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Dec 22 2016

Well we are “South” Dakota…

Author: DakotaBirder • Discussion: 1 Comment
Confederate Flag

A new flag at a house on my way home! My guess is it’s been a month since I’ve been by, so this is something that’s popped up since the election. THIS is the kind of behavior that I guess is now normalized, thanks to our election of an openly bigoted pig of a man as President.

I work at a facility that’s outside of Sioux Falls in the middle of nowhere, which gives me the somewhat unique opportunity to drive gravel roads to and from work if I so wish.  I have several different roads I can take, but today took a gravel road I haven’t taken for probably a month.  I found a new feature on the road!  Joe White Trash Redneck decided to add a second flag to his flag pole…a Confederate Flag.

We ARE “South” Dakota I guess, and unlike those liberal heathens up in North Dakota, there are clearly many of South Dakotans that still harbor old-time convictions.  Who am I kidding…there are white trash rednecks like this all over the country, and lily-white South Dakota is no exception.  The difference is that unlike the South, here we wrap our bigotry and racism in good ol’ fashioned Midwestern “niceness”.

I’ve lived in Nebraska or South Dakota nearly all my life, save for a couple of years spent in Washington D.C. just after college.  I know what people are like, and I’ve always known the “nice Midwesterner” label was a farce.  People are people, and I certainly didn’t notice any difference in “niceness” in D.C. vs. here.  People certainly drive like assholes EVERYWHERE, whether you’re on the jam-packed freeways around D.C. or on the roads around Sioux Falls!  Any pride South Dakotans or other Midwesterners may take in their civility melts away quickly when you peek just under the surface.  Conservative values that dominate here are remarkably similar to conservative values in the deep South, where people may wrap themselves in a cloak of piety and religious belief, but that cloak is simply a cover for some very deep-rooted bigotry and racism.

Is it good or bad that the Trump election normalizes this kind of behavior?  What does it say that a house I’ve passed countless times in the past 23 years never had a Confederate flag flying, yet within a month of Trump being elected, it proudly flies next to the American flag?

Insecure white (trash/redneck/losers) have certainly gotten payback after 8 years of a (gasp!) black president, and with the choice of Trump, people are seemingly becoming much less shy about showing their true colors.

Nov 09 2016

Try walking in someone else’s shoes…

Author: DakotaBirder • Discussion: No Comments

Perspective. If you’re a voter in lily-white land who thinks this is a “normal” election and it’s just another guy who won, just for a second look at things from the viewpoint of my co-workers at a VERY diverse workplace, my friends, my acquaintances:

– My Somali-born, Muslim, immigrant friend with 2 of the most beautiful young children you ever saw. Now has to explain to them why the President of the United States labels Muslims as terrorists, and just yesterday in Minnesota told a crowd about the threat of Somali immigrants.

– My female friend who first harassed, then sexually assaulted by a co-worker, now having to face an America where that’s “OK”, where the President himself openly discusses assault and is accused by many, many women of assault.

– My Latino friend, being told by his president that his kind are “rapists”, primarily criminals, hordes invading from the south that are taking jobs from good white folk

– Or a COMPLETELY hypothetical story of a father in South Dakota, with the most perfect young son in the world, a son with Type-1 diabetes. Think of it from that perspective, knowing Trump said the first thing he’ll do in office is eliminate Obamacare, eliminate abilities to carry insurance across jobs, eliminate guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions, eliminate the capability to carry your child on your insurance until they turn 26. Put yourself in that father’s shoes, and fucking tell yourself that this is “OK”, that your son faces a world where his very HEALTH is less important than politics, where HATE won an election and cost him his health care.

Try walking in those shoes for a bit before laughing off this election as just the same old “politics”.

Oct 09 2016

Speaking of an anti-fact culture…

Author: DakotaBirder • Discussion: No Comments

When I first started blogging, on a blog where I’ve now removed all content, much of the focus was on politics. It got to be too much.  It’s absolutely disgusting what happens on blogs online, with the insults, intimidation, and pure HATRED that becomes apparent.  Because of that, I stopped talking about politics, and rebooted my blog to focus on science, birds, and photography.

I’m going to break with my “no politics” pledge for one post, and one post only.   This is just too much to ignore, especially given my last post about Americans and their turn against science…against FACT.  That same attitude is pervasive in this election. It all started back in the 1990s.  You had a zealous Congressional contingent at the same time that right-wing talk radio started spewing hate.  Started spewing conspiracies.  Started spewing lies.  Suddenly the sole purpose of the “opposition” Congress was to investigate and oppose, rather than legislate.

We’ve had 20 years of the same mentality.  The next election now is the ONLY thing that matters, and every political decision is made solely on that basis.  Legislative accomplishment?  Virtually absent, save for the few, short periods when one party controlled both the White House and Congress.

This mentality, based on hate, based on conspiracy, has COMPLETELY warped what is important in an election.  Those conspiracy theories? A completely IGNORANT American public now treats them as fact, rather than pure, politically motivated pipe dreams. The Clintons murdered Vince Foster!  Obama is a Muslim, born in Kenya!! Hillary was personally responsible for Benghazi (and evidently every other negative thing that’s ever occurred on the planet).  Never mind that none of these have any evidence!  Never mind that millions in taxpayer dollars have been wasted on pointless investigations, witch-hunts that have turned up exactly…nothing.

Yet an ignorant American public still believes THESE are the issues that matter the most.  They still believe these are REAL events, REAL controversies, rather than politically manufactured bullshit.  Just as my previous post on the anti-science movement in the U.S., politics has become a fact-free zone.

The result?   You’ve got a true pig of a human being in Trump, a racist, a misogynist, an ignorant, lying, self-serving blowhard who has one quality that has gotten him where he’s at…he’s been smart enough to tap into the ignorance and hatred of those who have been spoon-fed bullshit for 20 years.  Incredibly vulgar tapes where Trump sounds like a 19-year frat boy, rather than the potential President of the United States?  No worries to these folks!  In the world of hate in which they live, fact-free conspiracy theories are more important that the character and ability of “their” candidate to actually lead.

The fact that a man like Trump was actually nominated as a candidate of a major party, the fact that he’s a month away from potentially winning the presidency, DESPITE proving himself to truly be one of the most DEPLORABLE men on the planet, is just a natural outcome from 20-years of hate, 20-years of conspiracy-theory, 20-years of ignorance.

I’m flabbergasted. The fact that half of America evidently thinks this kind of man is fit to be President makes me frankly ashamed of my fellow Americans.  We’ve devolved into a country where hatred, bigotry, and misogyny are evidently accepted, and it makes me sick.

Like I said…a one-time political post.  Back to birds, science, and photography.

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