Just Another "Emotional Big-Mouth"

There is a world of difference between disruption and destruction. Disruption can be good in that it productively and convincingly intervenes into practices that have become accepted over time. Quite often these practices are outdated and need their inadequacies to be brought up for discussion and change. Destruction, on the other hand, causes right the opposite. It causes regression and the erection of more barriers. It brings a group's intentions into question as the physical actions do not represent what is being professed. It can repulse potentially influential supporters, against a cause. As obvious as the difference appears to be, there is confusion between needed disruption and un-needed destruction. Perhaps it is the individuals in a group who are attempting to be leaders and do not yet understand what a leader really is.  

 

It is important to do research on the groups that you think you might relate to. Groups gear their propaganda exactly in a manner that coaxes people into thinking that they have something in common with the group. It is important to be able to look past the propaganda and find out who the stakeholders in the group are. Understand the life-long consequences that will accompany the decision to join a group and do not make the decision based solely on how much "noise" a group or a person is making. It's easy to allow yourself to be worked up into a "feeding frenzy" from the environment that is created by "the noise". You could be joining a group for the right reasons and end up being the only one in the group that is wanting to do the right thing. Do not make any decisions without researching an issue from unbiased sources.  

 

Regardless of your position on various issues, political associations, or religious convictions, protect yourself from being a victim of "emotional decision-making". Don't become involved with just another "emotional big-mouth" that has lost control of their reasoning capabilities. Evaluate the person or persons to see if they are a true leader. Is the, so-called leader, in it only for themselves? Are they a responsible leader that will not lead their followers down a one-way path of no return, nor a path of destruction that can negatively alter a follower's existence for the rest of their lives. Once the goals of the group are achieved or the group evaporates over time, a follower needs to be able to keep living their life. They do not need to be forever entangled and affected by the bad decisions of an "emotional big-mouth".

 

Is the person or people in charge of your group of interest, leaders that are going to take care of you while in the group's quests, or are they just another "emotional big-mouth"? We really do need to know before promoting their cause or putting our lives and livelihoods in their hands.

Joe McLaughlin

09/17/20 

Voting to Save The Country

I do not like talking politics, but a few things have changed one of which is that I have simply had enough. Allow me to share my thoughts with you.

There are more than two options to choose from when trying to decide on who is capable of leading this country. Myself, I am damn tired of the constant disrespectful and negative comments about one person after another, even considering some very welcome accomplishments. On the other side, the mental capacities are undeniably fading and that is equally un-nerving. I am not going to cast my vote for "the lesser of two evils", as the expression goes, especially when there are other options and the future of this country is at stake.

The two dominant political entities have proven to the country that they cannot function together, to the point where the needs of their country have become secondary to the hate that they choose to exhibit towards each other. Thanks to the obviously partial media, these hateful behaviors are blatantly amplified and is what is fueling the hate on the streets and in the homes throughout this nation. These are not examples of decision-making and leadership that the great country we live in deserves. In fact, it will be the downfall of this country. As has been the case throughout history, great civilizations are not destroyed from the outside until they have destroyed themselves from within.

This also applies to all human beings. A person will not give up on something solely from external influences. It is when those influences affect us on the inside that cause us to "cave in". Regardless of who you politically support, look inside yourself and let your "gut feelings" tell you where the problems are. Be prepared for those feelings to tell you something that you may not want to admit. Know that what you are feeling deep inside you, way past all of the shallow and superficial stuff, is a higher power that will not guide you in error.

Hate has taken away so many opportunities and snuffed out so many vibrant livelihoods. Casting a vote that promotes the removal of political groups, that exhibit hate of any kind as a priority, will get the appropriate decision-makers on the job and making decisions that are timely and are good for this country.

If we do not take care of this from the inside, it will be handled for us from the outside.

May God bless us all at this crossroad in our lives.

Protests and Their Leaders

As someone who has been a driver for ridesharing operations, I can certainly relate to the recent shooting incident in Austin that resulted in the death of a protester.  I have driven into downtown as festivals or events were ending and people are everywhere.  You turn a corner and you are in it with no way to get out.  The protesters, being in their single-minded state, do not realize this.  I have seen multiple videos and read multiple articles of vehicles that accidentally get caught in a protest and are forced to defend themselves against the protester's aggressions.  That is when people, usually the protesters, start getting hurt. 

 For reasons unknown, many people who are participating in protests seem to have the mentality that they can do whatever they want when they are protesting.  This way of thinking handicaps many protesters ability to have situational awareness, make logical decisions, and to be able to see what someone, such as a driver in a car that is trapped in the middle of a protest, is experiencing.  In this handicapped state, many protesters only see the vehicle as an unwelcome intruder and begin to take aggressive actions without stopping for a moment to evaluate what the situation may be.  Good people that get caught up in these surroundings can have the remainder of their lives ruined if good judgement is not used.   

 Perhaps it should be suggested that a protester not just blindly jump into a protest or a cause without first finding out who the leader is.  Are they really a leader or just another person with a big mouth?  Following someone or some group that is going to lead followers down a road that destroys the follower's lives, is in effect a dead-end road.  Find a different leader or a different group that is on a road that will end up at the desired destination. 

