War On Woke

Dear you,

Where to begin? I'll begin here, right here in Florida where the assault on enlightenment continues.  Recently, Leon County banned the following books from high schools:

Push by Sapphire

Dead End by Jason Myer

Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk

Lucky by Alice Sebold

Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

According to Moms for Liberty (them again) who made the initial complaint, these books did not meet state requirements.  Key requirement? To "protect students from woke indoctrination in schools".  Once again, life stories (fiction or nonfiction) are labeled dangerous.  More voices silenced because they might wake people up.  The rage against the "woke machine" is pretty obvious in its motivation; keep them dumb, numb, and obedient. Keep them asleep. The Ragers have now extended their project beyond literature.  Actual history is being rewritten in the most 2 + 2 = 5 way possible.  The Florida State Board of Education now requires instruction about how "slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."

Oh for the love of god.

These people told us what they wanted and they are making it happen.  The Christian White Nationalist dream is gaining traction.  Listen to Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville defend himself against assertions of racism by stating throughout his life he has "dealt with" minorities as a coach, etc.  He dealt with them. We use that verb when referring to things we handle or tolerate.  We deal with annoying neighbors, we deal with inflation, we deal with toothaches, we deal with flight delays.  The senator wants validation for dealing with minorities.

Unbelievable bastard.

Tommy and his crew have a pretty clear mission statement:  WE WILL DOMINATE AT ALL COST.  WE WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO AND WHAT TO THINK.

This is where we are.  And I, in Seagrove Beach, Florida, am surrounded by the advocates of this fucked up dominance.  The sad thing is the majority of those advocates are getting screwed over by the people they support. They will remain uneducated, unenlightened, asleep. And they will continue to dump their money into the coffers of the grifters just like the poor dude I passed on the beach cross-over yesterday.  He wore this:

He paid for that; he chose to be an advertisement for Trumpism at his own cost. Poor dude. He was intoxicated, crimson from sun exposure, and rather unfortunate looking. I wonder why he didn't just buy a "Fuck Joe Biden" suit. Perhaps this trunk wearer didn't want to offend the women and children he surely believes he owns. I wonder what makes him tick, why he supports a movement whose key aim is to erase/rewrite truth?  Doesn't that require an awful lot of angry effort? Chuck Palahniuk answers that question in Doomed, one of those five banned books:

"It's exhausting, the energy it takes to unknow a truth."

Bless their weary hearts. Damn their twisted actions.

Stay energized, my friends.  So much to protect and defend these days. #TruthMatters

Love,

Joyce