Yah know, I love my sisters and brothers on the left, but one thing we get wrong, IMHO, is the tone policing that is meant to show that we are the better party.
That we are gracious.
That we are the intellectuals.
That we are kind and loving and, above all, forgiving.
I get that. I do. But as is said, there is a season for everything, and sometimes, when you are in the ring with Barbarians, you don’t have to fight so much like a Barbarian, but you do have to toss away the gentlemen’s kid gloves.
Why? Because Barbarics don’t fight with honor; they battle to win at all costs.
When you bow to your Barabian opponent out of good sportsmanship, he will cut your head clean off. Unapologetically. To raucous cheers. If your opponent is willing to grab your cajones while you are taking the stance to fight fairly, you will lose every time.
What happens when all the gentlemen’s heads are cut off?
The Barbarians take over.
Laughing in the face of calamity
My father taught me an invaluable lesson about dealing with untenable situations. I had just won my first major writing contest in high school and was stoked but scared. It was for the Atlanta Fulton County Black History Essay contest. I’d won a monetary prize and was to give a speech that would be televised on the local library channel.
To say I was frazzled is putting it mildly.
To prepare, I had my hair braided at a local Atlanta salon. I started to fret, however, as some of the notches of synthetic strands felt as if they were loosening. You see, with long braids, synthetic hairs are interwoven into your own, and sometimes these braids can come out if not tight enough.
I told my dad I was scared of one of the hairs falling off on stage, to which he quipped, “Baby, if that happens, just snatch yo hair off the flo’, wave it in the air, and say “I got to get me a new hairdresser!’”
What he told me that day rode within my spirit, and when I face hard times, I find humor in the situation. It helps me cope, find solutions, and move on.
Humor as a shield and a weapon
When I laugh at the mugshots of Trump and his co-defendants, I am not making light of a grim situation. I recognize it and, through humor, take hold of the absurdity in a way that I can grasp and dissect.
I am not merely attempting to bow to the Barbarian but making fun of the monster—and taking away some of its menace.
Satire has long been used to counter social injustice, bigotry, racism, and violence—it showcases the absurdity of people who wield these ideas and actions as righteous. When people see the insanity behind the mask of evil, it makes the perpetrator seem less ferocious, and they tend to fight back—hard!
Generational trauma and righteous booing
I cannot stand people like Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence, two men who decided to give their empty sentiments of Tots and Pears after the Dollar General shooting in Jacksonville, Florida.
These men, with their disingenuous race hustling and strawmen anti-minority arguments, are why I encounter folks who say things like, "Slavery happened centuries ago, get over it!" or “You know, other people were enslaved too…”
Such uneducated types ignore the fallout of Jim Crow, redlining, and modern-day systemic racism! Besides, generational trauma is a thing that can last for decades. I advise these men and women to look it up.
That is why my heart swelled when Ron Desantis was booed at the Jacksonville vigil for his hand in what happened to the three victims at Dollar General. Make no mistake, he and his ilk are responsible for those deaths, if not even more so than the trigger man himself.
Think about it—when a man or woman hires a hitman to take someone out, the person hiring the hitman gets more jail time than the actual killer. This is because the law recognizes that the murder would not have occurred without the instigation of the people who set such a plan in motion.
Those who practice stochastic terrorism are the real triggermen, so Ron DeSantis getting booed was the least he could suffer for the blood dripping off his pudding fingers.
Gestures of meaningless grace harm more than they help
City Councilwoman Ju'Coby Pittman, who was at Edward Waters University, the historically Black university where the vigil was being held, stepped in to tell folks to calm down and let DeSantis speak. For this action, she may be heralded more as a hero to those on the right than the left.
Though well-meaning, she just gave Barbarians, who have no concept of justice and fairness, more power to be unjust and unfair.
Booing, like laughing, is one way we can deal with the heartless monsters in our midst, who have to know that we view them not with reverence or fear but disdain.
When you take away the weapons that honorable men can fight with, you eventually lose on all fronts, and at this juncture, losing is not an option.
My thoughts on the Glorious Booing:
"their empty sentiments of Tots and Pears" -- brilliant! You are truly a gifted writer. I am so glad that I "found" you.
Amazing thank you for this perspective.
BTW, your dad is my hero!
“Baby, if that happens, just snatch yo hair off the flo’, wave it in the air, and say “I got to get me a new hairdresser!’”