Link Me Up, Scotty - Count your blessings edition

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

A year in the life of the migrant farm workers who pick blueberries. Tell me again how people of color are taking jobs away from HARD WORKING AMERICANS. This is a terribly difficult life, not only for the adults, but for their children who must move with the harvest.

H/T Steve
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If you've asked yourself "how the fuck can Donald Trump be the Republican candidate for President?" here's a syllabus of readings that help explain the rise of the Trumpsicle.
The readings below introduce observers to the past and present conditions that allowed Trump to seize electoral control of a major American political party. By extension, this syllabus acknowledges the intersectional nature of power and politics. The course emphasizes the ways that cultural capital like Trump’s grows best under certain socio-economic conditions. Trump’s open advocacy for race-based exclusion and politically motivated violence on matters both foreign and domestic cannot be separated from the historical and day-to-day inequalities endured by people of color, women, and religious minorities living in or migrating to the United States. Concerned less with Trump as a man than with “Trumpism” as a product of history, this course interrogates the connections between wealth, violence, and politics.
There's a lot to digest here. I better get to reading.

H/T Sister Ellen
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A person of privilige unpacks why he's a racist, in spite of himself.

H/T Debbie the Librarian
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Stephen Colbert's RNC Bingo Card. I'm afraid I won't be playing this year - the idea of watching those paragons of intellectual ability Scott Baio and Jerry Falwall is too much for me to handle.

H/T Steve
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Popehat's Ken White on the dangers of cynicism.
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Check out these Depression era library posters. We've come a long way, baby.

H/T Sister Carolyn
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An important note on why it's important not to let politics or the election get in the way of nurturing your relationships or providing meaning to your life. The money quote:
But the greatest mistake you could ever make, is either believing that hope is lost or that salvation is secured simply because of what transpires on Election Day. No human being gives your life meaning or renders it meaningless.

You get to decide that: with your voice, your hands, your words, your breath.
Just so. While I'm passionate about my political opinions and will absolutely vote my conscience, I determined earlier in the year to stop discussing politics with people I care about (with a few rare exceptions). Because as the Smart Man says, politics is poison when it comes to interpersonal relationships, and I don't want to poison my relationships with the people I care about. 

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