This is an open letter to Doug Ford supporters:
I am usually one to combat ignorance, bias and plain old stupidity with attempts at tolerance, education and understanding. Today that does not hold true!
Warning: there maybe anger, hatred, intolerance, vitriol and acerbic sarcasm in the following blog...
I woke up a while ago, the day after Ontario's 2018 provincial election to anger, disappointment and the feeling that I was a minority in this province. I am a white anglosaxon male in his early fifties who believes in tolerance, acceptance, individuality and the idea that we are all inherently good and just and that we love the planet on which we were born. I shouldn't fell like a minority yet I do.
On that morning after Doug Ford rose to power with a majority in the provincial government, I felt, maybe perhaps truly for the first time, what a minority feels like. I know that the Wynne government made many mistakes but I already feared for the travesty of justice that the new government would form.
I watched as time passed and people I work with laughed and joked about the buck a beer promise while Ford cut extra funding promised to those who suffer from mental health issues; things like the basic income pilot project which gave hope to some that they could move beyond the station they had ended up with in life and tore apart the cap and trade agreements which were by no means perfect but at least took the damage to the environment we were causing into consideration and tried to do something about it.
So now we have lower gas prices but no controls or restrictions on what we are doing to the environment. The sad thing is, destroying our world is not even the worst of what this government is doing. They are destroying our humanity and decency as well.
I believe that love, true love is not bound by the gender you were born into. I also believe it is what gives our species anything resembling hope for the future. I love the love I see in people.
Unfortunately, what I feel right now is hate.
I don't hate the ignorant, prejudiced, callous supporters of Doug Ford. Most of you are aging white men with fragile egos and a lack of empathy who were raised in an era where men were told they should not show their softer emotions because it made them weak or are young white priveledged boys who have been indoctrinated by those same old weak men to believe in a sense of entitlement and who are not actually strong enough or wise enough to see the truth. They are men who will never understand that a true man who is one who weeps at the birth of his child and takes joy in them finding love in themselves and with others no matter who it is with or what sex it is with or what sex they identify with.
No, I don't hate you, I feel sorry for you because you will never understand or admit that most of your feelings in those regards stem from those fragile egos and lack of empathy or even just your unwillingness to recognize and overcome your own ignorance.
I know some of you, quite well, having worked with you or dealt with you on professional levels. I know that some of you are extremely intelligent but intelligence does not equal wisdom. Wisdom comes from using your knowledge and continuously broadening your perceptions; recognizing and admitting when your view might be seen through a tunnel that limits your perceptions rather than across a broad expanse that reveals greater truths every day.
No, the hate I am feeling is directed towards those who merely travel from one end of the political spectrum to the other because they think that one evil is better than the other this time around. I hate those who do not look into the policies of those who they think to vote for. I hate those who are sheep and just blindly follow others because they do not do their research. I hate those who voted for Ford without seeing that he and his party are destroying the best hope we have for society...Love!!!
I hate those who realize they made a mistake and are not at least taking responsibility for those actions. I hate those who sit back and say nothing!
Now Ford and his weak, ignorant cronies have passed a bill that does not recognize gender identity! Wow! I remember saying that we have issues here in Ontario but at least we don't have Trump. Damn! It turns out we do and that is something I hate as well. My disappointment in my province has grown beyond boundaries now to the point that I consider what alternatives I have for the places I can live.
There is another group I hate right now too. Others whose ignorance I could forgive if they woke up, shook the cobwebs from their heads, removed their blinders and stood up and shouted, "THIS IS NOT RIGHT. PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE. THAT INCLUDES THOSE WHO IDENTIFY AS SOMEONE OTHER THAN WHAT PHYSICAL GENDER THEY WERE BORN WITH!!!
It is a point in fact that any person I know that fits the definition of TRANS is more of a person and more deserving of my love and support than those who I am hating right now. As one, each of them is more true to who they are than any of you who think you are wolves and are merely sheep.
I am not foolish enough to think I can change the minds of those who cannot admit to their ignorance. In truth, only you can change your mind. I do hope however that those of you who supported Ford and are now horrified but what he is doing and through extension what you have done will stand up and tell everyone, especially your MPPs that this is not right and must not be tolerated.
I do not like to hate! I do not want to hate! Yet. right now I do!!!!
