Rant Against the Machine...

Listening to Rage Against the Machine in the car this morning and Brent said, "It's gets harder to Rage when you are older. It's exhausting." I said,"I still rage." He said, "But do you? I mean like when you were younger? I mean you blog against the machine, sure." I told him "I generally call it ranting now. I Rant Against the Machine." He agreed that was it. Rant Against the Machine.

It's the same as raging, just with bad knees. And access to the machine. 

I think that a lot of times what needs to happen if you are a former rager, and are still ranting, you need to use your access to the machine to rage and rant from the inside. To disrupt the status. My way is to speak my mind and hope that the seeds of it take root. 

I hope that I move people off of their comfortable positions and make them wonder why they are comfortable. Who is suffering for their comfort. Is there something else they could be doing?

Could they be speaking out? Could they be stepping up and saying what needs to be said?

I look like the standard middle aged, middle class, soccer mom (or grandma). I look non threatening. I look like your best friend from third grade (if you are my age) or your best friend from third grade's mother. And because of that people aren't threatened. They let their guard down. They lean in to listen when I talk. Because clearly nothing that I say is going to be threatening to them.

And I keep using the word threatening because that's the reaction you get when you are trying to foment change. People are threatened. When you live your life comfortably, when you understand all the rules and the way the system works and someone comes in and says, yeah but no...you get uncomfortable. You feel like someone is trying to take something from you. You feel threatened.

And people who want the status quo to stay the same, or to go back in time to when it was even more geared toward people like them being super comfortable, those people are going to work really hard to make it seem like a real threat. They say things like gun control means gun confiscation and then the government can do whatever they want to you! They control you with fear of things that would be good for you, like vaccines. Because if they can get you scared of everything then you are easier to control and focus.

The machine is working overtime right now to instill fear. It's targeting everyone who isn't them. People of color. People in the LBTQIA+ community, with special focus on trans people and extra special focus on trans women. If they can point at someone who is different and get focus on them then it's easier to keep everyone else in line. 

For a few reasons. But mainly because part of you knows that once they "take care" of them they are going to need a new target. And how far off the main are you? Are you the next edge? Are you the next focus? How comfortable are you really? And if you are a woman, conservative or no, you should be worried. Because you're next. Not even next, they are coming for you right now, just the first rumblings don't seem like they are specifically just because you are woman and clearly inferior. They are couching it in reproductive rights, but it's all based on the patriarchy wanting to keep their place and control yours.

Speak out. 

My name is Denise, I use she/her pronouns. I believe in body autonomy and privacy in health care. I think the real threat to society right now is the growing fascination with fascism and authoritarianism wrapped in Christian Nationalism. I believe the government should work for the people not rule the people. I think we all need to get back to remembering what enough is and stop hero worshipping those that are hoarding more and more. And I will continue to rant against the machine for as long as I can. 

Rant on.