Grieving for our Country

[Yppej]

I guess it depends how you define an era, but the worst times in our nation have to include genocidal wars against Native Americans, slavery, the collapse of Reconstruction into Jim Crow with numerous lynchings, the imprisonment and harassment of women seeking suffrage, and police raids of gay bars and violence against their patrons.

[catherine]

I guess it depends how you define an era, but the worst times in our nation have to include genocidal wars against Native Americans, slavery, the collapse of Reconstruction into Jim Crow with numerous lynchings, the imprisonment and harassment of women seeking suffrage, and police raids of gay bars and violence against their patrons.

+1

There it is. Well said.

[Gardnr]

jp1 is right. This isn’t our worst era. It doesn’t even make the top ten.

I wholeheartedly agree. It is however the current reality and impacting today's US residents on a horrific personal scale with each devastating event and decision with some being large-scale impact.

[JaneV2.0]

When Trump was elected, I despaired. But his cruelty, ineptitude, hubris, and greed have awakened a large number of Americans to the fact that he's a symbol of what is wrong with this country, and that it's time to mobilize for change. And if a large enough majority can overcome attempts to gerrymander and otherwise thwart voters, we stand a good chance of prevailing. The midterms, with their new, young legislators gave me reason to believe there's a bright light at the end of this dark tunnel.

[pinkytoe]

I think the one thing that is huge and depressing right now (that may not have been in other eras) is widespread environmental degradation. All of our endeavors positive and negative mean nothing if we don't have an earth to live on.

[JaneV2.0]

Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives are touting a Green New Deal.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-en...e-civil-rights

[ApatheticNoMore]

I think the one thing that is huge and depressing right now (that may not have been in other eras) is widespread environmental degradation. All of our endeavors positive and negative mean nothing if we don't have an earth to live on.

agree 100% but I think we can maybe take peace in the fact that there is a chance we will all be dead then, and that we will die of natural causes before then. Future generations I don't know, not my problem in many senses as hey I don't have kids. I mean I do care from a moral standpoint, but the world is NOT run by people like me, it's run by people like Trump and worse, simply people who do not care about others and the world. And so we get what we get: extinction.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Just read this in a book about Chris Hedges which speaks to the need to have faith, act according to your values, and then detach yourself from the results

bf and me did two in our private book club: "days of destruction, days of revolt" (very interesting) and "death of the liberal class" (more ranty but we got through it).

[Williamsmith]

I think the one thing that is huge and depressing right now (that may not have been in other eras) is widespread environmental degradation. All of our endeavors positive and negative mean nothing if we don't have an earth to live on.

A common sight when I was a child.

pittsburgh_pollution_mill_scls.jpg

[pinkytoe]

Yes, many industrial sites have been cleaned up since the 40s-50s but population has vastly increased and other countries are way behind the curve. We did not have plastic in our oceans and mega-farms with pollution runoff. Vast swaths of new development destroying habitat. Bees dying. I guess we can all hope and believe that technology will save our butts, ex. drones pollinating our plants instead of bees.