#anyone encouraging you not to vote wants to suppress it altogether | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

eichy815 · 7 years ago

Text

What I Learned in 2017 (Part 2)

GO BACK TO PART 1

My ideal role, at this juncture in time, would be to host my own radio and/or television talk show – merging politics, pop culture, and other newsworthy social issues or human interest stories in my commentary. But, until such an opportunity arises, I will continue being a rational voice for healthy self-empowerment and personal responsibility. I hope that the symbiotic relationship of me constantly learning new things from other people coupled with my own efforts to raise the consciousnesses of others (and stimulate new thoughts in them) will help me continue on a path of personal growth.

Despite all of the ugly, brutal, hostile, poisonous rhetoric and actions inflicted upon our society throughout this past year, it was one of the best years of my life. For the first time in my life, I truly felt that I have a measurable calling to make a difference in the world. I got to truly see how so many people are left out of the dialogue altogether...how those who have been silenced deserve to be heard, and how we additionally need to “fast-track” the listening process with SOLUTIONS (and a serious desire to enact them). This, unfortunately, will take thousands of fair-minded voices entering the mix...not just little ole me.

For those who want to figure out how to make that tangible difference in the world: I highly recommend the autobiographical memoirs of U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), entitled Off the Sidelines: Speak Up, Be Fearless, and Change Your World. If you draw upon the lessons of Kirsten Gillibrand – possibly our next U.S. President and first female president – you can gauge how to apply that approach within the context of your own life circumstances.

As a gay male Millennial, this year was one of introspection for me. I did a lot of reflecting upon the social privileges (or advantages) that I possess...juxtaposed with the areas in which I am also a member of oppressed groups. For my gay and bisexual brothers (of all demographic backgrounds) who wish to use any literary abilities we have to make strides on behalf of LGBT people...check out the young adult fiction (if you haven’t already) written by authors such as Brent Hartinger, Bill Konigsberg, Alex Sanchez, Mark A. Roeder, Jay Argent, Michael Barakiva, and Adam Silvera.

Although, if I had to narrow it down to *ONE* single book/title, out of all of these authors – it would have to be Bill Konigsberg’s Out of the Pocket. With Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End coming in a close second.

The newly-energized Republican-led House and Senate utterly failed to pass anything of legislative significance. They wasted multiple months trying to hammer out an Obamacare repeal that bore no fruit. They confirmed Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacancy left behind by Antonin Scalia – but only after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell changed the rules to eliminate all judicial filibusters. And that was after a whole year of stonewalling Barack Obama’s original choice to fill the slot, Merrick Garland (although I still maintain that Obama should have nominated Diane Humetewa, instead). And, on top of that, replacing Scalia with Gorsuch doesn’t even alter the ideological balance of the Court all that much.

Now, once the Democrats control White House and Congress again in the future, the GOP probably won’t like the batch of judicial nominees who are pushed through under those circumstances.

Republicans in Congress finally managed to pass through a massive tax reform package...although it’s one that is projected to further increase the national debt and national deficit by trillions of dollars. For this reason, it has been unpopular with most Americans in opinion polls. We won’t see whether or not anyone has begun to feel the effects of this tax overhaul (be they positive or negative) until after tax season has concluded. But one of the subtlest “reforms” the GOP may ultimately come to regret would be FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s rollback of Obama-era consumer protections by repealing net neutrality. Aside from the fearmongering and premature paranoia we saw arise over net neutrality throughout November and December (does anyone seriously believe the telecom giants are going to risk losing competition by censoring content?), the lack of protections or decreased sovereignty that Internet users could experience under the absence of net neutrality won’t bode well for the GOP’s future electoral prospects; specifically, once the business community begins experiencing adverse effects that harms their profit margins.

No one knows for sure what 2018 will bring, electorally. Many Republicans are confident that they can sell Middle America on the Trump agenda and pick up vulnerable Democratic-held seats throughout “red” and “purple” states. Many Democrats are assuming that they can ride a wave of anti-Trump anger to create a “blue tidal wave” that helps them take back Congress. I still lean more toward the prediction that the 2018 midterms will end up in more of a “break-even” scenario, congressionally (Governor’s Mansions notwithstanding), that perpetuates gridlock for the next two years.

