Gas Prices!

I am furious and disgusted with people who are openly and proudly homophobic, transphobic, and/or misogynistic.  

I'm furious and disgusted with Christian-extremists who want to force their religious ideologies on everyone else.  

But I am also probably equally furious and disgusted with people who say things like:

I'm fine with people being gay.  I have friends that are gay.  But....

I'm actually pro-choice.  But....

Our family friend is trans, and we love her to bits.  But.....

I think things are going a bit too far. But...

But....

GAS PRICES!!!!!! 

Seeing that we just finished with a pandemic, there's a major war happening in Europe, and many other countries are dealing with high gas prices, I'm really doubtful that Biden is doing something that a Republican president can quickly undo and suddenly gas prices will become good again.  

But let's play make-believe Go Brandon style.  Let's pretend a Republican can march into office and do some kind of magic that makes gas prices go down to numbers that make us smile.  

Are the lower gas prices more important than protecting women and LGBTQ+ people from hateful, controlling, bigoted laws?  Are the lower gas prices more important than preventing the United States from turning into a Handmaid's Tale sans the bold, beautiful red costumes?  

I picture my parents reading my post and saying, Dina. Don't be so overdramatic. None of that is going to happen.  It's just a few extremists.  You shouldn't listen to them. We don't listen to them.

My dad told me that he wasn't worried about Texas banning abortion after six weeks.  He told me the Supreme Court would surely put a stop to that.

So....

Well....

Yeah.

I'm at the point now where I'm not going to give any credence to false assurances that these extreme things are never going to happen.  

I'm at the point now where if I see a GOP politician floating an Aunt Lydia kind of idea, I'm expecting that it's very likely going to be a reality.  

Do you want to know the dystopian image I have in my mind?

Probably not.

But I'm going to tell you anyway.

I picture a country where abortion stops being a state issue; where it is against the law everywhere. No exceptions for incest or rape and no true exceptions to save a woman's life.  Fears of huge fines and prison time will result in doctor's waiting until the last possibly minute to save the mother.  In some cases, people will be left brain dead.  But no worries as long as their womb is still intact.  

I picture birth control becoming illegal even in cases where it's not even being used for birth control.  For example, if someone has heavy and painful periods where birth control could alleviate some of the suffering, that won't be allowed.  

I picture the definition of rape changing to include only violent sexual aggression from a stranger a Black or Hispanic stranger.  It won't just be about the choice of whether or not to give birth.  It will also be about the choice to conceive in the first place.  If sex is forced on a date or within marriage...that won't be classified as rape.  

Ha. I was just arguing with myself right now.  Why do we care about the legalities of rape if my imagined dystopia is not going to have an abortion exception for rape or incest?  Well, it's about removing deterrents that might have prevented at least some of the forced conceptions and forced birth.  

Continuing with my dystopia...

I picture a place where it's not only illegal for men to have sex with men and women to have sex with women but where any displays of affection between two people of the same gender will be illegal.

I picture any media geared towards children or teens that is LGBTQ+ affirming will be labeled as grooming materials and/or child porn. And any parent or adult allowing or providing this material for kids or teens will be accused of child abuse.  I mean not just accused by bigoted cousins or annoying neighbors but by CPS, the police, etc.  

Before you dismiss my dystopia as pure dark fantasy...let me tell you what some Black women are saying on social media. They're angry that we keep comparing what's happening to a Hulu Drama. They're like...Hello.  Look at this country's history.  Look at what has happened to real Black women and other women of color.  

The idea of women being treated like Livestock wasn't born within the imagination of Margaret Atwood. It's happened in the real world.  

We live in a reality where women have been treated like livestock.   

We live in a reality where people have been exterminated like vermin...like they were some sort of infestation that needed to be very quickly eradicated.

During the Holocaust and during slavery...during various times of genocide and mass cruel exploitation, there have been woke liberals.  They might not have used that same term.  Language evolves!  But nonetheless, that's what they were.

I'm sure many of them did what they could do to end slavery and protect Jews.  And I'm sure some of them were met with people who said things like:

Yes. I would love a world where all people are free. Who wouldn't want that?  But do you know what would happen to our economy if we had to pay for all this labor?  The economy!

I personally have nothing against the Jews. One of my favorite doctors is Jewish. But...we need Hitler. The economy is important!

I wonder if any of them said things like, You have to stop judging Hitler on the things he says. He's crude but he doesn't really mean it.  And a lot of it is taken out of context.  

The issue of the economy and the Holocaust is something I'd like to look further into. I might just read or I might read and write a future post about it. I did have a special interest in Judaism which included a special interest in the Holocaust. But that was way back in the 90's. I've forgotten a lot of stuff.  

I know antisemitism played a HUGE role in the rise of Nazism and World War II.  Antisemitism not only led to people willing to plan and then implement mass murder, but it also led to other people to enable the murderers or turn a blind eye towards it.   

But how much of a role did economic-worries play in the Nazi party rising to power?

I'm going to begin with this short explanation provided by the Weiner Holocaust Library.  And then....

I'm kind of hoping to rekindle my old Holocaust special interest.  I keep seeing people on social media comparing the rise of Trumpism to the rise of Nazism.  Personally, I think they've got it right.  But I'd like to have a more in-depth understanding. 

I might do a research post.  I miss those.  

How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-departed to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online  a novel by Dina Roberts