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444194 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 09:48:54
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: My Rage Against Rump Supporters Is Killing Me |
URL: https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/11/18/my-rage-against-trump-supporters-is-killing-me/ |
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November 18, 2024
My Rage Against Trump Supporters Is Killing Me
Sarena Neyman
We have just elected a cruel and ruthless monster who represents the worst of humanity and I feel my blood vessels pulsing with rage. I’m boiling with fury at the misguided electorate who were duped into thinking that a billionaire criminal had their interests at heart. Most of them don’t even know what a tariff is (or a fascist).
I also disdain the tech moguls who profit from our hatred, using algorithms to keep us divided and misinformed. I too have grown to crave the titillating dopamine my rage-scrolling releases. You know the media has failed, says essayist Rebecca Solnit, when people are more concerned that a trans girl might play on a softball team than that the climate crisis will destroy our planet. Media owners have everything to gain from our ignorance and hate.
Given our broken media, there’s a part of me that hopes the people who supported Trump get what they voted for — because I don’t think anything will change until that happens. Not until they or a loved one can’t get critical care because it’s illegal or unaffordable or they have a pre-existing condition. Not until their Social Security is slashed or they drown in debt while the super-rich get even richer. Not till their home is flooded in a climate disaster or they choke on the smoke of the burning earth. Too bad it will affect all of us, and not just those fools who believed they were voting for a better life.
When I was little, my grandmother used to tell me that she thought it would be better if the whole world blew up in an atomic bomb. It terrified me even though I understood her anger. Her husband had died in the camps and she watched SS officers tear her five-year-old daughter from the arms of her older child, my mother. The little girl was gassed in Auschwitz.
Maybe my grandmother was right. Maybe it’s better for humanity to die out sooner rather than continue to do irreparable damage to everything around us. Humans have already forced nearly 1000 species into extinction. With Trump in power, thousands more will vanish. And millions of humans will suffer from his heartless and reckless agenda.
I know people are not inherently evil. We’re capable of great love, compassion, and courage. But I’m convinced our flaws are too deeply embedded to allow us to thrive in the long term. Homo sapiens evolved in small, isolated groups, and our evolution was shaped by environments that differ greatly from modern global society that is interconnected and depends on cooperation for survival. I fear our tribalistic nature combined with our unquenchable thirst for money and power has doomed us. But maybe that’s okay and I need to come to peace with that reality.
I worry, though, that before some disaster wipes us out, my rage will kill me first. At 68, I’m not sure my body can withstand another four years of the anxiety, stress, and sleep deprivation like I experienced during Trump’s first term. Just hearing his voice makes my head pound, reminding me that my mother and grandmother were both felled by strokes. Wishing his supporters a slow painful death will have no effect on them and will only raise my blood pressure. Besides, this kind of useless outrage only breeds despair and apathy — and that’s what our enemies are counting on.
My mother, who survived five concentration camps and two death marches, told me that the hardest thing to forgive the Nazis was the anger they planted in her heart. “It’s like a cancer,” she would say. She’d often speak at local schools, determined to share the cautionary tale of how hate destroys. After she came to this country, she went on to become a pediatrician, one of only three women in her graduating class. I should work on my rage to honor her legacy.
The words of historian Howard Zinn have been of comfort: “The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” The best I can do right now is to live as I would want other humans to behave. And that includes not hating others. But it’s so hard.
I used to be a news junkie. Now, I only allow myself to quickly scroll the headlines. Just enough to stay aware of the horrors we are about to experience from a political system gutted by the wealthy. I’m going to try to stop ranting on my husband’s Facebook feed, which is filled with MAGA family members and schoolmates from the deep South. I’ll focus on the things that give me joy: my family, my friends, writing, reading, eating. I’ll try to be a kinder person.
But what I really need to do is weep because sometimes I think I get angry to avoid feeling sad. What happened on Election Day was a tragedy and I need to mourn it. I must cry for who we’ve become, for what we’ve lost, and for the devastation we’re leaving the next generation.
Sarena Neyman is a fundraising/marketing and grant writer.
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Responses:
[444204] [444209] [444205] [444207] [444208] [444216] [444202] [444195] [444197] [444211] [444213] [444217] [444233] [444219] [444232] [444198] [444199] [444196] |
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444204 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 14:22:11
From: ChiTown, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: My Rage Against Rump Supporters Is Killing Me |
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The ratings for MSNBC and CNN are crashing showing many are
withdrawing from the news. Or maybe they just realize their preferred
news have been lying to them.
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[444209] [444205] [444207] [444208] [444216] |
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444209 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 16:52:29
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: My Rage Against Rump Supporters Is Killing Me |
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I think it's just that everyone's burnt out on politics
in general. We've been bombarded since earlier this
year.
It's the collective sound of people taking a deep
breath.
