking back’ something that is supposed to be (according the Constitution) inalienable seems inherently flawed and reeks of authoritarianism. I just don’t think it’s salvageable because the unspoken part of the message for so long has been, “by force, if necessary”. Feels too much like giving into the gun humpers and militia ideology. Honestly whenever I hear anyone use it, it makes my skin crawl. I get why the Biden campaign is using it. I wish them luck, but I also hope they find an alternative too.
patrick II
I feel you are missing an important Republican freedom that was explicitly stated in the law passed this past January — freedom from discomfort.
The legislation is aimed at schools, but it is apparent that it is the Republican adults who feel discomfort when they or their children learn about our history of racial discrimination or even see or know about different racial identities. For the kids who grow up with kids of different races and, as they get older and change into young people with different sexual identities, those things can be normal. It doesn’t hurt the children so much, but it does the adults. They don’t want to see or hear about anything that makes them uncomfortable. Gay people holding hands, or the advancement of black people into jobs which they never were able to get — all of that makes them feel discomfort. So we can’t have that. We have to freeze the world in the 1950’s. When I was a kid one of my best friends was gay, but I never knew it. I just thought he was too shy to date. The same was true for our star basketball player. They led hidden lives so no one would feel discomfort at their very existence.
So, the underlying cause of the desire to avoid discomfort is the desire to avoid the changes that make them so uncomfortable. The world changes, they want to hold it still.
So, freedom from discomfort.
Freedom from change.
Ten Bears
By force, by necessity. Not fighting back is giving in to the ‘gunhumpers’ …
Dangerman
All I can say is …
WaterGirl
@Gretchen: Yeah, I saw that earlier. Appalling.
WaterGirl
@artem1s: Wow, I do not feel like that at all. I wonder if I am the except or if you are.
WaterGirl
@patrick II: You are right about that.
NotMax
Scuttlebutt is DeSantis ready to roll up his pudding stained sleeves to take on the Florida dairy industry for foisting cartons of milk on our innocent school tykes which are clearly and prominently labeled “Homo.”
//
Baud
@artem1s:
Has Biden used the “taking back” frame? I’ve only heard him talking about freedom, not about taking anything back.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Not that I have seen, not those exact words. But that’s how I see it, reclaiming the word and the issue from it’s bastardization by the Rs.
Jackie
This article from Salon details a lot of freedoms being taken away from Floridians – that several Red states are paying close attention to and already emulating. These loss of freedoms are NOT just a Florida problem; Biden has taken note. Democrats in all 50 states need to do the same.
“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is finally set to announce his candidacy for president formally and he has quite a record to run on. In a very short time he’s built a multi-dimensional legacy of repression, abuse of power and intolerance rarely seen in modern politics.”
“Some highlights from the last few weeks include a law to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a law granting permitless concealed carry, a ban on diversity programs in state colleges, a law to prevent teachers from using pronouns they don’t believe are appropriate, easier access to the death penalty and an expansion of the ”don’t say gay” law to block the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity through the 12th grade. That’s just for starters. He’s pulled one culture war stunt after another, from transporting migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard to picking a fight with Disney, the state’s largest employer, over LGBTQ rights to creating an “election police force” and having them arrest Black ex-felons who were allowed to vote in error and on and on and on. Just this week, DeSantis signed into law a bill allowing the state to take transgender children away from their parents. It seems only certain parents have rights in Florida.”
The article then branches out to blame the GQP’s addiction to pleasing the religious right. It’s an in-depth read.
https://www.salon.com/2023/05/19/desantis-deal-with-the-devil-chasing-the-christian-right-wont-help-him/
Geminid
Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola broke trail with her campaign slogan “Fish Family Freedom.”
Brachiator
As the song says,
Brachiator
@artem1s:
I see your point, but the Declaration of Independence talks about inalienable rights, and the possibility of fighting to defend them.
And one problem is that the formerly extreme, now almost mainstream right, loved talking about taking back rights, taking back the country, as though they are the sole custodians of liberty.
Wapiti
@Geminid: She’s inspiring. I like the choice of fish, too; there’s competition between various extractive industries, but the Alaska fisheries are more sustainable than many fisheries, and more sustainable than mining operations that would wipe out watersheds.
MattF
It’s common for the RW to alter the meaning of a word— the old ‘Freedom is Slavery’ gambit— and then try to force everyone to use it their way. We should say ‘Nope’.
