I’m Not Done Talking About Gus Walz

Posted on August 29, 2024 by theboeskool

Yeah, I realize the discussion has moved on. The DNC is last week’s news. Little donald’s constant barrage of vileness makes it hard to stay focused for very long on any one act of MAGA depravity for very long. It’s hard to even REMEMBER the disgusting thing he did last week, because he’s done half a dozen even more disgusting things since then. And our attention wanes. We get distracted by the outrage we feel by something like him telling Sheldon Adelson’s wife Miriam that the Presidential Medal of Freedom is “actually much better“ than the Congressional Medal of Honor (the nation’s highest military award) “because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead. She gets it and she’s healthy, beautiful woman.” Trump awarded Miriam Adelson the Medal of Freedom because she was the wife of a Casino tycoon who used his billions of dollars to get republicans elected.

And before we can focus on that piece of filth, he does something like going into Arlington National Cemetery to get some creepy, smiling thumbs-up photo ops next to soldiers’ graves, so his campaign can make a neat TikTok video ad.

And just when you think he can’t sink any lower, he posts this repulsive sexist garbage to his “Truth Social.”

It’s hard to stay focused in the midst of such a vile shitstorm… But I’m going to draw your attention back a week or so to one of the grossest displays of political ugliness I’ve ever seen.

At the Democratic National Convention, Tim Walz’s kids sat with their mother as their father spoke to the crowd. During his speech, Tim looked at his family and said, “Hope, Gus, and Gwen: You are my entire world, and I love you.” And in a beautiful and uncharacteristic moment of emotion, his 17 year old son Gus stood up. His eyes filled up with tears. He put his hand on his chest. He clapped, and encouraged those around him to applaud as well. And then—through the tears and cheers—he proudly yelled, “THAT’S MY DAD!” I honestly can’t even type those words without crying, it’s so beautiful.

When I was in college, my roommate was one of my best friends. He played basketball for Calvin our freshman year. Because of injuries to other players, he was put into the game against a pretty big rival. The Fieldhouse was packed, and I was cheering from the stands. He got hot shooting that day, and I watched in amazement as he hit 6—SIX—three pointers in a row. The place went wild. After he made the sixth shot, the other team called a time out, and right as the cheering started dying down, I yelled, “THAT’S MY ROOMMATE!” at the top of my lungs. Everyone heard me yell those words, and the cheering started back up… I was so proud. But the pride I felt that day watching my friend catch fire in a basketball game doesn’t even come close to the pride a kid must feel watching his dad—the teacher and coach—stand up and accept the nomination for Vice President of the United States of America, and then look at you and tell you you’re his entire world. Just look at this picture:

But there were many people on the political right who did not see this moment as something beautiful. They saw it as an opportunity to ridicule.

Conservative talk show host and republican talking head Jay Weber referred to Gus as a “blubbering bitch boy.”

Gus is neurodivergent and grew up with a non-verbal leaning disorder, and after getting ratioed into oblivion, Jay deleted his post, apologizing about not knowing that “the kid was disabled.”

And I guess this is what I wanted to talk about: The seemingly insurmountable chasm between the political left and the political right in this country. People talk about wanting us to “come together” as a country… But is there any hope of “coming together” when we see a kid getting emotional about being proud of & loving his dad, and one side sees it as heartbreakingly beautiful, while the other side sees it as something to make fun of? How do you “come together” when you see healthy male emotion, and one side sees it as strength while the other side sees it as weakness?

And what’s even MORE bewildering and disheartening (to me, at least) is this: How are there enough broken people in this country that this election is even close? Who looks at the side calling a kid a “blubbering bitch boy” for being so proud of his dad that he cries, and says, “I’m voting with THOSE people.” I hesitate to put this in terms of “good & evil,” but it’s difficult NOT to. If ridiculing a kid for loving and being proud of his dad is not evil, then what is? The list of disgusting, disgraceful, repugnant things donald trump does gets longer every day. The evidence of his vileness is simply overwhelming. If you tried to compile a list, no one would have the time or the stomach to read it… And somehow the race is still close. One side is like, “He’s a felon and an adjudicated sexual assaulter who bragged about grabbing women by the pussy, fanboys over dictators, lies hundreds of times every day, and literally sent his minions to storm the Capitol in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power,” and the other side is like, “She laughs too much.” We are not the same.

But listen: Even though it’s hard to not focus on all the depravity coming from the political right these days, if you look, there’s so much to be encouraged by. The reaction to the people mocking Gus Walz was swift and severe. Sure, it sucks when a few assholes bully a kid. But how cool is it when your whole community comes together to defend that kid, you know? I’m not really that discouraged about the wickedness we see coming from trump and his MAGA minions… I’m pretty used to that by now. I’m more discouraged at what seems like a widening chasm between those who can see it for the evil it is, and those who somehow have talked themselves into embracing being “deplorable.” But I’m hopeful today. Someday in the future, there may be a legitimate reason for voting republican again, but there is no moral case for it right now. This election is not a matter of right & left… It’s a matter of right & wrong. Do the right thing, America.

Thank you for reading. Thank you to my friends who encourage me to keep writing… It really does means a lot to me. If you’d like to support me & this blog, you can BECOME A PATRON. Or you can leave a tip on PayPal or by Venmo at chris-boeskool. You can also follow me ON FACEBOOK and ON TWITTER. Stay hopeful. Look for the helpers. Take care of each other. And for God’s sake, VOTE! This election needs to be an absolute ass kicking.

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See If You Can Tell The Differences Between The Republican Convention and A Nazi Rally

Posted on July 19, 2024 by theboeskool

Last year, Tennessee’s theocratic Governor Bill Lee signed Senate Bill No. 3, which has become known as the “Anti-Drag Bill.” It makes it illegal to engage in “adult cabaret” in any location where a person who is not an adult could view the performance, and even though the word “drag” appears nowhere in the bill, it goes on to describe performers as “male or female impersonators” and makes it a crime to do this where it might be “harmful to minors.” Basically what happened is this: As christian conservatives caught wind of drag queens reading to kids in libraries, white evangelicals did what they do in red states: They clutched their collective pearls, cried out for somebody to “think of the children,” and went on to pass a law to enforce their religion’s sexual ethic on everyone else. Yesterday, a trump appointed circuit court judge just reversed a lower court ruling against the unconstitutional Anti-Drag Bill. So as of right now in Tennessee, if someone dresses in drag in public and there are children around, they are in danger of being arrested. Because for MANY people, a person who is in drag just sitting on a couch and EXISTING can be harmful to kids… As we see here where Mom’s For Liberty member Beth Bourne accosts drag queens who were just waiting in a Waikiki hotel lobby.

So yeah… That’s what these folks think is harmful to children. Just their kids SEEING a man in makeup and a dress is an existential threat to them and the precious eyes of their children. Where they can, christians pass laws to make it illegal for drag performers to be places where kids might even see them (even though kids are about 1000 times more likely to get sexually abused at church than at a drag show… but I digress). In the state I live in, if men in drag—wearing dresses & makeup—march for their right to dance and express themselves, they can be arrested for that. Fast forward from June to July…

Earlier this month, multiple different white supremacist and neo-nazis groups marched through the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, shouting their hatred & bigotry through bullhorns and cowardly identity-hiding masks (while talking about “pride,” ironically). Disaffected and angry white men took to the streets of Nashville to protest their perceived dwindling privilege. And the people to blame? Black & Brown people, immigrants, and Jews apparently. They believe there is a white genocide happening… A “Great Replacement” conspiracy designed by powerful people to use immigration and interracial marriage to dwindle the numbers and power of white Americans.

Unlike drag queens in public places, THESE people playing dress up were not worried about being arrested for their actions. Quite the opposite—they had police protection as they marched. Because dressing up and marching is USUALLY protected actions in America. Genuinely, it feels like the GOP enjoys these sorts of glaring hypocrisies. It feels like a flex. Like, “Yeah, I SEE that it’s hypocritical… We’re going to do it anyway, so you fear how powerful we are.” One of the slogans that the white supremacists and neo-nazis shouted as they marched was the phrase “DEPORTATION SAVES THE NATION.” Fast forward from the nazi marches in early July to this week’s Republican Convention...

Well, you have to hand it to them… Unlike the neo-nazis in Nashville, at least they are brave enough to show their faces while they shout their racist & xenophobic slogans.

