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From the mind of critic: “If we let fear justify any means to our end, are we selling out everything good and hopeful that our soul used to contain? Do we know what we stand for and what we want, but are scared into doing things that are wrong and have a devolving effect, but do them anyway because we might get a chance to reach success in our agenda? Or do we cower in the corner because of somebody who sounds like they know what they’re talking about, when we could pull ourselves out of this corner in a second because these people we listen to only sound like they know what they’re talking about, because we don’t know what we’re talking about? Whether we’re a single parent trying to support our kids, a two income family that is barely scraping by, a successful professional, single, married, belong to any religion or culture, or are even an elected member of the house or senate, we should never let fear dictate our actions. If we’re scared of standing up for what we believe in, because of the intense and unrelenting backlash we’d recieve from those that are more powerful and influential than us, maybe we don’t believe in our principles enough, and don’t desrve our postion. Maybe we have these ideas and thoughts and know how important it is for the world and the country to put them out into the ether, but we don’t because we’re worried how it will personally affect us and our career trajectory. Maybe we’re such wussy babies that we don’t deserve to be in the position we’re in, other than being voted in by people who are bigger wussy babies than us. Listen, we’re all human, and we need to stand up for ourselves because nobody is gonna do it for us. Do we wanna be wussy babies, and let the great amercian experiement be destroyed because we were to chickenshit to do anything about it? Or do we want to stand up and fight for what it actually means to be american? Are we for destruction or creation, it’s that simple?” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If life is simple and hard at the same time, is it because positive and evolutionary concepts take a while to sink into our life experience? Are some things easier said then done, because speaking involves words flowing out of our mouths, that we may or may not believe, and doing involves action which puts learned skills and overlooked variables on full display? Or is it all just an amalgamation of saying and doing that has no ryhme or reason, only human nature that moves whichever way the wind blows? There are certain things amongst our daily routines and interactions, that are new, and possibly world changing. Many things happen that we can’t explain, don’t wanna explain, don’t know or don’t care about, which effects all of us in different ways. This can cause us to want to learn a new subject or concept, so we can better explain to others and to ourselves what a certain thing is, and how it effects us. The learning process is never a bad thing, as knowledge always has been and always will be the only power that will truly enlighten us all. However, we do ourselves a diservice when we learn something without experiencing it. We might spend all day reading in a book about something and how it effects others, making us think we know everything about it, which shuts off our learning process. This can set us back in our personal evolution process because we don’t truly know, feel and understand what a concept is, because we’ve never experienced it. This doesn’t mean we can’t go back and experience what we learned, it will just be harder and require more effort. Maybe the difference between simple and hard things in life, is the conscious effort we put in. Maybe life gets easier when we get our words to create action” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we’re all hypocrites to varying degrees by virtue of being human, because none of us live completely by our principles, how do we know what’s real and what’s fake? If all the competing microcosms of our personal lives that make up the macrocosm of our country and government, are filled with raw data that we’re attempting to analyze, how do we know what to take seriously, and what to shrug off? Since we get bombarded with messages, stories and news 24 hours a day, do we try to pick through all the crap to find the nuggets of humanity and cling to them, because we know mostly crap flows out of the mouth of politicians and presidents requiring us to be vigilant, specifically so we can pick throught the crap? Or do we not pick through the crap because it’s like picking a needle out of a 1000 acre field of haystacks, which causes us to move toward those who appeal to our emotions? Do politicians act like they know what they’re talking about, because we do the same? Do politicians know what they’re talking about, and use it to disgiuse what they really think, just like we do? All the fights and skirmishes amongst politicians in washington, only happen because of our skirmishes amongst each other. All sides see their treatment as unfair, and want action taken that will give them the advantage. We all create our own reality, by using people and experiences to decide what’s true to us. This truth is our truth, not the truth. However, facts are something we try to create ourselves, but are things we all have a hand in creating. Facts are the macrocosm of all our individual truth microcosms. To identify the facts and not just our truth, we have to take in everybodys experiences, not just our own” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we as a country have chosen or been forced to swallow the red pill that sent us down the rabbit hole in the last election, are we surprised at the rabbit hole’s breadth and depth? Do we believe we have contributed to its size, turning a blind eye with our inaction and nuetrality for so long, that we can no longer sweep it under the rug due to it’s sheer size? Or do we believe we have nothing to do with it, that the rabbithole was designed, built and maintained wholly without our knowledge, and it has nothing to do with our day to day lives and routines? Any of us that have paid attention for any length of time, know that the bold, radical, evil and facist acts now being undertaken, have always been done. The difference now is that the people currently in power, want to do everything out in the open. Maybe we’ve contributed to this outpouring