Pride. Proud. Loud. Live. Life. 

The rise of Donald Trump has led to a sad truth. There are millions of people in this country who use hate above love, bigotry over tolerance, and disdain over empathy. We live in divisive times, where ignorance, anger, hate, and violence are welcomed. A large part of our population, denies science and puts their faith in a Bronze Age book that has no evidence of its validity. Every day, I see people use the Bible and other holy books to justify their hate, their bigotry, their ignorance. Our society can't progress with such an albatross around our neck.

Currently, there are grown adults who won't drink a beer because they worked with a transwoman and put a rainbow on their cans. I have witnessed religious adults throw baseless claims of indoctrination because Target sells children's clothing with Pride graphics. They are trying to ban books and litigate education so that our children can't learn about the different ways people love each other and that many children don't come from the archaic family structure of a father and a mother. There are many types of families, and there are those who don't want our children to learn about them. What they really want is to teach them that if a family isn't a traditional family, it is wrong, it is sin, it is reprehensible. They use the word indoctrination, but they really mean in normalizing. They don't want to normalize LGBTQIA+ human beings. 

These people who fight so hard to keep this world simple and traditional are scared. They are ignorant. They are insecure. A new world doesn't make sense to them, they don't have a place in it. They see differences as a threat instead of progress. To them, they want the world to make sense based on their values, that they themselves were indoctrinated into believing.  I've read the bible, and based on what I have read, the God of the Christian Bible isn't all-loving, but cruel and narcissistic. Jesus, if alive today, would be marching in Pride parades, campaigning for progressives and teaching people to be tolerant and loving. The opposite of what right-wing Christians are doing. They cherry-pick passages from the Bible trying to validate their hate. In doing so, they ignore other parts that they conveniently don't follow. How's your shrimp? You okay with slavery? Misogyny? Genocide? There is so much more, but that is for a later blog.

So as I sit here ordering a case of Bud Light from Target, I wonder how we progress our country. First, we aren't going to change many of these people. I have seen some of them change, but only when their bigotry is tested against someone they love, but even then, some don't change. There are many men and women who are shunned by families. We aren't going to change many. But, yelling at them, insulting them, and cancelling them doesn't work either. It only strengthens their defenses as they retreat further into their bigoted reality. Second, this is a long fight that may take a new generation to fix.  I don't think Boomers, Gen Xers, or millennials can fix this, but Gen Z and beyond may be our answer. I am impressed on how inclusive Gen Z and Gen Alpha are. They aren't concerned about whom you love as long as it is consensual. They don't care how you want to identify or what pronouns you want to be called, it's all cool with them (using the word “cool” just verifies what generation I'm from). Lastly, we need to talk and we need to listen even more.  When I went to college, I wasn't as progressive as I am now. It took a conversation with two gay men to make me evolve. I sat with them, and I listened. We can't battle each other on Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok hiding behind phone and computer screens with the ability to block, delete, and swipe it away. WE NEED TO TALK. WE NEED TO LISTEN. We must stop “cancelling” everyone. If our knee-jerk reaction to everyone who isn't as progressive, tolerant, empathetic, or inclusive as we want them to be, then all we are creating are echo chambers and societal bubbles. Those who are ostracized will withdraw into the parts of society that will accept them, and then they won't ever learn to change. I, being a progressive, have been “yelled” at by other progressives for not being progressive enough, for not accepting every dogmatic belief they want the whole world to accept as truth.

If we keep pushing people away, then we are no better than those on the right. Progress is hard and it is slow. We are fighting against millennia of bad ideas, of a religious patriarchy that is holding on for dear life. For every two steps we take, we must except that we may go back one, two or sometimes more as the pendulum of societal values swings. But we always progress. We need to practice inclusivity as well as we preach it. By having civil discord, we will win and bigotry will lose. We need to combat bigotry, not by ignoring it, but by confronting it with patience, calmness, and with resolve. We have to humanize those who are discriminated against, as our opponents are making them out to be monsters, to be evil, to be a threat.  Talk. Listen. Challenge. This is the only way to change. Don't get me wrong, if someone doesn't want to listen to me or talk civilly, then they will get my wrath if I witness any type of bullying, bigotry, or discrimination. 