I am usually one to combat ignorance, bias and plain old stupidity with attempts at tolerance, education and understanding. Today that does not hold true!
Warning: there maybe anger, hatred, intolerance, vitriol and acerbic sarcasm in the following blog...
I woke up a while ago, the day after Ontario's 2018 provincial election to anger, disappointment and the feeling that I was a minority in this province. I am a white anglosaxon male in his early fifties who believes in tolerance, acceptance, individuality and the idea that we are all inherently good and just and that we love the planet on which we were born. I shouldn't fell like a minority yet I do.
On that morning after Doug Ford rose to power with a majority in the provincial government, I felt, maybe perhaps truly for the first time, what a minority feels like. I know that the Wynne government made many mistakes but I already feared for the travesty of justice that the new government would form.
I watched as time passed and people I work with laughed and joked about the buck a beer promise while Ford cut extra funding promised to those who suffer from mental health issues; things like the basic income pilot project which gave hope to some that they could move beyond the station they had ended up with in life and tore apart the cap and trade agreements which were by no means perfect but at least took the damage to the environment we were causing into consideration and tried to do something about it.
So now we have lower gas prices but no controls or restrictions on what we are doing to the environment. The sad thing is, destroying our world is not even the worst of what this government is doing. They are destroying our humanity and decency as well.
I believe that love, true love is not bound by the gender you were born into. I also believe it is what gives our species anything resembling hope for the future. I love the love I see in people.
Unfortunately, what I feel right now is hate.
I don't hate the ignorant, prejudiced, callous supporters of Doug Ford. Most of you are aging white men with fragile egos and a lack of empathy who were raised in an era where men were told they should not show their softer emotions because it made them weak or are young white priveledged boys who have been indoctrinated by those same old weak men to believe in a sense of entitlement and who are not actually strong enough or wise enough to see the truth. They are men who will never understand that a true man who is one who weeps at the birth of his child and takes joy in them finding love in themselves and with others no matter who it is with or what sex it is with or what sex they identify with.
No, I don't hate you, I feel sorry for you because you will never understand or admit that most of your feelings in those regards stem from those fragile egos and lack of empathy or even just your unwillingness to recognize and overcome your own ignorance.
I know some of you, quite well, having worked with you or dealt with you on professional levels. I know that some of you are extremely intelligent but intelligence does not equal wisdom. Wisdom comes from using your knowledge and continuously broadening your perceptions; recognizing and admitting when your view might be seen through a tunnel that limits your perceptions rather than across a broad expanse that reveals greater truths every day.
No, the hate I am feeling is directed towards those who merely travel from one end of the political spectrum to the other because they think that one evil is better than the other this time around. I hate those who do not look into the policies of those who they think to vote for. I hate those who are sheep and just blindly follow others because they do not do their research. I hate those who voted for Ford without seeing that he and his party are destroying the best hope we have for society...Love!!!
I hate those who realize they made a mistake and are not at least taking responsibility for those actions. I hate those who sit back and say nothing!
Now Ford and his weak, ignorant cronies have passed a bill that does not recognize gender identity! Wow! I remember saying that we have issues here in Ontario but at least we don't have Trump. Damn! It turns out we do and that is something I hate as well. My disappointment in my province has grown beyond boundaries now to the point that I consider what alternatives I have for the places I can live.
There is another group I hate right now too. Others whose ignorance I could forgive if they woke up, shook the cobwebs from their heads, removed their blinders and stood up and shouted, "THIS IS NOT RIGHT. PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE. THAT INCLUDES THOSE WHO IDENTIFY AS SOMEONE OTHER THAN WHAT PHYSICAL GENDER THEY WERE BORN WITH!!!
It is a point in fact that any person I know that fits the definition of TRANS is more of a person and more deserving of my love and support than those who I am hating right now. As one, each of them is more true to who they are than any of you who think you are wolves and are merely sheep.
I am not foolish enough to think I can change the minds of those who cannot admit to their ignorance. In truth, only you can change your mind. I do hope however that those of you who supported Ford and are now horrified but what he is doing and through extension what you have done will stand up and tell everyone, especially your MPPs that this is not right and must not be tolerated.
I do not like to hate! I do not want to hate! Yet. right now I do!!!!
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