Killing in the Name of

Fighting for justice and mourning children who are slaughtered in their safe space are incredibly painful and noble endeavors. These bring out the best in those of us who are passionate about things like human survival. It breaks my heart continuously that we have to do it so often. We need to advocate for gun control legislation and support mental health transparency and treatment. These are human and societal values, or +1.

However, whitewashing Nazis, misogynists and white supremacists like Charlie Kirk postmortem is equivalent to masking depression. It makes other people feel better but society as a whole continues to suffer and decline from the disease. It inherently SUBTRACTS from our culture of humanity and makes lives worse. Anyone who refuses to acknowledge the reality of what he espoused is ignoring the damage he caused and the legacy of his vile utterings.

Taking a step back, it obviously doesn't start with the current wasteland that is the rightwing hate machine. No, this country is only now vomiting up all the bile and viral overload that was suppressed after 9/11. The "come together" movement after destruction did push people closer together, literally but not figuratively. The end product is an overflow of disdain that percolated thanks to the intensity of COVID decades later. Some folks never had to grow up because people made their lives comfortable just to forget the awfulness. They just cocooned and continued to bathe in their fear of other. These life and death atmospheres we've been wandering through have paved the way for a greek tragedy style showdown that would make Zeus ecstatic. Thanks to the orange catalyst, some call him Krebs, the dirty laundry is putrid and threatening to split the country in two factions. We'll call these the Antimatter and the Matter groups. The Anti are just that, against all things that matter, peddling conspiracy theories and are highly explosive, while the Matter group accepts reality and advocates for what really impacts society, like science education, human rights, healthcare and child safety.

You can paint a swastika any color you wish, but if it stays in the same position it is inherently evil and symbolic of hatred and genocide. If you change it and redeem the symbol, it may be used to represent peace in some cultures. That said, it takes a LOT of effort and discussion to get that symbol back to peace for many. If you don't put in the effort, it stays what it was at the end of the Reich: pure evil.

This is an easily understood metaphor for people. If we don't change our ways when we have a long history of awfulness and destructive behavior, this is what we leave in the world. Bile.

The only way out of this mess is self-reflection, growth and art. I will never accept the fear of other and I will never accept that hate is power. Hate is a negative reaction to what you recognize about yourself in others, what you don't like about you. I hate the words, hate the feeling and hate the pain these people cause. Hating the person does nothing for you. Hating the action makes you want to change, be better. I'm hopeful that his children learn from his hate.

That doesn't mean that I mourn the death of a reckless hate-filled person. Only mourn the wasted life.

Leaving you with a reminder of what we're up against.

Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses, uh!

Killing in the name of

Oh, and don't use the Nazi playbook if you don't want to be a Nazi. And if you do, well we fought them in WWII, we'll do it again. Kilroy was here.

-Til the last drop, N