And I would bet you that 100% of the throngs of white people at the nazi rally Republican Convention holding up those Deportation Saves The Nation “MASS DEPORTATION NOW!” signs identify as christians. They probably go to church that supports Tennessee’s Anti-Drag Law, and the pastor backs up his bigotry by quoting a Bible verse that says, “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lᴏʀᴅ your God.” But something tells me that same church is not giving a lot of time to the many verses commanding God’s people to be kind and hospitable to the alien, immigrant, & stranger… Verses like, “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lᴏʀᴅ your God.” But again—The hypocrisy is a flex. It’s the same sort of hypocrisy that has an executive of the gay hook-up app Grindr refer to the republican Convention as “basically Grindr’s Super Bowl.”

I’m convinced that WAY more people are bisexual than I used to think… Especially the ones who think that sexual orientation is something that a person can CHOOSE. I don’t know what it’s like to be so bisexual that the gender I’m attracted to is determined by a choice I can make. Anyway, Grindr crashed in Milwaukee this week LOL.

It’s said that “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” This week’s Republican Convention is a testament to that saying. We are on the precipice of a very, very dangerous time. People really didn’t think that Trump would win in 2016, so there wasn’t a plan in place for what to do with him in the White House. 2024 is different. If you haven’t watched this segment from John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, PLEASE take the time to do it now.

We are living in a time where a white supremacist billionaire literally BOUGHT the platform where hundreds of millions of Americans got their news, he changed the rules to encourage the views of avowed racists & neo-nazis (where you can now drop the N-word with impunity, but you can’t say “cisgender”), and he changed the algorithm to boost his own conspiracies while he donates $45million a month to trump’s super pac. Mere minutes on social media can make you feel so defeated and hopeless… And people who are hopeless are a lot less likely to vote. But I’ve got some good news for you that I swear is true: There are WAY more people who are disgusted by the Republican Party and the cult of trump than there are people who support it. All that needs to happen to prevent America’s slide into fascism is for those people to vote.

So listen… I realize you’re scared. I’m scared too. I realize you’re tired & frustrated. I’m tired & frustrated too. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably angry… Angry at the utter failure of the American church in this time… Angry at the way so many of our neighbors seem to embrace the hateful ideology of trump’s Republican Party… Angry that our choice for president—once again—comes down to two very old white men. But we MUST allow that anger to turn to ACTION and not APATHY. I really don’t care if you think that the fact that Joe Biden is 3 years older than the narcissistic rapist felon conman he’s running against somehow makes him too old to be president. We are not voting for one man. We are voting for an ADMINISTRATION. One is an administration that is trying to improve worker’s rights, provide Americans with affordable healthcare, and ask more from millionaires and billionaires to give back to the nation & system that allowed them to amass such wealth.

The other administration includes a VP who referred to trump as “America’s Hitler” (which I feel like SHOULD be a negative, but turns out it might be a selling point). They want to get rid of the Department of Education. They want to get rid of NOAA, OSHA, the FDA and any other agency that regulates or protects workers. They want to get rid of non-partisan specialists and experts within the government, and be able to replace them with MAGA loyalists. They want a nation-wide abortion ban, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or even cases where the life of the mother is in danger. They are running on MASS DEPORTATIONS, for God’s sake. And they want to reduce taxes on the super rich while increasing taxes on the poor and middle class… even though trump added nearly $9trillion to the national debt while in office.

One administration is trying to help working people by pushing policy which protects us from the whims & power of an aspiring oligarchy. The other is working directly on behalf of that oligarchy.

One is led by an old white man who has a stutter. The other is led by an old white man who’s a convicted felon whose name appears all of Jeffery Epstein’s flight records, was found liable by a jury of his peers in a court of law for rape and slander, incited and insurrection and then waited HOURS before telling his followers to stop, bragged about sexual assault and “grabbing them by the pussy,” took the side of Putin over the American intelligence community, lies so much it’s nearly impossible to fact check him in real time, and has a convention that is almost impossible to tell apart from an actual nazi rally.

You. Me. WE have a responsibility to vote. Whoever’s name is at the top of the democratic ticket… THAT is who we must vote for. I don’t care if it’s Joe Biden, Joe Biden’s ghost, or Joe Biden’s shadow. Hell, I would vote for Donald Trump’s bloated & soiled Depends Undergarments before I’d vote for Donald Trump. We’re voting for an administration. If Biden says he’s staying in the race, then that’s who we are voting for. We are voting for FILL IN THE BLANK, because the other option would be unthinkable, and he’d do harm that could take decades to repair. We can & will do this… Do NOT lose hope!

If you are feeling hopeful right now, please don’t forget to take the time to encourage the people around you. These are dark days, but it’s far from over. In both France and England, voters overwhelmingly rejected fascism and right-wing extremism in their most recent elections. The news wants to paint a picture of hopelessness, because people without hope don’t stand in line to vote. But there IS hope. In the words of Winston Churchill, “I am an optimist. It does not seem of too much use being anything else.” Anyway, f you’d like more of me in your life, you can follow my on Facebook or on Twitter. And if you’d like to support my writing, leave a tip, or pass on some financial encouragement, you can do that on PATREON, on PAYPAL, or Venmo at chris-boeskool. Love y’all.

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Dear MAGA Cultist: Here’s Why I Put My Pronouns In My Bio

Posted on June 13, 2024 by theboeskool

Hi there, person who just showed up in my social media notifications with some tired, overused comment about how you are dismissing my clever comment/biting sarcasm/witty response because I (along with many other people) have put my pronouns in my bio. My name is Chris (He/Him), and I’ve been meaning to write this for a while…

Social media profile pics and bios are a quick way to give people an idea of who you are. For example, chances are good you have a picture of some sort of star-spangled cross or an eagle holding a gun or some other obscure image that—like a pointy white hood—hides your cowardly identity and allows you to say whatever racist, bigoted things you want on the internet while maintaining a sense of impunity. You might have something about trump or “MAGA” or “2A” or maybe even some QAnon reference in your bio. And I’d ALSO be willing to bet you have something in your profile identifying you as a christian or a “follower of Christ,” even though a literal moment’s research would almost certainly reveal the things you post to be absolutely DRIPPING with the most insidious brand of bigotry & judgment & hatred.

You probably just read a comment I wrote, looked at my bio, saw the “He/Him” there, and thought to yourself, “THIS IS MY BIG CHANCE! I’m usually not very good at making jokes in my regular life, but I’m going to let this stranger on the internet know that—because of the presence of those pronouns—I don’t respect the things he has to say. I can ridicule him and make “jokes” like these:”

If you are a person who has ever included your pronouns in your bio, you have no doubt seen some variation of the same “joke,” all told by what seems to be a collection of the most boring people on the planet. Sometimes these folks will include a version of the “joke” in their own bios… Stuff like “My pronouns are Fu¢k/Joe/Biden or Fire/Fauci or some such hilarity. If this is you, I’m honestly not sure what made you this way… Maybe you grew up in a home without any sort of love. Maybe an uncle gave you a Jordan Peterson book for your birthday when you were in college, and the timing coincided with that girl telling you she doesn’t like you in that way, and all your anger & shame found an outlet, and you thought, “If I was just more MANLY, THEN she’d love me.” Maybe you are just wholly unable to come up with something original. Maybe someone, somewhere once told you the lie that compassion is weakness, and for some reason you believed them. Whatever the reason, you strike me as profoundly broken people.

So listen… I’m going to do my best to explain to you why I put those pronouns there, okay? It’s not because I feel like I have to tell you I’m a man (although, admittedly my tenor voice has been referred to as “ma’am” in more than one fast food drive-thru over the years). I’m a 6’2″ bald guy who often has some sort of facial hair… I’m not writing “he/him” because I’m worried about being mistaken for a woman. Here’s why I include my pronouns: I include my pronouns because I love my trans, non-binary, and gender-non-conforming friends, family, & community members. That’s it… That’s why I do it. I’m not sure if this is news to you or not, but there are some people out there whose gender is not as readily apparent as mine is… and because I care about those people and don’t want to make their lives even harder, I include my pronouns. I do this to try to make them feel more welcome and less awkward about sharing the pronouns that THEY use, which might not be as easily identifiable as mine are.

When I used to work in schools, we’d do presentations in schools all over Tennessee. When the kids would ask questions, we’d call on them by pointing toward them and saying, “The person wearing the blue shirt” or “The person with the long, dark hair.” Things like that… And the REASON we did this is because sometimes people get the kid’s gender wrong, and it sucks to have your peers snicker & laugh because some dumb educators misgendered you at school. If you’re in a classroom setting, another way to prevent this kind of embarrassment is to simply ask EVERYONE in the class to provide the pronouns they use, rather than only asking the people whose pronouns you are unsure of.

