It Doesn't Matter What You Voted For, We're All Complicit Until the Atrocities End

Your tips are greatly appreciated! Upgrade at 30% offSometimes it feels as if the whole world is standing around with their hands in their pockets while horrible people abuse the innocent in plain view. I often find myself wanting to pull out my hair and scream, “Stop!” But when I do take action, an odd thing happens.Many of the observers who were standing around doing nothing suddenly become roused. But instead of springing to action to help the oppressed, they turn and give me a reproachful look. Then they say, “Kindly don't include me in your denouncement of these atrocities. I didn't vote for this.”Meanwhile, the atrocities are allowed to continue.For as long as I live, I'll never understand the personality type that insists on opposing activism because they feel it might be interpreted as a slight against themselves.More and more often, the phrase, “I didn't vote for this” is appearing in our media. In my opinion, those words steal oxygen from more productive perspectives. Our society is much more inclined to address the discomfort of the privileged than the misery of the oppressed.This has to changeAs far as I'm concerned, it no longer matters what or who you voted for. The relevance of that conversation went out the window after the election. Now, we're looking upon a landscape of atrocities. The policies of our elected officials are clearly leading to human misery both in our nation and throughout the world.Our focus needs to be on stopping the suffering. We shouldn't waste effort on insisting anyone deserves recognition because they voted for something else.By far the more important objective is to get humanity back on track.Of all the mechanisms of oppression, perhaps the cruelest are those that deter our ability to respond. We spend a lot of resources on a police force. But what's the point if the police stand around and watch criminals attack people and they do nothing?Or perhaps they stand there ordering the criminal to stop, or they engage in some other ineffective action.As an observer, it's natural to become frustrated. First, we scream at the criminal. But evil people will not be compelled by the voice of reason.So, we turn to the individuals who should be our allies. “Something has to be done!”Only to have them rebuke us with, “Well, I'm telling him to stop. Don't lump me in. You're part of the problem.”The final act in the progression would be for the observers to circumvent the chain of command and put an end to the abuse themselves. But what we all fear in that scenario is that the police force that had been assigned with the task of protecting us, would only act to prevent us from infringing upon the rights of the criminal.Our focal point needs to be on the disturbing reality that while we go through this progression, the forces of evil are allowed to have their way on vulnerable populations throughout the world.I often encounter responses that say, “Don't include me in your generalizations.”I find it mind boggling that people don't recognize this comment is designed to distract from the real suffering going on all around us. If pinching a rational person is necessary to get them to move in the direction of assistance, then I'm all for it.Too many people fall into the submissive mindset of capitulation.“Well, it's too late to fight now.”“We can't win, so why even try?”It's easy to succumb to despair. The task before us is of such terrible magnitude that it can be hard to find the will to carry on. Whenever your resolve begins to waver, it's important to take a step back and view the larger picture.We must always resist evil. The only alternative is to become an enabler of evil. That's not an acceptable outcome.So, when you make a larger assessment of your reality, you realize that your chances of victory aren't even something you should waste time thinking about.The idea that you should get credit for failing to influence your society to avoid a path of oppression is ridiculous. That's like asking for recognition for doing nothing.One of the realities of this earthly life is that we are tasked with fighting evil from the moment we're born to the moment we die. There are no rest days. This is a lifelong objective. If you give up on this objective because victory seems “hopeless,” then you take your place among the enablers of evil.“Well, I didn't vote for that, don't group me in with all the others,” is just a complex way of renouncing your obligation to your fellow human beings.When the fight involved voting correctly, I voted correctly. But that battle is over. Now we're in another battle. It does no good to spend your life bragging about all the touchdowns you scored in a game you ultimately lost.Our focus needs to be on getting a win.There are no exceptions in the pages of history for the spectators who stood by and didn't participate in human rights abuses. At this point, the blinders have been ripped away. We all know it's going on. Innocent men, women, and children are being abused as we speak. You don't get to demand a justification for yourself because you can't perceive how you're participating in the abuse directly.Enabling abuse is participating in abuse.The only time we can claim to be innocent is when abuse is eliminated.You can't say, “Well, that will never happen,” because that's another means of manipulating yourself into becoming an enabler of evil.There are some truths which should be self-evident. Evil will always attempt to push its way into seats of power. We have to prevent those transgressions, and if evil should manage to take a seat, we have to resolve to stop it then.There's no rest for us. There are no exceptions. There are no participation trophies while kids are out there being abused. We all have to resist the call of ego that tempts us into thinking the actions of our lives are about ourselves. They're not. We're put here to help one another.We can't waste time giving stern lectures about how we were right and the world refused to listen. Instead, we have to ensure that all our activism is deployed with the intent to make the right course of action our reality.We can't stop until every human being is treated with the respect and dignity that all people deserve. Any distraction from that objective enables the abuses we claim to oppose.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI'm so happy you're here, and I'm looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe