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Nobody Likes You

Democratic-leaning voters often care more about being liked and palatable than they do about making systemic, lasting change. Are you one of them?

I'm just going to come out and say it: "vote blue no matter who" is like a scam. Progressives in West Virginia are way too smug about "stupid hillbilly rednecks". What happens when you've been duped, and continue to boast about it?

Well, if you're too proud and ego-driven to admit that you're wrong, you'll continue operating within corruption, pleading with people who don't give a shit about you, because "then we'd have to start over, what about all that we have put in to elect those we have, how can we just abandon ship"? You. Walk. Away. And. Take. Your. Delegates. With. You.

If you understand mafia tactics (yes, I said MAFIA), you'd understand exactly the travesty that went down at the most recent WV State Democratic Executive Committee meeting. Black appalachians were shouted down, ridiculed, and belittled into silence. Read about this here, and view this in its entirety here. Smooth strong-arming is a tactic. Gaslighting and isolation are tactics. Silencing community representatives and flooding the vote with others whom are like-minded... you guessed it, tactics. As are the following: smoke-and-mirrors demographics and lack of representation, shaming those who speak the bare truth, inherent/direct threats, shill promises, code of silence, accusing others of what you are doing secretly, paying upward, selling your soul to elevate your position, changing the subject, using others' want to belong, ... tactics. Read about these here.

What happens when the corrupt institution would rather retain power by ceding it to the "other side" instead of being willing to turn it over to the people? What happens when these people are all the same behind closed doors? What happens when these corrupt people admit these things to the people in plain sight and nothing changes? What happens when an individual's want to be liked and "belong" is used against them, causing assimilation or ostracization through fear?

Progressives are so busy fighting the "boogey man"; the inconsequential statistical "redneck". Progressives whom are not intimate with the working populus of WV turning against its "labor party" for corruption is dangerously underestimated in conjunction with "the stupid voter who votes against his own best interest". What if progressives missed the entire point? What if it isn't so much about "voting against my best interest" as it is "I'd rather someone tell me that they're going in without lube before they fuck me in the ass"?

Yes, that's right. Some people would rather vote against their own best interests because they're tired of being sold crumbs with golden promises, they're tired of drinking shitty water and watching their family members get "rare" cancers by the dozens, they're tired of following the rules only to have them changed for those in charge, they're tired of being sold fake promise and realizing they're going to die regardless. And at this point, as hopeless as they are, they do not care if the "smart city people" call them idiots. In fact, they've created a demogogue and proudly wave their flags of hate to show you how tired they are, and they seem to be organizing. All because they've become the voiceless, the hopeless, the powerless, and instead of acting arrogant with "intelligence" they've turned to their next closest emotion: hate. One thing the "right" has perfected: the art and ability to be unlikable and to stand by it.

Will the dem-leaning voters of West Virginia remove their heads from their asses in time to effect systemic change? Depends if they're willing to make difficult decisions, willing to stand on their own and walk away from "hive mentality", willing to risk being "disliked" for standing for what is right instead of following a corrupt institution that is glaringly baring their panties and flaunting their inaction.

Will you risk your "reputation" by standing for what is right to the school bully? Will you walk away from a toxic table and build your own vehicle, organizing your community for change? Can you stand up to the majority saying "Nobody likes you"?

It took me a long time to understand why others said "parts of the left are just as toxic as parts of the right". I was wrong. I was participating in furthering the corruption by a want to see change, but an inability to see my ignorance. We can change how we see each other in West Virginia, and we can have OUR representatives register to a different party. It's going to take difficult conversations, and issue-focused campaigns, but are you willing to build something for all, or are you too enamored with what you've put in? I guess those answers are individual to each person, and whether their end-goal is to build inclusive communities or to catapault their own interests.

They Don't Care About You.

Hear me out.

What if all the evidence in the world doesn't matter to your legislative majority? What if study after study shows research, and it's purposely ignored to push through laws that further oppress minorities and poor, disproportionately?

Why else would ALEC-funded money pour into states with Republican majority? Why drug-test the poor, over and over, to get the same, ignored results? Who, exactly, would be benefitting from repeating this shit? Read the text of SB387 here

Who owns these drug-testing companies? Who gets to dole out federal TANF funds to the poor, and who gets drug tested and who does not? Do business owners receiving federal subsidies get tested to receive these? And again - who decides? And who pays for these costs for this testing, that is (likely) going into someone's pocket?