Personally, I haven't been watching any news ...just
scan my news sources once a day to keep up.
People have had enough of all of it about now...all
sides.
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444205 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 15:36:15
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: My Rage Against Rump Supporters Is Killing Me |
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perhaps...more likely it's because they don't want to listen to the absurdities the rump regime will foist on us all...too depressing...apparently you think fox news doesn't lie to you...what a hoot! lol...
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444207 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 16:27:59
From: chaskuchar@stcharlesmo, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: My Rage Against Rump Supporters Is Killing Me |
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try al Jazeera. thats my favorite station on you tube.
no ads either
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444208 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 16:34:49
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: My Rage Against Rump Supporters Is Killing Me |
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personally...i don't do u-tube, except once in a great while for music...for one, they are owned by google, who i do not support in any way, if possible...secondly, u-tubes are notorious for putting out disinformation and outright propaganda...plus, i do not like watching videos on my computer...no ads, eh? suspicious...
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444216 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 20:51:24
From: chaskuchar@stcharlesmo, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: My Rage Against Rump Supporters Is Killing Me |
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it's a live feed. i can get the same feed on my computer
but it's handy this way. i switch from my farming game
to aj and back frequently.
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444202 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 14:13:31
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: I like the part about living in the present |
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"The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think
human beings should live..."
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444195 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 10:37:17
From: The Hierophant, [DNS_Address]
Subject: I get it though |
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And like the author of this article, part of me does
hope that those who voted for it will personally feel
and experience that which it promoted and promised.
To get through the next 4 years, I will NOT be watching
the news ( a quick glance at the headlines will
suffice); nor will I be associating with those who
supported and voted for it - don't care if they are my
neighbors or casual friends - their choice reflects on
their character as a person and their empathy for
others.
For in this case, the only thing I will be able to
change is how I deal with the situations - and
personally, at my age, I no longer have the energy to
'deal' with them. And I do not want to become like my
mother, who, having gone through WW2 and the camps and
having lost her entire family, and lived the rest of
her very very long life with anger and hatred towards
those who committed the crimes because she kept
reliving every wrong every day and because of what she
went through, she didn't have any hope for a better
future - for herself or the world - watching the
reading the news to support her views. I don't want to
live like that.
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444197 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 11:45:33
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I get it though |
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Totally get that, Hierophant.
It's going to be a rough 4 yrs (at least), and good
that we support each other though it.
It's hard not to get angry, but for me, I have to save
some of that wasted energy that only seems to give
others more glee, for my family and to help sheild them
from the worst effects.
I have many children and grandchildren I care about. An
elderly parent and sibling. They're going to get our
focus going through all this.
It's good, however, to acknowledge that anger, and vent
it..so that we can process it, move through it and not
get stuck. There may be opportunities in the future
that we need to be able to see through the fog of the
Trump admin. And when he's finally gone, there will be
much work to rebuild our country and the damage he
leaves in his wake.
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444211 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 18:23:49
From: The Hierophant, [DNS_Address]
Subject: and next on the agenda |
URL: https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/4992787-trump-deportation-plan-immigration/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=user%2FTheHill |
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unnaturalizing naturalized immigrant citizens
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444213 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 19:46:34
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: and next on the agenda |
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guess this is his plan to get rid of melania?
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444217 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 21:00:13
From: chaskuchar@stcharlesmo, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: and next on the agenda |
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my house is filled with immigrants. even my wife has a
green card. but my granddaughter has her us citisanship.
what happened to my autocorrect today? oh well...
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444233 |
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Date: November 19, 2024 at 11:28:15
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: and next on the agenda |
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I'll keep your family in our prayers, Charles. I know
you all followed the rules and did things right.
I *hope* your family is not caught up in this.
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444219 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 21:07:22
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: and next on the agenda |
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you may be in an empty house soon...
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444232 |
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Date: November 19, 2024 at 11:28:12
From: chaskuchar@stcharlesmo, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: and next on the agenda |
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i will go with them.. sell the house and move to
Thailand.........
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444198 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 12:58:07
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I get it though |
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i was thinking that at the inauguration there should be a laughing protest...just tens of thousands of people there laughing at the absurdity of rump being elected president...again!!!
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444199 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 13:05:09
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I get it though |
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444196 |
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Date: November 18, 2024 at 11:11:41
From: ao, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I get it though |
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Ditto.
I’ve turned it off completely..
The world's gone mad.. no reason to join them.
It’s sad.. first Covid, and now fascism.. kinda makes the world at large no
fun anymore.. ie stay home and let it pass by. I’d say hope for better in
four years, but I think that’s for others to worry about. As they say in
Hawaii.. it ain’t my kuleana. There’s more important things to do.. take
deep breath’s.. treasure the moment.. children’s laughter.. enjoy the
breeze wafting through the trees..
More better live.. pass from here.. in peace.
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