And it’s not just kids or people who are in the process of transitioning who get misgendered. Some people identify as gender fluid. Maybe there’s a woman who is bald because of alopecia, and she’s not interested in wearing makeup or wearing traditionally feminine things that might make it easier for the people around her to identify her gender. Some people feel more “both/and” and prefer “They/Them” pronouns. There are plenty of ways for people to be outside of the norm in ways that don’t fit nicely into a binary model… And as we encounter those people, there are people who choose to do things that make those folks feel more INCLUDED or people who choose to do things that make those folks feel more EXCLUDED. It seems like those of you who are critical of people posting their pronouns belong to the latter group…

Sometimes it feels like a significant portion of our country was educated about diversity by Michael Scott…

People who live in a binary, black & white world struggle to see nuance or anything that resembles a spectrum. And I get it: Things can get confusing when we use masculine or feminine pronouns to delineate between both gender AND sex… Which, by the way, are not the same thing. Sex has more to do with biology, and gender has more to do with social expressions, roles, & norms. Most people grow up being taught that sex is one of TWO boxes: Male or Female. When people find out that—like most of biology—it’s more complicated than that, some people respond with fear and anger at the realization of that complexity. Some of those folks decide to embrace their ignorance, as a sort of “I’ll show THEM” response (as a side note, this is one of the reasons the right wing like to demonize academic & intellectual “elites.” It’s also why you see a coordinated effort to attack both public schooling AND institutions of higher education. People who go to trade schools are a lot less likely to learn about the complexities of human biology).

In most cultures, gender is fairly binary, but MANY cultures around the world include “third gender” categories, like the māhū in Tahitian and Native Hawaiian cultures. Some Native American traditions have four genders: Feminine women, masculine women, feminine men, and masculine men. Most academic & anthropological studies of gender have five different gender groupings where people fit: Males, Females, Androgynous (like intersex people of those with gender liminality), Transgendered (with trans having a meaning of beyond normal boundaries), and non-sexual or neutered people… Eunuchs, for example.

SPEAKING of which (and especially for those of you who identify as christian)… There is a story in the Bible about an Ethiopian Eunuch. It takes place during the early days of the church, when the church was growing and there was a debate going on about whether people had to become Jewish before being Christian, or whether this “Jesus” stuff was for EVERYBODY… Gentiles included. The book of Acts is the story of that growth, and in Acts 8 we learn of a 1) Ethiopian (cultural & racial outsider) 2) Eunuch (a sexual minority who was excluded from traditional Jewish worship) who was reading a passage from Isaiah. Then Philip the Evangelist told this dark-skinned sexual minority about Jesus, they rode past some water, and the Eunuch was BAPTIZED into the Church. Of ALL of the stories the author could have chosen, he included the story of the inclusion of an outsider who didn’t fit nicely into the traditional sexual binary. Think about that for a little bit—ESPECIALLY those of you with “follower of Christ” in your bio—before you ridicule people for attempting to make non-binary and trans people feel more welcome by including their pronouns in their own bios. For some reason that story is not as popular with evangelicals as the couple of verses condemning same-sex relations…

Anyway, during the trump presidency, there was a great, short article written with the amazing title, “I Don’t Know How To Explain To You That You Should Care About Other People.” And in a lot of ways, that’s really what this comes down to… Some people care enough about others to wear a mask to prevent the spread of a deadly disease during a pandemic. Others don’t. Some people care enough about others to vote to fully fund our public schools so that poor kids can receive a quality education just like rich kids get. Others don’t. And some people care enough about others to put their pronouns in their bio so that a group of people who are used to feeling like outsiders feel just a little more “normal.” Others don’t. I’m PROUD to post my pronouns, just like I’m proud of the trans, non-binary, & gender-non-conforming people in my life… And your worn-out jokes don’t make me mad as much as they just make me feel sad for you. I can’t imagine being so profoundly broken that I actually feel ANGER at seeing another person doing a simple act of compassion in order to make a non-binary or trans person feel a bit more welcomed & included. That seems like such a sad existence to me…

Thank you so much for reading. If my writing is meaningful to you, and you’d like to support me or leave a tip, you can BECOME A PATRON, leave a TIP ON PAYPAL, or Venmo me at chris-boeskool. If you want to get a notification when I write something new, you can subscribe to this blog. And if you want to follow my on social media, you can do that on FACEBOOK or on the shitshow that TWITTER has devolved into. And please, PLEASE… Don’t let bigoted dipshits badger & bully you into not doing a small act of kindness & compassion that can make vulnerable people’s lives just a little bit easier.

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Here’s Why “Christian Nationalists” Love Trump

Posted on May 10, 2024 by theboeskool

It seems it’s become less and less unfashionable in America to identify yourself as a “Christian Nationalist.” It’s difficult to describe Christian Nationalism in a concise way, but at its heart, it consists mostly of people who believe that they have to “take back the country” for God. That often means a return to straight, white christian men being in charge, so it’s no surprise that these folks immediately identified with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Before we get too much further, I’m going to need you to take a minute & forty-five seconds to watch this clip of a Christian Nationalist theobro named Joel Webbon talk about his belief that the only way forward for America is to have a “Caesar-type” leader to rise up, who “Constitution be dammed, just rules with an iron fist.”

Joel probably gives away the plan here a little more than some people might like. The truth is that “Christian Nationalism” has always been a disguise for saying “Fascism” while that word is still largely unpopular. Nazi talking points like focusing on ‘birth rate” and the lie that is “the great replacement theory” belie the REAL end-goal 4 these theobros: Democracy won’t preserve their power, so they need use FORCE. That force is fascism. And there are snakes all over the garden, whispering “Is fascism REALLY that bad?”

If you speak of the virtues of democracy, more and more you’ll hear people bring up the quip that “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.” And don’t be surprised to have someone mansplain & correct you about how we’re ACTUALLY a Constitutional Republic. And what’s so frustrating is that these christian nationalists paint themselves as “patriots” when they HATE what America has traditionally stood for. Speaking of which, watch this short clip of Jamie Raskin destroying Re. Glenn Grothman with actual context, intelligence, & understanding on the popular right-wing Republican/Republic talking point.

Trump started his presidential campaign making hatful, racist, comments about Mexicans, and proudly displaying nativist, exclusionary plans for banning Muslims. And republican voters LOVED him for it. This is why we see so many people on the political right identifying Immigration as their number one concern… even in states that are nowhere NEAR a border. Though it shouldn’t be overlooked that their preoccupation with ending U.S. immigration NEVER seems concerned with people coming across the Canadian border. Their nativist focus is on Brown people who don’t speak “our” language. For them, the model American is a white, straight, christian English speaker… and each deviation away from that model make an immigrant less desirable. This is why christians who would normally clutch their collective pearls at the use of the word “shithole” all decided to let it slide when Trump lamented that people from all the SHITHOLE countries (Haiti and African nations) were sending their people, rather than places like Norway (with their famously diverse population).

American christians seem more horrified and offended by naughty words than they are by the promise of the end of American democracy… Or by policies that actively support genocide, for that matter.

Trump is the perfect solution to the problems Christian Nationalists point out. Hence, their “tolerance” for trump’s constant praise of & affinity for despots, strongmen, & dictators. They act like they endure some of his nativist, xenophobic comments, but in actuality, it’s a large part of why they love him. Many white Americans have been absolutely simmering for decades about being told that they can’t say certain words anymore… You know, like they could back when America was “great.” Many republican politicians question whether diversity is really a good thing, and they do it with impunity. They idealize and hold up Japan as a model of a functioning homogeneous society, and they’ll ask the question, “Why can’t we do that HERE?” These are the sorts of talking points that—until fairly recently—were only heard from the fringes… from people with white hoods or swastika tattoos. Now we hear them echoed in the halls of Congress. For the Republican Party, virtues like Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion have become effective boogiemen to scare white christian voters to the polls.

Their goal is out in the open: It’s fascism. But make no mistake: They can’t accomplish this goal without the church… Without slimy “pastors” like Joel Webbon making a theological case for their plan. And these power-hungry predators often hold sway over 1000s of voters. Look at the aimless shlubs still attending JP Miller’s church (If you don’t know this tragic story, you can read about it HERE). The people in those pews watched their pastor use his position of power groom a teenage girl, divorce his wife & mother of his 5 kids, and then abuse Mica Miller until she saw no other option than to take her own life. Even when they see PROOF of his philandering while he’s still married, people are still showing up and handing over their money to this grifting charlatan. It fills me with rage and sadness.

Right wing pastors are the perfect pairing for people with fascism as a political plan. These abusive pastors already exemplify a brand of theological fascism from the pulpit. Religion has long been used to coerce the ignorant & impressionable to stay under the control of an abusive leader, w/ fear of HELL as a consequence for the betrayal known as “free thought.” This is why evangelicals will bristle so hard at any challenge to the doctrine of hell: LOSS OF CONTROL.