of overtness by knowing these things have been happening, but didnt do anything to stop them. Maybe we didn’t know it was happening because we internalized the ignorance and blind loyalty that officeholders have beat into our heads. Maybe if we would have involved ourselves sooner, we could have prevented the rabbithole from metastisizing to the point where it turned into a terminal illness. It is helpful to look at history, to see where we may have gone wrong, and what lessons we can glean so we can finnaly learn them. What isn’t helpful is looking back and wishing we could turn back the clock, to a time when everything was easier and simpler. This was also a time when we were more blinded to what’s going on, a time that might have been good for us, but not somebody else. When we realize the past is helpful for gleaning lessons but not for living in, we’ll see that the more we concentrate on the here and now, the more we can brighten our future. If we created the rabbit hole, we can also destroy it. Once it’s gone, which one could argue has already been done given our current overtness, we can act, or be silent. In the coming years, we might be completely destroyed, or we can create something more beautiful than our wildest dreams. Do we want to continue to wear our current frown, or do we wanna turn that frown upside down?” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we don’t control our emotions when directing them toward public officials and world affairs, and forget about what’s happening right in front of our face, which could include evidence that backs up the very argument we’re trying to make, do we do the same in our personal lives? If we think something is amiss, or we’re questioned about what we said or did, do we think it’s a slight and immediately raise our voice, angry up our tone, and immediately become defensive because we feel threatened? Or do we see questions as just that, questions, a want to know information one does not have, and therefore aren’t threatened when somebody doesn’t agree with us or thought we weren’t specific enough? Politics can loom so large, with so much happening all at once, making it hard to know what’s real, what’s fake and what to think. The same can happen in our personal lives, when change comes at us too fast, too much, the wrong change or not at all. To not alienate the people close to us, we must ask ourselves constantly whether we feel threatened, lied to or challenged, and if we do we must tell the people we care about how we feel in a way, that isn’t theatening or challenging. We might have the realization that even if we raise our voice, tone and body language to attend to our defense, that it actually has the opposite effect. That rational thoughts and ideas can’t be shared when we’re all riled up, because heghtened emotions, anger, tone and body langauge aren’t based on logic and facts, but feelings. We all wanna matter, and we all wanna be heard. We can ensure this by not losing our thoughts in the fog of emotion, but strenghten them within the love we have for each other. Whether political or personal, honesty can be scary, but it is the light at the end of the tunnel” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If giving preferential treatment to christians while barring muslims isn’t a religous test, If this isn’t a religous test but pits one religion against another but isn’t a terrorist recruiting tool, if this isn’t a terrorist recruting tool and doesnt stop the last 15 years of terrorists arriving from countries they actually came from, or terrorists in general from coming in at all because our current 18-24 month process is strict enough, that terrorists actually meant to do us harm wouldn’t go through that process because of how long their face would be out in the public eye, if we believe all that, are we living in an alternate reality? Do we believe these things are true, even if they aren’t backed up by any evidence? If facts don’t exist, maybe evidence, a free press and democracy doesn’t either? Did some of us vote for this tin pot dictator in training because we believe in the radical, conspiratorial and downright racist ideology of his white supremacist top advisor? Or did we vote for him because we never actually thought he would do this stuff once he got to office, because we never believe what a poltician says, and vote based on anything but the issues? I have been saying we’re in some crazy times, but that would be an understatement. We are in the early stages of a facist dictatorship, which always start with ejecting immigrants, and restricting them from coming in, whether they are citizens or not, all under the guise of keeping us safe from people who wanna take our stuff. We have seen many positive strides in the last few decades, but still need to make many, many more, which is becoming increasingly obvious everyday. All that positivity we have gained, is all now being undermined. If we still wanna live in america, in the reality that’s in front of our faces, where people are truly judged by the content of their character, and not by what they look like, what they believe or where they came from, then we must get off our ass and stand up. We must demand our rights, or they WILL be taken away. We must remember, freedom is NEVER free” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we know that Hitler said that when people hear a lie long enough they begin to believe it, do we truly understand the meaning of “America first”? Do we think it means putting our needs above others, and taking care of our people like we never have before? Or do we realize the racist history of the term, and know it has been used to turn away families, and children who want some semblance of a normal life, but instead get sent back to the war, violence, persecution and zero quality of life situation they escaped from, only to be killled because the country that is supposed to be the beacon for liberty, humanity and hope, is anything but? We are a nation of immigrants, we aren’t a white Christian nation like our current leaders would like us to believe. They would have us think that all people who come here because of that beacon of hope this country is suppossed to represent, only want to tear everything down. They don’t want us to realize that those refugees, are exactly what makes America, America. Our current leaders also don’t recognize that they aren’t federally