Pooyie!
That’s a Cajun exclamation meant to add emphasis on what will follow; denoting something is especially good/bad, doesn’t matter which.
This blog was about Libertarians AND Celebrities, but it got so wild/lengthy that I had to grab both ideas by the ear and put them in separate corners. It was becoming a real fracas!
One thing that became clear to me was that while I needed to discuss Libertarians – I was more ‘angry’ when it came to the subject of celebrities and their political opinion/activites.
So – despite how it will first seem, this is about Georgia. Let’s just dive in, shall we?
Several months back, before I deleted Facebook, I remember seeing an article about Demi Lovato in my news feed. Some time long before that, I had already begun to enjoy her music but dislike the person, when it came to her. Sad, I know.
In response to criticism regarding her new song, Commander in Chief, Lovato said, “You do understand as a celebrity, I have a right to political views as well? Or did you forget that we aren’t just around to entertain people our entire lives. That we are citizens of the same country and we are humans with opinions as well?”
Yaaaas, girl! We get that you are a person, with thoughts. Even those that include that we somehow expect you to entertain us. As though one of ‘us’ just woke up one day saying, “Ya know… I do believe I’m tired with the present selection of entertainment.” Then proceeded to go out into the world, stumble upon you humming to yourself and then forcibly push you into the spotlight for our enjoyment.
Please consider your words, because the truth is (and this isn’t meant to be harsh, ugly or “triggering”, it is simply blunt and honest – if anyone can recall what that means anymore), if you had not pursued fame, we would have been just fine without you. If you did pursue fame, had a one-hit record and then decided to quit… Guess what? Again, we would have been fine without you.
Much as you guys can’t stand it – and as hard as it is to comprehend, given the amount of money you can make off of us – you are not that important to people. As a celebrity (unless you’re Selina) you could probably choose to never make another public statement or appearance – and it would have zero impact on the majority of the world. Ultimately, the only person it would have an impact on… is you.
Would people notice? Sure. There would be a whole episode of “Where is she now?” to be certain! But it would literally have no bearing on anyone’s day-to-day life. Furthermore, the reason people feel they can say something to you (and why they think your opinion is subserviant to theirs) is because they live in the real world, while you do not. Does that mean you can’t have an opinion? No, it does not. Does your “individual” existence mean your opinion is imporant? For the average person, it does not. Because, once again – you don’t live here with us. So while you sit on your pedestal, please forgive us if we wish that you kept your political/controversial opinions to yourself and did just focus on entertainment.
Also, recognize that while your fame gives you the avenue to say/sing such things – you’re looking at 1/2 of the country whose ideals and beliefs are being censored because they aren’t like yours. Then ask yourself if you truly think your opinion should be welcome. If the answer is yes, then explain yourself. Because the only way I can see you coming to that conclusion is because you believe you are “right” and the alternative belief is “wrong”.
I’d be a hypocrite if I did not acknowledge that each side believes they are right and the other is wrong. That is definitely the truth and if I did not believe you were wrong, I could not even write this blog. But imagine, if you will, that yours was the unpopular opinion. Imagine being flagged, suspended or banned from social media for your beliefs. Imagine if more media was against you, than with you. Imagine if they were not only against you, but hated you. If they threatened you. If they threatened those you loved. Imagine if, rather than an expression of disappointment in your opinion, I instead had the ability to silence you.
I don’t expect you to even begin to understand that, but without getting too far off subject (yet), I will give you a simple example. Yesterday, I simply wanted to know WHO was testifying in the Arizona Hearing regarding election integrity. That’s it. Not what they said. Not whether it was true or false. Just the name that went with the face. I went through 6 pages of results. None provided that answer. Every single entry was, “That’s awkward: Trump touts Arizona election review that won’t happen”, “Trump phones in false claims at Pennsylvania Senate Committee Hearing”, “Rudy Giuliani barred from testifying at Michigan election hearing”, and repeat on an endless loop. One entire page was the exact same shit, only released by different publications.
First and foremost, my query included “Arizona”. I had no interest in Pennsylvania or Michigan, yet I had to swim through those results. Second, you tell me why it is justifiable that I could not easily find those names until the following day and why none of the top results would answer the question. Third, explain to me why it is acceptable that to seek basic information, all I should be met with is negativity and obvious bias. Does that sound like a free country to you? What is wrong with obtaining simple facts?! I am sure that you would no more appreciate the same conduct, if it were directed at you. Yet, instead of being offended by those actions – or alarmed that such could be the state of a free country – you are more concerned with making sure that we all understand that you have a right to your opinion. Understood. So long as you understand that while that is your stance, then as far as I am concerned, I have no reason to give your opinion equal weight to my own.