This whole set-up reminds me of my ole psychiatrist, Mark Agresti, from Florida. He spent some decent time in federal custody for running a racket exactly as it being proposed against the poor in West Virginia. Although ole Mark targeted substance abuse and rehab federal funds, those in charge get a little irritated when you're working their own racket and getting greedy. Read more about him here

What if the people tasked to care for and represent us are using us all as a money-making scheme to get themselves ahead? What if all the evidence presented on the planet won't change a national attitude of fucking over others, because getting ahead is more valuable to a chunk of the population? How do we eradicate this attitude, if this is behind what's keeping others from having medicare-for-all, $15/hr wage, affordable housing... true, genuine changes that could create tangible ability to rise out of poverty? Are they trying to help people get out of poverty or are they dreaming up ways to keep them there? What if the reason that meaningful legislation doesn't get past committee is because we have so few true "representatives" that give a single shit, that they're no longer pretending to care, and people are so scared of this possible reality, that they just keep repeating performative actions that make them feel busy and helpful "fighting" this actual oppression? Does this "hamster wheel feel" of being busy keep true grassroots organization from succeeding?

Read about failed drug testing in West Virginia in the past here .

Read about failed drug testing in Florida the past here .

I can list articles like this from across the nation, but I am smart enough now to know that posting it to legislators who aren't trying to hear me is a waste of my time. How do we fix this?

Anxiety Addiction - Are You Stuck?

So how many of us are aware that when we're feeling nervous or anxious, we're likely holding our breath?

What about growing up in situations (or Adverse Childhood Experiences [ACE]) where being quick-witted and ready-for-anything was a good attribute?

What about situations where you are "the fast actor" and are able to access adrenaline to get through difficult short-term experiences?

From a different perspective, you might be addicted to anxiety. Yep, I said what I said.

Anxiety is a body response to stress stimuli. Sounds simple enough, but the process of prolonged stress in environments changes your brain structures and neural pathways. Sometimes people present with anxiety because of a single situation (near death experience, car accident, etc.) and begin noticing that they have symptoms (heart palpitations, sweaty palms, feeling "frozen", dissociation, etc.) but often aren't aware of the exactly how much they're accessing their adrenaline. Adrenaline gives us extra energy boosts in situations perceived as unsafe by our bodies and minds, which can be a great, life-saving thing, sometimes allowing temporary "superhuman" strength and abilities.

What happens though, when you live in a constant state of some form of fight-or-flight? C-PTSD (Complex posttraumatic stress disorder) is a term gaining traction for people who grew up or were exposed to environments that were unsafe, codependent, or abusive in some way, where the person was unable to "get over" or accept trauma before being presented with additional, ongoing triggers. Of course, there are full definitions (and believe me, I am cheapening that in this essay for brevity), but you can find more about C-PTSD and treatment here.

What happens when we "hold onto" old memories, or access feelings from a past situation that allows for us to stimulate ourselves into fight or flight? Is there some link to "phantom/mystery" body illnesses, such as fybromyalgia? Who would it benefit to avoid making that link and connection? Who would want to keep human beings in a fight-or-flight response? What does this benefit? For the interest of this article, I'm looking at the angle of human behavior and motivation; the two most powerful and motivating feelings that we emobdy are hope and fear. Is there some long-term benefit to keeping human beings in a fear response? What, if any, benefit does this have for our evolution?

When human beings are in balance in relation to mental and physical health, creativity flourishes. With rest, human beings flourish. What benefit is there to keeping human beings on this "hamster wheel" of anxiety and adrenaline? Wouldn't this be counterintuitive and counteractive to furthering our society? What is the goddamn problem here where it is a "badge of honor" to work yourself to death and brag about it? What if this is holding back our society as a whole? Where could human beings be in scientific breakthroughs without living under constraints to beat your neighbor to gather more plastic stuff? What if "competition" wasn't something sold and bannered as "the American Dream"? Sure, the government has us believing that allowing a society to rest would "make everyone lazy", but just like the bullshit that "Trickle Down Economics" always was, what if this is opposite the truth?

They Want You to Leave

West Virginia is notorious for driving out it's bright-eyed, bushy-tailed youth.

Back in the days when Robert C. Byrd was alive, I told myself it was because old men ran this state, and I remember the "good ole days" of A. James Manchin and Arch Moore crookery. However, now that we're in 2021, it seems that young male legislature members seem emboldened to continue the tradition.

