And lest us not forget who Trump’s mentor was. Roy Cohn was a gay man who Trump seemingly adored and learned hatred for others from. Trump is clearly a self hating closeted gay man who projects that hatred onto everything and everyone. Thank you Chris from the deepest part of my soul for writing this. As an aside, my partner became a minister through the Universal Life Church online so she could marry her nephew and his partner a couple years ago. She is 79 and I am 71 and we both know that the USA (and the world) are much saner with the LGBTQ+ culture in our lives. May they all continue to party on as the fascist fuckers die off once and for all.
There's a scene in Angels in America that didn't make it into the movie. A trap door opens. There's Roy Cohn, in hell, lit up with a red light. He's on the phone to God, who is being sued by humanity for abandonment. Cohn is trying to land him as a client. He succeeds, and says, "I gotta tell you, you don't have a case! You don't have a case! But I'll get you off."
Chris, I LOVE that you spent July 4th with these beautiful, creative, courageous drag queens. This is so refreshing compared to all the blah, blah, blah about the 250th anniversary of our oh-so-mythical USA. Power to the queens!
I have always loved the subversive things that can happen through art and performance.
Those anonymous bathhouses with unprotected sex played a dangerous role in the '80's when we didn't have good ways to diagnose and treat HIV. But I worked with a social worker who said to me, regarding teen pregnancy, having a baby is a steep price to be paid for a few minutes in a back seat. These prices have been paid through history.
And cutting USAID was a powerful reminder of what happens when you cut off people from HIV/AID drug therapies and the other supports. Coming soon to a country near you?
But with that caveat, I have to say that these people are courageous and we all have to find the spot where we will stand and resist. And this is a unique and somewhat joyful piece on a 4th of July holiday that felt really glum. And Hedges acknowledged that, too.
This is the Fourth of July America deserves: drag queens on a boat reminding the country what freedom actually looks like while the fascists clutch pearls from inside their gold-plated costume drama. Trump thinks drag is anti-American, which is hilarious coming from a man painted orange, wrapped in theatrical grievance, and performing masculinity like a casino Elvis with subpoenas. The difference is drag expands the human spirit. Fascism shrinks it into uniforms, fear, and obedience. If America still has a soul, it is probably wearing rhinestones and telling ICE to go to hell.
Chris Hedges' recent interview with Al Jazeera had me up nights, worrying about what my children, grandchildren and everyone else would face after I am mercifully at rest.. Based on his experience as a reporter who witnessed how fascism developed in various countries, he said that the mechanisms of democracy had been so sapped and dismantled in the USA by both parties that democracy is over, done, and that fascism cannot be stopped. All the facts support this prediction.
Now this unexpected celebration of seemingly silly, joyful, in your face resistance is coming from the very same sober, wise, courageous, informed, thoughtful buttoned-up Presbyterian minister.
I love the the rebellious spirit and good hearts of people here. You see it everywhere, naive and raw in many cases. You see it in how people raise funds for illnesses, in how good old boys will drive up in pick-ups and boats after a storm and pick people up off roofs regardless of race. There are Black women whose intrepid persistence has lasted for centuries despite all odds. And of course there are also some people who will hunt down their neighbors for $95K a year.
In part, the support for Trump comes from recognition that the corporate and financial rulers have abandoned the working people. The neo-liberals put a multicolored icing on the pile of sh*t they have been serving. So many good honest people, who are not particularly immersed in politics, voted for Trump. Now Trump (and Epstein) have stripped off the icing. There is pushback here in the form of electing progressives. Abroad, look at Albania's rejection of Kushner's land grab.
I hope that irreverence toward authority everywhere will turn into effective, organized resistance. To get this done, those of us who can must organize. Maybe quietly among friends or in organizations like the PTA or labor unions, or loudly, dressed up to the hilt, in wigs and gowns.
"Maybe quietly"........then, less and less quietly,.....until, not quietly at all because our children, grandchildren, and the very old ones and Earth depend on us. By the way, make it a point to read in Counterpunch St. Clair's recent piece on the great Thomas Paine! Superb! Enlightening, especially for us neophytes in the Dept of History Enrichment. I am grateful to Hedges, always my teacher....and to others lovers of truth and tellers of like it is.