The next problem with this is that it ignores the fact that IF a celebrity is conservative, it is almost impossible for them to share that with the world. And while Lovato may ‘risk her career’, the fact of the matter is that she is LESS likely to suffer any great consequence, whereas the same could not be said for those who express conservative/contrary views. Are they not people too?
If a celebrity is brave enough to go against the grain, they not only lose fans – they’re literally forced to build the coffin they’ll be buried in and then forced to dig the hole. While she may suffer some comments that either hurt or anger her – she’ll either be lauded by her peers, or at the very least – not shamed or condemned. I am not sure I could even get started on Alyssa Milano. What a fucking joke.
As to this “real world” I referred to before. While some of these people were becoming famous at 10 years old, here’s what was going on in my life at that age. Some 31 years prior, in 1959, my Grandfather started “Flowers Transfer”, as an agent of Mayflower Vanlines. He lived another 11 years before dying on his 40th birthday. Leaving my father, who was 15 at the time, to take care of his mother and two younger sisters. He managed to carry on and finish highschool, but nothing more – and it didn’t seem to matter as his lot in life was decided. In order to ensure the survival of that company, he spent that period of his life driving trucks and loading/offloading furniture, in SW Louisiana heat (if you’ve ever been here, you know how truly awful that is). Eventually that grew into a dual-agency for Mayflower and northAmerican Vanlines. In 1990, my 35-year-old father was losing a company that he had carried from the time he was 15 years old.
The facilities were split. My Grandmother ran the day-to-day operations of northAmerican, with my Great Uncle. My father ran Mayflower. Leading up to the year 1990 and upon the direction of his CPA – some “employees” were switched to “contract” laborers. This triggered the IRS and proved to be fatally flawed directive. After a desperate attempt to fight for his company and our livelihood, he admitted defeat. It was impossible to continue the fight, financially. He metaphorically handed them the keys. They seized everything my parents owned, including small savings accounts where my parents had deposited small sums in our names, in exhange for “A”s on our report cards. Everything. And he walked away.
They were forced to declare bankruptcy and all that remained was each other and a home. Now, bear in mind that owning two business under the umbrella of two major vanlines does not equate to being “well off”. So, that home was (and still is) a 2,500 square foot patio home, with a postage stamp for a yard and pretty standard building materials. It is not something I am suggesting anyone would be ashamed of, nor was it something of envy. The most important thing about it was that we were not homeless and we were all together.
You may assume he would just slide into position at northAmerican. You might also assume that in acknowledgment of the fact that he was her son and he gave up his childhood to support his family – that my Grandmother would have made a place for him. Neither of those things happened, as these companies were not profitable enough to support anything beyond what they were. She would not ask my Great Uncle to retire and it took a great deal of time for him to decide it was time to leave. They’ve both since passed away and the period in between no longer matters.
My father is now 65 years old. The stress that he heaped upon his body, for 50 years, now means that he can barely walk and is constantly in pain. He is still running Flowers Transfer, which is now an agent for Wheaton Vanlines. He is still loading/offloading furniture and driving trucks, despite the pain. And every month, they cannot see how they survive one more.
He kills himself a little more each day, while collecting social security and no paycheck – because the company can’t afford to pay him. For even longer than I know, that company couldn’t afford to pay my mother either. So while she has worked nearly every day of my life, having spent so much time unable to collect a check – she did not contribute enough to Social Security to maximize her draw on the system.
Why are they there? Why haven’t they shut the doors?
The first thing that is never really verbalized is my father’s loss of his father at a crucial time. I do believe one of the harder parts of letting this go is that it is all he had “of him” and once it is gone, so is his legacy. The second is that my brother has been there since he graduated highschool. He is now 42 years old with 5 children and my father is likely trying desperately to maintain this for him, until his last breath. (And, yes – I too climbed over/around/on top of and moved mountains of freight, packed boxes, offloaded trucks and tortured my body physically for 12 years before I moved on.) And last? The men who work there have been there nearly all of MY life. My father has always worked shoulder-to-shoulder and carried them through every boom and every bust until the Obama administration, when things got so bad it was no longer an option.
Prior to that, he made them whole every week for more than 30 years – no matter what revenue was generated. (Which is probably a large part of why their personal lives have never improved, they have no savings and why this company will not survive much longer – no matter how hard he fights.) You see, the world seems to think that Conservatives are selfish. That we are trying to hoard the wealth and we hate lower classes and anyone who looks different from us. This is not true. We simply believe that each person has their own obligations to try to make the best of their lives and those lives they touch. As long as each person acknowledges and accepts that duty, a difference can be made. But when you forcibly take in order to give, and steal or otherwise mismanage a little along the way – there is less available to give and there is an entire ocean of resentment and opposition between us.
Why am I sharing all of this? Because most celebrities have never known a life like this. They have not suffered like this, just as they likely have suffered in ways I have not. They cannot (in any sense of sanity) even pretend to understand what it is like to be us, and I haven’t even lived the hardest of lives in comparison to others. This is why so many have no respect for their opinions and ideals. Who are they speaking for?! Who are they trying to represent? Me? People who’ve lived through even worse? Certainly not! They don’t have the slightest idea about what we want. They have no idea what would make our lives better or worse. If they ever did know, they’ve long since lost sight of it.
Here’s an idea – you guys [celebrities] sell your cars and your homes, continue to work and amass the same fortunes, but give it all away until you’re living at the median salary for your area.
Now imagine, if you can, what you do when that doesn’t cover an unexpected medical expense or your air conditioning unit breaks and that money makes the difference between paying your TAXES or eating well. But that same “median income” excludes you from qualifying for assistance. Then imagine some brat in your Facebook feed wanting MORE. More money for government programs, for assistance. Free higher education. More funds (for the same) for illegal immigrants.
Where do they think this comes from? It speaks volumes about how out of touch they are. If these are the things you want to offer the United States, then you go first. Seriously. There is nothing that you DO that is harder than what I have had to do in my life. So, you get down here, shoulder-to-shoulder, and you give away everything that exceeds what you must have in order to live. Because I cannot afford another new tax. I cannot afford one more tax increase.
When you have done that, then you will understand me/us. When you have done that, you may find that your political views will change.
All I do is wake up and work every single day. I haven’t been on a vacation in 2 years. Prior to that, I had not been on a vacation for another 2 years. And prior to THAT, I took my children to Florida, for 3 days, when my son turned 9 years old (he is 21 today). Before that, I had not been on vacation since I was in middle school. These are things celebrities can’t even grasp – and then there are people who’ve had even less.
I know that some people want to paint me as priviledged because I am white. But I have worked for what I have, every single day, since I was 16 years old. It’s not like I am over here swimming in comfort and bliss. If I have a better-than-average home or car, it is because I have sacrificed any semblance of a LIFE for it. While one could argue the stupidity of such a decision, the point still remains that I have worked for everything that I have. Like my father, but for very different reasons, I’ve also lost it all and had to start over. There has never been an alternative. And in that time, whether I qualified for assistance, or not, it has never been given to me or my family.
This is already quite lengthy so I will try not to go into great detail. But it should be noted that when my parents lost Mayflower, my mother got some old hunk-of-junk van. While my father sought employment, she did something that was extemely difficult for her to do. Which was applying for food stamps. They were denied because they owned the van. It didn’t matter that neither had income. It didn’t matter that neither chose to be unemployed. It did not matter that they had 2 hungry children. It did not matter that they qualified. What mattered was that they were former business owners and they were white. The only way someone would have been willing to help them was if they had nothing. If it hadn’t been the van, it would have been the house. To this day, I’ve not seen a person of color denied for those reasons.
Personally, when I was 23 – I had 2 young children, in the process of divorce and lost my job over it. I applied for several jobs immediately and FedEx was the first to call. Someone could have been calling me to pump portable bathrooms. I did not care what it was, only that it was being offered to me.
If you know anything about FedEx, they have 2 – 4 hours shifts. I made about $200/week (gross) and found myself in my mother’s shoes. Applying for assistance I never imagined I’d have to ask for and would have preferred to do anything other than that – but I had others who depended on me that could not be fed with “pride”.
I can still recall that the proof of income requirement was 4 pay stubs. Only, I hadn’t been there long enough to receive 4 checks. (The first check was held for 2 weeks, therefore you would not have 4 pay stubs until the 6th week of employment). I asked how to handle this prior to my appointment with a case officer and was told to bring a letter from the employer. I will also note that this was after I asked FedEx if I could work both the morning and afternoon shift, rather than apply for assistance. This was against their policy, so assistance it was.
At the time of my appointment, I provided said letter and I was denied. My case worker looked me in the face and told me I would have been better off had I just not taken the job. It has been about 17 years since then, so I can’t recall the exact limits, but as of today, the maximum allowable is $2,311/mo. If I remember correctly, it was somewhere around $1,600/mo in 2003. Whatever the case was, I did not make anywhere near the threshhold to be declined.