There is one major concern that we should be screaming about, from the rooftops: vote-rigging. I’m not talking about the voter suppression and disenfranchisement efforts that we’ve already seen, targeting people of color, the working poor, and college students. I’m talking about potential “vote-flipping” via the hacking of systems that run electronic touchscreen voting machines (specifically those that lack any verifiable paper trails). I would encourage any candidate who trails by only several hundred votes (when a critical mass of their constituents voted using touchscreen machines) to refrain from conceding their elections. Anyone remember the Al Franken / Norm Coleman senatorial recount of 2008...which extended until July of 2009? After eight months of recounting and legal wrangling, Franken was finally declared the winner over Coleman by a mere 312 votes.

Speaking of Al Franken...his resignation after sexual harassment allegations from Leeann Tweeden and seven other women has further divided the Democratic Party. Many supporters of the #MeToo movement have praised Democratic U.S. Senators for calling upon Franken to resign due to his misconduct...citing the need for Democrats to hold themselves to the same standards as Republicans. Others defended Franken by alleging that the accusations were akin to railroading, conspiracies, and/or a false equivalence against Franken compared to the allegations against both Donald Trump and Roy Moore. This latter faction has branded anyone on the Left who called for Franken’s removal as being “traitorous” and caving into a right-wing narrative.

As someone who was never been impressed with Al Franken (neither as a politician nor as a “comedian”), I will be writing about this Cult-Of-Personality-based cognitive dissonance in a future edition of “Eichy Says” in early-2018. But for now, let me analyze their anger: they are subscribing to hero worship of Al Franken because they wanted him to run against Trump for the presidency in 2020, and because they had convinced themselves that Senator Franken was the Senate’s only prominent “bulldog” (against Trump nominees) who had a voting record that was “stellar” compared to a majority of his colleagues. The romanticizing of Franken and acquiescence to “celebrity”-centric sacred cow idolization potentially threatens the Democrats from making the massive level of gains that they hope to make in this upcoming election cycle.

On the other hand, the Trump White House has been marred with its own parade of resignations. Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, and Sean Spicer were the more high-profile early exits amid the new Trump Administration. With Rex Tillerson rumored to be leaving sometime in early-2018 (and Omarosa making a lot of noise, on her way out), does this bode well for the rest of Trump’s cabinet?

The Robert Mueller-led investigation (and the saga surrounding right-wing attempts to overthrow him) only complicates things even further. How many more sitting politicians (either Republican or Democratic) will be forced to resign before the November election, in the wake of #MeToo accusations? How many more cabinet members will decide to grab a life raft to get off of what they may perceive to be a sinking ship?

With all of the premature exits we’ve seen, can Steve Mnuchin, Rick Perry, Betsy DeVos, Mick Mulvaney, and Scott Pruitt be far behind?

Manuel Noriega, the former dictator of Panama, died from a brain hemorrhage in late-May. A somewhat lengthy list of serial killers and terrorists also died, this past year – Charles Manson, Ian Brady, Donald Harvey, and Omar Abdel-Rahman among them.

The irony of this was how the Fall 2017 season of American Horror Story (its seventh installment) was subtitled “Cult,” and was inspired by some of history’s most notorious serial killers and psychopaths. When coupled with social commentary on the Trump/Clinton toxicity from the 2016 presidential election cycle, these eleven episodes truly proved to be a telling allegory of our current times. This is another topic that will be featured in a future edition of my Morpheus magazine column.

