They Only Win if You and I Let Them Win
History is not on their side.
People do not do well with change. This is especially true when change is swift and feels sudden.
The world has, arguably, changed more in the last 100 years than at any other time in history. Arguably, the biggest change is in communications and connectivity. A hundred years ago, you maybe knew what was happening across the state. That is, if you were one of the 20% of the people who had a radio. Today, you can know what’s happening on the other side of the globe right the fuck now. Instantly, with no delay.
Less than 50 years before that, you were lucky if you knew what was happening on the other side of your neighborhood. Communications and connections have changed exponentially in a century.
Because of this, information once only available at a slow pace, if at all, can be learned right the hell now. If you would like to learn how a dehumidifier pulls moisture out of the air, or how a jet engine works, all you need to do is ask Google, Bing, or another search engine, and you will have an answer. (It might not be the right answer, but fact-checking is another matter entirely).
This is the biggest change that has caused such hardline conservativism and descent to grow. Because those in more rural areas with less connectivity are feeling left out, abandoned, thrown away, and certain leaders are telling them they should feel that way. And get revenge on the “others” who have caused this.
Recognizing this is important because it gives you context. The context, in turn, can help you see, from a more neutral position, a key reason why the world is here. You can also see that they only win if you and I let them win.
The power of false information and propaganda
I have something of a conspiracy theory. It’s this – mainstream media has become increasingly privatized. They need to sell advertising to make money for the corporation(s) that owns them. A leader who does their job and stirs no pots doesn’t get a lot of attention. A leader who is constantly unpredictable, stirs all the pots, and might well be mentally ill? So, so many people watch that disaster.
You cannot log into social media, read, listen to, or watch any news channel online, on the radio, or TV, without hearing the latest surreal thing going on. It increasingly feels like these unkind, uncompassionate, unempathetic assholes are unstoppable and bullying their way through everyone and everything.
Hence my new conspiracy theory. It’s as if someone wants us to feel defeated, give in, and roll over while they destroy decades of progress. Let them win – because they already have.
Except they haven’t. Not by a longshot.
What they have done is get the aggrieved to believe in them. They’ve persuaded those afraid of change to throw blame to various people and groups (like LGBTQA+ people, POC, women, migrants, intellectuals, liberals, and so on), and use fear like a scythe through a field of wheat. They’ve intimidated, bullied, and cheated to gain a thin majority that doesn’t reflect reality at all.
That’s why they only win if you and I let them win.
Don’t let them win
I will admit that I have a degree of privilege here because I’m a white, middle-aged male. But I’m not a Christian, and identify ethnically/culturally as Jewish, so I’m likely to be targeted, too.
However, I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving the country, nor shutting up about things like accountability, mindfulness, conscious reality creation, or any and all matters of free thought. I will still push for more learning, understanding, kindness, compassion, empathy, and non-toxic positivity.
There’s no question this is a scary time. If you’re one of the more targeted groups or people, I’m here to support you however I can. Marching in and attending more protests? If I can reasonably be there, I will.
Most of all, I’m not giving up on the potential for basic human decency. Why? Because I know more people who are basically decent humans than not. And I know nobody who doesn’t desire kindness, compassion, and empathy in their life.
How do you not let them win? Keep being your best self and enrich your life with experience and education. Don’t give up, give in, and accept that this insanity can’t be changed.
History is not on their side
Every dictatorship falls. Change is the only constant in the universe and progress is inevitable. You can resist it all you want, but the truth is that the majority roll with it. However, when the truth of the artifice is revealed it always goes against the lies. Ergo, when the aggrieved currently supporting the liars realize how bad the lie is, things will go poorly for the liars on many levels.
Guess what? LGBTQA+ people have ALWAYS been here and always will be. People of color will outnumber white people in the USA soon. Women are not in any way, shape, or form lesser than men. No faith is more right than any other. Oh, and liberals are not actively trying to take your lands/guns/way of life (but change controlled by no individuals might be).
They only win if you and I let them win. You do the driving by seeking, finding, and/or making small bits of positivity for your life and choosing active conscious awareness – mindfulness. Your life is yours, and they can only take it from you when you give it up. They can only win if you let them. And I sure as hell know that I won’t let them win.
This is not easy. But it sure as hell beats the alternative. And, most of all, none of us is fighting this fight alone.
Knowing that they only win if you let them win isn’t hard
It’s all about practicing mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and approach to direct your actions.
When you recognize and acknowledge that they are using lack, scarcity, insufficiency, and fear to stir the pot and rile up the masses, you can apply reason, logic, non-toxic positivity, and abundance to and for you and your life. Knowing that history is not on their side – and that they only win if you and I let them win – we can use our empathy, compassion, and kindness via applied mindfulness to resist and keep fighting the good fight.
This empowers you, and your empowerment can empower others around you.
Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts life in a way that opens greater dialogue. From that broader dialogue, you can recognize, explore, and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.
Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs an approach and attitude of positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.
The better aware you are of yourself here and now, the better you can choose and decide what, how, and why your life experiences will be. When you empower yourself, it can spread to those around you for their empowerment.
Thank you for coming along on this journey.
This is the five-hundred-and-seventy-second (572) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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