The Political is Personal…

“The political is personal!”…

I’m sure you’ve all heard that phrase thrown around a lot! The strident activist for whatever issue says it to urge others to join their cause. It’s thrown out there when others decide not to be politically active or join causes. To be honest, I think the phrase is too often overused and turns more people off than motivates them to take action. I myself have never really been interested in politics and was ever politically active until I started this blog. I also think that not everyone has to be or is obligated to be politically active! Many do have a tendency to over politicize every little issue and make it into a derisive thing that divides, not unities us in our society.

However, there is more than a grain of truth in that statement. Many issues I write about on A Lady of Reason are social issues. Racial tensions, culture clashes, hypocrisy and inequalities, gender relations, morality, and the like. Politics does impact our lives in various ways. The policies made in Washington do trickle down to the average citizen at some point! Our tax dollars fund their agendas. Attitudes about race “color” (pun intended 😉 ) how people may interact and view each other.  Gender issues affect the dynamic between how men and women relate to one another. Our foreign policies and defense determine who’s our friends and enemies. Immigration policies determine who will be your neighbor, your classmates, your coworkers, what sort of society you will live in. Special interest groups’ agendas do have ramifications for others that affect far beyond just themselves. Who you become friends with, who you trust, how safe you feel, how financially secure you are, what your neighborhood becomes, your children’s schools, all of it is affected by political and social policies and agendas. And that’s the thing: Much of the Left who are young and brainwashed by public school, will get a wake up call that their idealism doesn’t work in the real world once they grow up and take on more responsibilities, jobs, homes, families to raise etc…

My dad, who never wanted to vote and was never political became so after 2016, because of what he saw, and what he’s been through. A man who never voted, voted for the first time in over half his life in our last election. Why? Because the policies over there, affected him and his family and community. Many on both sides of the political spectrum have had similar stories. See, I became outspoken on these issues here once I grew older and saw more of the issues I bring up regularly, and why I argue for the Conservative viewpoint socially and politically. I’ve seen the Left’s policies at work, and have the evidence that they simply aren’t working! So what’s “personal” about politics?

It’s personal when your children’s school is being filled with 3rd world children who have only ever known dog eat dog brutality, or the neglected children from broken, unstable, and even criminal homes who disrupt the learning environment in more ways than one!

It’s personal when your wife, mother, daughter, sister etc… has to share a bathroom with a biological man who masquerades as a “woman”…

It’s personal when the shooting happens in your high school or college and no one was allowed to fight back or even take precautions such as security beforehand…

It’s personal when you have to look your children in the eye and say “Daddy lost his job” because of illegals being hired.

It’s personal when your husband, son, brother, father, etc… is on the receiving end of a baseless allegation from some woman…

It’s personal when you’ve worked with a generation affected by the devastation and insecurity of a broken home, glossed over in “any family is a real family” politically correct propaganda…

It’s personal when you’re told that your skin color or gender confers guilt for deeds you never did and supremacy you never upheld through any actions of your own, or why you didn’t get that job or into that school…

It’s personal when your neighborhood is turning into an unsafe ghetto and you fear for your safety every time you step outside your home..

It’s personal when you worry about the messages your daughter is absorbing about sex being a handshake to give away to anyone who asks guilt free…

Or the message your son receives encouraging him to revile his manhood and his masculinity…

It’s personal when the fear becomes real, that a foreign enemy is knocking on your door due to a weak military, and some who have come here know that exact fear…

It was and still is, personal for the countless lives lost and their families to terrorism due to denial and political correctness avoiding the REAL reasons for terrorism. And for all of us, as it can happen anywhere, to anyone at any time…

It’s personal when your own children are taught in school to see you and other family members as misguided, wrong, and even, immoral for the politics you hold…

It’s personal when your pay check is stretched thinner and thinner due to incompetent economic policies…

It’s personal when you realize countries just like ours have degraded into chaos, terrorism and crime! Countries you may have enjoyed on a trip not so long ago that are no longer safe, and realize that they could be us. They were just like us…

It’s personal when you are defined as a “victim” because you’re a woman, or your skin is darker when you know you are far more empowered than they say you are but are shut down and labeled a “traitor” when you dare to speak the truth by your own kind!  

And last but certainly not the last point in existence on the subject:

It’s personal when you can’t voice your views without ostracism, censorship, demonization, ad hominem attacks, lost jobs, friendships and family!

So yes, the political is personal in many cases, which is why we must not be silent on what is affecting our lives! The silent majority can’t stay silent forever…. 🙂

So, what made politics personal to you?…

“Baby, It’s Triggering Outside”…

A new holiday tradition around the Christmas season is the Left getting triggered over the most benign things! From “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” being offensive for sending messages of people only accepting differences for what they can get out of you, to even getting in a huff over making fun winter holiday themed activities in school, even candy canes, the Left has become the Christmas, or more broadly, the Holiday Grinch!

Look, I’ve written before that I take a more moderate, reserved view about the whole “war on Christmas” business, even from a conservative view. As a secular person, I honestly don’t mind “Happy Holidays” over “Merry Christmas” and understand why businesses and employers want to use the broader term to not alienate potential customers or employees, or why government and municipal buildings/public spaces would not allude specifically to one holiday, or one religion in a country of religious freedom. In the grand scheme of culture wars, this particular one is one that takes a backseat in my opinion to far more negatively impactful issues, such as 3rd world values creeping in for instance. Saying “Happy holidays” is not the gateway to Sharia law or the persecution of those who do celebrate Christmas, including myself! That being said upfront, there IS a middle ground between “Christian theocracy”and PC “no-mention of any holiday allowed” dictatorship in its own right!

Having candy canes, red and green decorations, a Christmas tree generically decorated (which I’ll note is NOT a Christian symbol but comes from older Pagan traditions), wreaths, and non-religious songs playing do not cross the line into “Christians only” territory! It is possible to have generic winter themes stuff, and holiday things that don’t exclude anyone, even if they are traditionally associated with Christmas. Having an allergic, knee jerk reaction to an innocent wreath, candy canes, or even the colors red and green in the name of religious pluralism is outlandish, as you’re really stretching the scope of  “religious symbolism” into imaginary extremes! A “holiday party” at work is not the same as a church service! “Jingle Bells” is not the same as “Silent Night” in terms of specific religious content in a school holiday program for instance!

I also want to make it very clear, private businesses, property, citizens and such have just as much right to choose a specific holiday, and openly display overtly religious symbols of their choosing! I will fight for anyone’s right to say “Merry Christmas”, display nativity scenes, choose to openly celebrate Christmas as a religious holy day as these rights come with being a country that has freedom of religion. I support a private business emphasizing Christmas over a generic holiday season if they so choose to. Everyone has the right to display all the nativity scenes they want on their own property! Every citizen has the right to worship in the way they choose, just the government can’t favor or impose one on everyone which is why this opinion does not extend into the government/municipal sphere… Unfortunately, the Left can’t understand this nuance, and out of a knee jerk fear of offending or excluding, seek to ban anything even remotely related to the holidays for everyone…

To the Left nothing is safe, not even fun holiday/winter themed songs! “Baby it’s Cold Outside” is now anathema to the #MeToo hysterics who say it supports rape culture and the woman is being unethically coerced. “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, a classic since 1964 is now told to have detrimental messages such as people only accepting differences if they can use you! A principal banished any Christmas or holiday activities whatsoever, even going so far as to ban candy canes on an urban legend it stands for “J” for Jesus and the red is Christ’s blood that would be proven false with a bit of research on her part! Even winter/holiday themed Starbucks cups that have winter/holiday designs and red and green, but no religious symbols whatsoever are making triggered snowflakes get in a tizzy over them excluding people!

If you follow and read my blog closely, many of these instances of utter hysteria are reminiscent of my earlier Halloween post where the Left also makes the innocent and innocuous into something perverted or offensive! I mean, come on! “Baby it’s cold outside” is nothing more than a fun song about a man and woman flirting playfully together. Its clear she is in no distress whatsoever nor is upset to be with the guy! She wants to stay and is coyly telling him to persuade her to over practical reasons why she should go home. Its more of “I really should go back, but I’m enjoying it so much, I need an excuse to stay”, NOT “I feel coerced and he’s trying to exert power over me to force me to stay with him”… Not to mention the glaringly obvious: What about all the vulgar rap songs and pop music our youth listens to that objectify and degrade women, and have lyrics that if #MeToo were applied fairly, would counts as rape and sexual assault/harassment! Women are called vile names, Sl—t, B—Ch, H—es, etc… etc.. and lyrics speak of smacking their booties, oogling their breasts, speaking of strippers and having unbridled sex and overall treating women as nothing more than a “score” for a player, yet a song like “Baby it’s Cold Outside” with zero of the above is labeled as promoting rape culture??? The hypocrisy is maddening!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is just what it was always interpreted as: Someone who is different who was discriminated against, proves everyone wrong by having his special talent, and being an asset to everyone else, not a detriment! That should be a very Left leaning SJW message, as they argue that many groups who are discriminated against do have that “special talent” to add to the country, or community. Rudolph’s red nose saved the day and proved his worth to everyone who thought he was useless. To argue that it’s a bad message in that it means people only care abut what they can get out of you in a selfish manner is highly pessimistic and the worst possible interpretation! That was not the case in the story, they genuinely accepted him for who he was in the end, his nose became secondary after they were all proven wrong! Our special talents make us assets to our communities, our friends and families. To be able to give something great to the people we care about is a blessing not a curse that can be taken advantage of and leeched off of by others! Rudolph had his special talent, the message to the viewer is then, what is your gift to the world? Telling isn’t it, how the Left just loves to make everyone into an oppressed victim!

People, candy canes are just candy canes. Red and green does not scream “Christian theocracy”. Holiday music is not setting the tune of “If you’re not a Christian, you’re not included”. “Baby it’s Cold Outside” is NOT about coercing a woman to rape her, nor does “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” have anything to do with race! Generic (historically pagan) Christmas trees, wreathes, and mistletoe are not shoving Jesus down everyone’s throat. Coffee cups that have holly, green, red, and snowy scenes on them are not denominational whatsoever. A school holiday musical is cute, not discriminatory. Making ornaments, wreathes, snowmen in school are fun memories to look back on, not painful ones to retell in therapy. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is about acceptance, not exploitation. The holiday season is a magical time that everyone can make fun and lasting memories of, no matter what you celebrate! The “reason for the season” is yours to decide what is most meaningful to you, religious or otherwise! For me, it’s about the warmth of family and friends, and making more great memories with the ones I love and cherish! Whatever your personal reasons are though, being triggered by every innocent and innocuous thing is NOT a good reason for the season! 😉

(Oh, wait, I said “family”, I hope you’re not too triggered as this is the era of the broken home and divorce 😉 Oh well, Happy whatever-you-celebrate!…)

Even Santa Can’t Escape PC Tyranny: A Guest Post by Time Foolery

The PC tyranny has reached its zenith with all out outlandish fancies! Of course, this extends to the holidays season, where anything remotely “Christmas” is banned and stifled! Even Santa can’t escape these grinches, as Time Foolery writes in to A Lady of Reason:

Recently a New Jersey substitute teacher took it upon herself to inform the children in her classroom that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and other fancies such as the Tooth Fairy, weren’t real. Now, take yourself back in time to when you were seven years old, in the First Grade. It’s almost Christmas, and the decorations are going up and the stockings are hung. Naturally, your first thoughts are, “What is Santa going to bring me!?” I know this because I usually had dog-eared the heck out of our Sears catalog and written my Santa letter well before Halloween! Most kids I knew did. It was the highlight of our year!! Now, think to being a parent, coming up with other fun things like Advent Calendars and Elf on a Shelf to get your young’uns excited about the holiday.

Now think about someone swooping in and deciding for you that your child, or even you at that age, needed to know that something you’re so excited about, is all a BIG, FAT LIE perpetrated by you and your parents before you! If you are like me, you’d be incredibly upset from both vantage points!! To have your childhood so unceremoniously, and without cause or reason, crushed by someone barely qualified to teach!! And to have the right of when you let your children in on the secret so rudely ripped out of your hands – well, it’s no wonder this sub has lost their job. But I don’t want to harp on all the obvious issues that abound with this happening. I don’t think the majority from any party affiliation would disagree that this person seriously overstepped their bounds or crushed the dreams of little children. That’s an obvious.

No, it is the spirit of this season I wish to look at instead. This year I turned the ripe, old age of 52 and I proudly proclaim, I still believe in Santa Claus! St. Nicholas of Myra was an early Christian bishop who became the Patron Saint of Children. It is through his legendary habit of secret gift-giving that we find the traditional model for Santa Claus aka Good Saint Nick. It is this tradition that parents like to emulate and carry on traditionally with their children, and hopefully their children will grow up to do the same for theirs. But there’s many more reasons I still believe in Santa Claus.

Whenever I, or someone else, help someone out of sheer humanity, there is Santa Claus. Anytime someone donates their time to a charity, there is Santa Claus. Even just holding a door open for someone for no reason except to help, that is Santa Claus. But right now, I think Santa Claus is actor James Woods, who just recently played unofficial Twitter coordinator for helping fire victims find their families in California. A week later, he helped police find a homeless vet who was going to end it all because he thought no one cared. He got so many people involved with both situations who shared their love, concern and help for all. That is truly, truly Santa Claus. Indeed, we need look no further than our fellow man to see that the spirit of giving is what St. Nicholas stood for, and doing things like he would makes us all Santa Claus, and I certainly hope we all believe in ourselves!!!

I agree Time Foolery! While as I am non-religious but still celebrate Christmas, I too have experienced the magic of Santa Claus and I guess he’s been generous, as he still leaves a special gift from time to time under my tree 😉 You make the excellent point that when we stop believing in Santa, we become Santa for others!!! The magic doesn’t stop once childhood ends, it only continues through acts of kindness during the holiday season and all year round! Why ruin the magic though while it lasts??? The world is bleak as it is, and childhood is one of the only times we will ever see the world as mainly good and warm and fuzzy… I always advocate for forewarning and forearming our children of the dangers of the world frankly and openly, not shielding them in naivete to its many dangers, but that doesn’t mean some harmless fun and a little magic shouldn’t be experienced, and no longer believing a milestone in growing up… The magic of Santa Claus is something everyone can cherish even when all grown up!

Agreeing to Disagree: A Lost Art Part II

In the second half, I propose some ideas and strategies to help facilitate a more peaceful way to debate, and to get along over the holidays, and honestly, any time of the year 😉

Really Listen to What The Other Person is Saying

As said in the part I, really make the effort to see why they hold the views they do. It’s not because they want to sound like an ignoramus and don’t care if their idea is immoral or foolish! People often have heartfelt reasons, aside from the virtue signalers, for their opinions and beliefs. Maybe they had a bad (or good) experience related to the issue (ex. “My brother was mistaken for a criminal….”, “I’ve known many awesome Syrian refugees through my charity work…”). This doesn’t mean their views are correct, but one can appreciate better where they’re coming from and why they hold them.

Criticize the Ideas, Not The Person Holding Them

Ad-hominem attacks get you nowhere! They prove nothing, and only create more tension, division, and a resolve to not listen to your points! Screaming “Well, you’re a racist bigot!” will not convince Uncle Steve to change his mind about welfare policies… Supplying statistics to the contrary, or citing sources for your side of the argument however, will get you much farther. You can pummel an idea into the ground all you want, but the person holding them still deserves common courtesy and respect.

Consider Their Points, Don’t Just React

A knee jerk reaction does nothing for you either! Letting emotion cloud your rational mind weakens you tenfold in any debate! Don’t virtue signal some superficial slogan, actually consider what they’re really saying, not just your automatic straw-man of what they’re saying… 😉 (Ex. Shouting “No one is illegal!!!” When the person meant one’s immigration status, NOT one’s humanity!)….

Never Cross The Line Into Insults or Threats!

This one is a must! Ad hominem attacks, again, get you no where and will only get you an enemy! In addition however, actually threatening people crosses so many lines! People should not be afraid to voice their opinion due to fears of violence, ostracism, lost jobs, etc..etc… People don’t deserve to have their families terrified, their reputations smeared, or vile insults hurled at them or again, their families due to disagreements! And yes, even their children attacked! How would YOU feel if it were you and your family??? If you don’t stand up for others being attacked, then who will stand up for you when your opinions are targeted?…

Pick Your Battles

Sometimes, it’s okay to agree to disagree… Not every issue is worth getting into a deep debate about and drain your energy! Not every comment at dinner you want to refute has to be 😉 Save the debate for issues that really matter to you, comments that really get to you, not just irk you a little. Don’t be a snowflake offended perpetually and having to start a fight to “correct” those who “trigger” you with their “microaggressions”! Save the righteous indignation for a better time, a better occasion than Grandma’s dinner, or your friends’ hangout, hold your tongue at the work New Year’s party etc…etc… Just let the loonies rant away, while you remain classy and diplomatic!

Don’t Bring It Up!!!

There’s a time and place for politics and religion! A mixed gathering often isn’t the time! The debate team, a blog, activism, in the classroom on the subject, around like minded people, and such can be 🙂 Work, that party, the holidays and other family events… not so much! No matter what sides we’re on ideologically, I hope it’s a non partisan thing to say we should try to find common ground with people and learn to get along and allow many viewpoints! The real “diversity” we need to advocate for, is diversity of thought!

I hope this list helps, and please, add your own ideas, experiences etc… in the comments! 🙂

(Finding common ground is a pro tip!!!)

Agreeing to Disagree: A Lost Art Part I

Around this time of the year, more friends and families are getting together to celebrate the holiday season, and with it of course, bring a myriad of different viewpoints! Most families, (unless everyone is of one hive mind…) have members with all different perspectives, experiences, and yes, opinions! Inevitably, not all opinions are let’s just say….compatible with each other! You know the rest of the story: The drama! The fighting! The heated “discussions” of the finer points on why you’re completely, totally and undeniably “wrong!” This year, and probably last year as well, our country’s political polarization didn’t help at all 😉 Nowadays, it’s Left vs. Right, white vs. black, gay vs. straight, women vs. men, believer vs. non-believer, etc…etc… This wedge in society, not helped at all by very highly contentious issues being brought out in a frank manner for the first time with Trump saying what he feels as well and the Leftist backlash, can get people shall I say too involved, and absorbed in them! This divide within our nation festers, but must go somewhere, and too often, at the family dinner table!

Now, the opponent is not only factually wrong, but morally wrong! People have literally unfriended friends off social media, alienated family, even shunned and ostracized their close friends over political disagreements cast as incompatible moral faults! And it seems to have only gotten worse! Thing is, most of this unfortunately seems to be mostly one sided… Think for a moment: When was the last time a conservative person shunned you, ostracized you, even shouted in your face if you held a moderately liberal position? Did they try to engage, maybe even vigorously debate with you, or actually get angry with you as a person, not just your ideas?!

However now, think again to many liberals… How many have you seen, experienced personally, and now in the news, screaming at, even threatening and crossing the line to violence over an opposing viewpoint! Just look at the attacks on Carlson’s family and his daughter! Look around at the Antifa riots, all the conservatives afraid to be open about their opinions due to shunning, ostracism, violence, fear of getting fired or held back in a job, losing friends and family over politics etc… etc… Now honestly ask yourself, if liberal, have you felt that way? Really??? Have you felt fear of losing your job, your friends and family, even fearing for your physical safety over holding a liberal view? Because if you are, you’re the exception in a society where every public school, college, employer, official institutions, the mainstream media, TV shows, movies, etc… openly espouse liberal views! I have personally known and spoken with many conservatives in real life, and online, and about all of them felt like they were “taboo” in society even if brave enough to be openly conservative.

What could possibly make people feel such uncontrolled vitriol, riots, threats, violence, vile language and such is justified towards those one disagrees with??? I think we know the answer: Seeing your opponent as in essence an “opponent”, someone who is your literal enemy, who must be “defeated”! Seeing a person as being immoral for having an opinion, not just illogical or uninformed. Trouble is, the Left seems to be the majority on this one! Writing people off their list for having Conservative view points. Labeling their own family or (former) friends as being “racist” “sexist” “homophobic”, “trans-phobic” etc… etc… rather than listening to their actual arguments, not letting one’s children get to know their own relatives because they have different viewpoints than you want to raise your children to have! Even, and I’m not kidding, making sweatshirts with crude slogans, just to make a more derisive atmosphere during the holidays!

Thing is, when did it get this bad? When did we decide it’s okay to demonize, and shun the people closest to you, who you should cherish, over a disagreement? There used to be a thing called “agreeing to disagree”! When did everything become a moral not just political issue and it’s “your side or the bad side…”??? Just because Aunt Susie doesn’t want more Syrian refugees coming into the country doesn’t mean she hates “brown people” and Muslims! Just because Grandma prefers young women remain virgins until marriage and doesn’t believe in divorce doesn’t mean she has “internalized misogyny” or that she’s a judgmental bigot who will shun you from the family dinner if you didn’t/did either of those things respectively! Just because Uncle Joe is in the NRA doesn’t mean he’s for unregulated use/sales of guns to unqualified people who can’t handle them properly, nor is he a “baby killer” who only cares about the sale of guns, and not their potential to take lives!

I will add one last thing for my fellow conservatives: Same goes for you too! Despite much of the loony left, do consider why some of your Liberal family members and friends hold the opinions they do! Your niece who’s in college and went to public schools k-12 honestly may not have been exposed to your viewpoint, except as the narrow minded wrong one! Your sister may feel that refugees genuinely aren’t bringing danger in with them and being altruistic in her own life, even to a fault, just has that opinion as an extension of her goodwill. Maybe your friend has seen true racism, and now is extra-sensitive to it, growing up in an environment of real bigotry. Maybe your friend grew up in a family who shunned him for being gay, so now feels it is his mission to be a staunch LGBT advocate, even to extremes sometimes! Point is, while I don’t give their ideologies a free pass, it helps to understand where a person could be coming from when they hold a view you don’t understand why they hold. Yes, folks: Not all Liberals are complete militant loonies who hold views just to virtue signal ( although plenty as we know, do!). Some do have heartfelt reasons for their positions, and the best way to persuade them to see our side, and understand us, is to model that courtesy in return. Sincerity deserves sincerity in return, the will to listen to their side too. Maybe if some realize we’re willing to listen to them, they may be willing to listen to us. The best way to get consideration is to model it, and even if you don’t get through, others around you will know who had more elegance, and class I know many, probably more liberals than conservatives from where I’m from, and many of them are my friends and loved family! The difference between them and the loonies we see on the news and in protests, is they can agree to disagree and consider my point of view without demonizing me, and I them 🙂

Does agreeing to disagree mean you can’t stand by your own convictions? No! Certainly not! I certainly will stand by mine, and defend them! However, “defending your convictions” does not include virulent ad-hominem attacks, overt rudeness, provocations to start a heated “debate”, creating awkwardness in mixed company and bringing up derisive topics intentionally when you know that it will upset people! Sometimes, it is best to save the debates for another time… The family holiday or friend’s party is NOT always the best time to be controversial! The holidays are about unity, not division! Peace, not war! Let’s have that Christmas (Oops! Is that too derisive 😉 ) Umm… “Holiday” truce of goodwill, and a restrained tongue! Agree to disagree… Until the holidays are over 😉

(I love science, so I found this picture hilarious!!!)

Picking Your Battles…

I’m sure many fellow conservatives feel the same way, but often times, it can feel like you against the world! The constant drum-roll of Leftist lunacy, from all different issues, can feel quite overwhelming! So much lunacy, so much denial, so many lies, ad hominem attacks, intimidation, ostracism, it can get to be insane! Indeed, I’ve noticed many fellow conservatives are getting intensely fed up with the insanity, and are going half out of their minds themselves… From the media, public schools, about every news source, TV show, movie, magazine, celebrity, companies, even family and friends, it’s easy to feel surrounded deep behind enemy lines! There are so many fronts, it’s impossible to fight them all at once, but there is a glimmer of hope for reason and common sense to prevail: Picking your battles…

Every parent knows what I mean! Your children will push your buttons, test your patience, surround you on all sides with needs, wants, demands etc… You’re only human, so you have to let some things go! The key is to prioritize; What is important and what isn’t and can be compromised on. That mismatching outfit? Won’t matter in the long run. Running into the street? Yeah, kind of an issue… Dyeing a streak of hair pink? Not so bad… Planning to get wasted at that party? More of a pressing concern… See what I mean? Now, apply the same idea to the Left’s frankly childish demands fit for a toddler! The snowflakes out of touch with reality and how their decisions affect others around them are basically like a small immature child’s, and there are many! Therefore, my motto is “pick your battles” 😉

We can’t always put 200% into fighting every single issue. We can’t always have exactly our way, no one can. We do need to bend, and be flexible on some stuff, but firm on others. Bending does NOT mean giving into every ludicrous demand, but prioritizing what we need to stand our ground, versus what isn’t as pressing an issue for the country. Every conservative will have their own issues they feel they should hold their ground, and those they’re less involved in. This doesn’t mean some issues will be neglected, because there will be others to fight for that issue. We don’t need to overtax ourselves trying to be the advocate for literally every controversy there is! Pick a few important ones to you, and put your energy into those! Let me share with you some of where I bend and stand my ground:

• Open borders, unvetted immigration and letting in refugees from countries which sympathize with anti-Western religious extremism and terrorism? Nope! Allowing hardworking immigrants who come through legal channels who embrace America while also keeping the harmless parts of their heritage, such as food, clothes, music, traditions that don’t impede on others’ freedoms? Sure! 
• Allowing consenting adults to marry who they choose even if it’s the same sex? Fine by me… Never being allowed to critique anything whatsoever lest you be labeled “homophobic”? No!
• Turning a blind eye to broken homes, divorce “just because” and society making excuse after excuse to disregard the children’s emotional trauma, and promoting “any family is a real family” single mothers are just as good as two parent families, children don’t need a father figure, etc..etc…? Heck no! Divorce between childless couples who are adults and aren’t shattering anyone’s foundation for development? Sad, but their call… 
• Empowering women to help hold coercers in positions of power accountable for unethical coercion? Good idea… Turing that into a political weapon to wield against an opponent, smear every boy and man as  “guilty until proven innocent” on an unsubstantiated word or rumor, casting women as damsels in distress vs. the “predator man”, and ignoring women who allege victimization if not on your side of the aisle? #NotMe!!! 😉
• Accepting cultural differences in food, music, clothes, different holidays, traditions, etc… that don’t infringe on others? Not an issue… Allowing another culture to overrun our own, denigrating ours while reaping its benefits, setting a double standard where they are immune from criticism, get to create their own laws, treat other minorities, women, children and such as 3rd class citizens, and are romanticized while our own culture, who hosts theirs, is demeaned and cast as the bad guy??? Not in my country!
• Letting others have the personal freedom to dress and act like the opposite sex? Odd, but okay…. Letting them redefine biological science, teaching children that a man dressed as a woman is a woman merely because he said so, letting biological men go into women’s restrooms and changing areas also allowing perverts to take advantage, ostracizing, persecuting, even making it illegal if someone questions the validity of them being considered an actual man or woman or uses the wrong pronoun, labeling kindergarten age children as transgender because they try on mommy’s lipstick or daddy’s tie one day, and rewriting the rules in sports, the military and in science, and disregarding the experiences of REAL men and women that can only be experienced through that gender??? Not until I gain a Y chromosome!!!
• Acknowledging the privileges we all have been lucky to have been given in this life, even ones we haven’t earned and realizing some are less fortunate? Not a bad thought… Being guilt tripped into believing it’s YOUR fault others don’t have your same privileges and having the onus put on you to remedy their problems via welfare, reparations, affirmative action etc…etc… simply because you were born with something they don’t have, socially, economically, racially, sexually, gender-wise and while disregarding everything you DID earn…? No! No more fair than blaming them for what they were born with!
• Having an honest dialogue where all parties can voice their concerns and be taken seriously even if those views seem silly to you? Absolutely! Having one side stereotype the other in vile, condescending, demeaning caricatures and using ad hominem insults to shut them up, deny them jobs, ostracize them from social groups, even family, vilify them in the media and TV, make straw men out of their positions then mock them? Nope! 

And in the spirit of the holiday season…

• Having “Happy holidays” over “Merry Christmas” on public municipal buildings, or businesses wanting to get as many customers as possible as opposed to just Christian ones, having more generic decorations for winter versus explicitly Judaeo-Christian ones in the public square and in businesses, the work “holiday” party instead of the Christmas party, etc… etc…? Fine by me, I prefer it in a country of separation of church and state, and understand why a business would want to keep its advertising open to everyone or a workplace not making assumptions about the religions of their employees… Freaking out like a triggered snowflake if someone says “Merry Christmas”, trying to push “inclusivity” on private citizens and businesses who do choose to say “Merry Christmas”, throwing a hissy fit over red and green decorations and diving into complete over the top paranoia where any decorations now must be forbidden in the name of separation of church and state and “inclusivity”??? NO!!! There is a healthy middle ground between “Christian theocracy” and “Anti-Holiday PC dictatorship”! 😉

Those are some, but certainly not all of my examples of where I bend and stand firm! What are yours?

Also, an important tip, don’t try to expend all your energy at once into one thing!  Sometimes, letting some things go, can give you the strength to go all out when you really feel you should speak up! Yes, we have had losses, but don’t let the losses make you forget the wins! See, the Left wants us to feel we’re beat, wants us to feel like we’re exhausted and should just give in, but we shouldn’t and aren’t! There is a silent majority out there. They may not blog about it, tweet, post on Facebook, or even talk politics openly with friends or even family. But they spoke loud and proud at the polls in 2016 😉 The “silent majority” however, must no longer be silent, and we must encourage fellow conservatives to come out of the shadows and be heard! Now that IS something worth fighting for 😉

“I Say, Therefore, I Am”… How The Left Reinvented Reality…

“And thus, the actions of life often not allowing any delay, it is a truth very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine the most true opinions we ought to follow the most probable.”
― Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method

In my article, “Woke” Or Still Dreaming???, I pondered the finer points of being “woke” and how it could be merely an illusion, a dream that one is unaware that they are in fact dreaming! However, there is a related point in a similar train of thought: If dreams vs. wakefulness can be called into doubt, what about the concept of reality???

See, we all mostly take for granted what we think “reality” is. What is reality? Facts? Figures? Opinions? Experiences? etc… The scientist tries to determine reality through the seeking out of facts. Proven and testable hypothesis to create theories for how the world works such as gravity, discovering natural laws, such as Newton’s laws of motion for instance. Things we feel confident enough, have enough evidence to say, “yeah, this is most likely to the extent of our knowledge how things are”… The philosopher can ponder the natures of more intangible things: What is our purpose? What is love? Emotions? (Although neuroscience is getting more and more of a say in that 😉 ) Can we really know if we are in a dream, or if we even “exist”? What does it mean to exist? And so on…

Reality is not just one narrow view, but is comprised of many different angles. The abstract must have a different nature to it than the concrete and tangible, but we both consider abstract concepts like justice, or love to be “real” as well as matter or air! However one cannot say that they can exist in identical ways as each other! Then again, reality isn’t just about whether or not things exist! Reality can also comprise of factual statements, factual knowledge. For example citing a statistic, let’s say, “1 in 5 women are raped”. It’s either true or not true. If the statement is proven to be factual, then we can consider it part of our reality, a truth in our world. However, if that statistic is incorrect, then it is not real….

Look, I apologize for going on a lengthy “meditation” on the many facets of the nature of “reality” but let me just get to the point: The Left purports that reality is subjective, and relative, and we each can have our own reality! Their premise is this; we all have our own experiences, colored by who we are, our socio-economic status, our race, gender, sexuality, etc…etc… And on this basis, therefore, we each have our own individual “reality”, how the world treats us and how we perceive the world. On its face, it’s not a ridiculous idea. It is true we all will perceive the world differently. Many things in this like ARE subjective. A man cannot experience the world as a woman. A person of color will have a different experience than a white person. And so on…

However, the problem starts when this view of a subjective reality takes over completely! For example, many Leftist doctrines say that people of color must always be believed that they were “microaggressed” or that someone was racist towards them not based on concrete facts or statistics, but on their word alone just by virtue of being a person of color! Simply because they’re a minority, their reality must supersede anyone else’s who’s not a minority! The white person’s perspective on what transpired gets zero credence! Well, what if they never meant to be hurtful or racist in that question they asked? What if the statistics don’t show any racial or gender bias against the job candidate who was rejected and the hiring manager clearly stated it was due to something completely unrelated they weren’t chosen? Whose version of the events must be believed?

What about the woman saying her reality is comprised of 1 in 5 women being raped, or women only getting 77% of their paychecks and no one is allowed to question it because it’s “her reality” and men can’t have an opinion, not because these assertions were objectively tested and proven true for everyone! And if she claims she was assaulted, “her reality” must be believed over the guy’s side of the story since she’s now the “victim” in her reality… Or what about the man who says he’s now a woman, so we must take him at his word or be labeled “transphobic”? As they say, every story has two sides, but apparently one side now supersedes the other’s validity if they’re in a special interest group!

Just like Descartes postulated “I think therefore I am”, the left’s new motto should be “I say, therefore I am” since they believe that they can speak their own reality into existence! I say to the world I am a woman now and no longer a guy? Done! I say I was discriminated against without providing concrete evidence? Done! I say he assaulted me that night I can’t even remember the details of? Done! Saying something happened is enough for the Left to take it as gospel truth…

But… Wait a minute! What about the wider shared reality we all have??? Yes, we all have different perceptions of what happened, what we feel we’re experiencing, but that’s not enough! In science, that is called an anecdotal experience. One person’s experience is not the sum total of everyone’s! Just because you feel you were treated in a biased manner, doesn’t mean it actually happened! Just because you feel you were microaggressed against, doesn’t mean that’s what the person on the other end intended in the least! Just because you genuinely did get assaulted, or not given fair pay at a job you had, doesn’t mean every woman in the entire room did along with you! Yes, there are cases of real racism, bias, hatred, prejudice, injustice.

However, if you want to make sweeping statements, that apply to numerous people, hundreds, thousands, millions, you need more than just “I experienced it in my reality” to make it THE reality for the world! No, people, your reality is NOT reality if it’s something that extends beyond just your immediate experience! Yes, in “your reality” pizza can taste bad, and no one can argue otherwise, or you feel sad, no one can tell you, “no you don’t!”, however, “your reality” ends when other people come into the picture… Verifiable assertions that can be proven by an outside party are subject to scrutiny by everyone, not just the court of your personal opinion! That’s where statistics come in… 😉

It’s not just “my reality” that broken homes are detrimental, or women have XX chromosomes, or immigrants/refugees from 3rd world countries being in crime and drain resources. There is actual proof of these things occurring! This is where the earlier seemingly unrelated thoughts come into play from the beginning of my post… “Reality” is indeed not just one thing, that can only be seen from one angle. Proving abstract things are far harder than proving concrete ones. There are some “personal realities” that do exist, such as preferences for one color over another, certain foods, TV shows, hobbies, emotions etc… that no one can actually “prove” wrong!

However, there are plenty that can be determined to be “real” or not to the rest of the world! That’s what forensics, courts, clearly defined laws/rules, protocols, statistics, research studies, scientific experiments, peer review, evidence and such are for! Just because the researchers want the Nobel Prize really badly doesn’t mean they discovered a new element in their reality and it is considered valid for the rest of the scientific community! If the matter extends beyond your own inner mind, sorry kids, you have to share “your reality” with other people, and let them scrutinize it 😉 You can feel like you were discriminated against, or others like you are because of your own experiences, but if tests and studies and statistics say otherwise, then the reality for everyone else says “no”! One person’s reality is NOT 7.7 billion (as of now’s) reality!!! 

Look, the jig is up! Provide evidence, or quit whining! If you can’t test it, prove it, verify it, get the numbers to come to your conclusions, the research studies to verify your ideas, experiments to prove your hypothesis, then no, it’s NOT reality! And one last note, what about the other sides’ reality??? That’s right, the reality for the white person, the man, the cisgendered person, etc… The reality in which white people are guilt tripped via white privilege and denied jobs due to their skin color? The reality where a man can be ruined for life on one baseless, unsubstantiated allegation? The reality where women fear for themselves and their children in their own bathrooms and changing rooms? The reality where Asian-Americans are being held to a higher standards and denied in top colleges and universities on a racial stereotype? The reality of all the families whose children were killed by illegals? What about THEIR realities??? Oh, that’s right, the only reality is your reality!

Lefties, the saying goes “I THINK therefore, I am” NOT “I SAY therefore I am!” 😉