The F-word discussion

Are we living in a great time for Equal Rights or a terrible time?

Are you optimistic that we will be in a better place in 10 years?

What is the future of feminist activism?

Ancient Chinese Curse: May you live in interesting times.
It’s too interesting right now and it’s going in the wrong direction and it’s getting worse.

Last day at work before break let me wish everyone a safe and happy holidays.

Want to share something that happened last night at a holiday party that was out of the normal for me. My wife use to work for IBEAR which is part of the Marshall school at USC, in other words once a year us serfs, get to go eat with King’s ministers and their wife’s and children at their holiday party. I took my son it’s good exposer for him. All these high-level international business people and us, the food was good too.
Anyway, I was sitting next to this graduate from the program and even though underneath my dress shirt I was wearing my Donald Trump is not my President t-shirt, I was being very good, not letting my liberal democratic self out just smile and observe. Of course I get some business man who is a Trump support talking and this is what I learned.

IBEAR Graduate: Remember Tiananmen Square he says, Levis pulled out of China after that and they were never allow back in, What business learned from that is not to take political opinions it’s all about the money we gave up our principals back then.

IBEAR Graduate: The US and the Chinese have a complex relationship they own us. Treasure bonds, Real Estate, Stocks, we are own by China so they need us and we need them.

IBEAR Graduate: A entrepreneur is a risk taker, in our society we can decide how much risk we are willing to accept in a socialistic society you don’t have that choice all that free healthcare, and such comes at a cost of economic freedom.

IBEAR Graduate: Trump is the only one tough enough to say the truth about North Korea, it takes someone like him to solve that problem.

So for that guy it is happy days he thinks Trump somehow is doing something that is overall positive

OK it was a interesting conversation I learned a lot about how the other side thinks. Here is what I told my son afterwards on our way home. A society any society but especially ours is always a moving discussion about our shared values. What is important in our lives, Do we honor our word, Do we take care of our elderly and poor, how much opportunity for learning do we give our young people. Etc. Often values will conflict resources are limited and we must pick and choose what to do. Some of the things you heard tonight works great for one segment of society and will hurt or not work at all for another. It is my belief that our capitalistic society must always be careful not to make the marketplace and money it’s sole goal and measure of value or worth. If you always break down human endeavors to a cost analysis of if it pays to do this in a money sense alone then the health of your society will be a very brittle, mean, and unfair set of values.

One last thought not related to that party but in the news (KOREA)

So supposedly, because in war the first casualty is always the truth, and lets be honest we are right now in a cold war with the DPRK, so supposedly Mr. Kim just executed one of his top generals. This should be concerning, what did he say? What did he do? We will never know but we do know that the leader of North Korea has proved to be an extremely violent man, and our President is prone to react and double down and play the alfa male in a way that some question his mental state as well. Overall a very very dangerous situation. I feel there are only two stories in the world today we should be watching 24/7 one Korea and two Global Warming because one or the other is going to get us in a really bad way. I have no fix there are none, but with one, confrontation shall lead only to escalation and that doesn’t have much further to go. While with global warming putting our fingers in our ears and going LaLaLaLaLa is not going to make it go away, not going to bring the rains or stop the fires, or deal with increase flooding, or crop failures; causes in this case, leading to really bad affects, that no wall, no tax cut, no speech is going to fix.

Enough Merry Christmas enjoy time with your family be thankful for every moment of happiness you have.

These are tricky questions. I've talked with people who feel that we are in a better place in terms of equality, whether it be gender or race or anything else. We read history books and we like to say "Wow, well at least now we can vote! We can go to school! We can drive cars!" (At least in the United States which is my only personal frame of reference.)

But people also forget that slavery still exists, though the terminology may be different. Human trafficking is still slavery. Racism still exists. Women still receive a lower salary for the same work that a man does, and it's even lower for women of color. It's not difficult to turn on the news and see that all of this is the case. We still have a lot of work to do on many fronts.

I've talked with people who just don't see any of that. They don't think the police brutality is race-based at all. They don't think that women receive less pay for equal work. They don't think that human trafficking targets primarily girls of a certain economic class.