 The so-called leaders of protests with incidents, are not doing a good job in guiding "their people" towards an effective protest.  It would appear that many people may be attracted to the protest itself, but those people are not being attracted to the cause.  Too many protesters are "tagging" along for what they perceive as the "entertainment value" of the activity or the "social bank" that they think they will gain with their peers.  An effective protest leader would realize this and would find a way to get a committed follower instead of the troublemakers and thrill seekers that are only going to hold back the overall progress of the cause.  After all, it is not about drawing attention to a specific event, a specific group itself, nor the individuals in the group.  It is about drawing attention to the cause that will promote the desired change.  A dysfunctional, disrespectful, and destructive group is only going to accumulate more of those who are dysfunctional, disrespectful, and destructive which will diminish the credibility of any cause.  It will also have many of these dysfunctional, disrespectful, and destructive participants of this kind of group find themselves in local, state, or federal areas of detention where they will be more limited in their ability to support a cause.  It is not so much in the headlines, but lots of people are going to jail and to prison for the destructive and deadly acts that they are engaging in while supposedly being part of a protest.  This also puts the leader at the same risk, so it is worthy of the leader's effort to filter out those who are not true promoters of the cause.

 Being a leader is about making good decisions and helping to guide people in a direction that makes things better for them and for their lives.  There have been entirely too many examples lately of good intentions being led by individuals that are not leaders.  A good leader knows that tact must be used in effectively getting their message heard.  Having the biggest sign, being disrespectful, and yelling at the top of your lungs may not be the best prescription for a particular cause.  The way a cause is represented can have a huge influence on the outcome of the cause.  People who were on the side of a cause, have and will continue to switch sides on the issue.  Not because they feel any less committed about the issue but because of the way it is being represented by those who are supposedly protesting for the issue. 

What Would The Sign Be

Which group will be upset next and when that group does get upset, which group will be upset about the things that are done to appease the first group.  Then, are the actions that the groups take, any kind of indication of an example of what the group is promoting.  Are we trading racism for violence?  Is that what is being proposed by some groups?  You are racist so my solution to that is violence?  I really do not believe that there are only 2 solutions to this equation and I personally do not prefer or promote either one of those 2 solutions.  Violence is not going to change anyone until that person is informed and ready to change.  As an Uber driver I was part of a conversation with a gay person about what the rider had heard from a radio talk show host.  It had been declared that a specific day was the day for gays to "come out".  The rider went on to say that this was the most ridiculous thing ever as a gay person is not going to "come out" when someone tells them they should.  They will come out at a time of their own choosing when they are ready to do so.  Mandating change on issues such as this are no different.  People are not going to change because someone tells them to.  They must be non-forcibly informed about the elements surrounding an issue.  Then the decisions that they make will at least be informed decisions giving their opinions a better foundation.  It is highly likely that their opinions will evolve due to now having the additional information contributing to their decisions and just as in the example above they will change at the time of their choosing.  They most likely will change without even noticing that they have changed.

I think back to my days growing up on a farm outside a small town.  We were not raised to be racist but everything around us was such that racism did exist.  No one knew that it was disrespectful and inappropriate because those were the surroundings that we grew up in.  Racism wasn't taught, preached or promoted to us but was subconsciously being passed on by the inferences in the things that were said, the way they were said, and by the reactions to what was said.  No one realized, or even suspected, that they were subconsciously passing on these racist tendencies.  In growing older and going out into the world, we began to see that things were not as they were assumed or suggested to be.  We begin to question why we would say the things that we said.  We became exposed to new conversations from a much wider variety of views and perceptions from a much wider variety of people.  We learned to listen with our mouths closed and to allow our evolved logic to take in the many opinions, that differed from our own, allowing us to further develop our own opinions into something that was better than it was prior to the conversation.

Every member of humanity must be taught how to pause, look inside themselves, and ask "why".  Why do I feel this way about a topic?
Why do I get irritated by the sound of that voice?
Why do I like to yell at the top of my lungs when I hear that song?
Why do I feel the way I do about people of another race?

Those are a lot of questions to be asked of ourselves but if "the why" is not known about strong feelings, then why are those feelings being allowed to dictate our actions?  Stop!  Find out why.  And just because your uncle or somebody else said that's the way it is, is not an answer.  It wasn't an answer when you were told that as a kid, and it is still not an answer today.  Why does it rain?  Well, that's just the way it is.  No!  We have access to limitless information in this day and time.  Look it up.  It rains because that is the evaporation component in the hydrological cycle.
"Yeah, I don't care about understanding all of that.  I just know how I feel," said an un-named racist.
"Why do you feel that way?"
"I just do."
If there is not a understanding/base for a feeling/position that one has on a particular issue, especially the heated ones, why would one think that they deserve to have a voice on the issue?  Know yourself and the reasons for your beliefs and feelings before trying to convince someone else about what they should believe and how they should feel.        

Racism should not exist.  The situation should never have been created in the first place.  What human being could be of the frame of mind to think that another human being does not have the same "natural rights" as they do?  I also wonder if these supposedly "superior" human beings, prayed to God without this ultimate violation of humanity even entering their thoughts as they prayed.  It would be the greatest of all ironies that they were on a path to hell even at the very moments they were praying to the heavens.  Statues that glorify these specific individuals should indeed be removed, in a controlled and non-violent manner.  Again, why were they put there in the first place?  Anytime something new is about to be introduced into a system, a process, society, etc., there should be a pause and consideration for how something new could affect the future.  There are many things, that once started, cannot be stopped.  Consideration for the future consequences of an action must be given.

All of us have feelings and opinions about how we think things should be.  Of course we think that our opinion is the correct one and all of humanity should listen to what we have to say.  Humans can be such single-minded, arrogant and egotistical individuals.  We become so worried and so worked up about so many things.  We march the streets, waving our signs and protesting what we want, for us.  It seems to always be about us.

Which sign would our mother Earth be waving if she were to protest?