The line that ‘got’ me, no, I’m not a journalist in main stream media, so I have limited venues to share this wonderful essay, regardless, it was this: ‘When the first casualty is truth, the next casualty is trust.’
And that’s where this nearly 80 year old white girl is, I cannot trust the government of the country I love. Speaking to my friends it is clear I am not alone. So many are totally gobsmacked.
What gives me hope is reading this, from you, and reading Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Richard Reich, other thinkers. I know I’m not alone, and I know for sure that we will get through this. Again, thank you!
I don't know how you do it, Xplisset. You give us so many of these long, thought-provoking, informative essays. There are so many good ideas in each of them. One grabbed me right at the beginning - "when you refuse to use power responsibly, you don’t eliminate power. You just hand it to the people who will use it vindictively." In that sentence you nail the principal failure of the Biden administration. They governed well, promoted good policies and did good things for the country in general. But they failed disastrously when they failed to recognize and to use the power they had.
The section about Reconstruction and its failures is brilliant.
And as a retired Vietnam specialist, I especially appreciated your final observation, which you attribute to Ho Chi Minh: "Vietnam will always be Vietnam." This is my own observation, after 50+ years of direct engagement with the language, history, culture and politics of that country. Let us hope that your extension of this observation to our own beloved country is correct. Flawed though we may be, we are still America.
What an incredibly well written and thoughtful piece. You are gifted and I thank you for seeing and sharing it all so clearly. I'll be reading this again once I'm done crying. Thank you for acknowledging those of us trying not to despair in the darkness of now.
Been waiting for your perspective. Brilliant piece. It was murder on camera. He executed her. And millions of Americans were witnesses. He murdered Renne Nicole Good. She was a hero. They can gaslight all they want. America knows what they saw.
I cannot see a grammatical analogy and not get all turned on. " People talk about Appomattox like it was a period at the end of a sentence. It was a comma." In reality the treatment of Black people in this country has been one looooooooong Faulknerian run on sentence.
“In our moment, federal power is being sold as payback, as a settling of scores, as a demonstration that someone is finally going to make ‘them’ feel it.” White people will never “feel it.” It would take a turning of the tables and 400+ of being on the rigged side of the game.
Regarding In Secret, when you said, “It shows you how repression and politeness do not always restrain desire. Sometimes they ferment it. They trap it in the dark until it turns rancid, and then it comes out sideways as cruelty, secrecy, and a kind of hungry, unhinged lust for power,” you defined ICE. And--I hope--the guilt will haunt its members (assuming they still have consciences) forever.
Thank you for that gray bit of hope. Also for the writing. And your thoughts. I never thought of our situation as a giant football game, but it’s useful. Unforced errors explains a lot, on both sides.
One thing about ICE in general and Renee Good in particular. I’ve thought from the beginning that immigrants were only the ostensible targets, the “others” the majority would accept mistreatment of. ICE is the Gestapo, and it will be used against all of us. From the beginning they’ve treated citizens contemptuously, kidnapping and holding them sometimes for days EVEN WITH A PASSPORT IN THEIR HANDS. Kavanaugh’s “brief stop” for verification was always a gaslighting fantasy, a marshmallow topping to obscure the license to attack brown and black people under the guise of “law enforcement". Renee Good shows that white people are as much at risk as brown and black people. (We must have seen different photos of her, because she never looked anything other than white to me…) And everyone who has seen the videos of Jonathan Ross putting himself in position to shoot, aiming at her head, firing three times, and walking calmly away knows that there was nothing unplanned about it. That sequence was mentally rehearsed, and the only question was who would be dead when he finished. I’ve since read that recent ICE recruits are getting a whopping 47 (!) days of training, but Ross is a combat veteran followed by 20+ years at CBP including as a firearms instructor. He’s not an excitable untrained inexperienced rookie. Renee Good’s death shows everyone it does not matter who you are or what you look like, you are vulnerable.
That was thorough. Thanks for pointing out that guilt will out itself, and vengeance will destroy the most determined evildoers such as this administration.
"Do not despair. The lie always looks invincible right before it collapses, because it has to get louder to keep you from hearing your own conscience."
Lots of brilliant thoughts in that piece as usual, hard to choose just one line as you requested but that's my pick. Thanks for sharing your gut punching writing.