Mike E
@Gretchen:
@WaterGirl:
Where?
Scout211
Reading news stories and hearing about people who are starting to fight back gives me a little bit of hope right now. Having a little bit of hope helps chase away the despair.
I don’t watch any news on television anymore, but I found this story online, posted on the NPR website. It gave me a little bit of hope. And also gave me a great deal of admiration for these teens’ courage. If you have time, read the whole article. There are many inspiring stories of courage and youth activism.
Why youth activists in Louisiana say they’ll ‘no longer stay quiet’
Omnes Omnibus
@artem1s:
Reclaiming?
Jackie
“Donald Trump’s “second-term governing plans are coming into clearer focus, as he lays out a vision for a dramatic expansion of federal power — particularly the presidency,” Axios reports.”
“In public statements, videos and posts on his campaign’s website, Trump complains about Washington’s ‘swamp’ — but lays out a plan that would give him, as president, more control of virtually every facet of life in America.”
Thus far the two top contenders – at this very early stage of the GQP presidential primaries – have promised to take away the majority of American freedoms.
President Biden has so much political ads material…
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: FWIW, I see it the same way you intended — reasserting the true meaning of words like “freedom” after the Orwellian bullshit people like DeSantis are pushing has twisted it beyond recognition. Gretchen Whitmer has used similar framing too.
dm
I saw a Mastodon post that was a photo of Nazis carrying books out of a building. The caption was:
Jackie
@Scout211: The kids are going to save us.
THEY know right from wrong even though their elders don’t.
UncleEbeneezer
Totally agree. Freedom is casting off shackles, not putting them on someone else. Freedom is worshiping (or not) the way you choose with no penalty for doing so. Freedom is dating whoever you like, dressing however you like and making your own decisions on what to do with your body, whether it’s tattoos, piercings or physical surgery. Freedom is being able to go to school and study without worrying about being shot to death. Obviously Freedom is many, many more things, but I fully support taking back this word that most people have very positive feelings for. And when the other side tries to play their bullshit double-speak and call Enslavement/Forced Birth/Censorship/Denial of Bodily Autonomy etc. “Freedom” we need to shout that shit down.
UncleEbeneezer
So wait are you a Queen Sugar fan? We watched the first couple seasons and really liked it but have fallen off since.
Jackie
@dm: Deleted. I misread 🤦🏼♀️
Jackie
@UncleEbeneezer:
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
oatler
BREAKING: ABC poll finds that “blame breaks evenly on debt default”. Also: the continuing decline if Biden’s presidency. Will Chris Chris Christie have a viewpoint?
Sure Lurkalot
@Brachiator: And another song:
h/t BoDeans
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Twitter is horrible for context on things like this. Where was it? When was it?
A comment says that they think it was in Vegas a couple of years ago. True? No idea.
To be clear – cops shouldn’t be hassling people in bathrooms. Karens should face consequences for calling the cops. But Twitter is horrible for knowing what is actually happening with any nuance and context.
[/soapbox]
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
West of the Rockies
Maybe reclaim the word “patriot(ic)” too.
And I wish “flag-loving” Americans would stop constantly altering the flag with various gray and black stripes to put on dumb t-shirts and pick-em-up trucks.
Scout211
The twisted words of the GOP agenda are exactly what many red state republicans want to hear (for many reasons) but also they serve as propaganda to manipulate many parents and voters into thinking that they are passing these laws to empower parents and protect families. These are the people our side needs to reach. This is not a new idea but I do think we sometimes paint a picture that tends to polarize everyone who supports these laws. IMHO, there are some voters who still can be reached if they could see how twisted this propaganda is.
Well, at least I hope that is possible.
Example from the PBS article:
Carlo Graziani
@artem1s: I think the issue here is terminological. “Freedom” is an overloaded term, carrying with it a heavy burden of personal autonomy divorced from civic obligation.
It is not at all the same concept as “Liberty,” the Framer’s preferred term, and one of the central organizing concepts of the political Enlightenment. The usage of “Liberty” tends to weigh social and civic obligation rather heavily, and is associated with duties as well as freedoms.
An example of the distinction: by aspiring to interfere with the duly-constituted, socially-consented Presidential succession process, the Jan 6 clownshow attempted infringement of our liberty, far more than of our freedoms. The Constitutional pact imposes a duty to accept election results that we hate. Those cretins imagined that they had the freedom to shuck off that duty.