The state is famous for it's deep, rich resources that "keep the lights on" (coal, natural gas) but what some outside here do not understand is that the processes to get to these are harmful to the environment. It isn't news to anyone here. Minden hasn't had clean water and likely won't. But these aren't pressing issues. The pressing issues for our state are driving smart people out.

I'm not kidding. I'll say it again: the pressing issues for our state is driving out young, bright, smart people.

Why, though? Well, how many things would be more difficult for mine owners, gas companies, and those preying on our dumbe down society, if we had a society full of educated people not in poverty? Would men line up at the ready for stints in the oil field, taking years off their lives? What about coal mines? Would the numbers dwindle for the company store to keep a dying industry propped-up? If young, precocious members of society filled positions at the WVDEP, wouldn't those assholes have to actually fuckin' follow the laws and guidelines? I can tell you American Water wouldn't have gotten away with what it did five years ago in Charleston. I can tell you that Jim Justice wouldn't have been able to settle with the WV Tax Dept on his fines and taxes. Would the MVP still be trucking through if we had a strong, environmentally-conscious workforce of scientists and laborers who had permanent jobs in their communities? That, I don't know.

Let's talk about charter schools. Just an example, but something that continues to be pushed year after year, and it will pass. Maybe this year, but at the latest, next year. They've gutted public education. They've created "bathroom laws" for schools, starved budgets, boosted sports over academics. We can also look at the many shitty ways they've pushed teachers to the brink; forcing teachers to buy their own supplies, screwing with PEIA (health insurance), jerking them every which-way with Covid plans and forcing them to report in-person on snow days, that's just a few things. Let's not forget that the legislature proposed making teacher strikes an offense worthy of termination of employment. Charter schools start out by replacing public schools, and offers "voucher" or "lottery-style" systems to choose their students. Yep, that's right, after the first couple years, if your kid isn't doing well on national tests, they don't have to pick Little Jimmy for their school next year. And if you don't have at least a high school diploma? Guess what - you cannot home school your child in WV. And charter schools can choose their teachers based on their own criteria. If you don't like it, they'll simply tell you to find another school. With all of the teachers flocking out of WV, there won't be much to choose from in rural areas. How many people can afford $11k a year in tuition?

How about that elimination of the income tax and increase of sales tax? Yeah, that won't hurt the corporate store, but it sure will kill the state budget. Roads. Education. But, we'll toss it onto the backs of the poor, at the grocery store, in the sale of pop/beer/cigarettes, those unhealthy choices that poor people are forced to make to allow living here to be palatable. What about when whole generations and families are too ill from their water and soil toxins and cannot procreate and produce more "good little soldiers" for the company store? That might sound far-fetched right now, but how many families in this area have children and elderly family members alike fighting cancer?

We elect good people to the legislature, and they get bulllied, stalked, threatened, they leave. We recruit people to stay that come here for higher education and tourism, but how long until people realize that this method is yet another hamster wheel?

Republican Jesus

It seems an odd pairing, right? Christians, who by text and virtrue proclaim to live as Jesus lived, and Republicans favor the rich and privileged. When did this start? How far back did the marriage of privilege and social scarcity protections begin to flirt together?

Did it begin with Reagan? With his de-regulating in the late '80's? Was it before that?

This all loosely fits in with my theories on capitalism, binary society, and the US being founded upon principles of white supremacy and its cover of "religious freedom". Wages had been strong, tax bases high, society was flourishing, infrastructure maintained. How did the principles of the Bible (translated laregly by groups of men throughout history) begin to get twisted into guilt-inducing "bootstrap" society? Was this a massive failure of an experiment, where it was assumed inherently that human beings would be incapable of bettering society without being starved or placed in direct competition with their brothers and neighbors? Without purchasing "toys" [trophies] and useless mounds of plastic, would American society know if they "made it"? What the fuck even is the "American Dream" if it's only for white people, at the expense of the native society of this land and the black people we dragged here to serve us? This seems the biggest bullshit heist of cover, which could only come about if those in control could also determine curriculum, history books, what was retold and what was buried. Could this white supremacy exist and flourish without being hand-in-hand with the "conservative Christian principles"? And how is it that even when it is pointed out ad nauseum with examples and critical acclaim, oppressed people are gaslit into silence?

Again, as most of my thoughts center around this, who is to benefit? Someone is, or these things wouldn't have been orchestrated together so intricately that people would feel they were fighting the "invisible evil"; Christians waiting for persecution and the second coming, were they set up this victimhood-waiting-to-happen? Was this how a country founded upon "divide and conchor" put a nuance into play that would two centuries later allow for society to turn against each other, fighting not "evil", but the ignorance and inability to critically think, and thus fighting each other? Again - who benefits?