recognized tribal members, so they too are immigrants. When white nationalists and the most disgusting form of bigotry infests all of our desicion makers at the highest levels, banning whole groups of people whether they’re law abiding people or not, is how the purge starts, it’s how hitler began The fact that yesterday, 1/27 was haulocast rememberance day, and also the day refugees were banned, we should all have burned into our brains that we’ve done this before. German jewish refugees, men, women and many many children were refused entry into this country during world war 2, only to be sent back to die in concentration camps, all under a policy of “America first.” The St. Louis manifest, look it up, it’s true. We are crusing toward the violent, racist and facist dictatorship we were never supposed to become, and were specifically designed to stop. Will we stand up and put a stop to it, or will we become “good germans” and turn a blind eye by believing the lies. It is our choice, the future depends on it” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we don’t walk the walk, if we were for something before we were against it, against it before we were for it, or are supremely against a certain concept if our opponent uses it, but are stalwart suppoorters of that same concept if used by who we support, are we hypocrites? If all the things we say we’re for, or even a few of those things are enacted by our opponent, do we really wanna make positive change if we come out vehemently opposed? Or are we only inetersted in improving our image, and will say anything to anybody if it puts us one step ahead of the person next to us? Authenticity and quality of character have always been important factors in public life and amongst elected officials, but exponentially now. We’re entering a collective turning point in our evolutionn as a species and as a country, where we can go one way or the other. I’m not refering to left vs. right, which is a drama the media has made bigger, while simultaneously exposing it’s flaws and furthering the conversation about it. The real battle is us versus them. The us is people without political power and influence vs. the people who do. Using the power of the pen to further our own needs over the needs of others, is the ultimate goal of those people in power, which is how they use the power of their office and of business simultaneously. If we’re against something like a president using too many excutive orders that’s fine, but we must be against it across the board. We can’t claim it’s perfectly fine for one president to, and not for another. If that is what we claim, then we are part of the problem because our word can never be trusted. We can either be turstworthy or hypocritical, we can’t be both, and neither can our country or political system. Walking the walk means authentic action, not fake rhetoric” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we really want to play a sport because we’re knowledgable about it, and it brings us joy, but we’re picked last for the team or not picked at all, does it discourage us from playing? Does it make it so this team sport, this joint effort that is only equal to the sum of its parts, is not actually a joint effort at all, but a series of small cliques that get along with others but only if they’re in a clique themselves, and not if somebody is an outsider twisting in the wind because nobody wants to include them? The world, the country, the community we live in can be a scary and intimidating place, where everyone is out to get us. Which is why getting involved in our community and trying to make it better, can make us feel like we do have a place, a voice and that we do matter. What can be troubling is when we do get involved, and we’re all stoked that we’re a part of something to make all of our lives better, and we come to realize that because we don’t have a family, kids, own a businessor a home, or are part of an organization that has done community work before, we’re the outsider amongst people who claim to be inclusive. Movements, organizations, gatherings and community groups have always had disagreements about action and level of militancy. We might feel like an outsider, where others listen to us until we stop talking, and then go and do whatever they were gonna do anyway, whether we talked or not, but it can’t stop us. We must keep getting involved, standing up and having our voices heard. We might be the outsiders, but it’s exactly those outsiders that show the insiders that they aren’t the people they claim to be” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we believe so much in a country that we pledge allegiance to a symbol of it, do we truly understand we can only remain as a country if we’re indivisble, where all of us have equal access to liberty and justice? Do we believe liberty and justice are just words, and we’ve been saying them so long that we don’t even think about what they mean, kind of like church on sunday? Or do we realize they’re more than mere words we aloofly recite because of tradition, they’re calls to action against anybody and anything who portrays themselves one way, while living a completely different way? Words and language are something that matter, and don’t matter at the same time. On one hand, they help us make sense of the supposed chaos, so we can faithfully, reasonably and realistically state our ideas so not only do we understand them, but so can the public when we share them. On the other hand, they can also greatly increase the chaos, making it a concept nobody can deny, by distracting thinking and non-thinking minds alike into believeing things to be true, without taking the time to figuring out if they actually are true. What is the answer, how do we figure out what’s true and what’s not true? First, we must assertain what we think and believe, not what somebody else has told ud to think and believe. Second, we must analyze the messages we recieve past and present, and see if they’re backed up with action. Empty words and promises are just that, empty. We could promise all day that we believe in liberty and justice for all, but then heavily skew all the advantages to one side. Trust but verify are words to live by, The more we verify the meanings of the words we hear and use, the more faith we have in them. Concepts and motives can never die, they can only be fogged over. May we all be the foglights” 🙂