Among the high-profile deaths of actors and performers: Don Rickles, Mary Tyler Moore, Robert Guillaume, Bill Paxton, Jack Bannon, Martin Landau, Erin Moran, Adam West, Jim Nabors, Miguel Ferrer, Anne Wedgeworth, Sir Roger Moore, Jerry Lewis, Powers Boothe, Della Reese, Joseph Wapner, Mike Connors, Chuck Barris, Robert Hardy, John Heard, Michael Parks, John Hillerman, Rose Marie, Charlie Murphy, Jack Blessing, Roy Dotrice, Francine York, Joseph Bologna, Sir John Hurt, Earle Hyman, Jay Thomas, Heather North, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Bruce Gray, Harvey Atkin, Rance Howard, Thomas Hunter, Blake Heron, Danny Dias, Conrad Brooks, Jared Christopher Martin, Richard Norman Anderson, Heather Menzies, June Foray, Richard Lawrence Hatch, Brad Bufanda, Robert Michael Morris, Warren Frost, Míriam Colón, Jon Sheppod, Ralphie May, Darlene Cates, Curt Lowens, Nelsan Ellis, Lawrence Montaigne, Harry Dean Stanton, Ann Kimbell, Reggie “Combat Jack” Osse, Nancy Zieman, Glenne Headley, Christopher “Big Black” Boykin, Clifton James, Johnny Fox, Steve Reevis, Elena Verdugo, Dick Gautier, Robert D. Raiford, Frank Pellegrino, Warren Burton, Clifford David, Robert Osborne, Irwin Corey, Skip Homeier, Brent Briscoe, Dina Merrill, Stephen Furst, Dennis Banks, George “The Animal” Steele, Peter Franklin Hansen, Richard Beale, Kevin Geer, Dorothy Mengering, Chris Wiggins, Shelley Berman, Frank Vincent, Evan Helmuth, Tino Insana, and Roger Laverne Smith.

Among the high-profile deaths of musicians and vocalists: Tom Petty, Glen Campbell, David Cassidy, Fats Domino, Gregg Allman, Chester Bennington, Tommy Page, Don Williams, Cuba Gooding Sr., Chuck Berry, J. Geils, Wayne Cochran, Al Jarreau, Curley Seckler, Sonny Burgess, Chris Cornell, Lonnie Brooks, Ritchie Adams, Dominic Frontiere, Roswell Rudd, Al Hurricane, Red West, Marilyn Tyler, Rosie Hamlin, Kevin Mahogany, Jimmy LaFave, David Peel, Ralph Carney, Richard Dobson, Joseph Fire Crow, Keely Smith, Warrel Dane, James “Sunny” Murray, Mundell Lowe, Robert Knight, Barbara Cook, Chuck Mosley, Jon Hendricks, Tommy Keene, and Grady Tate.

Among the high-profile deaths of writers, producers, researchers, and journalists: Glenn O’Brien, Liz Smith, Sue Grafton, Dirk Allen, Irv Weinstein, Robert James Waller, Trish Vradenburg, Jim Marrs, Patricia McKissack, William Peter Blatty, Robert A. Sengstacke, Gerald Greenberg, Diane Straus, Michael Bond, George A. Romero, J.D. DiSalvatore, Clifford Irving, R.C. Sproul, Martin Ransohoff, Simeon Booker, Jimmy Breslin, Marshall Loeb, Marianne Means, Les Whitten, John Paul DeCecco, Nancy Friday, Dick Orkin, Vera Shlakman, Edward S. Herman, J.C. Spink, Bob Schiller, Donald Bain, Robert Getchell, John Ashbery, Len Wein, Judith Bailey Jones, Sam Shepard, Paula Fox, Jim French, and Nat Hentoff.

Among the high-profile deaths of athletes and sports personalities: Roy Sievers, Aaron Hernandez, Larry Libertore, Hal Bedsole, Dick Enberg, Charlie Hennigan, Don Baylor, George Mans, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, Bob Glidden, Len Ceglarski, Frank Lary, Y.A. Tittle, Jimmy Piersall, Tommy Nobis, Harold “Tubby” Raymond, Roy Halladay, Bobby Doerr, James W. Hardy III, Ferdie Pacheco, Connie Hawkins, Red Miller, Jana Novotna, Donald Harper, Robert Yates, Jake LaMotta, Rollie Massimino, John Kundla, Ara Parseghian, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Gene Michael, Dick MacPherson, Babe Perilli, Sam Mele, Bob Wolff, Darren Daulton, Bryan Murray, Charles Shackleford, and Terry Glenn.

Among the high-profile deaths of scientists and medical authorities: Robert William Taylor, Raymond Sackler, Fred Kummerow, Ben Barres, Donald Sarason, Gordon H. Sato, Jimmie C. Holland, George Mostow, Ray Tomlinson, William Schull, Viola Davis Brown, Maurice Green, Thomas L. Saaty, Roger Tsien, Irwin Rose, Jewel Plummer Cobb, William Klemperer, David E. Kuhl, John Knauss, Morton Deutsch, Julius Youngner, Arthur H. Rosenfeld, Michael A’Hearn, Vera Rubin, Thomas Starzl, André Jagendorf, Bruce McCandless, Leonard Reiffel, Patrick Thaddeus, Seymour Jonathan Singer, George Olah, Richard F. Gordon Jr., Claudia Alexander, Tom Cornsweet, Gary Wadler, Joseph L. White, Roy Lunn, Maryam Mirzakhani, Arthur Janov, and Dick Morley.