I would really prefer taking back “Liberty”—especially from the Libertarians, who identify it with their sense of entitlement and whose project is to divorce the concept from that of Duty—than repossessing “Freedom”. The latter can flow from the former, whereas the reverse is simply not true.
WaterGirl
@Mike E: I did not see where.
WaterGirl
@UncleEbeneezer: Yes! Though I am one season behind.
Geminid
@West of the Rockies: Retired photo editor Susan Vermazin keeps this Ulysses Grant quotation in her Twitter heading;
Grant wrote this in a letter to his father and sister after Fort Sumter fell in the spring of 1861.
eclare
@dm:
That is powerful.
AWOL
@WaterGirl: Disgusting. I hope she gets a great lawyer and can say, “I’m set for life after I win a $5M lawsuit against these fuckers?”
It’s like nazi gentiles and their fanboys pulling down pants in the 1930s-1940s to see if you’re circumcised or not.
WaterGirl
@Geminid:
Wow. Everything old is new again. And not necessarily in a good way!
WaterGirl
@AWOL: So many of the awful things they are doing seem impossible, yet here we are.
HinTN
@Geminid: Reading Grant’s Complete Personal Memoirs now. It’s an excellent piece of writing and a perfect follow-on to McCullough’s massive biography.
UncleEbeneezer
@WaterGirl: It’s a great show with some of the best tv representations of systemic racism in America.
Mike in NC
We first heard all about “taking our country back” from the Koch-funded “Tea Party” movement over ten years ago. It was all because conservatives completely lost their shit with a half black guy sitting in the White House. So then they had to find their anti-Obama fascist figurehead as defined by Rupert Murdoch and his white supremacist FOX News. Too bad for them (and Putin) that Trump was a buffoon who they were unable to do much to control. The solution is to vote out every single Republican at every level of government.
trollhattan
@Gretchen: “Goodness, those are fetching pearls. Is Wallace about?”
WaterGirl
@Mike in NC:
I can definitely get behind that!
StringOnAStick
Anybody read Teri Kanefield’s new post this morning? Oh man, does the woman he abused have the goods on Gulliani, and I bet Jack Smith is still grinning from ear to ear over what he has very likely acquired thanks to this lawsuit. Teri also does a great job linking the white supremacist movement from Timothy McVeigh all the way to the present push to put women back in the kitchen with no rights; as we’ve been saying here, the trajectory and what they want is very, very clear.
patrick II
Would the freedoms being, taken away from floridians be at all protected by the right to privacy that existed in the pre – Alito world?
trollhattan
@HinTN: The man could write and did he ever have a story to tell.
Steeplejack
@StringOnAStick:
Link to Teri Kanefield.
Villago Delenda Est
In Harry Turtledove’s 11 book alternate history of The United States, “Southern Victory”, the North and South refight the Civil War as part of WWI. They lose. So, a revanchist political party emerges in the South, led by an artillery NCO, and it’s called “Freedom Party”. You guessed it, they’re an analog of the National Socialist movement in our timeline. You see, the North allied with Germany in WWI and the Central Powers were victorious.
Gretchen
@Another Scott: North Carolina, 2016. But these bills give busybodies permission to accuse anyone. It’s not just trans people. It’s anyone who isn’t feminine enough. I have a niece who is tall, muscular, broad shouldered, and has rejected girly clothes since toddlerhood. She would be the first to set off the radar of these idiots, and she’s not trans.
eclare
@Steeplejack:
Thank you!
Geminid
@HinTN: I really liked the dry sense of humor in Grant’s Memoirs. He did not spare himself from it either.
Now I’m reminded of a statement attributed to Grant, after he visited Venice while on his world tour:
“It would be a nice city if they drained it.”
Betty Cracker
@patrick II: I’ve asked similar questions here and elsewhere — we’re U.S. citizens, so it seems like we’d be entitled to federal protection. The responses were not encouraging.
StringOnAStick
@Steeplejack: Thank you; links are hard to do from a kindle, at least I’ve never figured it out and I’m not at my PC that often.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Trivia:
Everyone mocks June’s pearls, which were not a deliberate fashion choice so much as a technical compromise.
Barbara Billingsley had a deeper than usual depression on her throat between the collarbones which made it difficult to light her in the studio without throwing it into disconcerting shadow so the powers that be settled on the pearls as a way to cover it while also bouncing light to soften the appearance of the area.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Scout211:
Just because someone is a “parent”, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they are smart, or wise, or has ownership of their offspring to the exclusion of the interests of the public weal.
