re: #150 Flying Squirrel Girl

Ugh. I should stay away from social media (and some members of my family) today. I’m from Dallas and my heart is broken. If I still lived in Dallas, there is a very good chance I would have been at that protest last night. I posted this on FB and a friend responded, “Fuck guns!” My cousin’s kid responded with “Lol!!! My daughter will sure as hell have a gun! And she’ll know how to work it too! Just like my parents raised me!! It’s NOT the guns!!!! It’s the CRAZY ASS, HEARTLESS PEOPLE OPERATING THE GUNS!!!!!!
How is that not noticeable!?”

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. FUCK. I don’t wanna fight with my family over this shit.

I’m doing the same thing you are. I’m not from Dallas, but I took one spin through my FB feed and saw one of my cousins is full “Black Lives Matter are terrorists” mode.

I’m trying to cut her some slack as her son just became a cop, but I’ve been listening to that side of family’s hard-wired racism for far too long. One other person in that family was a cop years ago, and the only time I ever talked to him about it, he was absolutely unapologetic about harassing black people.

I should note that he had to leave the force because his car got firebombed, in retaliation for busting someone with political connections. This guy is a perfect example of my conflicted feelings towards law enforcement.

But getting back to your original premise: yeah, I’m staying off of social media for a while. Shit’s getting all 1968 out there. I have a feeling both conventions are going to be violent nightmares*.

*The Democratic convention has a less of a chance, but that assumes that the Bernie Bros grow the fuck up in the next few weeks. Don’t see that happening. They should also research the Philly police department’s ongoing love affair with beating protesters within an inch of their lives.