There's nothing more powerful that the hate a person has for him or her self when they deny who they are - the hate goes out into the world lusting for the pain of everyone else - J. Edgar Hoover, the Orangeman and his coterie of pumped up men and women - pumped up muscles, lips, boobs. Not until we truly love ourselves will we have a world free of fascism.
I know by experience how this feels. I'm trans, gay, a two-spirit. I'm also working class.
The Rs and Christofascists have made drag queens and trans people into scary scapegoats for American political and economic failures. Were it not so dangerous, it would be humorous. It implies being heterosexual and cisgender are so dull, boring, and uninviting that the mere sight of identifiable LGBTQ people is enough to convert the drab into the fab!
Oh, say the "No Kings" participants, but with Trump gone, with the Ds we'll have real justice and tolerance. Sure, the D party has no problem with race, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity--as long as you're Ivy League or the equivalent. We lessers are to 'choose' between the D elite and their PMC oligarchy or the Rs and their 1%er and megacorporate plutocracy. So what that for decades the neolib Ds have done nothing to help the suffering working class majority because like the Rs, they support the current econopathy. Never mind that since ~75% of Americans are working class, then so are we who are BIPOC and/or LGBTQ.
Chris, you know some of us CAN read, write, and think. That's why the writing about economic realities in devastated areas. That's why teaching literature to prisoners and the live discussion of Dostoevsky. That's real populism--respect and trust in us, 'we the people.' To which I say, waving a very glittery carmine, glacier, and cobalt flag--you go, girl!!!
There really IS a new Way: "Not Right, Not Left; FORWARD!" Check out the growing interest in the Forward Party. This is a fresh movement that is gaining candidates and ground. A third party may finally, actually have a chance if enough folks are fed up with the same-ol' two duds we now live with.
All people who can afford to do so, express themselves in their outward appearance, which is why so many people applaud the flamboyance of men in drag, and why most of us enjoy fancy dress parties. My only concern about this drag invasion is the sexual activity that appears to be part of it. It's all fun and games until somebody gets HIV. Something that should be private being done in public is decadent, and to me decadence is a symptom of a decaying society.
Here in Oz we have the Gay Mardi Gras, fun flamboyance and spectacle that is televised and a family event. It's the Fire Island ethos without any health danger to participants.
For at least 80 years Melbourne has had The Seahorse Club for transvestites to gather: men, often family men, gathering to enjoy dressing as women. It was well publicised, and for the rest Melbourne it was just live and let live. The Seahorses were not stigmatised. None of this is to be confused with the current medical profitability of surgically altering men to try to turn them into women, and its attendant fracturing of public opinion. Self expression through drag has always been with us, as has homosexuality in at least 10% of the population. Religious or governmental suppression of either is doomed to failure, whereas acceptance of these individuals, by others, is a sign of social maturity.
Anyway, apparently there is a conspiracy theory out there that Trump is trans. Melania (I can see that one!) and Barron and the entire Royal Family as well.
I kind of hate that we impugn anyone's sexuality as an insult. Our sexuality is just a piece of who we are. But I would hate to be in any kind of relationship with Donald Trump because he seems to have a flare for cruelty and he is so transactional. And he is, alas, our president.
In "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" Arundhati Roy's character also embraces a marginalized gender bending community as a last refuge or salve against hopelessness caused by the extreme cruelty and trauma she saw in the Kashmir region. I wonder why. Is it the extreme courage to live authentically no matter what the cost?
And lest us not forget who Trump’s mentor was. Roy Cohn was a gay man who Trump seemingly adored and learned hatred for others from. Trump is clearly a self hating closeted gay man who projects that hatred onto everything and everyone. Thank you Chris from the deepest part of my soul for writing this. As an aside, my partner became a minister through the Universal Life Church online so she could marry her nephew and his partner a couple years ago. She is 79 and I am 71 and we both know that the USA (and the world) are much saner with the LGBTQ+ culture in our lives. May they all continue to party on as the fascist fuckers die off once and for all.
