30 Days of Haiga: Day 14: Lament for My Flag

Original background image:

Copyright: milena1234 / 123RF Stock Photo

Fighter planes image (upper left corner) source NPR News

Racist graffiti image source: Olean Times Herald

Misogynist quote source: Donald Trump

Notes:

I like to think the piece speaks for itself, but I will include a little personal history. 

When I was a young child in my early school years, I was very proud when it came time to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I sprang to my large and far from dainty feet, puffed out my scrawny chest, put my hand over my stalwart young heart, and spoke those hallowed words in my biggest voice. 

I was born in 1965. I didn't go to Kindergarten. Many years later I had a nightmare that Ronald Reagan ordered me to go back to school starting with Kindergarten. Initially, I attempted to comply, but then I realized that there was no legally binding reason for me to do this and I said "I quit," and walked out of the classroom to the sound of Mr. Reagan's voice berating me as a loser.

From first through third grade, the Viet Nam war was still taking place. I believed that the United States would eventually see that the war was a bad idea and would end it, so I said the Pledge proudly because I believed that my fine country would eventually do the right thing because we were the Good Guys.

During the next several years, the country was healing from the aftereffects of the Viet Nam War. I believed that we were headed in the right direction, and I thought that Jimmy Carter was a fine president and would continue to take us that way.

The Reagan era began when I was fifteen years old and I came to believe that we were all doomed to either eat flaming death in a nuclear holocaust or freeze to death in the nuclear winter which would follow. The Pledge of Allegiance lost its former wondrous appeal to me, but I still said it because I felt it was my duty as a patriot to try and believe in my country.

As my son says, the United States is still one of the best countries to live in, but we have a lot of problems. The election of Donald Trump brought a plethora of pathology boiling to the surface. 

We are not post-racist or post-misogynist and we are severely intolerant of anyone who isn't a God-fearing American "Christian." I put Christian in quotes because I don't think the behavior of those who subscribe to the ideals of American religious fundamentalists is Christ-like in any way. There is a frightening new wave of nationalism, and free speech is under fire. There is normalization of bigotry and intolerance.

This is not the America that young me believed in when she put her hand over her heart to proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school and even at home in her bedroom on Saturday and Sunday because she thought it was the right thing to do.

This America brings tears to the eyes of middle-aged, working class me as I write these words. I despair for the loss of innocence in the heart of the child I once was and fear for the future of who I have become, for those I love, and for my fellow citizens of this world.

~The Real Cie~

As real as it gets

The New Cold War

You're Lost Little Boy Version 13

Photoshop Manipulation by The Real Cie

I had a very realistic nuclear attack dream where I was in downtown Denver and could see the cloud appearing on the horizon. People were staring and screaming. Some were starting to run, but most of us realized there was no escape.

I wanted to see my son again. I wanted to call my mother, with whom I have a troubled relationship, and tell her that I love her even though our bond is difficult. I wasn't afraid so much as extremely sad. I knew there was nothing more I could to do. My last words were "Gem, come get me, please come get me."

When I woke up in my son's living room, I was surprised because the dream was that real.

I'm not sharing this as some sort of prophecy of doom, just a thought that with the Cheeto Warmonger and his pissing contest with Krazy Kim Jong Un, the pervasive feeling that power-hungry kooks could reduce us all to ash and perma-fuck the rest of the planet which many of us remember from the Cold War has made a resurgence.

I was once talking to my son about how living during the Cold War has formed the sorts of things I write and even the way I think. I said that I never thought much about the future when I was younger because I was pretty sure I didn't have one as I figured I was going to die in a nuclear exchange.

My son made the remark that he didn't know what it was like living during the Cold War, but the older science fiction that he likes to read gave him an idea of how people who lived then thought and felt with the looming shadow of possible nuclear war.

The other day I said to him "remember how you said you didn't know what it was like to live during the Cold War? Well, thanks to Trump, now you do."

My reasons to hate Lord Dampnut do not lessen as his time in office marches on.

~Cie~

The Cheese Grates It: My New Years Resolutions

I will continue to fight against bigotry and hate in all its forms in 2017.

I will try to be kinder to myself. This one's difficult, and I pretty much always fail at it. I will continue to fight against engaging in self harm, including speaking harmful words against myself. I will not ridicule and demean myself for my unique belief system. If I am tolerant of others' beliefs, why can't I be tolerant of my own?