And control is the end goal of Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism is just a softer way of saying “Fascism, but with some people calling themselves ‘christians’ in control.” And that promise of power might actually be appealing to SOME christians… But when you dig a little deeper into the ideology, you find that their aversion to diversity does not stop with religion. These are the sorts of people who are rooting for the wrong side when they read or watch The Handmaid’s Tale. They want men in control. They want patriarchy. They want white power. And they do NOT trust democracy to get them there. And in walks an orange malignant narcissist with delusions of grandeur and 91 criminal indictments, talking about making America great again. Again. And these Christian Nationalists are willing to sacrifice democracy to a fascist narcissist if it means preserving even a *BIT* more of their power.

I feel like just about everything that can be said about trump has been said. At this point, if a person can’t see the evil of who trump is, they’re either not going to see, or that’s why he’s their guy. But in six months, we’re having another election. And the choice is—once again—between two old white men: One a fascist wannabe dictator… The other a flawed leader who has been largely unconcerned with the cries of the people of Palestine as Israel attempts to ethnically cleanse and genocide them. I wish so much that the choice we had was different, but it’s not. It seems that the power of protest has moved the moral needle of Joe Biden at least a little, as he recently paused the shipment of weapons to Israel. But the stakes are too high to throw away a vote. We must do everything we can to keep trump as far from the presidency as possible. It’s so important for us to not give in to apathy and hopelessness. It’s so import for us all to vote.

Thank you so much for reading. If you’d like to follow me on social media, you can do that on Twitter and on Facebook. If you’d like to leave a tip or help support my work, you can Venmo a tip to chris-boeskool or PayPal, or even become a patron on Patreon. Okay, that’ll be the last of the P alliteration for today… Love y’all.

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What Israel Is Doing To The People Of Gaza Is Not “Defending Themselves.” It’s a Genocidal Massacre.

Posted on November 7, 2023 by theboeskool

So listen, I realize that many of your collective eyes glaze over when people start talking about the Bible… That being said, I’m going to start off this totally-non-controversial blog post by talking about the Bible. If you’re not familiar with the Bible, that’s totally fine. I’m going to summarize part of it: In the Biblical story of the Jewish people, the people of Israel were taken as slaves in Egypt. Their escaping bondage is a HUGE part of the Old Testament story and of the Jewish faith. When the law was being laid out, all through Deuteronomy the people were told OVER AND OVER to REMEMBER. “Remember that YOU were slaves in Egypt.”

When they were told not to oppress workers who are poor & needy…
When they were told to treat people fairly…
When they were told to leave part of their fields to feed the foreigner, the fatherless, & the widow…
When they were told to forgive debt & commanded to observe the Year of Jubilee…

They were told to REMEMBER. You KNOW how awful & evil the oppression of evil of Egypt was… You KNOW how it felt… REMEMBER that awfulness & evil, & uses those memories to be sure to never treat others with those same acts of oppression.

There’s something about knowing how oppression feels that SHOULD inform & hopefully alter people’s actions when & if they ever find themselves in the position of oppressing others… But you have to remember. This is why, later on, when he told a story of a man who was forgiven a great debt, but had no grace for someone who owed him just a little bit, a Rabbi named Jesus came down so hard on the guy whose large debt was cancelled, but he beat up the poor schmuck who owed him a little: He should have known better. I have written about this before…

Palestinians mourn relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in front of the morgue in Deir al Balah on October 31. Fatima Shbair/AP

About 80 years ago, millions & millions of Jewish people were the victims of a genocidal campaign. People like to paint the Holocaust as if it were the actions of one evil madman… But there are many ways people support genocide. Some support it actively, some support it by going along with the crowd, and some support it staying silent when they know they should be speaking up. And please hear me when I say this: WHAT ISRAEL IS DOING TO GAZA RIGHT NOW IS AN ACT OF GENOCIDE.

One month ago today, Hamas militants led a coordinated attack on both military & civilian targets. In one day they killed over 350 members of the Israeli military & police, and they targeted & murdered over 1000 Israeli civilians. They also took over 200 civilians and soldiers hostage. These murders were brutal & horrific, they were war crimes, and they were almost universally condemned. And when people commit war crimes, the international community must come together to decry those actions, followed by working toward consequences for those crimes and taking those criminals out of power. Instead, how Israel has responded is by deciding to bomb everywhere they think a Hamas member might be, regardless of how many civilians are in the same area. These bombings have killed anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 Palestinians… Thousands & thousands of whom are children.

Under the guise of retaliation for the October 7th attacks, Israel has engaged in what can only be described as a genocidal attack on the people living in Gaza. There are people who study genocide in the hopes of preventing it, and those people have observed 10 stages of genocide. By any estimation, what Israel is doing to the people living in Gaza in the late stages of the 10 stages of genocide. Read through these stages… This is full-on genocide.

The people living in Gaza are living in the world’s biggest open-air prison. They live in a permanent state of apartheid. Just under 50% of the people living there are children. Israel is using white phosphorous bombs—an international war crime. They have turned off electricity & water to the people living in Gaza. Multiple times, Israel has bombed refugee sites, killing hundreds. They have killed thousands of children as they openly attack civilian sites. Nearly HALF of the housing units in Gaza—one of the most densely populated places on the planet—have been destroyed by the bombs being dropped by Israel.

And they do all of these horrific things with the support of the United States government. As the world cries out for a ceasefire, American politicians on both sides of the aisle have reaffirmed their support for Israel’s war crimes. It seriously makes me feel insane. Ta-Nehisi Coates is smarter & more eloquent than I could ever hope to be, and I need you to watch this video of him talking about how what is happening in Palestine is NOT complicated. Yes, the history of the region is complicated… But the MORALITY of what is currently happening is very clear: It’s an occupation. It’s oppression. It’s apartheid. It’s genocide. Please, please watch this video:

Dozens of journalists have been killed. You can find the translation in the comments of the tweet below, but you really don’t even need it. You can see the emotion pouring from this journalist’s whole body as he talks about the atrocities he has seen and the murdered family of his colleague, killed by Israeli bombs.

These pictures and these videos break my heart. I don’t want to post it here, but here is a link to video the aftermath of an Israeli attack on an ambulance because they thought a member of Hamas might be in one of the ambulances (Caution: It is VERY graphic).

https://twitter.com/khalilo1/status/1719782770572951637?s=20

Not everyone is staying silent. Some politicians and some celebrities are speaking up…

What feels most maddening is that any criticism of the war crimes Israel continues to commit in Gaza is met with accusations of antisemitism. And make no mistake, there is plenty of antisemitism out there… It is horrible & harmful, and where we see it, we need to loudly and consistently call it out. But for some people, any support for the Palestinian people or of a free Palestinian state is interpreted as anti-semitism. Wanting Israel to stop killing civilians and children who are trapped in a modern day concentration camp does NOT mean that you are antisemitic.

A common refrain is that the people of Gaza kind of had this coming… Like “this is what they get for voting for Hamas.” But 47.3% of Gaza’s population are kids. 28% of the population is under NINE YEARS OLD. The last election where Hamas was elected into leadership was held in 2006. The nearly 5000 kids that Israel has killed were NOT voting in that election… They weren’t even born yet. And they have grown up in the poverty & incredible hardship that comes with living in a strict land & sea blockade—enforced by Israel—that prevents food, medicine, & people from moving across the border.

A few days ago, the mother of this five year old girl attempted to celebrate her daughter’s birthday while living in the war zone that is Gaza. The mother’s name is Doaa. She had her Ph.D. and was living in Gaza working as an Arabic and English instructor. About a week ago, she tweeted about how hard it was to simply find a cupcake to celebrate her daughter’s birthday. Three days ago, she & another of her daughters (7 years old) were killed by an Israeli airstrike. Let this break your heart. This has got to stop.

These children being slaughtered are not terrorists. They are not members of Hamas. And they are NOT an acceptable casualty of war.

Imagine there was a violent gang was living somewhere in your neighborhood. And after a series of gang murders, the police decided to drop bombs on houses, schools, and hospitals in order to weed out the gang members. This is what is happening in Gaza. And it is not okay. Listen—If I am ever taken as a hostage, raped, or murdered by terrible people, and then those terrible people hide in a school or a hospital, I’d like to go on record as saying that I do NOT want you bomb that school or hospital—killing hundreds of kids in the bombings—because you think that’s the only way to get the bad guys. If you think that I would want you to do something like this, you don’t know me at all. This kind of thinking seems so monstrous to me.

