A letter from Neil Young

[randr]

Sadness and compassion hit me last night as I watched fellow Americans telling their stories

A young lady in tears spoke of being maced in the Capital. She was crying because she had been attacked and all she was doing was trying to have her voice heard in the Revolution. She was one of thousands who have been carrying the feeling of being persecuted for their beliefs, their feeling that American power just didn’t care.

This, to me is beyond my own feelings that our president has betrayed the people, exaggerated and amplified the truth to foment hatred. Resentment of the Democratic party among the insurrectionists at the Capitol was rampant. We don’t need this hate. We need discussion and solutions. Respect for one another’s beliefs. Not hatred.

I was devastated to see the double standard. The way people were treated in the BLM demonstrations recently, compared to the other day. There is no place here for White Supremacy. People need each other to be truly free. Hatred will never find Freedom.

I learned that a some of the people storming the Capitol were police themselves, and gained peaceful entry by showing their badges. I was shocked to see the Confederate flag being waved inside the chamber; the destruction and disrespect. But mostly I felt bad for the people. With Social media, issues are turned to psychological weapons and used to gather hatred in support of one side or the other. This is what Donald J. Trump has as his legacy.

I still have my strong beliefs. That has not changed. But now I feel empathy for the people who have been so manipulated and had their beliefs used as political weapons. I may be among them. I wish internet news was two-sided. Both sides represented on the same programs. Social media, at the hands of powerful people – influences, amplifying lies and untruths, is crippling our belief system, turning us against one another.

We are not enemies. We must find a way home.

[Croney]

1. Our president has betrayed the people?

Last edited Sun Jan 2, 2022, 12:05 PM - Edit history (1)

??

(Oh, this was published a year ago so he was talking about the shit on the bottom of his shoe.)

[Walleye]

2. The truth cannot be found in bothsidesism or false equivalency

It’s almost like some kind of nervous tic that people have to always add that both sides do it. I know these idiots were manipulated by a con man and I have zero sympathy for them. They’re grown-ups

[BootinUp]

3. I find his admission that he himself

may be manipulated to be fairly enlightened. We all can be, can we not?

[Walleye]

5. True but we can educate ourselves against being conned

There really isn’t two sides to every argument

[Rhiagel]

4. This was published Jan. 12, 2021.

When the Blobfather was still the POTUS.

[bigtree]

7. Young from his lofty perch (old news)

...lamenting about some insurrectionist idiot crying because she was maced while trespassing the Capitol in an attempt to stop the counting of votes in a presidential election, equating them with BLM.

The crap about being manipulated shows how removed Young is from any moral center. That antipathy to fellow Americans didn't start with Trump, he was their cipher, their champion. Grow a fucking soul, ffs.

Both he and the coup lady can fuck right off.

Neil Young calls for empathy for Capitol attackers: 'We are not enemies'
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/12/neil-young-calls-for-empathy-for-capitol-attackers-we-are-not-enemies

[Martin Eden]

8. I like Neil Young a lot, but I disagree with:

"Both sides represented on the same program."

Giving equal airtime to the Big Lie of a stolen election, anti-vaxx conspiracy theories, and false narratives about CRT in public schools only serves to lend credibility to the destructive falsehoods we are struggling to overcome.

By all means we should have civil fact based discussions with different views regarding the role of government in addressing real problems and potential solutions, but only one side is currently rooted in reality and a pragmatic good faith approach to such matters.