opinion
Opinion pieces from the left, right, and everyone in between.
The Slytherin Approach to History
Two recent news stories got me thinking about cancel culture from an odd perspective. One was the resurgence of calls to topple troublesome statues, this time about the Rhodes statue at Oxford again, and the other was the reported falling out between Stephen King and JK Rowling, owing to the latter’s controversial remarks about trans people. There may not appear to be much of a link here, other than a reminder that cancel culture isn't going away anytime soon, but it reminded me about how I used to feel about JK Rowling before she was cancelled, back when she was a prominent Twitterer and, quite frankly, a hero on the left for her takedowns of Trump, among others. To me, she essentially embodied all that online culture wars thrive on. Until, as is often the case these days, it came for her. And she saw the light. But what's this got to do with statues, you might ask? Well, the whole statue controversey brought to light an interpretation of the extreme negatives of this approach to history that I got from the 'Harry Potter' books, and one that I always found odd that JK Rowling didn't seem to espouse in her real-world politics until she she experienced the full force of it.
By Matty Long5 years ago in The Swamp
Justice denied one , Is justice denied All..
In April 2016, I was fired from my job as a Juvenile Probation Officer, the only time I had ever been fired in my life, because I filed a Human Resources compliant. I took that litigation myself to the Georgia Supreme Court and was awaiting a decision and fleeing the domestic violence of a police officer in March 2019. I had been sexually assaulted in November 2018, while going to Atlanta to get documents from the Ga Supreme Court and the Ga Court of Appeals.
By Justice for All5 years ago in The Swamp
Where Do We Go From Here?
May 25, 2020: a date that millions of people will never forget. On this day exactly a year ago, on Memorial Day, to be precise, George Floyd, who was 46 at the time, died due to now former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressing his knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. Despite Floyd’s constant pleas for Chauvin and from bystanders to let him breathe, Chauvin ignored them and the officers refused to intervene. Floyd’s death had sparked protests from not only around the country, but all over the world. Last month, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He’s expected to be sentenced next month. The trial of the two other former cops, accused of aiding and abetting, will take place in March of 2022.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 5 years ago in The Swamp
Mass Shootings in America: The Way Forward is Spoken Within
Today, my heart dips into an ocean of sadness. There under the surface, waves crush my heart with an anger that feels finally helpless. Like a blue whale who, even with her great size unchallenged as it is by any other creature in the sea, sees its brethren struck down by spear, human trash, and orca pods; as each technique channeled through her blow hole fails to stop the suffering, and the spiral of chaos closes in, she surrenders, as do I, in disbelief to the fact that we are helpless. The frenzy of chaos, coming from all sides, is, we accept, too great for us to challenge alone.
By Caitlyn Eckhardt5 years ago in The Swamp
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The party that claims voter fraud, is the one on which proof of fraudulent voting has occurred, a republican man mailed in his dead mother’s ballot for Trump, another if Arizona voted twice. Of course, that individual -Trump- claims fraud because he is a walking lie, as the results of the 2016 election were. Because in that year he was assisted in winning by the dictator and assassin known as Putin. Once again, the party of projection has told us what they are, by accusing others of their crimes, transgressions, deceits and lies.
By Pedro A. Idarraga5 years ago in The Swamp
Human Nature Of Today's World
The state of perpetual inequality that exists today has incensed millions of Americans. The harsh realities of life have been completely oblivious to a government and certain individuals that could make a difference but don't. To many of these individuals have been existing for the sole purpose of self glorification and self preservation.
By Dr. Williams5 years ago in The Swamp
American greed and how it hurts the 99%
I’m not an economist, and this is just my opinion on the state of the US and my thoughts on how to fix it. In Part 2 of this series, I gave some ideas on how we can fix our economy. In this part I’ll go to an extreme and ask the question “can we get rid of money all together?” and I say yes. Maybe not any time soon but I think in time we can go moneyless.
By Robert Kegel5 years ago in The Swamp
American Greed and how it hurts the 99%
I’m not an economist, and this is just my opinion on the state of the US and my thoughts on how to fix it. If you haven’t read part 1 of this series (insert link here) I gave some ideas on how I think the healthcare and college systems could be fixed. In this part I’ll go more in-depth on how I think the economy can be fixed. These ideas are just that, I hope either someone can fill in the holes or maybe come up with an out of the box idea as well. We need open thoughts to fix the system.
By Robert Kegel5 years ago in The Swamp
Dear Government
This country is experiencing turmoil like never before in American history and information and lack thereof are being weaponized against its citizens. If you watch what use to be News on any network these days you'll no doubt find more poorly written biased opinions than any actual useful information. Politics are not what they used to be and it's doing only 100% harm to the nation. See, even without being educated in politics I can still tell you that politicians of today are weak and blind to real issues. You see what we have now is just a "Whose better?" type approach to politics but in a two party system that approach has a 100% failure rate, it only causes division and should be immediately abandoned. The two parties respectfully disagreeing and then working on a compromise is literally the foundation of our political system. Our politicians have forgotten that they are for the people and now just use their platforms to diss each other like 6th grade bullies rather than to improve the country. Only once they realize this and come back together will this country heal from the gaping wounds their division has caused. We must find a way to remind politicians that they work for us and we want their division antics put to rest for good. We want Unity we want to come together, we want to see The United States of America to be United again. Now the hard part is getting people who thrive on hate and division to step out and see that they are being played. It's irrelevant whether your Democrat or Republican left or right if you hate the other side its because politicians and irresponsible media reporting got inside your head and turned you against your fellow Americans. For example if you're the type of person who would help someone change a flat tire are you going to ask them their political affiliation before helping? I didnt think so. That is because we are humans first political arguments are there to keep us blind and divided. I use to be guilty of this I hated liberals because the media kept telling me they all had these radical stances against conservatives and it fueled my hate. What woke me up was talking to actual Liberals or leftists what ever label you choose to use. Alot more than you think are willing to debate and most hate censorship but you wouldnt know it listening to the news on either side. We need to stop allowing media to damage our thought process just to harvest views and votes. Our media has a responsibility to report facts only and not present them in a way that makes any one group of people feel alienated. As a young American I'm embarrassed by the weakness of our politicians. Even other countries have taken note of our weaknesses and that's not good for us. We must realize that we are human first and our opinions are not facts. We all tend to believe that it should be the way we want it without considering the fact other side. I've had to remove preconceived ideas of what those who differ from me politically really want. We have a responsibility to do better at putting ourselves in others positions and seeing another point of view. What we have now is a dangerous rift in our political system that neither side is capable of healing alone and that's not good for anyone in the middle or lower classes of society. While social media has done alot to connect us as humans to each other, its recently become a much more toxic environment where people spew hate and opinions that they would never say to another person in real life. These toxic arguments create a subconscious level of anger against those we disagree with and that seed of hate grows until we find ourselves prisoners of our own hate. Society as a whole is going to fail because as technology grows we lose more and more of our humanity. As young children and young adults we saw many films and read many books about zombies and usually it was a virus or other contagion that sparked the zombie apocalypse. However my belief is that we are becoming zombies because were losing more human interaction day by day as technology grows. For me personally I'd rather go back to talking to people face to face, no screen involved. It's very easy to spread negativity and hate this way. Humanity is in danger of being over run mentally by it's own creations, which ironically were designed to bring people together. Try to separate yourself from these divisive narratives and think as a human first. Loving one another and not taking excuses from the government when they fail is how we move forward. Dear Government please come back together compromise and heal before it's too late for all of us.
By Billy Rose5 years ago in The Swamp