Glidwrith
@West of the Rockies: I see those grayed-out flags as tarnishing the bright ideals and freedoms that this country is supposed to stand for.
NotMax
@HinTN
No matter how one would rate him as president by succession, Andrew Johnson’s autobiography is an excellent read, also too.
Mentioned particularly because of the TN in your nym.
Another Scott
@Gretchen: Thanks.
Good luck to your niece. We’re all pulling for her.
We can defeat the monsters, but we have to do the work. They’ll keep taking as long as they face no consequences…
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
God damn it, WaPo is becoming as addicted to sabotaging Democratic and democratic governance as FTFNYT. Even if the stories end up having more nuance (by the 26th paragraph), the headlines are enough to make me want to cancel my subscription all over again. “Biden ends his G-7 visit the way it began: struggling with the debt ceiling.”
Hey, you fuckers, how about putting the blame where it belongs?: “Biden forced to come home early from G-7 summit because Republicans are throwing a tantrum and threatening to blow up the world economy.” Try *that* one on for size.
Assholes.
ETA: OK, that one is a little long. But.still.
Gretchen
@NotMax: interesting. I didn’t know that.
Gretchen
A trans girl in Mississippi wasn’t allowed to walk for graduation unless she dressed as a boy. Her mom had bought her a nice white dress. A court upheld the demand for boy clothes. She didn’t go. https://apnews.com/article/transgender-student-mississippi-graduation-871b5f686cf38f2de4cde8c07e2fc5b2
Haydnseek
Okay, I”m right there with you on the first two, but the third? Really? What you seem to want is to freedom from is the human condition. Good luck with that……..
Soprano2
@WaterGirl: So in the states where they pass these laws we all have to take our ID to the bathroom now? That’s crazy! I would have been tempted to drop trou right there and say “that’s my ID, is it good enough to let me use the toilet now?” It is all about if you look “traditional” enough. Our karaoke DJ sometimes wears a skirt, but he’s definitely a male. Wonder what the gender police would make of that?
Chief Oshkosh
@Miss Bianca:
Too long. How about “Republicans refuse to pay debts for Trump’s spending spree.”
Soprano2
@Jackie: As I said in 2015, and as everyone here already knows, TFG is dangerous because he wants to be a dictator, and his cult followers are glad to let him do it. He has to be beaten in 2024, there is no other choice.
MomSense
@oatler:
The results of that poll are proof of how news media have failed.
Wapiti
@Gretchen: Was imagining some work-around, like trouser bottoms from the knees down, under the graduation robes.
Miss Bianca
@Chief Oshkosh: I like it!
trollhattan
“People are saying” repurposed yet again, devil weed edition.
https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1659944515216736256?cxt=HHwWgIDQhb2vp4kuAAAA
Soprano2
@Scout211: These laws show that today’s conservatives think if they can just keep their kids from knowing there are ways to be other than straight and cis, they can keep their kids from being gay or trans or binary. Many of them truly believe these are active choices people make, rather than ways people are already. They truly believe gays “recruit” others into their “lifestyle”. This isn’t; something they are pretending about; they truly, truly believe it.
Kathleen
@NotMax: DaSatan is taking on Big Homogenized Milk now?
Anoniminous
@Soprano2:
Just proves they are ignorant hick morons.
Stop calling it a choice: Biological factors drive homosexuality
Kyle Rayner
I recommend “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” by Nancy MacLean – when I read it in 2017, it very much sorted it out in my head that what I’m searching for in policy is POLITICAL freedom. Meaning that all humans have a right to be heard, be in control of their lives, be safe from harm, safe from exploitation, etc. in that vein. Whereas what libertarian types seek is FINANCIAL (or property) freedom – if you have the money, you should get to run roughshod over whoever however bc you OWN that money and if someone gets in the way of you using your money however you want (even if your investments are exploitative, destructive, polluting), that’s an encroachment on your freedom. It’s “egalitarian” in the sense that poor people are also free to do what they want with their money, and it’s surely no one’s fault that THEIR money/property doesn’t go as far.
In terms of what we’re seeing in 2023 vs when the book came out in 2017, MAGA might not speak in those terms very much, especially the have-nots that are simply part of the cult of the personalities, but MAGA investors and backers sure think in those terms. Anything that is opposed to political freedom, no matter how much it’s approaching the issue obliquely (banned books, bathrooms) is chipping away at their goal – moving the US/world away from political freedom and towards financial/property freedom.