"Trained", armed ICE officers surround Good's car for at most a traffic violation. She responds: That's fine dude. I'm not mad at you..; begins to move away from the officers & is shot 3x in the head.
We Democrats prefer consensus building. A lovely approach in times of tranquility, dangerously ineffective in an impending emergency. Right now Americans have one overarching responsibility, to save the Republic from destruction. Until we secure our democracy, everything else is moot.
Did you really have to throw Jane Fonda under the bus Xavier? Standing with the Viet Cong was a huge mistake, an unforced error you might say, but, she was right about the war and has been an activist ever since. She’s walked her talk from exercise to activism her entire life and I think she should be forgiven her youthful mistake.
Diane…yeah. You’re right about the consensus thing. It’s gorgeous in peacetime and it will get you killed in an emergency. That’s basically what I’m screaming about.
On Jane Fonda, I hear you. I wasn’t trying to dunk on her like that. I was reaching for a cultural shorthand, like “don’t label me before you hear the point,” and I can see how it landed as me dragging her. You are correct she’s done a lifetime of real activism and I’m not here to erase that.
My only point was Vietnam as a decade long unforced error and how pride + narrative can trap a whole country. That’s the frame I’m carrying over, not a verdict on her whole life.
Thanks for your clarification. Vietnam is what lit up my activist heart so I still respond strongly.
Though I’m sure some idiots spit on returning service people, I never saw it. Most of us understood the difference between those who declared war and those compelled to fight in it. Quakers led the resistance here in St Petersburg. We fought against that war while welcoming soldiers back, many deeply broken. I ran a free clinic at that time and put several vets to work as volunteers. They still deeply needed to serve, to be useful.
Thank you.
The line that ‘got’ me, no, I’m not a journalist in main stream media, so I have limited venues to share this wonderful essay, regardless, it was this: ‘When the first casualty is truth, the next casualty is trust.’
And that’s where this nearly 80 year old white girl is, I cannot trust the government of the country I love. Speaking to my friends it is clear I am not alone. So many are totally gobsmacked.
What gives me hope is reading this, from you, and reading Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Richard Reich, other thinkers. I know I’m not alone, and I know for sure that we will get through this. Again, thank you!
You are not alone. Absolutely not alone.
I also remember Heather Heyer. Hope I got that spelling right.
I don't know how you do it, Xplisset. You give us so many of these long, thought-provoking, informative essays. There are so many good ideas in each of them. One grabbed me right at the beginning - "when you refuse to use power responsibly, you don’t eliminate power. You just hand it to the people who will use it vindictively." In that sentence you nail the principal failure of the Biden administration. They governed well, promoted good policies and did good things for the country in general. But they failed disastrously when they failed to recognize and to use the power they had.
The section about Reconstruction and its failures is brilliant.
And as a retired Vietnam specialist, I especially appreciated your final observation, which you attribute to Ho Chi Minh: "Vietnam will always be Vietnam." This is my own observation, after 50+ years of direct engagement with the language, history, culture and politics of that country. Let us hope that your extension of this observation to our own beloved country is correct. Flawed though we may be, we are still America.
Its so heartbreaking 😢
What an incredibly well written and thoughtful piece. You are gifted and I thank you for seeing and sharing it all so clearly. I'll be reading this again once I'm done crying. Thank you for acknowledging those of us trying not to despair in the darkness of now.
Me too.
Been waiting for your perspective. Brilliant piece. It was murder on camera. He executed her. And millions of Americans were witnesses. He murdered Renne Nicole Good. She was a hero. They can gaslight all they want. America knows what they saw.
THIS is why I love reading your posts! Thank you!!
I cannot see a grammatical analogy and not get all turned on. " People talk about Appomattox like it was a period at the end of a sentence. It was a comma." In reality the treatment of Black people in this country has been one looooooooong Faulknerian run on sentence.
“In our moment, federal power is being sold as payback, as a settling of scores, as a demonstration that someone is finally going to make ‘them’ feel it.” White people will never “feel it.” It would take a turning of the tables and 400+ of being on the rigged side of the game.
Regarding In Secret, when you said, “It shows you how repression and politeness do not always restrain desire. Sometimes they ferment it. They trap it in the dark until it turns rancid, and then it comes out sideways as cruelty, secrecy, and a kind of hungry, unhinged lust for power,” you defined ICE. And--I hope--the guilt will haunt its members (assuming they still have consciences) forever.
