”Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
Lawyer Joseph Welch to Senator Joseph McCarthy during a famous exchange of words at a hearing in Washington DC on 9 June 1954.
There’s a common currency that exists among civilized people, civilized communities and civilized nations. That currency is the thing that enables us to co-habit on this earth in relative peace and freedom. It’s a core requisite for civilization to exist and sustainably function.
The currency I’m talking about is mutual respect; a respect for one another’s right to exist with an intrinsic value, and to live our lives without undue or unfair impingement. It’s a two-sided coin with an equal value on each side: your value is on one side and the value of your fellow man/woman is on the other side.
If you buy an economy plane ticket you understand and appreciate that the airline will sell the same ticket to 299 other people and that those people will have as much right as you to board that plane, stow carry on luggage in the overhead locker, watch the in flight entertainment, enjoy a meal, use the restroom, disembark when the plane lands, collect their luggage and then go on their way to wherever they are going. You accept that your status on that plane is equal to the other 299 passengers and in so doing you afford everyone a certain level of civil respect. In return you expect that they afford you the same. If you don’t, or if they don’t, social order breaks down.
This is the currency of mutual respect.
I put it to you as a point of fact, not an opinion to be argued against, that in a few short weeks of the new presidential term, Trump, Vance and Musk (aka TVM) have systematically attacked this currency, flagrantly undermining and devaluing the laws of common decency and respect for the fellow human.
At the same time TVM have been creating a new currency that represents all that is anathema to the values of a civilized society; one that is characterized by division and derision, disrespect towards others; even an anti-respect. This currency bears the marks of disparagement, scorn and humiliation; of bullying, coercion and subjugation. It is a one-sided coin, with Trump’s ‘MAGA’ value on one side, the other side appearing to have no value at all.
So I ask you America, since TVM are hell bent on destroying fundamental norms of human decency, why are you supporting them? Do you not agree that the pursuit of the MAGA ideal cannot be at the expense of humanity?
Or if you are not supporting them, then why are you not standing up against them? Your silence amounts to tacit support and is making TVM ever bolder and ever more dangerous. It’s also causing the TVM camp to expand alarmingly with acolytes, sycophants, the self-interested, and the spineless all learning very quickly to speak the TVM language. Unfortunately the lack of any meaningful co-ordinated resistance is also emboldening those in other countries who aspire to the same ideals.
As the Administration’s power grows, so too does its propensity for corruption. This reality is playing out at pace in America before the world’s eyes. And yet, America, it appears you have chosen to close your eyes, cover your ears and hold your breath in the hope it will work itself through or just go away. But this will not pass of its own accord. It will only get worse. It requires resistance. It requires intervention. It requires courage. The real Voice of America needs to be heard, and it needs to be heard NOW, as TVM are doing all they can to close off traditional avenues of dissent and redress. The longer you remain in your shells, the more difficult it will be to re-assert the moral bar on which our civilization depends.
So please America, American people, American corporations, American institutions, American legislators, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, American media…
Please Make America Great Again, not Make America Hate Again.
#Wewillnotbetrumped
life unplugged 