I write to you from the Upper Left Corner of America, the city of Portland Oregon which is famous as a bastion of resistance to Fascism.
Today I'd like to be watching the college football game with a friend and planning for an upcoming model shoot that I've put a lot of resources into — gathering some of my favorite models for what should be a creative romp. I wanted it to be fun and whimsical and beautiful.
Instead I am watching my government threaten the world, suck the ego-dick of the Russian dictator and brutalize my fellow citizens. We cannot tolerate it. We ARE NOT tolerating it. In Minneapolis there are cars in the roads that have been rammed by masked men, windows broken, occupants taken. My friends there say that the signs of disappearance are everywhere. Teargas thrown at any group of people on the street. Flash-bang grenades tossed at children.
The men doing this are afraid. They are afraid of beauty and engagement and difference and life. They are afraid of art and skin color and music. They are afraid of women. They are afraid of us. This isn't just one man, I'm afraid. It's a collection of malevolent souls that each have their own hatreds and fears and jealousies. It is a slithering-together of every evil thing sensing their own kind. On the bright side, we know where they are now.
America has lived with this. Slavery, Jim Crow, the Yellow Peril. We hated the Irish, the Italians and Catholics in general. We hated Asians, Mexicans and Pakistanis. But I am now 60 years old and I grew up believing that our hatred was waning and we were learning to move past our fear. And by my count, THAT is the attitude of MOST of my fellow Americans. We are not afraid of difference. We are not afraid that accepting gays will make us gay. We are not afraid that hearing another point of view will destroy our own. We are not afraid to love our neighbor and do what is necessary to protect them.
We are not afraid of our government.
So to the rest of the world. Sorry. We're going to have to reset the country and it's gonna be hard. But stick with us. We're going to win. These evil bastards are going to lose. Don't give up on us.