I do NOT want to minimize “Renee Good’s senseless and unnecessary death.” I just want to add some others to the list, so many that they have been classified by year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unarmed_African_Americans_killed_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States
Thank you for that gray bit of hope. Also for the writing. And your thoughts. I never thought of our situation as a giant football game, but it’s useful. Unforced errors explains a lot, on both sides.
One thing about ICE in general and Renee Good in particular. I’ve thought from the beginning that immigrants were only the ostensible targets, the “others” the majority would accept mistreatment of. ICE is the Gestapo, and it will be used against all of us. From the beginning they’ve treated citizens contemptuously, kidnapping and holding them sometimes for days EVEN WITH A PASSPORT IN THEIR HANDS. Kavanaugh’s “brief stop” for verification was always a gaslighting fantasy, a marshmallow topping to obscure the license to attack brown and black people under the guise of “law enforcement". Renee Good shows that white people are as much at risk as brown and black people. (We must have seen different photos of her, because she never looked anything other than white to me…) And everyone who has seen the videos of Jonathan Ross putting himself in position to shoot, aiming at her head, firing three times, and walking calmly away knows that there was nothing unplanned about it. That sequence was mentally rehearsed, and the only question was who would be dead when he finished. I’ve since read that recent ICE recruits are getting a whopping 47 (!) days of training, but Ross is a combat veteran followed by 20+ years at CBP including as a firearms instructor. He’s not an excitable untrained inexperienced rookie. Renee Good’s death shows everyone it does not matter who you are or what you look like, you are vulnerable.
That was thorough. Thanks for pointing out that guilt will out itself, and vengeance will destroy the most determined evildoers such as this administration.
Exactly.
“When your government turns Good into institutional Terror.”
Once again, thank you for your clarity! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Thank you.
"Do not despair. The lie always looks invincible right before it collapses, because it has to get louder to keep you from hearing your own conscience."
Lots of brilliant thoughts in that piece as usual, hard to choose just one line as you requested but that's my pick. Thanks for sharing your gut punching writing.
Former FBI agent: ICE agent was not in danger when he killed Renee Good. https://open.substack.com/pub/deanobeidallah/p/former-fbi-agent-frank-figluizzi?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email Resist MAGA gangster authoritarianism! #VoteBlue!
Trump's ICE incites violence, illegally detains & gangster style summarily executes..."the enemy within"
"Trained", armed ICE officers surround Good's car for at most a traffic violation. She responds: That's fine dude. I'm not mad at you..; begins to move away from the officers & is shot 3x in the head.
ICE $50K bonuses for self induced endangerment & summary execution "training". https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTTmygIEQKm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Resist MAGA gangster authoritarianism! #VoteBlue!
Wow. This is so good. I confess I am only half way through, but it will draw me back.
We Democrats prefer consensus building. A lovely approach in times of tranquility, dangerously ineffective in an impending emergency. Right now Americans have one overarching responsibility, to save the Republic from destruction. Until we secure our democracy, everything else is moot.
Did you really have to throw Jane Fonda under the bus Xavier? Standing with the Viet Cong was a huge mistake, an unforced error you might say, but, she was right about the war and has been an activist ever since. She’s walked her talk from exercise to activism her entire life and I think she should be forgiven her youthful mistake.
Diane…yeah. You’re right about the consensus thing. It’s gorgeous in peacetime and it will get you killed in an emergency. That’s basically what I’m screaming about.
On Jane Fonda, I hear you. I wasn’t trying to dunk on her like that. I was reaching for a cultural shorthand, like “don’t label me before you hear the point,” and I can see how it landed as me dragging her. You are correct she’s done a lifetime of real activism and I’m not here to erase that.
My only point was Vietnam as a decade long unforced error and how pride + narrative can trap a whole country. That’s the frame I’m carrying over, not a verdict on her whole life.
Thanks for your clarification. Vietnam is what lit up my activist heart so I still respond strongly.
Though I’m sure some idiots spit on returning service people, I never saw it. Most of us understood the difference between those who declared war and those compelled to fight in it. Quakers led the resistance here in St Petersburg. We fought against that war while welcoming soldiers back, many deeply broken. I ran a free clinic at that time and put several vets to work as volunteers. They still deeply needed to serve, to be useful.
We all wear the scars still…