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Heartstrings

(7,349 posts)
Sat Jan 13, 2018, 05:16 PM Jan 2018

This sums it up...

Good People Don’t Defend A Bad Man
JANUARY 12, 2018 / JOHN PAVLOVITZ


At times in this life it can be a challenge to figure out who the bad people are, but sometimes they help you.

Sometimes they do the work for you.

Sometimes with their every vulgar, bitter word from their mouth, they testify to their personal malignancy and they make it easy to identify them.

Generally speaking, there are things that good people do and things good people don’t do.

Good people don’t refer to entire countries as “shitholes”—most notably countries that have given birth to our very humanity; ones that for hundreds of years have been colonized and poached and mined of their riches by powerful white men; countries whose people have been enslaved and sold and forced to come and build your country.

Good people by any measurement we might use—simply don’t say such things.

Of course good people also don’t say they could grab women by the genitalia, either.
They don’t defend racists and nazis and call them “fine people,” days after murdering a young girl and terrorizing an American city.
They don’t brag about their penis size during debates, or suggest protestors at campaign rallies should be roughed up, or crack jokes about captured war heroes, or make fun of the physically disabled.
They don’t.


Good people don’t tweet anti-Muslim rhetoric in the moments immediately following a bombing in order to bolster a position.
They don’t leave American territories filled with brown skinned people without power for months upon months, after publicly ridiculing their public servants and questioning their people’s resolve.
They don’t erase protections for the water and the air, for the elderly, the terminally ill, the LGBTQ.
They don’t take away healthcare from the sick and the poor without an alternative.
They don’t gouge the working poor and shelter the wealthy.
They don’t abuse their unrivaled platform to Twitter-bait world leaders and to taunt private citizens.
Good people don’t prey upon the vulnerable, they don’t leverage their power to bully dissenters, and they don’t campaign for sexual predators.

But this President is simply not a good human being, and there’s simply no way around this truth.

He is the ugliest personification of the Ugly American, which is why, as long as he is here and as long as he represents this nation, we will be a fractured mess and a global embarrassment. He will be the ever lowering bar of our legacy in the world.

And what is painfully obvious in these moments, isn’t simply that the person alleging to lead this country is a terrible human being—it is that anyone left still defending him, applauding him, justifying him, amening him, probably is too.


At this point, the only reason left to support this President, is that he reflects your hateful heart;he shares your contempt of people of color, your hostility toward outsiders, your ignorant bigotry, your feeling of supremacy.

A white President calling countries filled with people of color shitholes, is so far beyond the pale, so beneath decency, and so blatantly racist that it shouldn’t merit conversation. It should be universally condemned. Humanity should be in agreement in abhorring it.

And yet today (like so many other seemingly rock bottom days in the past twelve months) they will be out there: white people claiming to be good people and Christian people, who will make excuses for him or debate his motives or diminish the damage.

They will dig their heels in to explain away or to defend, what at the end of the day is simply a bad human being saying the things that bad human beings say because their hearts harbor very bad things.

No, good people don’t call countries filled with beautiful, creative, loving men and women shitholes.

And good people don’t defend people who do.

You’re going to have to make a choice here.



*disclaimer given: this is from Facebook*







17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
This sums it up... (Original Post) Heartstrings Jan 2018 OP
Excellent post malaise Jan 2018 #1
I wholeheartedly agree. CentralMass Jan 2018 #2
The other scary part is that the alt right loves him for it. BigmanPigman Jan 2018 #3
It IS worth the read. thanks yonder Jan 2018 #14
EXCELLENT RandomAccess Jan 2018 #4
John Pavlovitz LakeArenal Jan 2018 #5
Well said! smirkymonkey Jan 2018 #6
K&R nt ProudProgressiveNow Jan 2018 #7
R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S pangaia Jan 2018 #8
CONservatives kill people. Sheer evil. SammyWinstonJack Jan 2018 #16
agreed. treestar Jan 2018 #9
Thank heaven locks Jan 2018 #10
This is why I no longer curry favor cilla4progress Jan 2018 #11
If we have to fight a war while Trump is president, Mr.Bill Jan 2018 #12
At this rate, the war may be AGAINST one of our allies Mr. Ected Jan 2018 #13
Yeah, I wouldnt rule that out. n/t Mr.Bill Jan 2018 #15
So who is John Pavlovitz? Heeeeeeere's Johnny! Honeycombe8 Jan 2018 #17

BigmanPigman

(51,585 posts)
3. The other scary part is that the alt right loves him for it.
Sat Jan 13, 2018, 06:29 PM
Jan 2018

Psychologists looked into the mind of the alt right voters who applaud the Moron. It is worth the read.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/15/16144070/psychology-alt-right

 

RandomAccess

(5,210 posts)
4. EXCELLENT
Sat Jan 13, 2018, 06:31 PM
Jan 2018

I'm getting ready to send something like this to my RepubliCON MoC.

I want them to start holding Trump to account. It's time for them to start honoring their oath of office. Our so-called President is DAILY breaking the law and the Constitution and I want it (and so much more) to stop. They have to step up to the plate.

This is yet another Time's Up thing for me.

treestar

(82,383 posts)
9. agreed.
Sat Jan 13, 2018, 06:56 PM
Jan 2018

They now are not simply people with different politics. This is shark jumping. They are just not good people. Supporting McCain or Mittens in one thing. Supporting Donald is different from that.

cilla4progress

(24,727 posts)
11. This is why I no longer curry favor
Sat Jan 13, 2018, 06:59 PM
Jan 2018

With any trump supporters.

I recently was contacted by a childhood friend who still lives in Ohio. She works in human services. So I felt safe to say that I took down my FB until trump is out of office, by way of explanation. My comment was tame. Haven’t heard from her since. Too bad but this is how I feel. I must be
true to myself and I don’t really
have time for trumpers.

Honeycombe8

(37,648 posts)
17. So who is John Pavlovitz? Heeeeeeere's Johnny!
Sat Jan 13, 2018, 08:16 PM
Jan 2018
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/john-pavlovitz


John is a pastor and blogger from Wake Forest, North Carolina. His blog, Stuff That Needs To Be Said has reached a diverse audience of millions of people. A 18-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, John's mission is to nurture better, more productive conversation about faith, and to help the Church become a more compassionate, loving environment for all people. He serves on staff at North Raleigh Community Church and is preparing to launch an online community called The Table, a Christian community where everyone gets a seat.

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