It is clearer and clearer to me that American politics are not about "party" - they are about class warfare; maintaining it, and keeping others below us.

Ask yourself why, ask yourself if you're participating, and ask yourself if this is benefitting your community.

Male vs. Female?

So, as per my usual come-down from Mercury retrograde, my wheels have been turnin' in the noggin.

What's the fuckin' obsession with the government's preoccupation with gender and sexuality? Gender and sex? Squelching any type of education out of the school systems and societal structure that bends "the Christian binary norms". What's the deal? Why is it such a goddamn big deal what is between someone's legs, who someone identifies as, and the strict confines around these? Is there more to it than a perverse Bible-twisted passage, where evangelicals have made being gay worse than being a pedophile? Because why else twist that shit up, you know? When it has been proven time and again that sexual education improves teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted illnesses (STI's) would we knowingly go backwards?

Why is having a male/female society so beneficial to our government? I am assuming that it is beneficial, because at every turn, there are people associating sexuality with sin and illegalities and half-truths. In fact, in legislative session last week in West Virginia, a bill was introduced to ban discussing or teaching sexuality in any form in schools with HB2157 "18-2-7g. Displays and, teaching related to sexuality forbidden. The state board shall prohibit persons from putting up displays relating to sexuality in public school facilities and shall forbid the teaching of sexuality in public schools." Also of incredibly invalidating interest, another bill (HB2595) introduced would make it illegal to teach that any group is basically at fault to teach criteria that places "blame" on a group of people (read: white, cisgender men): "(c) “Race or sex scapegoating” means assigning fault, blame, or bias to a race or sex, or to members of a race or sex because of their race or sex. It similarly encompasses any claim that, consciously or unconsciously, and by virtue of his or her race or sex, members of any race are inherently racist or are inherently inclined to oppress others, or that members of a sex are inherently sexist or inclined to oppress others."

Read more about HB2595 here
Read more about HB2157 here

What is so absolutely beneficial for society in a binary (man and woman) values? Is it to keep "The American Dream" of "working to make it" alive? Is it to keep couples pushing out crotch fruit in order to replace the workforce? I mean, seriously, what the fuck gives? There must be some bigger vested interest in either procreation or oppressing non-binary human beings. I say this because they're "punished" for being different at every turn (take away their benefits, health insurance, etc.), as evidenced by last year's bill proposal that stated that agencies could choose to turn away LGBTQ foster children. Why in the hell would it be necessary to punish a child already in foster care that if they're "different" they will not receive benefits?

If we're able to advance science to a point to identifying gender/sex incongruence, then why in the fuck are so many American institutions choosing to go backwards? Why aren't we trying to save people, by educating the populace about the scientific variants that occur, and that these are PEOPLE who deserve compassion, respect, and understanding? Read more about advanced studies regarding this here . If we know that children identifying as transgender or nonbinary are more likely to experience depression and violence, why aren't we doing more to help society welcome them? It seems that educating adults would be more difficult than educating children; how many senior citizens would watch a video of gender and sex and nonbinary humanities? Probably way less than students who might willingly choose to learn more about their peers. Why is this? Why do we lead with an "adults know best" bunch of bullshit, when it is the adults proposing to punish people for nonbinary lifestyles and sexual choices? Why wouldn't we take the obvious approach of educating all people? Don't we want to save them?

Or is it something more sinister?

Admittedly, I re-watched Dark Waters this past weekend, about the Dupont poisoning of the Wood County, WV/Parkersburg through soil, water, and air means. When I initially watched the movie at the theatre, it struck me - what if it is proven that Dupont TEFLON, PCB's, C8, etc. can change also the DNA structure of our coding to include sexuality and gender? Would this be why West Virginia has the highest concentration of population identifying as transgender? After watching the movie again this weekend, I couldn't ignore it any longer.

How many transgender youth in America had parents and grandparents in Dupont/Chemours zones designated for cleanup? Why aren't we studying the connections between these toxins and our populace's cancer rates and obesity/diabetes? Why do we have so many children being born here with rare brain cancer and tumors?

Instead of suppressing education about these things, it seems that our state would rather take the approach of shutting these people up and oppressing them so they have no voice, and as an activist - you know, KNOW to "follow the money" - what's in it for them, or who are they protecting? This article is from 2012, and there's little in American literature on this subject: here