Graham,
No, Despite the earlier title, I don’t think the premise of this excellent piece is that every American is an idiot, but only those making that their active choice. You express frustration, and that’s certainly a normal and reasonable reaction under such circumstances. Some days I ask myself, after fighting this fight for fifty years, how can this present possibly be the best I’ve managed to achieve? But it’s not about me, and never was, though that’s the perception most familiar to me, and my basis for all context.
I spend a minimum of six hours a day studying trusted news sites, and then add more time on Medium to that. And some days I confess I grow so tired. But most days I grow strong, basking in the words and ideas of some remarkable, and remarkably powerful and caring people. Writers such as https://medium.com/@jfinn6511 (James Finn), https://medium.com/@heathermedwards (Heather Edwards), https://medium.com/@nilegirl (Ezinne Ukoha), https://medium.com/@interculturalis (Interculturalisticman) and too many more to even begin to list. These are people I would, if asked, follow into hell with my head held high. And perhaps that’s an apt description for the battle we’ve chosen to fight. After all, as long as there is injustice and inequality in this world, we will be engaged in that battle even if we aren’t aware, or active. Perhaps not everyone, but you I’d guess, Graham, and people like you.
And occasionally there’s a gem, such as finding some especially personal words, or a writer you can really connect with. And once I even heard an idea I’ve only seen presented by myself, mentioned on television within days of my latest rant. It was repeated by someone virtually every American knows by name and image, and is greatly respected by most. Had he read me? Not likely. But somehow an idea I presented traveled far enough, and perhaps through enough interested people, or through the ether, to eventually reach a vast audience. And even if it wasn’t me, it was enough of me, or some shared or expanded or extended part of me. And that’s why we do it. To share and spread and develop and combine ideas into something with power and strength and worth, possibly to reach much of the world. Eventually.