So what can we do? We need to be putting as much pressure as possible on our representatives to CALL FOR A CEASEFIRE IMMEDIATELY. If you don’t know who your representatives are, you can put your zip code in ON THIS WEBSITE and it will tell you their name & give you their number. CALL THEM. In addition to that, speak up! Amplify the voices of people crying out for an end to the violence & carnage & genocide happening in Gaza right now. I guess that’s why I’m writing this: I mean, I want to inform people… Part of me is just angry & wants to vent… But really, a big part of me just wants to be on the record as speaking out AGAINST the genocide taking place right now. Calling for a ceasefire, calling for a free Palestine, and calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal attacks against the people of Gaza is NOT antisemitism. It’s just basic morality.

Thank you so much for reading. I have written on this subject before (HERE and HERE). It’s interesting to see my perspective progress… But one thing that HASN’T changed is that I believe God (in however the definition of that word has evolved for me) is more concerned with being on the side of the oppressed than God is concerned about who is getting the theology “right” (and I haven’t touched on the craziness that is Evangelicals believing that this conflict HAS to happen for Jesus to return). But without a doubt, the people of Gaza are being oppressed right now. PLEASE call your representative and demand a ceasefire. If you feel moved by the things I’ve written here, you can share this post. And if you value my writing and this blog, you can support me by BECOMING A PATRON or by leaving a tip ON PAYPAL or by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool

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Calvinism Attracts The Worst People… Here’s Why:

Posted on October 29, 2023 by theboeskool

I come from a long line of Calvinists. Both sides of my family run thick with both Reformed Theology and debilitating Dutchness. My grandfather was a Christian Reformed minister, and I’d bet that just about every one of my family members can tell you what the acrostic “TULIP” stands for. Even my education—from elementary through college—was steeped in this troubling tradition.

I say “troubling,” but please don’t read this as me saying “Calvinists are bad people.” Some of the sweetest, most loving & generous people I’ve ever known continue to embrace the reformed tradition. But not all Calvinists are in the same camp. It feels to me like there are three main groups of Calvinists in the world right now, and only one of them is truly… Depraved (for lack of a better word):

  1. People who grew up in Reformed Christianity, and for whatever reason—be it lack of exposure to competing ideas, lack of desire or willingness to question an established authority, lack of interest in or free time to devote to wrestling with theological questions, or any number of other reasons—they never considered challenging the beliefs of their established tradition. The reason they stay is not necessarily due to ignorance or indifference… It might just be inertia.
  2. People who have seen the inconsistencies & dangers in Reformed Theology, started pulling on the stray snags in the sweater of their religious tradition (exclusion & homophobia & the incongruent inflexiblity of a movement built of reform, to name a few), and—rather than puling those strings until they are wearing nothing, they’ve decided to dedicate themselves to mending that old sweater. They stay because of the deep ties to and deep love for the friends & family inside Calvinism… attempting to reform Reformed religion.
  3. (This is the really gross one) People who are newly attracted to the way Calvinism explains and abdicates responsibility for the darkness of their own hearts. The worst of these are the awfully loud & loudly awful “Theobros” who run in packs online, feeding off each other’s depravity, like they’re actively trying to provide the world a living proof text for the Need For A Savior. “You don’t believe in Total Depravity?!?” they say… “Check THIS out!”

In short, the first group is sort of “This is my group & I don’t really feel like changing.” The second group believes “I can change it from the inside.” And the third group is like, “Wait, you’re telling me I can be as awful as I want to people on the internet, and I get to credit it to my religion?!? I’M IN!” To be fair, there is also a fourth group that consists of “It’s just not worth it anymore… I’m out.“ I can understand & sympathize with all of the groups. Except group number three. Number threes REALLY gross me out.

For those of you looking for a last minute Halloween costume idea…heobro

I’m trying to come up with an analogy, but I’m having a lot of trouble. They all seem so implausible… Slapping the elderly? People abusing kids as their “natural” inclination? Throwing rocks at cars off of an overpass, and thinking “Everybody does it”?!? It’s just so wild to think of TOTAL DEPRAVITY as our instinctive state of being. John Calvin used phrases like “utterly perverse” and “naturally hateful to God.” He said of humans that “everything which our mind conceives, meditates, plans, and resolves, is always evil.” What kind of deep-seated issues does someone have to have to not only embrace this view of his own heart, but also ascribe it to the whole of human nature?

But there are corners of christianity—mostly male, almost totally white, and predominantly bearded—who are rediscovering Calvinism and committing themselves to being public theologians, while pushing a worldview which STARTS from a place of “We are all utterly perverse.” And here’s the thing, guys: I’m with you about the “utterly perverse” part… Just not the “ALL” part. To me, it seems totally depraved to believe that we are incapable of doing anything good. If y’all want to form a group of like-minded bros who are bound together by their belief in their own depravity, I can’t stop you. But maybe leave the rest of us out of it. Brokenness? Sure. Propensity for evil? Fine. But if you’re incapable of seeing the good that people do each day, THAT seems like an appropriate example of “utterly perverse.” And anyway, John Calvin: If we’re so incapable of doing good, how’d you come up with that “good” theological framework? Checkmate, Johnny.

These pockets of new Calvinists have an inclination toward white christian nationalism, and it is almost always coupled with a good portion of misogyny and a disposition toward fascism. And I’m not sure if it’s a chicken or an egg thing. I don’t think Calvinism necessarily breeds fascism… My gut tells me these new adherents of Reformed Theology are a result of damaged people looking for a theological landing spot that doesn’t conflict with their toxic masculinity. It’s brokenness looking for an explanation rather than seeking a solution or a remedy. If you are a person who gets pleasure from being cruel to other people, you’d probably be drawn to a theology proclaiming that deep down we are ALL sadists.

But make no mistake: This new batch of Calvinists are drawn to the doctrine of Total Depravity in the very same way some trump cultists are drawn to embracing the term “Deplorables.” And the wide crossover on the Venn diagram of these two groups is NOT a coincidence. Not sure what—if anything—can be done about it… But seeing these parallels has made it easier for me to understand these folks, and maybe it will be of some help to you as well.

Thank you for reading. If you have any ideas for how to handle people who are drawn toward Depravity & Deplorability, I’d love to hear them. And if you’d like to support me, my writing, & this blog, you can BECOME A PATRON. If you’d like to leave a tip, you can do that ON PAYPAL or by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool. Stay hopeful & stay rational… If you can manage that. Love y’all.

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Arrested For A Prostitution Felony, Welcomes “Actual Literal Nazis,” & Running For Mayor of Franklin, TN: MEET GABRIELLE HANSON

Posted on October 5, 2023 by theboeskool

Just a little bit south of Nashville, you’ll find the little conservative paradise called Franklin, Tennessee… Well, it’s a paradise for some. It’s far from MY idea of paradise… But if you like gated communities, Civil War reenactments, & embarrassing republican candidates, you might find it charming. Franklin is one one of the wealthiest cities in one of the wealthiest counties in the entire United States: Williamson County. Williamson County experienced a population boom when white parents fled Nashville after finding out their precious white children were going to have attend the same school as Black kids, and many of those White-Flighters ended up in Franklin. I really try to limit my trips there, but the only other Costco in Middle Tennessee is WAY far away from my house… So when I have a hankering for a family portion of street tacos, bulk snacks for these ravenous kids, or a $1.50 hot dog, I’m kind of stuck. When I DO go, I make sure to wear T-shirts that ruffle their rich little conservative christian feathers… Like the one that says, “Jesus Was An Unarmed Black Man.”

But this post isn’t to heckle Franklin for its racist, White Flight past. This post is to draw your attention to one of the most truly disgusting people to ever run for public office in this part of the country (and that is saying a LOT, because this area has also produced the moral & ethical abortion know as Marsha Blackburn). Imagine someone who can actually stand out against the villainous backdrop of a lying scoundrel like Marsha Blackburn… Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you Gabrielle Hanson.

Here we see Gabrielle Hanson, looking at the judge who is chastising her for being “non-responsive and evasive” while answering questions about her alias. She very likely perjured herself during her testimony.

The first time I heard of Gabrielle Hanson was after the Covenant School shooting. Three kids and three adults were murdered in a school shooting, and immediately after, every quasi-religious nutjob & QAnon-adjacent clown in the area started spreading rumor & lies & conspiracy theories about who was killed & why it happened. Within this disgusting noise, I heard of a Franklin Alderman (I admit I have no idea what an Alderman does, but I know it’s an elected figure) who said she KNEW it was going to happen before it happened. That Alderman was Gabrielle Hanson. She said on a podcast that she told an officer that “her GUT told her there was going to be an active shooter” and that when the shooting happened, she was “not surprised.” She went on to say that “within 30 minutes of the shooting, [she] had the whole story,” and then detailed allegations of a “love triangle.” Here is a recording of her getting totally chewed out & shamed (by a host of this area’s far-right talk radio station, no less) for her lies & gossipy falsehoods about the Covenant shootings.