Are some things better? I guess, in a way. We have celebrities standing up and saying #MeToo and calling out the people who have hurt them. We have marches across the country for a so many different social and political issues, and we're all there saying that things are not okay as they stand. Women are more politically active than ever. (I don't have the exact numbers on that, but they're showing up more for votes [though white women are still failing all over the place on that one] and going after political offices more than ever, all of which is great.)

During last year's presidential election, many of us where I live thought the outcome was going to be different. Because we live in a large, mostly liberal city, we were surrounded by like-minded people, more so in our own neighborhood. We didn't see Trump/Pence signs in our neighborhood.

We drove 45 minutes out of town once right before the election and saw everyone outside of our city limits had Trump/Pence signs in their their yards. We weren't so naive is to believe that no one was cheering Trump on, but we didn't realize just how close it was. There were just these pockets throughout our state that made us feel like we were in the majority, but it turned out that was actually not true at all.

So, again, because I surround myself with like-minded people and I don't put up with racial or sexist "jokes" or comments, it almost seems like things are going in the right direction. Because the people I am with are helping things go in the right direction. But, again, we're just a small pocket in a larger country. There are others of us out there, many of whom are in this group, for example. It's just I know there are people who are fighting against everything we stand for (and everyone we stand up for), too.

I am so proud everyday when I see or hear people standing up for themselves or others who cannot stand up for themselves, for calling out inappropriate comments or gestures or behaviors. Others feel emboldened because of our current political administration, like it's okay to say or do all the things they've always wanted to say or do, but many of us are saying that we will not stand for that. I like to think the more that happens, the better things will become. But, again, I'm not naive.

This past year has been eye-opening for many people, even people who were on the fence politically before last year's election. Some of them are getting active. Some of them are still researching the issues. Some of them are taking whatever small first step they need to, and that's perfectly alright. I like to think that many small first steps turn into great strides in time, so I say keep stepping.

I want to be optimistic because I want us all to get out of bed in the morning and continue to do good work. I know other people who won't watch or listen to the news because it's "too depressing" and they get overwhelmed and shut down. I get that, I really do. I try to limit my exposure. But I refuse to ignore what is happening around me. I need to be aware of what's happening in my community and on a larger scale; I feel we all should be. Pretending like it's not there (as Herman suggested) isn't going to make anything go away.

As I like to say (that someone better said before me), if you're not irate by what is going on, then you're not paying attention.

I live in Australia.
We have compulsory voting. If you don't vote you get fined.
Conservatives have been trying to change that for decades. There is a reason. When voting is optional, conservatives do better.

In the US, the GOP spend millions trying to ensure a low voter turnout. They make it difficult for minorities to vote. They carve up electorates in a way that almost guarantees them victory. Honestly America isn't really a democracy. And it never has been.

Even the writers of the constitution did their best to ensure that. They wanted a democracy where only white male land-owners got to vote.

Donald Trump likes to use that trite little epithet, "Make America Great Again"...though when America was great in the past is largely a fiction unless you're a white man. What I would say, is America becomes great when people vote. When women, and African Americans and other demographics vote. If 90% of eligible voters voted, America would be the greatest nation on earth. Many of the problems of race and inequity would disappear. The GOP would be more moderate and the Democrats would have a battle for the middle.

I'm optimistic for America....I think folks have realised that when they don't vote, the result is someone like Donald Trump. But I hope Americans have a long memory. I hope they remember these years till the day they die and become active participants in politics. I hope they teach their children that voting isn't a right, it's a duty. That will change America.

Honestly it doesn't even matter if folks are conservative or progressive. It just matters that they vote.

This is a great discussion; thanks for starting. I live in an almost-rural area of the U.S. and was absolutely surrounded by Trump/Pence signs during the election and now I have to hear about how much "better" things are since T/P got elected. (The white supremacists, neo-nazis, & KKK are happy anyway.) The few progressives/liberals in my area are mostly about 30 yrs younger than I so its hard to fit in sometimes (espec. when they're "Lets go camping/hiking!" No, I'm too old & tired!). So if you have any choice in the matter, do not strand yourself in an area where you won't be happy as you age, talk about loneliness...

Lynn, one of the great things about being a little older is you will be forgiven for being assertive. Those young progressives need you. Let them do the hard yards but offer them your moral support and your wisdom. Write them letters, tell them how valued they are.

Nobody writes letters any more. Letters are beautiful. Letters have power.