Let's remember why there is a Pride month, why there are Pride parades, shirts, flags, etc. It's because there is a right-wing faction in our country that wants to push the LGBTQIA+ community out of society and into the darkness. We celebrate pride because it is the only thing we can do to combat the bully, the bigot. We stand tall, We stand strong, We stand together and We stand PROUD.

Be PROUD!

We live in a time when we are constantly manipulated by the world around us. From the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep, we are bombarded by content that is supposed to influence our behavior, our ideology, and our politics. If you are right leaning, left leaning, center, independent, extreme, there is a bubble, or echo chamber for you. 

Our politics have mirrored sports. We pick our teams. We root for our teams. We want our rivals to lose. There re mascots, and 24/7 commentary. Radio shows for each team exist to disparage rivals and blindly support their team. Nowadays, people are actually buying hats and shirts, and sometimes underwear supporting their team. It's not healthy. 

I have watched our country become more and more divisive over the half century I have been alive. I asked myself Why? All the time. The first thing I notice is that fear is used – mostly by the right – to manipulate their base. For example: "They're coming for your guns."  "They stole the election." "Sharia Law is coming." "Immigrants are stealing your jobs." "They are taking away your freedoms." And so on, and so on. I see it on the left too.  Cancel Culture is alive and well. We don't give people second chances anymore, we immediately want to tear them down because they didn't become "woke" fast enough. 

Politics are now simplified to memes, tweets, and headlines. Most people don't do the homework, they only seek out the information that will support their belief or ideology – even if it isn't true. Due to this, people are misinformed by the politicians who want to manipulate them for personal gain. Science is now political.

Climate Change, Elections, Vaccines, and even the shape of the earth are being challenged as lies or a conspiracy. Why? Well, that is a longer blog post, but the short of it is: People want to feel special, they want to feel comfortable, and they don't like change.

The problem with this is that when you scare people, manipulate them, or if you frame the opposition as the enemy or monster coming to destroy them, people will respond violently. Or, in the case of The Shelter Series, destroy our country.

So the next time you see someone throw misinformation your way, don't insult them, don't dismiss them, instead, talk to them and get to know them. Through this, maybe they will listen to reason. Individual issues are where are debates should live, not towards a whole group of people.

If you want to read about how an authoritarian leader successfully takes over the country, then pick up The Shelter Series today. Available on Amazon.

In my new book, “The Narrowing Road,” I write about how religion can play a part in the justification of violence. As an atheist, it is difficult to find any real positives that religion brings to society. There are obvious benefits, of course, of charity, community, and a moral code, but to me religion isn't necessary for any of this.  I won't be discussing whether God exists or not in this blog, maybe I'll tackle that later, but I will discuss how religion can be used for so much negativity.

I will begin by saying that I respect anyone's belief in anything, as long as it follows these three rules:

1. You don't push it on others.
2. It doesn't harm others.
3. It doesn't harm yourself.

So with that said, most Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Satanists, Humanists, etc. I have no problem with. Oh, just for clarification, Atheism isn't a belief, again we can discuss this in another blog.  Most of my life I have been around Christianity, so I understand the appeal and the fear. But I digress.

What bothers me the most is that Religion is used to justify violence, hate and control by many people. Every day, I see how Religion affects our day-to-day life in mostly negative ways. I could easily bring up 9/11 or Waco, Texas as examples of Religion gone bad, but it isn't always a terrorist attack or cult. For example, let's look at the current pandemic we are in right now. Millions of religious people are refusing a vaccine and to wear a mask due to religious beliefs. This reluctance or refusal to participate in life-saving behavior is precisely my problem with how religion is used. 

A large issue that religion has taken ownership over is female reproductive rights. The debate around abortion is directly tied to religion. Abortion clinics have been bombed and patients harassed, threatened and killed, all in the name of God. Legislation has been crafted because of religious beliefs, even though religion shouldn't be the driving force behind government. 

So, when I speak of the dark side of religion, I'm not talking about the charity, or the community, or in a lesser sense, the morality. I'm speaking about how people can use the words of the Bible to do despicable things.  If a Christian believes the afterlife is the goal, then why would they invest in the world around them? If they believe that sinners should be punished, why would they care about rehabilitation? Remember, everything a believer does is for eternal life in their “Heaven.” It's selfish. 

This is what my current novel, “The Narrowing Road,” discusses, the belief that a violent act is justified by the end product of salvation. When individuals believe that their actions will give them eternal life, it allows for an unsafe world.