It’s 9 minutes long, but I swear you will come away from it with distilled distrust & a newfound, profound disgust for this awful, awful woman.

This year the Board of Aldermen (I take it there’s more than one Alderman) were tied on a vote as to whether or not to allow a Pride festival in Franklin. When current Franklin mayor, republican Ken Moore, broke the tie and allowed the Pride celebration, some locals were angry, and Hanson saw her opportunity… So she decided to run against Moore (who has been Mayor since 2011) hoping to collect the votes of Franklin’s angry homophobes & bigots. Award-winning local journalist Phil Williams started doing stories on Gabrielle Hanson’s bizarre & troubling campaign, and I have been following his coverage of her craziness. Here’s where shit gets ridiculous…

Hanson posted a picture of a “lunch with her supporters,” but the picture was a 2015 photo featuring women from Chicago, who—when Phil contacted them—denied knowing her, said they were appalled, and definitely said they don’t support her. She dodged questions about it. She claimed the women were lying about not knowing her or supporting her because they were “protecting her.” Then, when Phil contacted her by phone, she & her soon-to-be-former campaign manager had an almost comically wild recorded conversation where they made up names and defended their right to lie on social media because of “Missouri v. Biden.” Digging deeper, he found that she was arrested in Texas for felony promoting prostitution. Phil also discovered that Hanson had an alias (Julie Newhouse) listed in her prostitution charges, which she later almost certainly perjured herself about.

Now, you’d think this would be enough to get a person to drop out of a political race… But that would only be if that person had a sense of shame. Gabrielle Hanson does not. Phil requested the body-cam video from the officer who Hanson said she foretold about the mass shooting at Covenant school (that the Holy Spirit told her about). But looking over the entire video, NOTHING was said by Gabrielle Hanson to the officer that had ANYTHING to do with a warning about a shooting… Proving she lied. She was brought before the Board of Mayor & Alderman for a potential censure because she used her position to try to get funding removed for a Juneteenth celebration (SUPER classy). THEN, the woman who fought against the Franklin Pride festival turns out supported her a husband who wore ONLY an American flag speedo to a Pride event in Chicago. And, as if this weren’t enough, after Phil showed up to a debate in the Franklin community of Westhaven and got assaulted by Hanson supporters, the following debate, she was escorted into the venue by members of a white supremacist group who call themselves the “Tennessee Active Club” who volunteered to be her security & give a show of force. The Tennessee Active Club meets at Brad Lewis’ Country Store and describe themselves as “actual literal nazis.” When given a chance to distance herself from her white supremacist protectors, she declined to comment, but some REALLY creepy women came to her defense. Anyway, here are some of her security detail…

Okay… So what? So a horrible, lying person wants to be the mayor of a town of about 90k people… So what if every bit of the craziness I just chronicled is true, and yet another charlatan, grifting republican carpetbagger wants to ride a wave of right-wing ignorance & hatred to a position of power… What difference does that make to people who are not living in Franklin, Tennessee? Or even to me, one city over? I DEFINITELY would have never been able to tell you the name of Franklin’s mayor before this circus.

Here’s why I think it matters: Because journalism matters. And truth matters. And I want to believe that most people who could vote for someone like Gabrielle Hanson are doing it because they are either ignorant or deceived. I’m willing to bet that I have almost NOTHING in common politically with Ken Moore. And at this point in the country’s history, Franklin is the kind of beet-red place where no democrat has a chance to win. Political contests are going to come down to either the conservative republican, or the republican who is almost indistinguishable from a full-fledged fascist… And that candidate is Gabrielle Hanson. It is time for informed republicans with a shred of honor & self-respect left to stand up to the worst people on the planet—of whom Gabrielle Hanson is a prime example—and tell them to their lying faces that they NEED to find some shame. Do we really need to continue this race to the bottom? Can we not just call “partnering with neo-nazis to intimidate journalists into not asking you hard questions about the many lies you’ve told” THE BOTTOM? PLEASE??

And maybe, just maybe, people will see the rejection of a horrible person like Gabrielle Hanson, & they will recognize something resembling integrity & honor, and folks in the deepest red parts of Tennessee will realize that Marsha Blackburn is ALSO a sickening cancer on this state & our nation, and they will vote her lying, corrupt, fascist ass out of office as well, and vote for a good person like Gloria Johnson. And wouldn’t THAT be something…

If you have friends or family who live in Franklin, TN, call them. Text them. Show them the stories about this disgusting mayoral candidate and her bottomless immorality. Ask them if they think that voting for allowing one day for Queer folks to celebrate Pride is worth voting in someone who is aligning herself with “actual literal nazis.” Gabrielle Hanson is so awful that national news is even picking it up. This mayoral election could be decided by a very small amount of people. How about we see if we can’t prevent the worst person on the ballot from winning… Just this once? Also, if you’d like to support my writing and this blog, you can do that by BECOMING A PATRON, or by leaving a tip ON PAYPAL or by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool. Stay hopeful.

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Men: Perhaps We Should Work On Being A Better Option Than Cats

Posted on September 30, 2023 by theboeskool

Recently, while perusing the hell-site formerly known as Twitter, I came across an amazing video clip of Lily Tomlin on the Dick Cavett show. Dick Cavett was interviewing a man I’d never heard of before named “Chad Everett.” Cavett asks him about his animals, and this forgettable man says, “I have three horses, three dogs… And a wife.” I’m not completely sure if he was trying to be funny? But the crowd responds with stunned silence. And a palpable embarrassment for this… man.

As an aside, I was tempted to put “man” in quotation marks. As if he is not REALLY an example of a man. As if a REAL man would never say something this ignorant and inhumane. Many times in the past I’ve had this same inclination when writing about Christians… the urge to put “christian” in quotation marks to distinguish them from REAL Christians. As if REAL Christians would never… Whatever. Be so cruel & uncaring… Embrace racism & bigotry & fascism… Vote for a human as objectively horrible as trump. But—with both Men & Christians—I’m learning that no distinction is needed. Or particularly helpful. With both groups, experience shows us over & over again that REAL men—just like REAL Christians—are just as harmful & toxic as people have come to expect. And attempts to distinguish the harm they do as representatives of those groups only serves to compound the harm they do.

ANYway… Here is the video of Lily Tomlin walking out after Chad Everett says of his wife, “She’s the most beautiful animal I own.”

I looked up who this A-hole was. He was born Raymon Lee Cramton, was married for 45 years, but cheated on his wife & got an actress named Sheila Scott pregnant. She sued him for paternity, but despite tests showing a 94.67% probability that he’s the father, he didn’t legally have to take financial responsibility for his child. The child’s mother, however, received probation for 18 years of “harassment.” Pretty standard.

For those of you unable to stomach the toxic mixture of sexism & cringe, after Tomlin walks off the set, he goes on to say of his wife, “It’s alright. She’s very happy being taken care of by a man… And she has no, uh, uh, aspirations to be taken care of by a woman.” And then he smugly adds, “But that’s HER kind of woman,” referring to Lily Tomlin being a lesbian, though she was not yet publicly out. SO gross.

“Cats are the croutons on the salad of life… an angel that pops in a box.” ~ Whiskers R We

If you type the words MALE LONELINESS into a Google search you will find scores of articles about what people are calling an epidemic of loneliness. It seems everyone is lonelier than they used to be… But ESPECIALLY men. If I’m going by what I have seen online, there are two main ways men seem to react to their growing loneliness. Some respond with an Eeyore-ish “Oh, woe is me,” looking for sympathy because of their solitude. Others respond with a frightening anger at their isolation, reciprocating their rejection with all the rage and resentment they can muster. Both, it seems, place the responsibility for their loneliness squarely on the shoulders of the only ones they can imagine are to blame: Women. And then dorks like the guys that run The Babylon Bee claim it’s because people are turning away from God…

Earlier this month, a TikTok a woman made (where she talked about being happy to be a single, 29 year old woman) was shared by the bearded bowel movement known as Matt Walsh. His followers harassed her for DARING to be publicly happy without a man in her life. This was her brilliant response…

Many of the lonely men who showed up to harass a happy, single stranger are convinced that the reason for their empty beds is because they have been WRONGED. These guys very much like talking about “being an alpha.” They use words like “simp” (not the GOOD “simp,” which is obviously the Squirrels In My Pants acronym from the Phineas & Ferb song, but instead a “simp” meaning “a guy who does too much for/pays too much for/vigorously defends a woman”). They are dudes who DESPERATELY want to respond with “Not All Men” whenever men, as a group, are criticized. And if—God forbid—a woman expresses fulfillment in life that does NOT involve the desire for a husband or children, these men will almost certainly respond with some attempt at shaming women by saying something about them ending up with cats and drinking box wine.