RevRick
One person I follow on Twitter is Ethan Grey @_EthanGrey, a former Republican, who has written several insightful threads about the psychology of the modern GOP and about white supremacy.
He sums up the GOP version of freedom in the following way: Nobody gets to tell them what to do, but they get to tell everybody else what to do.
Kathleen
@MomSense: Abysmally.
Kathleen
@Miss Bianca: I’m in constant state of outrage over coverage of the debt crisis.
Kelly
California Gov Newsom is challenging Texas and Florida textbook censorship. Here’s his letter to textbook publishers. He’s better than I expected.
https://twitter.com/CAgovernor/status/1660064612535140352
WaterGirl
@StringOnAStick: Wow, I am only partway through, but that’s front page-worthy. I will put something together on that tomorrow, unless someone else gets to it today.
Torrey
I’m all in favor of taking back something that was wrongly taken away. I still think it was a mistake for the anti-war faction during the Vietnam War to essentially cede the U.S. flag to the Nixonites as an identity marker. Similarly with the use of the flag during the Reagan era, and again during Gulf War II). Giving up a shared symbol like the flag or the terms “freedom” and “patriot(ic)” is a mistake. For that matter, I hope mainstream and other types of Christians are rethinking their de facto yielding of the identifier “Christian” to the religious right.
Anoniminous
@MomSense:
Proof our “news media have failed” If and Only If one believes the purpose of the news media is to inform. It isn’t. The purpose of our news media is to transmit Infotainment to sell advertising.
Soprano2
@Mike in NC: The “Take our country back” thing is much older than the Tea Party. I suspect it’s been around in some form or fashion almost since the founding. In a crude way that’s what the Confederates were trying to do; they could see the way things were going and wanted to “take us back” to a time when slavery was acceptable in all the states.
Soprano2
@Anoniminous: Yes, but if you want to fight them you have to understand what is driving them, and “protecting our children from gay and trans recruitment” is a lot of what is driving this crap around what schools can and cannot say, and what’s causing the claims that teachers are suddenly “groomers”.
Ksmiami
@Carlo Graziani: exactly- freedom without duty -ie the lack of the virtues inherent in liberty results in hyper individualistic society without any giving back or civic responsibility. That’s how we’ve ended up with anti-vaxx mania during a 100 yr pandemic.
Kelly
@Soprano2: “I’m taking my unearned loot, privilege, resource back” has been a reactionary war cry forever. All the western public lands battles have been about ranchers, miners and loggers using public resources for trivial fees since pioneers days. The western water fights are a piece of those wars.
Soprano2
I finally listened to Bill Maher’s “interview” of Elon Musk (more like they fellated each other for 15 minutes). They talked at length about one of their favorite subjects, the “woke mind virus”, without ever defining what it is supposed to be other than “things I don’t agree with”. When Musk talked about freedom of speech being important, there was no pushback from Maher about all the people Musk banned for saying things he didn’t like, or the employees he fired for the same reason. They each agreed that the other was a genius, or something like that. It was just as gross as you imagined it would be.
Then came the panel, where he had Konstantin Kisiin and Michael Moynihan as guests. More discussion of “wokeness” was had, where they all agreed it was terrible. One of them said “You have no idea what schools are teaching kids” and proceeded to tell a story about a friend’s teenage son who, when asked about who George Washington was, seemed to only know he had slaves. Of course, there was no question like “Do you honestly believe that’s the only thing the school taught him about George Washington?” or any question about what kind of student he was. Another thing said was that countries like China are preparing their young people by teaching them how great their country is and instilling patriotism. No question like “You do know that Chinese children are fed propaganda, right, and don’t know what happened in Tiananmen Square because they aren’t allowed to learn that? Is that the kind of education you want for American children? Are we supposed to pretend that all the founders were perfect people with no flaws?” Maher still boasts that he regularly has on people who he disagrees with because he’s not afraid of differing viewpoints, but I would say that since Covid (they talked about that, too, unfortunately) he rarely has on anyone who pushes back against his beliefs about what liberals are like now (a caricature of them), about Covid, or really about pretty much anything.