There's a scene in Angels in America that didn't make it into the movie. A trap door opens. There's Roy Cohn, in hell, lit up with a red light. He's on the phone to God, who is being sued by humanity for abandonment. Cohn is trying to land him as a client. He succeeds, and says, "I gotta tell you, you don't have a case! You don't have a case! But I'll get you off."
A beautiful gesture, a beautiful text, from a kind heart.
Journalist, preacher, philosopher, patriot......Chris Hedges continues his interesting and worthy journey. Who else could do this?
Absolute genius, Mr. Fish!
Chris, I LOVE that you spent July 4th with these beautiful, creative, courageous drag queens. This is so refreshing compared to all the blah, blah, blah about the 250th anniversary of our oh-so-mythical USA. Power to the queens!
I have always loved the subversive things that can happen through art and performance.
Those anonymous bathhouses with unprotected sex played a dangerous role in the '80's when we didn't have good ways to diagnose and treat HIV. But I worked with a social worker who said to me, regarding teen pregnancy, having a baby is a steep price to be paid for a few minutes in a back seat. These prices have been paid through history.
And cutting USAID was a powerful reminder of what happens when you cut off people from HIV/AID drug therapies and the other supports. Coming soon to a country near you?
But with that caveat, I have to say that these people are courageous and we all have to find the spot where we will stand and resist. And this is a unique and somewhat joyful piece on a 4th of July holiday that felt really glum. And Hedges acknowledged that, too.
Many good points here which add to the discussion.
This is the Fourth of July America deserves: drag queens on a boat reminding the country what freedom actually looks like while the fascists clutch pearls from inside their gold-plated costume drama. Trump thinks drag is anti-American, which is hilarious coming from a man painted orange, wrapped in theatrical grievance, and performing masculinity like a casino Elvis with subpoenas. The difference is drag expands the human spirit. Fascism shrinks it into uniforms, fear, and obedience. If America still has a soul, it is probably wearing rhinestones and telling ICE to go to hell.
Chris Hedges' recent interview with Al Jazeera had me up nights, worrying about what my children, grandchildren and everyone else would face after I am mercifully at rest.. Based on his experience as a reporter who witnessed how fascism developed in various countries, he said that the mechanisms of democracy had been so sapped and dismantled in the USA by both parties that democracy is over, done, and that fascism cannot be stopped. All the facts support this prediction.
Now this unexpected celebration of seemingly silly, joyful, in your face resistance is coming from the very same sober, wise, courageous, informed, thoughtful buttoned-up Presbyterian minister.
I love the the rebellious spirit and good hearts of people here. You see it everywhere, naive and raw in many cases. You see it in how people raise funds for illnesses, in how good old boys will drive up in pick-ups and boats after a storm and pick people up off roofs regardless of race. There are Black women whose intrepid persistence has lasted for centuries despite all odds. And of course there are also some people who will hunt down their neighbors for $95K a year.
In part, the support for Trump comes from recognition that the corporate and financial rulers have abandoned the working people. The neo-liberals put a multicolored icing on the pile of sh*t they have been serving. So many good honest people, who are not particularly immersed in politics, voted for Trump. Now Trump (and Epstein) have stripped off the icing. There is pushback here in the form of electing progressives. Abroad, look at Albania's rejection of Kushner's land grab.
I hope that irreverence toward authority everywhere will turn into effective, organized resistance. To get this done, those of us who can must organize. Maybe quietly among friends or in organizations like the PTA or labor unions, or loudly, dressed up to the hilt, in wigs and gowns.
"Maybe quietly"........then, less and less quietly,.....until, not quietly at all because our children, grandchildren, and the very old ones and Earth depend on us. By the way, make it a point to read in Counterpunch St. Clair's recent piece on the great Thomas Paine! Superb! Enlightening, especially for us neophytes in the Dept of History Enrichment. I am grateful to Hedges, always my teacher....and to others lovers of truth and tellers of like it is.