But think about it for a minute… I don’t think this is quite the burn these incel-adjacent dorks think it is. If women are choosing box wine and cats over men, what does that say about the quality & character of the men they are experiencing? If you being around is not a better option for women than cheap wine, a pet, & maybe a vibrator, then… try to follow me here… You might NOT be a very good option. Maybe it’s time to read a book… Maybe one that was NOT written by THIS GUY. Seeking out voices like Joe Rogan or Matt Walsh might bring men closer to a brand of masculinity, but it’s a brand that is so wildly broken & toxic & harmful that most women in the world (who are clearly more emotionally intelligent than us) can see it from a mile away. So they champion some “trad-wife” fetish, or they try to shame emotionally mature, confident, independent women who don’t feel like lowering their standards.

Men are afraid of being seen as “weak,” and we’ve been taught that anything even remotely feminine is showing weakness. They’re afraid of being vulnerable (I realize I’m going back & forth between “we” & “they” when talking about men, but there are some parts of toxic masculinity that feel so foreign to me… I’ve got my toxic parts to deal with, but vulnerability is not one of them). For so many men—especially men in my generation—being called effeminate was one of the worst things you could be called. Imagine a youth spent hating & avoiding things like being emotional, sensitive, warm, empathetic, caring, helpful, affectionate, and tender. Now imagine the kind of deep brokenness that hatred and avoidance breeds in adults… Let ALONE the kind of deep misogyny. And now these broken, misogynistic man-boys are angry at the idea of women deciding they really don’t need us.

Many men are longing for a nostalgic and often imaginary time when men were in charge and systems encouraged & enforced female dependence. Social media has done a lot of things, but one thing it has done very well is allowed men to fully show their asses. Before the internet, women might have thought they might have just had some bad luck with men… But Facebook & Twitter have proven that the brokenness & toxicity really is endemic to men. In reality, this male pushback to not being needed (with all its cat lady jokes, box wine shaming, & nonsense about “the sin of singleness”) is a sort of masculine MAGA. “Oh, to be back in the good ol’ days… before that silly suffrage, those evil equal rights, and that beastly birth control!”

Seriously—Talk to a woman who has been on dating apps. There is literally not enough time in the day for them to reply to all the creepy weirdos trying to bang… down their doors. Women are not staying home with their cats because they have no other options… They are home with their cats because there are so few GOOD options. And all these potential suitors insist that they are such “nice guys.” But here’s the thing about “nice guys:”

If I’m being honest—and this might be showing my ignorance—I have wondered if some women who end up being into women didn’t make that decision out of discovering they are a lesbian, but instead out of a natural repulsion to the sad state of men these days. I mean, if you are somewhere on a spectrum of bisexuality, and your experience has been that most men are broken & immature & angry (or you come across as another child to take care of), who could fault a woman for saying, “You know what? Even though I’m attracted to both, I think I’m going to lean way more toward finding a relationship with another women.”

So men, listen: If you’re lonely, consider the fact that YOU might be the problem. Maybe work on becoming more interesting. And perhaps you working on being more compassionate, loving human beings who actually listen to women might be a better remedy for “male loneliness” than attempting to shame women who are so tired of our bullshit that they’d rather enjoy the company of a pet or a box of wine. And if that doesn’t cure your loneliness, remember you can always buy yourself a couple cats to keep you company.

I’ll leave you with this wisdom…

In writing about this topic, there are many women’s voices that have helped educate me. One of my favorite is @JessPected on Twitter (which I refuse to call “X”). Elon Musk has ruined Twitter, but until all the voices I value agree to leave for another platform, I’m feeling stuck. Anyway—Thank you so VERY much for reading! I’m very aware of how long it’s been since I’ve last written a blog post. The reasons for this are way too long to list here, but I will say that one of the ways the antidepressants I was taking affected me was that it made my thinking very cloudy. And when I got creative (as I very much NEED to do) I got very sleepy. But I have weened myself off of them, I am feeling a bit clearer, and regular writing is one of my goals to increase my own healthiness. If you’d like to support me, this blog, & my writing, you can do that on PATREON or PAYPAL, or you can leave a tip by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool. Love y’all.

Posted in 5) Not Quite Sure, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

What They Mean When They Say “Woke”

Posted on July 12, 2022 by theboeskool

Yesterday morning I woke up and — as I often do — opened up Twitter to see what fresh hell has been unleashed on us while I was sleeping. That morning I was greeted by a video of a man in a bowtie on Fox”News” lamenting the “woke-ism” he was subjected to when he took a tour of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. It turns out he was disappointed that — instead of focusing solely on how he was a great scholar, architect, and writer of the words “all men are created equal” — the tour guide “demoralized everyone on his tour” by speaking about actual FACTS about Thomas Jefferson: Facts like he enslaved over 600 people during his life… Or that Monticello was 5000 acre working plantation where 400 Black people were forced to live & work in bondage, building the mansion that graces the back of our nickels, so that the face on the front of our nickels had the time to write about how “all men are created equal” when he wasn’t raping & impregnating the enslaved women on his plantation. Imagine how DEMORALIZING it must have been to hear true things about someone he grew up venerating. Here is the video clip:

“A bow tie announces to the world you can no longer get an erection.” ~ David Sedaris

Poor thing… He “just thought that Monticello would be protected from this disease of wokeism.” All he wanted was to take a tour of a slave plantation, and that mean ‘ol “woke” tour guide had the AUDACITY to talk about slaves. It really is getting hard out there for a white man. Is nothing sacred?? Must we constantly bring “history” into things like this? Can’t we just worship this great white man without submitting our minds to the cognitive dissonance of someone writing “all men are created equal” while enslaving hundreds of men? Can’t we just appreciate the great white mind who designed Monticello without acknowledging the Black hands that were forced to actually build it??

Just in case any of you ladies out there were turned on by the bespectacled, bowtied bigot in the video, his name is Jeffrey Tucker. And in case you couldn’t tell by his outfit, he’s not just any average Joe off the street… He is named as one of the founders of the racist Neo-confederate group “The League of the South,” and he is named as a source in a New York Post article titled “Monticello is going woke — and trashing Thomas Jefferson’s legacy in the process.” Please say a prayer for him as he goes through the often difficult process of finding out that sometimes white people did racism.

“Going woke.” Jesus.

I live in a city where a moron named Todd Pembroke just make it through the School Board election primary by plastering the sides of our roads with these signs:

Imagine being this much of a moron. Now imagine actually voting for this guy.

When pressed about what the “NO WOKE” on his signs means, Todd just deflects by reciting something about “keeping politics out of schools.” But just like Jeffery “Confederate Bowtie” Tucker, it’s not politics “No Woke” Pembroke is interested in keeping out of the classroom… It’s the truth.

The term “woke” came from Black Culture, and it’s been around since the early 1900s. It’s had a fascinating journey that you should really read about. It has traditionally meant to be awake, aware, and “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.” It was introduced to white culture as the internet widened our access to Black voices — Particularly after the Black Lives Matter movement started. White liberals began appropriating the term as we discovered things like white privilege (and appropriation LOL). After white folks started using it (lo & behold!) the Oxford English Dictionary added it in 2017. Meek Mill has an amazing song called “Stay Woke,” and you probably heard the phrase in Childish Gambino’s “Redbone.” I can still remember the feeling of pride I had when one of my Black friends referred to me as “woke.” You might as well have pinned a medal on my chest. But it came from AAVE, and was about being aware of the dangers of of being Black in a racist country with racist systems… Systems which brought about horrors like “The Scottsboro Boys,” where nine Black teenagers were falsely accused of rape, and spent years of their lives fighting these false allegations, and even fighting a death sentence.

Less than a 100 years ago, an all-white jury in Alabama recommended the death penalty for a Black teenager who was falsely accused of rape and didn’t have legal representation. A judge suspended the death sentence and ordered a new trial. That judge promptly lost his bid for reelection. Today, in some states it’s ILLEGAL to teach about this part of American history.

