Election Night I wrote a very angry, very scared, very depressed version of this column. Apparently a lot of voters voted against their own self-interest and against society’s. Events like confidential documents probably shared with our country’s enemies and the attempted overthrow of an election in January 2021 have sunk down the collective memory hole of the American people.
I’m upset, I’m depressed and I’m angry.
All at people who should know better. People who voted and will probably be surprised at a tide of vengeance coming from the White House next year. People who voted for a guy who can’t tell a legal immigrant from an illegal immigrant, won’t bother to ask and will deport a lot of them who voted for him.
Again, people who should have known better.
This brings about legitimate fears for America, for its system of Democracy and for the future of the United States as a whole.
And I have to ask “Now What?”
Giving up, no matter how much a disappointment this is should not be an option. The fact that the people who warned us about fascist ideologies in the Soviet Union and elsewhere seem ready to run into a headlong embrace of it is nearly unbelievable. The party of Ronald Reagan has become the party of Vladimir Putin’s idolater. I don’t know how bad things will get for us, or if they will, but I am certain promises to go after supposed “undocumented immigrants” will be kept and I fear for my Latino neighbors.
I fear for a country who elected someone who has no problem ridiculing the disabled.
The better angels of our nature that Lincoln eloquently spoke of have been shoved gleefully to the side.
So again, “now what?”
A fine and very Gay artist I know posted that we must continue to create and he is right. I will continue to write and create. Do my very small bit to be openly part of the LGBT community. Not every one of us is going to want to be open and I don’t blame them.
Somebody on Mastodon posted this earlier: “The racism, misogyny and bigotry are powerful drugs. But we will make progress no matter what.”
We’ve got to hold onto that. We’ve got to.
The last thing to do now is to go back into any closet.
With love to you all;
Jeffrey Scott Baker, Queer Sci Fi
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Jeff Baker’s fiction and non-fiction have appeared all over the place. His World Of Three Moons story “The Ghannidor-Ra” has been published in “Schlock Webzine.” https://www.schlock.co.uk/ He blogs about reading and writing sci-fi, fantasy and horror around the thirteenth of each month in this same space. He studied the Third Reich and has read through “Mein Kampf.” Jeff regularly posts fiction on his blog https://authorjeffbaker.com/ and wastes time on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=679510827 , Blue Sky https://bsky.app/profile/jeffbakerauthor.bsky.social and Mastodon (as “Mike Mayak.”) https://mastodon.otherworldsink.com/@MikeMayak