I will try to see the good in the world while fighting the evil.

I will continue to peacefully resist Emperor Commodus Trump and his evil band of handlers. Unlike Hitler, Trump has no real intelligence or agenda of his own. He is a puppet. Those in his cabinet of foulness are the ones we really need to fear. Trump will sway any way the wind blows. This is not to say that he isn't a vile human being, he is a dreadful person. The truth, however, is that he does not command much actual power. He is a figurehead.

I am worried for this world, very worried.

Nonetheless, I will try in some small way to make things better.

Even though I am an unfashionably large person, I am very small on the scale of things. Too small, I fear, to make any kind of real difference. But there is one thing that I have vowed to do, and I have the tattoo to prove it.

I miss Matt, the artist who did this tattoo for me. I wish he hadn't had to move back to Kentucky. I hope 2017 will be kind to him.

Happy fucking New Year. I don't actually have a lot of hope, but I'm trying.

I think those of us who survive this time of transition deserve a bonus.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~

The Cheese Grates It: When It Comes To Trump Mock Away With Caveats

From a discourse on the following post at We Hunted the Mammoth.
http://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2016/12/26/resisttrump-today-by-treating-him-like-the-clown-he-is

"I mean, I do get doing it just because it gets under his skin, but at the same time I hate to contribute to the insecure macho mentality making fun of people’s penis size promotes, not to mention the shaming of fat and elderly bodies."

Thank you, @Michael Brew.

I had to stick to my guns when it came to saying that size shaming was never appropriate even with an odious asshat like The Rump, even though mine was an unpopular opinion.
I worked with the geriatric population for close to 25 years as a CNA before going to the complete opposite end of the spectrum and working with pediatric patients as an LPN starting last year. There are a lot of elderly gentlemen who have bodies similar to those nude Trump statues. To imply that it is a disgusting or laughable thing to have such a body is wrong.
I hate to break out this old chestnut, but two wrongs don't make a right. The Rump is a horrid human being for his body shaming, particularly where women are concerned. However, it would be equally odious for me to ridicule his body type because he said bad things about mine.
Certainly, his actions give us a veritable bottomless Christmas stocking full of laugh (and cringe) worthy material.
I do agree with those who say that calling him a Cheeto gets a pass. He doesn't have to put on the Deplorable Orange spray tan.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~

The Cheese Grates It: Moving Target

A response to the article "Stop Asking Me to Have Sympathy for the White Working Class."

I happen to be white, and I'm heterosexual. That's pretty much where my privilege ends. In most ways, I'm a target. I'm an older woman. I'm a big person in a society that hates big people. I'm mentally ill.

I am not a target in the same way that non-white people are a target, but I am still a target of prejudice and hatred for people who enjoy making others' lives miserable.

I also happen to not have voted for the Bully in Chief. I am one of those people being told to "get over it" and "stop acting childish" because I will never refer to him as President.

I am part of the working class. I work a skilled job (nursing) and make a little over $30,000 a year, although I often work 60 hours a week.

I am unsure how people in the working class can think that electing this racist, misogynist, xenophobic fascist can possibly benefit anyone but his fellow millionaires. He doesn't have sympathy for any of us. We're a big joke to him.

Yet I know people who I consider to be otherwise good people who truly believe that he is the best thing for our country. They stand against bullying, yet they voted for the biggest bully imaginable. They excuse him talking about grabbing women "by the pussy" because he "apologized for it." As if his apology had a grain of sincerity. If folks are that gullible, I'd like to discuss a little beachfront property in the Gobi desert with them. I can get them into it at a very reasonable price.

I may not be the smartest person in the world, but I'm smart enough to spot an obviously insincere con artist. I'd like to say that Don the Con pulled the wool over this country's eyes. In some cases, that's what happened. Sadly, in all too many other cases, his appeal was making America safe to hate again.

Adding on to the above comment:

I understand people's criticisms of Clinton as a candidate. She was not my first choice. I was in the "I'm with her because she's not him" camp. It was a "lesser of two evils" vote. I understand the people who voted third party because they couldn't stomach either candidate.

People like to claim that third party voters betrayed us all and got the Bully in Chief elected. In fact, Clinton won the popular vote. The Electoral College put the Cheeto Demagogue at the helm of the ship. This archaic system needs to be abolished. Presidential elections should be decided by popular vote.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~