Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Advice Sharing

The following was on facebook last night and I thought it was an appropriate way to handle the political situation that is stressing out so many people including my husband and myself.  Politics in the last few weeks has gotten so bad that my husband and I only watch local news and are allowing ourselves one rant about the republican government once per day with a time limit of 5 minutes.  We have found this to be a good way to lower our blood pressure on the topic. 

What do you think of the following advice?

Some Wise Advice Circulating:
1. Don't use his name;
2. Remember this is a regime and he's not acting alone;
3. Do not argue with those who support him--it doesn't work;
4. Focus on his policies, not his orange-ness and mental state;
5. Keep your message positive; they want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow;
6. No more helpless/hopeless talk;
7. Support artists and the arts;
8. Be careful not to spread fake news. Check it;
9. Take care of yourselves; and
10. RESIST!
Keep demonstrations peaceful. In the words of John Lennon, "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game.The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight! Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor."

When you post or talk about him, don't assign his actions to him, assign them to "The Republican Administration," or "The Republicans." This will have several effects: the Republican legislators will either have to take responsibility for their association with him or stand up for what some of them don't like; he will not get the focus of attention he craves; Republican representatives will become very concerned about their re-elections. 

4 comments:

  1. It's very hard for me to separate Mr. T from his actions, because to me, he is his actions and his actions are him.

    That said, since this "Orange" made so many don the black of mourning, I find myself looking deeper into myself to see if there's any of him in me. It's like he has made me so afraid that there might be even a bit of his ilk in me or in my kids, and I just couldn't bear that. In my home, if any of us behaves high-handedly, we now say, "Don't do a Donald Trump."

    I can't remove him from the Presidency, but I can do my part to make sure less of him spreads in this world.

    Caitlynne

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    1. I agree that "he is his actions" but I heard an interesting explanation on his actions given by a journalist. The journalist said that one could tell which voice in his head he was listening to when he performed these actions. There is the voice of the trained flying monkeys who love the chaos and disruption that goes on in the country and there is the voice of the sane, rational advisors who have the country's best interests in mind. After hearing that, my husband and I alleviate the stress of this whole political fiasco by figuring out whose voice he is listening to when he acts. Example: the travel ban-the flying monkey voice; sanctions against Russia-the sane rational advisor voice. Hopefully, the flying monkey voice will get drowned out by the sane and rational but, in my opinion, that would be a miracle.

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  2. Ellen, that's an observation that gives hope! He doesn't like losing; hopefully that leads to the miracle (remember your post?) of listening to the saner voices around.

    Caitlynne

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    1. Caitlynne, I just want to tell you how much your comments brighten my day. They are a wonderful blessing and I appreciate them and you. Thank you.

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