Soprano2
@RevRick: I’ve read that too, it sums it up nicely. They truly believe that this kind of suppression will make things better for everyone, because it means they will never have to hear or see anything that makes them uncomfortable. Like the people at the next table in the restaurant yesterday, opining that children’s cartoons used to be better, you couldn’t make the roadrunner cartoons anymore, and they’re surprised “they” let a movie like “Blazing Saddles” be broadcast anywhere. Oh woe, they said, how would George Carlin fare today (just fine, I think, he’d be unhappy about MAGA’s for sure). I bet these same people thought Carlin was filthy and unfit for people to hear 30 years ago.
Scout211
@Kelly: excellent! Here’s a copy of the letter:
RevRick
@Soprano2: “Take America Back” or “Make America Great Again” are at their heart fascist slogans. After all, what were Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese militarists asserting but that Germany/Italy/Japan’s greatness was sabotaged/thwarted by despised others. The fascist symbol was a harkening back to the Roman Empire.
It’s worth noting that the original modern fascism was our own Jim Crow regime, and what is the modern GOP but Dixie Redux?
Jackie
”WASHINGTON – Today, the NAACP Board of Directors issued a formal travel advisory for the state of Florida. The travel advisory comes in direct response to Governor Ron DeSantis’ aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.”
The actual travel advisory is here:
https://naacp.org/articles/naacp-issues-travel-advisory-florida
Another Florida advisory re immigrants by LULAC is here:
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2023/05/floridas-new-immigration-law-prompts-lulac-travel-advisory.html
Scout211
O/T, but I just saw my grandson get get his diploma from CSU Chico on their commencement livestream. Environmental Science.
Proud moment. 😊
Sister Golden Bear
@Gretchen: The point of the urinary leash laws (aka “bathroom” bills) are two-fold preventing trans people from being out in public and enforcing gender conformity on cis people, in particular women. So yes, forcing women to dress like June Cleaver is also the Republicans’ intention.
On a related note a hate group, Do No Harm, little known outside of conservative circles, has been behind many of the anti-trans laws and anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Like ALEC:
RevRick
@Soprano2: that just goes to show how reactionary nostalgia can be. It’s a misremembering of the past (and specifically their childhood).
Jackie
@Scout211: He’s not my governor, but I ♥️ him!
I also ♥️ MY governor, Inslee!
Sister Golden Bear
Also too, one of the commenters from the site I linked to aptly summed things up:
Sister Golden Bear
@Another Scott:
It could well be from a few years back, unfortunately this started happening more frequently after the 2016 round of urinary leash laws (aka “bathroom bills). One case I remember was a butch lesbian who got thrown out of a restaurant for using the “wrong” restroom — during the NYC Pride celebration.
Among the butch lesbians I know, many of them have been confronted in restroom at some point in their lives, as well as many non-binary people assigned female at birth.
Ruckus
@artem1s:
@WaterGirl:
By force if necessary.
The reality is this is the animal kingdom, not just humans. And we are a part of that. The biggest gets the last piece of cake. The most powerful gets to be the biggest asshole.
Humanity makes it worse than the rest of the animal kingdom because we have invented ways to make things out of metal and chemicals and explosives and…… to take things/protect things – and ourselves, from those who would and do try to take things from others. Those assholes running around with AR-15s are an example of the base humanity that either wants to take things or sees their world changing. And the world is changing. My point is that change accelerates as the useful changes mount up and it does in almost all human endeavors. And some people really, really do not understand or desire this in any way. Mainly because it makes them and/or their understanding obsolete.
lowtechcyclist
@Anoniminous:
I’m sure that’s true, but that shouldn’t even matter. Even if it was purely a choice rather than a deep part of one’s identity, people should have the right to freely make that choice.
Sister Golden Bear
@dm:
I don’t know which photo you’re referring to specifically, but one of the more well-known photos of Nazis carrying books out of a building to be burned was from the destruction of the library of Berlin’s Institute of Sexology, which advocates for LBGTQ+ rights, and provided some of the first medical treatments for trans people. Probably the most famous photo of Nazi book burning is also from same the event.
gene108
@WaterGirl:
I read the replies. Apparently this was posted to YouTube 7 years ago.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6GXIaHjZ-Ok&feature=youtu.be
lowtechcyclist
@Torrey:
I’m not sure what we were to do about that, other than be louder and shriller than the other guys, which is what it would have taken. It isn’t like we disowned the term ‘Christian.’
Sister Golden Bear
@AWOL:
Florida’s new urinary leash law (aka “bathroom bill”) specifies that someone legal ID is not enough to establishing someone’s gender if they’re in the “wrong” bathroom.
So yeah, genital inspections.