There's nothing more powerful that the hate a person has for him or her self when they deny who they are - the hate goes out into the world lusting for the pain of everyone else - J. Edgar Hoover, the Orangeman and his coterie of pumped up men and women - pumped up muscles, lips, boobs. Not until we truly love ourselves will we have a world free of fascism.
thank you
To Chris Hedges. You utterly amaze me! Now you align yourself with, in my opinion, the most wonderful group of
people in the world, “male
feminism”. I have a young male friend in Ireland who is
“Gay” and he hides this and
is afraid to “say” it, even to me. The Irish do not, allow it.
Linda
The “Irish” had a GAY head of state!!! His name is Leo Varadkar!!
I know by experience how this feels. I'm trans, gay, a two-spirit. I'm also working class.
The Rs and Christofascists have made drag queens and trans people into scary scapegoats for American political and economic failures. Were it not so dangerous, it would be humorous. It implies being heterosexual and cisgender are so dull, boring, and uninviting that the mere sight of identifiable LGBTQ people is enough to convert the drab into the fab!
Oh, say the "No Kings" participants, but with Trump gone, with the Ds we'll have real justice and tolerance. Sure, the D party has no problem with race, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity--as long as you're Ivy League or the equivalent. We lessers are to 'choose' between the D elite and their PMC oligarchy or the Rs and their 1%er and megacorporate plutocracy. So what that for decades the neolib Ds have done nothing to help the suffering working class majority because like the Rs, they support the current econopathy. Never mind that since ~75% of Americans are working class, then so are we who are BIPOC and/or LGBTQ.
Chris, you know some of us CAN read, write, and think. That's why the writing about economic realities in devastated areas. That's why teaching literature to prisoners and the live discussion of Dostoevsky. That's real populism--respect and trust in us, 'we the people.' To which I say, waving a very glittery carmine, glacier, and cobalt flag--you go, girl!!!
There really IS a new Way: "Not Right, Not Left; FORWARD!" Check out the growing interest in the Forward Party. This is a fresh movement that is gaining candidates and ground. A third party may finally, actually have a chance if enough folks are fed up with the same-ol' two duds we now live with.
All people who can afford to do so, express themselves in their outward appearance, which is why so many people applaud the flamboyance of men in drag, and why most of us enjoy fancy dress parties. My only concern about this drag invasion is the sexual activity that appears to be part of it. It's all fun and games until somebody gets HIV. Something that should be private being done in public is decadent, and to me decadence is a symptom of a decaying society.
Here in Oz we have the Gay Mardi Gras, fun flamboyance and spectacle that is televised and a family event. It's the Fire Island ethos without any health danger to participants.
For at least 80 years Melbourne has had The Seahorse Club for transvestites to gather: men, often family men, gathering to enjoy dressing as women. It was well publicised, and for the rest Melbourne it was just live and let live. The Seahorses were not stigmatised. None of this is to be confused with the current medical profitability of surgically altering men to try to turn them into women, and its attendant fracturing of public opinion. Self expression through drag has always been with us, as has homosexuality in at least 10% of the population. Religious or governmental suppression of either is doomed to failure, whereas acceptance of these individuals, by others, is a sign of social maturity.
They have drag shows at the Kennedy Center?
Anyway, apparently there is a conspiracy theory out there that Trump is trans. Melania (I can see that one!) and Barron and the entire Royal Family as well.
I kind of hate that we impugn anyone's sexuality as an insult. Our sexuality is just a piece of who we are. But I would hate to be in any kind of relationship with Donald Trump because he seems to have a flare for cruelty and he is so transactional. And he is, alas, our president.
Gender occurs across a wide spectrum and that property is not limited to humans.
A bewildering array exists in both the plant and animal kingdoms. Evolution is an ongoing genetic experiment. Without it, we wouldn't exist.
In "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" Arundhati Roy's character also embraces a marginalized gender bending community as a last refuge or salve against hopelessness caused by the extreme cruelty and trauma she saw in the Kashmir region. I wonder why. Is it the extreme courage to live authentically no matter what the cost?