TLDR; we might not get along all the time, but y’all stuck with me. Even though we may only see eye-to-eye on 70% of shit, the other side is COMPLETELY BLIND.
Long emo version; If you had made a $1,400 bet with me 14 months ago, that I would not only vote for Trump, but identify with his trials and tribulations this past year, I would be down one stimulus check.
I came up listening to punk, hating the Man, and identifying as an anarchist since 17. Not just an angry Hot Topic kid, but I could tell you the difference between Tolstoy and Kropotkin.
90% of my friends range from registered Democrat to radical smash-the-state leftists. Some just want a camp to belong to, but some are incredibly smart and analytical, distrustful of government and learned in history.
And yet...
As of 2020 90% are scared little sheep or worse, patsy bullhorns of the state. Triple masking as they line up for the double dose in the arm... celebrating $1,400 as we pass more $1.4 Trillion dolla bills.
Friends who questioned 9/11, Afghanistan, WMD, housing and bank bail outs, even Epstein now exclaimed “But Faucci and the CDC said!”...
In 2019 I was starting my 8th year as a teacher in in an Urban Education setting. I have a checkered past and tend to float thru life. However, If I REALLY choose to do something, I dive in the deep end. I taught in the poorest zip code of Philadelphia. In 2019, my former school replaced 7 out of 8 admin, and they were Ivy League Justice Warriors to a T. A bunch of out-of-touch non-binary white people telling a black community how to be. Wanted 2 gender Neutral bathrooms in a damn elementary school. I pushed back on politics and policy. Needless to say I was fired last summer even though my student perception scores beat the charter average (25 schools). They lied through semantics, mis representing me in evaluations, and called me underperforming. I was fired during a pandemic by fools.
I pulled the lever for Trump mainly for 2A reasons, and because he WASNT the other guy.
Then I watched the cheat unfold. I could identify with that. Felt familiar. I literally didn’t know what the term “gaslight” meant before that year but knew I had been cheated and what it looked like.
After the election was blatantly stolen I looked up Trumps war statistics vs Obama. Then I learned about him helping HBCUs and advocating for blacks and Jews at Mara Lago in the 90s. If the media lies about that then what else could they be lying about!?!
Then the 6th.
And my punk and liberal and anarchist friends swallowed the whole lie. “INSURRECTION! He’s a Fascist! Handshakes and the coof can kill u! Roll up your sleeve and take Gates’ drugz!”
So here I am.
I don’t say Jogger. I don’t call people faggot. I will still read Noam Chomsky along with watching Salty Cracker.
And yet I am here. I might not be a based pede, but I’m no fucking bootlicking backbiting Commie.
For the past year I was a ship without a port... from this point on I might always be. But aside from some ideological differences, this site has felt as close to that for me.
If you got this far I owe ya a Corona Beer. Cheers.
Great post. By the way - I used to teach in a school in New York exactly like the school you taught in in Philly - and I got fired because I wouldn't make the fascist "Heil Diversity ! Heil progressivism ! Heil Globohomo " stiff arm salute.
You story was very similar to mine - even though I was never a leftist - I considered myself an average person - I voted for people from all kinds of political parties.
As far as Chomsky is concerned - I have read his works on linguistics - but I'm not sure that a guy who was cheerleading for Pol Pot while the Cambodian genocide was going on really has anything to teach me outside of the theory of universal grammars.
Great reply!
I’ll go worst to first: Not arguing but when/where did Chomsky cheerlead for Pol Pot? I’m a bit thick so I can barely hang with his linguistics content, but as far as his political content I came up reading Manufacturing Consent and his critique of Bush Jr wars. Edit: just curious when he made any pro Communist comment?
And regarding teaching, yeah there’s a big push now to teach “this is the agenda!” versus “here are some really different ideas, look through them, think about it, and find your own”
Also if you ever want to just trade crazy teacher stories lmk. I’m sure we both have some doozies 🤣 (like my first year when a teacher transitioning her class to lunch in the hall said “hey can u watch 3 kids in my roomer real quick?” “Sure!” - naive me)
One had a bloody nose from a fight, one was pretending to be passed out till EMT arrive and one was a kid who never got into any trouble!?!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide_denial#Chomsky_and_Herman
You can read the specifics of Chomsky's defense of the Pol Pot genocide in the above link.
By the way - Chomsky has made millions through investing on Wall Street - which is not a great stance for a supposed Communist.
That said - I do give Chomsky credit for at least being a defender of free speech. Most young leftists nowadays are complete enemies of free speech.
Yeah, I had a bloody fight in my classroom once. One of my 8th grade girls came into my class with her crew and assaulted one of my 11th grad girls. There was blood spattered on the walls. I had to pull the attacker off the victim and then deal with her friends. The principal and assistant principal didn't give me an incident report form even though I asked for one. Coverup.
Amen. I don't understand Chomsky's popularity because of shit like that. He was a huge Hugo Chavez supporter too and look how that turned out.