Though I’m not sure how people like me who’ve had bottom surgery — and my waxing lady says I have a completely “normal-looking” vulva — are gonna be judged. But a big part of these laws is to scare trans/non-binary people from even using public restrooms in the first place. And the threat of genital inspections is part of that.
Kathleen
@Scout211: Congratulations!
Sister Golden Bear
@Gretchen: The trans girl who was blocked from attending her graduation unless she wore boys clothing had attended the high school as a girl for all of the years she attended, and the requirement was intentionally sprung on her at the last minute.
It was both an attempt to keep trans people out of public life, and cruelty being the point.
StringOnAStick
@Kyle Rayner: Excellent summary!
Ruckus
@lowtechcyclist:
Having a gay sibling and being friends with bi and other gay people I tend to agree with you far more that it is a choice. It can be an easy choice for some or a very difficult choice but it is a choice that they have to make. Now it’s most often not a choice presented to them like on a game show, pick window 1,2 or 3! There may be biological factors that present that choice, but as a life style that is a choice that a person has to figure out and make. For some it is easier than others and society at large can and does often make that a very difficult choice to make and/or live with. OTOH it does seem to be getting better. And I have 50 yrs experience watching this happen. I also know that for some the decision is very easy to make, some very difficult to make and others – the majority I believe, that it is very simple to go with the obvious, what they got is what they are.
I also think that many that fight the choice of others are in the middle group that really do not want to make that choice and they go with what they’ve got. It may explain a lot of pissed off humans. It may not.
trollhattan
@Scout211: Very good!
Would be nice to see CA bring together a coalition of like-minded states, then add up the populations versus Texas and Florida when addressing the textbook industry, beginning with our 40 million.
Important distinction, however, is CA does not buy textbooks directly unlike Texas, but leaves that to school districts in that Big Government fashion.
trollhattan
@Soprano2: Had to quit Maher a few seasons ago when it became undeniable he has caught Republican prion disease. He’ll still lambaste Republicans but tilts so “libertarian” and “Don’t you dare challenge me” whiny it’s clear where his sensibilities lie.
He should have gone to class more at Cornell.
Ruckus
@Kelly:
The gov does not always make the perfect public presentation of himself but he does seem to be a good person. And I’d rather have a good person in charge over a not so good person who presents a persona which is really not themselves, but a scrubbed, polished replica of a supposed human. Sort of like say a Barbie or Ken doll, rather than a human being. (And a confession, as a very young teen I worked on the molds that made Barbie dolls. I’ve never met a real human that is anything like a Barbie, including the person that was supposedly the person they were designed to be like. Of course that was quite a few years later….)
Ruckus
@Soprano2:
Don’t men in Ireland frequently wear skirts? I think they call them kilts, but they look like skirts.
Soprano2
@trollhattan: Yep, but he still portrays himself as unafraid to face people who disagree with him. I think in the past 3 years he’s had 2 or 3 guests who pushed back on his obsession with “wokeness”. Mostly the guests agree with him, and lament how you’re “canceled ” for asking the “wrong” questions.
Torrey
@lowtechcyclist:
Wait, you want me to try to solve problems?? I thought I only signed up for pointing angrily at them.
OK, seriously, I really wish I had a good answer. I can think of a couple of things. First, a lot of mainstream Christians have tended to identify themselves by denomination–Episcopalian, Presbyterian, etc.–rather than by the term “Christian.” Second, I recall that, along with the rise of the Moral Majority, the most right-wing groups worked the media, demanding to be included to represent the (or THE) “Christian” perspective. So yeah, being louder would help somewhat. The media of course is both lazy and complicit, not having bothered to ask beyond the identifier “Christian.”
That having been said, it’s a complicated problem with, at best, complicated solutions. And in many respects, it goes against the culture of mainstream Christianity, which tends to want to be left alone to get on with its business, while the group currently referred to as “Evangelicals” have as part of their culture announcing themselves and their beliefs as loudly and as often and in as many contexts as possible. (I speak, sadly, with some inside knowledge.)
WaterGirl
bolded part is a nice touch!
AWOL
@Ruckus: Scotland. Kilts.
Ruckus
@AWOL:
I was close…..
Heidi Mom
@HinTN: That bio was written by Ron Chernow. It is indeed difficult to remember whether he or David McCullough wrote a particular massive biography.
Kayla Rudbek
@Gretchen: this is one reason why I grew my hair out after my breast cancer surgery :(