At a potential of $10,400 annually, I was certainly living below the poverty limit and I had nothing to my name. Meanwhile, I had worked with women selling their food stamps because they were receiving more than they needed and made up to 4 times as much money per week. So, while you cry out that I am racist because of the name I punch on a card, or preach to me that white people are treated better than people of color – please know that you do not have a single fucking clue about what happens in the real world. You haven’t got a clue about the fraud and personal bias with which decisions are made, within programs you want to fund. And you don’t know jack-shit about what racism and hatred we all face. And please know, that by not telling these stories or even caring to know, you have only served to increase hatred, racism and divisiveness based on lies/half-truths.
Now we are here. The taking of Georgia.
Back to Lovato’s quote, You do understand as a celebrity, I have a right to political views as well?”
So, now I ask of her. Of Sophia Bush. Of Mandy Moore. George Clooney and all others who’ve chosen to insert yourself into the Georgia Senate race.
You do understand that regardless of the national impact, this run-off is for Senators who are meant to represent the State of Georgia, right?
I don’t think you do. I think like a lot of us, you are looking at the Senate and realizing that these 2 seats mean you have absolute control. While I can understand your feelings, it does not change that these Senators are meant to represent Georgia. Literally, “The framers of the Constitution created the United States Senate to protect the rights of individual states and safeguard minority opinion in a system of government designed to give greater power to the national government.”
Whether or not the people of Georgia successfully elected U.S. Senator(s) on November 3rd, the residents of Georgia did speak. Their will was to support Republican representation based on the overall votes cast on that day. Futhermore, as cited above – their purpose is to protect the rights of the individual state. Why, then, do Kumail Nanjiani, et al believe they have the right to influence this outcome? They feel that it is reasonable to supplant the people’s wants and desires with their own? Do they realize that decisions will be made that affect those individuals in ways they will not experience and cannot fathom? It may not be an ideal outcome for some, but they have their own representation and that is all they are owed. They are not owed the representation that belongs to a nameless person in Atlanta, Georgia. They aren’t owed my representation here in Louisiana – and they are not owed your representation, wherever you are.
Take a look at Georgia’s Senate Race below (and as much as I would love for this to be aligned in neat columns, this tool isn’t allowing for that and I have other shit that needs to be done).
U.S. Senate (1)
- 49.73% David A. Perdue (I) (Rep) 2,462,617
- 47.95% Jon Ossoff (Dem) 2,374,519
- 2.32% Shane Hazel (Lib) 115,039
- Total Votes 4,952,175
U.S. Senate (2) – 6 Rep; 8 Dem; 1 Lib
- 25.91% Kelly Loeffler (I) (Rep) 1,273,214
- 19.95% Doug Collins (Rep) 980,454
- 1.05% Derrick E. Grayson (Rep) 51,592
- 0.90% Annette Davis Jackson (Rep) 44,335
- 0.82% Kandiss Taylor (Rep) 40,349
- 0.74% A. Wayne Johnson (Rep) 36,176
- 49.37% Total 2,426,120
- 32.90% Raphael Warnock (Dem) 1,617,035
- 6.60% Deborah Jackson (Dem) 324,118
- 2.77% Matt Lieberman (Dem) 136,021
- 2.17% Tamara Johnson-Shealey (Dem) 106,767
- 1.92% Jamesia James (Dem) 94,406
- 0.91% Joy Felicia Slade (Dem) 44,945
- 0.58% Richard Dien Winfield (Dem) 28,687
- 0.54% Ed Tarver (Dem) 26,333
- 48.39% Total 2,378,312
- 0.72% Brian Slowinski (Lib) 35,431
- 0.72% Total 35,431
I don’t even have to show the math to say that if you simply took the Libertarian vote + assumed that all R votes would go R and all D votes would go D, then moved it to Dem/Rep based on the percentage of votes that party previously acquired – Democrats would still be the loser. Had they not allowed for so many options, Democrats would have lost this on November 3rd. That’s undeniable. Quickly splitting it this way, for purposes of a blog, is still being generous to Democrats, as it is unlikely they’d garner nearly 50% of the Libertarian vote.
So, explain to me again what right and honorable reason you have for intervening? I am nodding and rolling my eyes as I imagine something along the lines of “OUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. WE WILL ALL LITERALLY DIE IF TRUMP HAS A SECOND TERM. HE’S MEAN AND HORRIBLE AND I CAN’T REALLY TELL YOU WHY OTHER THAN THINGS I HEARD AND DIDN’T INVESTIGATE, BUT HE HURTS MY FEELINGS AND ASSAULTS MY DELICATE SENSIBILITIES.”
Georgia is not yours and you are not the “better” person for choosing how they will live, subserviant to you.
I am still telling you, Will Smith, Mark Ruffalo and whoever else. You. Have. Already. Elected. YOUR. Representation. You are not entitled to more.