Among the high-profile deaths of artists, visionaries, and entrepreneurs: Hugh Hefner, David Rockefeller, Roger Ailes, Louise Hay, Rich Buckler, Jonathan Demme, Gary Austin, Don Ohlmeyer, Marty Sklar, Bruce Lansbury, Jim Baikie, Chuck Renslow, Roy Lunn, John G. Avildsen, Stanley Weston, John C. Portman, Mathew Hintz, Domenic Cretara, William Agee, Jack Trout, Daniel Milton Rooney, Bob Givens, John Glick, Wendy Pepper, George Avakian, Henry Hillman, Joe Benjamin Harris III, Ruth Bancroft, Mychael Knight, Bernie Wrightson, Rita Riggs, Lois Rice, Gerry Gersten, Dan Spiegle, Carroll N. Jones III, Fred J. Koenekamp, Brad Grey, Jerry Perenchio, Tom Coyne, and Fred Weintraub.

Among the high-profile deaths of politicians and social activists: John B. Anderson, Pete Domenici, Jim Bunning, Maurice Hinchey, Vern Ehlers, Ralph Regula, Sam Dryden, Cecil Andrus, Erica Garner, Jerry Kleczka, Norma McCorvey, Gilbert Baker, Bill DuBois Sr., Marcus Raskin, Judy Martz, Edith Windsor, Dick Gregory, Lillie Mae Bradford, March Fong Eu, Janet Benshoof, Jerry Yellin, Aleshia Brevard, Roy Innis, Bernard Francis Law, Ruth McClendon, Arthur J. Jackson, Stuart Timmons, Edward Rowny, Joy Corning, Kate Millett, Ed Mah Lee, Arthur J. Finkelstein, David L. Armstrong, Vera Katz, Roxcy Bolton, Ed Garvey, James P. Cullen, Kate O’Beirne, Wesley L. Fox, Norman Dorsen, and Sheila Michaels.

TV continued to be a dynamic medium for delving into our contemporary problems while pulling at heartstrings. Some of the breakout series, for me, in 2018 included Fox’s Star and Shots Fired (the latter of which was canceled), the ABC miniseries When We Rise, the AMC western The Son, and Riverdale on The CW (which remixes the Archie comics into a dark suburban teen soap). Also, after one year of waiting, I finally got to see Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (the long-awaited sequel miniseries to Gilmore Girls), once it came out on DVD and I received it as a Christmas present – I don’t subscribe to Netflix, so I had to spent thirteen months dodging Internet spoilers.

There was one other pleasant surprise for me, on the television front: late in the season, I discovered the increasingly-popular new Disney Channel tween dramedy, Andi Mack. Although its audience and demographics skew younger than shows that I would normally watch, it’s a modern-day mashup of Lizzie McGuire and Gilmore Girls that isn’t afraid to tackle sexuality and race while balancing a lighthearted, family-friendly tone. If its subsequent seasons are handled correctly, Andi Mack could be a broad (albeit exaggerated) glimpse into our future.

Perhaps the most provocative symbols of the year 2017 were Pennywise the Clown and Wonder Woman – each of which hailed from a hit film at the box office.

Pennywise, the supernatural antagonist of Andy Muschietti’s remake of the 1990 miniseries It, represents our worst fears spiraling out of control in a surreal-yet-terrifying manner. Wonder Woman, adapted to the big screen by Patty Jenkins and released last May, represents our ability to persevere (and CONQUER, in the name of justice) while facing down misogyny and xenophobia.

While both of these characters symbolize opposite ends of the spectrum, they both allude to the contentious battles playing out within contemporary society (with American Horror Story: Cult also obviously utilizing the “killer clown” motif amid political commentary).

These conflicts won’t be going away in 2018. The big question is: how will we handle them?

A crossroads awaits us over the next few years...but especially next year. A lot of people out there may feel deflated and ready to give up. But, for me, the dystopian negativity and aggressive attitudes from multiple sources only makes me want to fight even harder to prove them wrong.

0 notes