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O Blurry Line, Blurry Line, Wherefore Art Thou Blurry Line? [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-08-14

I've been on the fence, and consistently waffling, on the issue of acceptable political discourse, versus just being being obnoxious, versus being dehumanizing. At least, among the conversations I have with myself. I remember the earlier days of social media when Facebook was still very new. There was a sense about it that no one took seriously the extreme language that we began to spew out. "Who cares what so and so posted, it's Facebook, just a bunch of teenage dummies talkin' trash." Soon I got my account, had my 5k followers and joined what I had expected to turn into the modern day campfire or town square. Or food court at the shopping mall (remember those?) if like me you grew up in Jersey and that was the place you went to hang out with your friends and cohorts. Because there was that great hope. Social media was touted as giving everyone a free voice, and in doing so it would bring people together and spread virtues of Democracy. (insert sad trombone) Surely, I thought, our politicians won't engage in the crazy talk, low blows and slime slinging that had begun to take the lead. For a minute they didn't. Until they did.

So now some 15 or 20 years after we all connected, here we are on the brink of danger. Americans are so twisted up inside we seek freedom by building walls, free speech by banning books, and religious liberty by using a book written for a semi-literate desert dwelling ancient tribal society in the middle east, as justification for taking away women's rights in 21st century America. Wtf America? And I'm not blaming both Democratic and Republican and Everybody else's parties equally here. The GOP is clearly wayyyyyyyyyyyy ahead in the race to the bottom. But I need to call them Americans too, even if they do want to burn it all down. I know the difference between the right that wants to end us, and our challenge, to even be seen as equals without the threat of violence pointed our way. But nowadays not only is the line between legitimate political discourse and sleazy rhetoric blurred, but we find ourselves needing a line between legitimate political discourse and open calls for violence. It's a line that shouldn't even be needed, but here we are. And that line too, is getting smeared all over.

Here I sit, broken hearted, oh wait no, not that one. As I write this, I glance up at my cat's face, avatar of my not really anonymous Kos self. I see my screen name that declares my religion but omits my birth name out of concerns for retribution. And I take a look at my part in all of this madness, like a big boy (tomato pun ftw!). I've been perfectly willing scribe a rant or two about a tiny handed monster with orange skin, the one who dry humps the flag for his jollies and profits. And I don't hesitate to say he's evil. He is. And so are those who would use violence to keep me from saying so. I just want it to not be this way.

My family members count themselves among the opposition. I won't bother detailing what they say of Fauci and their childishly naive views of what civil war means. But I will call them American just as I call myself American. My religion, one they don't respect, showed me that I can't deny my real connection to my ancestors, for without them I would not be. Yet just as I can see the awful things that were done by my ancestors, I must consider what they went through and what was done to them by those in power. They bear responsibility for their actions both noble and vile. So do we. So does everyone. In this age of brutal name calling, relentless trolling and insidious propaganda, it helps me to remember. And understand how we got here. Power plays us all, it always has. And this is how the game is played now. For now. America is in a nasty struggle against itself. We are in conflict with our self, and I dearly hope "we" wins.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/14/2187181/-O-Blurry-Line-Blurry-Line-Wherefore-Art-Thou-Blurry-Line

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