The political right has very successfully co-opted the term “woke” to be a catch-all for all the things they don’t like… Like equality. Or inclusion. Or telling the truth about history. It’s almost exclusively used pejoratively now, which is a messaging win for republicans. Being anti-woke is really just the next phase of their anger over “political correctness.” Any narrative which paints white people in any sort of negative light is dismissed as “woke.” Any lesson which characterizes diversity as a strength is dismissed as “woke.” Any discussion of the faults of (white) historical figures is dismissed as “woke.” Any acknowledgment of the realities of systemic racism is dismissed as “woke.” Any inclusion of the reality of the existence of people who are LGBTQIA is dismissed as “woke.”

So if a new Star Wars series has more People of Color, or women, or (gasp!) Black women in the cast, the political Right chalks it up to the evils of “wokeism.” If an animated movie dares to portray the reality of a same-sex couple kissing on the cheek, the Right is in an uproar over them forcing their “woke” ideologies on “our kids” (with no consideration of LGBTQIA children or the children of same-sex couples). And if a man who definitely has a pointy, white hood in his closet goes to take a tour of a slave plantation, and the tour guide speaks about the history & horrors of slavery, Fox will give him air time to talk about how “demoralizing” it was for him to encounter the “disease of wokeism.” Think about how crazy it is that — in less than 100 years — white folks took a term that meant “being aware” of injustices like the Scottsboro Boys, and they transformed it into a rallying cry against teaching their white children about the History behind the Scottsboro Boys… lest they feel bad about the truth behind history.

There is SO MUCH racism behind the “anti-woke” movement. It is steeped in it. Think about it… Talking about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s infidelity would never be described as “woke.” It’s just telling the truth about history. But God forbid they mention a “founding father” owned and raped other human beings. Co-opting the term “woke” was the perfect republican response to the dangerous truths white folks were being exposed to during the BLM movement. It took a Black word, put some stank on it, and made it mean anything they wanted it to mean. Equal rights for women? Woke. Queer people existing? Woke. Christopher Columbus was a rapist and a mass murderer? Woke. The fact that what the U.S. did to the Native Americans was genocide? Woke. The realities of systemic racism? Woke, woke, woke.

So genuinely, when you hear a person use the term “woke” to describe something they don’t like, ask them what they mean by “woke.” Watch them squirm as they attempt to avoid making it about the anger white men experience as they feel like they are losing a bit of their privilege. Watch them strain to preserve centralized whiteness. Watch them bend over backwards to explain it without sounding like a white nationalist fascist. When they say that they’re angry about all this “wokeness,” they’re telling on themselves. What they’re really angry about is equality feeling like oppression. They’re angry about the realities of diversity (and the fear of replacement theory). They’re angry about approaching history with a sense of honesty. They say “anti-woke” because it sounds way better than saying “anti-truth.”

I’m trying… I swear. Thank you so much for reading. If you want to support me and my writing, you can on Patreon, on PayPal, or by Venmoing chris-boeskool.

Posted in 2) Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bill Lee Is A Terrible Person

Posted on March 3, 2022 by theboeskool

I thought about a lot of different titles, but that’s the one I landed on. I feel like it really gets to the heart of what I’m trying to say here…

For those of you who don’t know, Bill Lee is the Governor of Tennessee, and in his “State of the State” address, he revealed that he was partnering with Hillsdale College (a small, conservative christian school in Michigan) to bring 50 charter schools to Tennessee to teach kids what he calls “informed patriotism.” “Partnering” is another way of saying “giving them millions of taxpayer dollars,” and “informed patriotism” is another way of saying “white-washing history so that white men don’t get their feelings hurt when schools are honest about all the ways we have we have historically oppressed women and people of color in this country.”

If you’re anything like me, you probably don’t know much about Hillsdale College. So I looked into it, and it is shady and creepy and white AF. Of the 23 members of their Board of Trustees, 21 are white men and 2 are white women. Turns out the Chairman of the Board is Pat Sajak (yes, that Pat Sajak), who is so white he should count as 3 white people. I tried to look up the racial demographic information for HC, but you can’t find that information anywhere. So I called the school and told them that I had a daughter who was looking at colleges (true), and she wanted to attend a school with a diverse student body (also true), and I was wondering about the racial makeup of the college (again, true). I was told that because they don’t accept government money, they “don’t have to divulge that information” (“Don’t have to divulge that information” is another way of saying “We are like a polar bear in a snowstorm”), which is clearly the case here, as you can see by this photo of Hillsdale’s football team:

Yikes.

You see, back when those pesky democrats started passing all those civil rights laws in the 60s, Hillsdale decided for forgo federal funding rather than comply with civil rights laws. The school even brags about “its resistance to the rebellious spirit of the 1960s” on their Board of Trustees webpage (where you can see the host of Wheel Of Fortune smiling in all his smarmy grossness).

When the Supreme Court was considering the legality of same-sex marriage, Hillsdale sent out a campus-wide email pointing out the disastrous effects marriage equality would have on “on our nation, the church, and families,” and asking for people to pray for the destruction of “evil” same-sex marriage. The school was part of the republican response to Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project, for which she won a MacArthur Fellowship and a Pulitzer Prize. The work was an exercise in de-centering whiteness in our nation’s historical narrative, and led to much of the brouhaha over “Critical Race Theory” (“Critical Race Theory” is another way of saying “being honest about history”). Hillsdale President Larry Arnn signed a letter asking the Pulitzer committee to revoke the award, and he led donald trump’s “1776 Commission” response to NHJ’s work. Hillsdale’s “1776 Curriculum” emphasizes the “meaningful efforts Republicans made to guarantee the rights of African Americans” while pointing out that Progressivism is a “rejection of the principles of the Declaration of Independence.”

This is the school Gov. Lee wants to hand over our state’s tax dollars to so they build charter schools: A republican ideals-indoctrinating, gay-hating, history-rewriting, white-washing, theocratic curriculum to pump out little GOP voters who think that systemic racism ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. In its Mission Statement, it says “The College also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law” (“Western philosophical and theological inheritance” is another way of saying “white”). This is the actual last paragraph of their Mission Statement:

“The College values the merit of each unique individual, rather than succumbing to the dehumanizing, discriminatory trend of so-called “social justice” and “multicultural diversity,” which judges individuals not as individuals, but as members of a group and which pits one group against other competing groups in divisive power struggles.”

And, as I’ve written about before, when there is no such thing as systemic racism, white folks are doing better because they are just… Better (“There’s no such thing as systemic racism” is another way of saying “white supremacy”). But none of this is surprising… It’s part of a nationwide republican effort to combat CRT by banning books and outlawing school discussions about race & gender that paint white Americans in anything but the kindest light. And finding ways to get public funds into the hands of private christian schools has been a pet project of Lee’s. He is for vouchers, and now he’s wanting a private christian college to run public charter schools here in Tennessee. The ACLU is filing a Freedom of Information Act request for all documents regarding his partnership with Hillsdale.

I wrote before about how hateful his legislation was against people who are trans. I don’t like him. A long time (and a different me) ago, I went to church with Bill Lee. When his first wife died, the church was instructed not to mourn her death, because they were believing God was going to bring her back from the dead… Like, not at the end of time or whatever. Like Lazarus. Raise her from the dead (I feel like the the effort crazy charismatic churches put forth in raising someone from the dead is directly proportional to that family’s tax bracket). I can’t imagine how much something like that could screw you up. But his toxic theology is doing real world harm. And now he’s using taxpayer money to “partner” with a christian college that apparently doesn’t see the hypocrisy in preaching the evils of government intervention & flaunting the fact they don’t receive government funding, while [wait for it]… PARTNERING WITH GOVERNMENT AND TAKING GOVERNMENT FUNDS TO SET UP REPUBLICAN INDOCTRINATION CHARTER SCHOOLS. I guess it’s an “end justifies the means” situation (“ends justifies the means” is another way of saying “I’m a hypocrite who’s not buying what I’m selling”).

Perhaps one positive thing might come from all this… If Hillsdale is getting paid to run charter school, maybe they’ll have to report on how utterly, utterly white their student body is.

Thank you so much for reading. I know it’s been a long while since I’ve written… Easily the longest break I’ve even taken. I am no longer married, and I’ve been mired in the first real depression of my life. The trump years really took something out of me. Then to follow that up with the divorce, the pandemic, Covid brain fog, isolation, and deep depression, I’m not sure which direction to face… Other than the direction of my bed. Finding words seemed too difficult. Hope can also be hard to find, and these days it’s damn-near impossible. But it’s there. Somewhere. Thanks to all who have supported me through this very difficult time. If you value my writing and you’d like to support it, you can Become A Patron. Or you can leave a tip on PayPal or buy me a birthday drink (IT’S TOMORROW) on Venmo (chris-boeskool). Follow along on Twitter and on Facebook too. And if you live in Tennessee, for the love of all things good and decent, vote Bill Lee out of office.

Posted in 2) Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments