Even if I complain about the critiques of my words and actions, I like getting them. All of them.
Homeless people will sometimes start spreading rumors that I'm a piece-of-shit-pimp-drug-dealer. It never bothers me.
While the "piece of shit" part is legitimately debatable, the pimp/drug dealer part is just not true. I don't sell or do drugs. And I am a feminist. I am VERY sensitive to women's rights. While I support sex workers, I would never EVER turn a woman out.
But that's not what they are actually saying.
What they are saying is: "Sage, you aren't supporting me. I need your help and you are denying me."
The message under the message is what is important. They are trying to get my attention.
This is the exact message we are getting from so many people in America today.
Hurting and murdering people is morally wrong. Racism (particularly racism that powers the entire American machine) is genocide based on nothing other than skin pigment.
But there is a message behind the murder and hate that is legitimate.
The message is: I'm hurting and no one is listening to me.
That's always the message of terrorists and rioters. "I am suffering at the hands of people I don't even know or can even see. So I'm going to take it out of what is in front of me right now."
I love looking for the message behind the message.
Governments and political parties will try to make everything black and white. But everything is gray. EVERYTHING IS GRAY. (Do you know that the word "gray" can acceptably be spelled g-r-a-y or g-r-e-y? That's poetic because even the spelling of grey is gray.)
I got word that some people think my messaging of late is not being consistent. (this is actual constructive, direct criticism that doesn't require me to look for the message behind the message (or does it? more on that in a minute).
I'm not 100% certain I know the full meaning of the criticism. But I think I can patch it together.
One minute I support liberal ideals and the next minute I advocate for Trump supporters.
How can I be a civil rights leader while supporting Trump supporters? I mean they are supporting a man who is trying to destroy all of American democracy because he doesn't like how the vote counting is going. Quite literally, Trump only is supporting votes that support him. He, as president of the United Fucking States of America, calls people names and says countless things that are absolute lies. Even his most loyal supporters will outwardly admit that he would be doing A LOT better if he'd just keep his damn mouth shut.
The only thing that is surprising to me is how well Trump is doing considering the brutal headwind he was facing going into this election. (I'm writing this on Saturday morning, November 7, 2020. The election hasn't been officially called at this point. But it's looking really bad for Trump. I believe quite strongly that Biden will be our new president. But you can see if I'm right or wrong in the future.) You truly have to be delusional to think Donald Trump is beloved by most of the country given where we are today. Trump supporters could do well to take a step back for a minute and try to appreciate why some people (actually, most people,) think he shouldn't be our president any more.
But you all should know this: you are going to see me start to lean in HARD in support of Trump supporters in the near future.
Non-college educated white people have been a major victim of globalization and automation. All while liberals make fun of their religion and their way of life.
American farmers (the greatest farmers humanity has ever had) feel hated by liberals. So do truck drivers. So do oil workers. So do fisherman. The people who literally supply us with all our food and all our energy are chastised by liberals.
To say liberals are innocent in the mess of divisiveness we've found ourselves is easily as delusional as anything they accuse conservatives of being.
If you feel that I am not being consistent in my support of conservatives and, gasp, white men, you haven't fully grasped who I am.
I fight against inequality, injustice and corruption of the machine. I am at war with the machine. That includes the church, the Republicans, the Democrats, the government at all levels. I'll fight any organization at any time. There is no organization that is immune to my potential fixation on their corruption. No organization is sacred, especially an organization that is willing to murder and oppress people for its own survival. Organizations are all here for the people. But they all inevitably end up serving the leaders of the organization while the people they were meant to serve suffer at the machine's hands.
For the record, I've said it before and I'll say it again: I AM NOT AN ANARCHIST. I am not death. I am rebirth. I look to break down and then reform organizations. I till the soil. I turn things over. (Do you get it, or would you like me to keep going?)
What I am NOT is beholden to some organizational ideology. I hate dogma. I am true to people. All people. Of course, there are points where one group of people feels another group of people is taking more than their fair share. That's always been more true for American black people than American white people. But white people have legitimate issues too.
What is most important to remember is that it's not people oppressing people. It's SYSTEMS oppressing people. The vast majority of people murdering people is usually within people's own races. (Most white murders are of white people. And most black murders are of black people.)
Here's some 2018 FBI data on that point:
Citizens killing citizens is not really my interest. I particularly hate to see young people being randomly killed. But that is someone else's battle to fight.
I am much more interested in police murdering citizens because it falls in line with my whole injustice, inequality and systemic corruption position. It is undeniable that police are illegally murdering people (usually black people) and are being protected by police unions, mayors and city councils.
That's where my passion lies. That's where my war resides.
And that's my consistency.
I'm very glad someone questioned my consistency because consistency means a great deal to me. Being a leader with morality and ethics and integrity is nearly nonexistent these days. I want to be that for people.
But what I refuse to be is a shill of any organization. (You should know right now that if your organization ever asks me to speak, there is a very good chance that at least part of the speech will be the corruption within that organization.)
That is my consistency. I am not ever going to be "consistent" for the system. So, when you are happy I'm supporting your cause today, don't come crying to me when I start railing against your organization tomorrow.
Get it?
P.S. I almost forgot. I believe there is also a message behind the message of concern that I'm not being consistent. I think the message is: "Sage, how can you say you support me while you then go and support my adversary?" It's simple. You aren't adversaries. You never have been. Your political party has just brainwashed you into believing you want opposite things. You both want the same things. And they are both achievable. The machine is the enemy not your fellow American brothers and sisters.
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