I practiced some last night, but felt sleepy pretty soon after starting so I didn't practice for as long as I've have liked to.
I woke up in time to wash hair and shave and clean up, put on clean clothes, etc. And have coffee anyway if not the nuts.
On the radio they were talking about the increase of hate crimes against LGBT people. It made of think of something that's been on my mind for a while. The parallels between Jews in 1930s Germany and LGBT people in 2020s America are striking:
(1) Both are a very small portion of the population. 1-2%? 3%.
(2) Both are groups that Christians have decided their out-of-date book condemns.
(3) Both are/were groups without a powerful nation-state behind them
(4) Both are groups that sometimes you can tell they're members of by looks, and often, not at all. Countless Jews have played Gentiles in movies, countless LGBT people have passed and pass as straight. I think this bothers hate groups but also gives them an excuse to pry into people's backgrounds, behaviors, etc.
(5) Both groups were well on their way to being fully assimilated and accepted by their societies. Many Jews fought bravely for Germany in WWI, as many LGBT people have fought for the US in all of its wars. In both cases, they were being accepted as "just another German" or "just another American".
(6) Both groups were/are being accused of harming children, with the Jews it was the old blood libel, with LGBT people it's "grooming" when it's very obvious that the biggest danger to children by "groomers" are right-wing religious leaders.
(7) Both groups were/are being accused of being the source of pretty much everything that's bad. Stub your toe? It was "The Jews". These days? "The Gays". This is standard Fascist thinking, to simply things to the extent that the formula becomes, Get rid of this group and then everything will be great.
(8) In both cases, getting the hell out may be very difficult. It's well documented how difficult it was in the 1930s and 1940s for the Jews, and in the case of LGBT people here in the US, it's going to be similarly difficult. Most Americans don't even have passports. It's very hard to emigrate to another country unless you're under 40, have at least a million dollars on hand, and have a needed skill. I feel like I'm the only one who remembers how quickly the chuds set up armed checkpoints when covid started up, and how they were doing things like driving down the road shooting at people who were on their front porches - with no repercussions. Try even getting to the airport under those conditions.
(9) Both groups were/are accused by the Right of having hidden riches, hidden networks, hidden resources that they "deserve" to have taken from them. I believe one can expect the same program from modern-day Nazis, that for a while you can leave but you can't take much more with you than the clothes on your back. This may prevail for a year or so, then come the camps.
(10) In both cases, there will be many who will not understand how dire things are going to get and that they must get out (or join the partisans, or something). "It can't happen here, this is Germany, the land of Goethe and Heine, we're civilized". "It can't happen here, this is America, we fought against the Nazis, we're the land of Democracy". Those who understand how bad it can get will be laughed at if they try to convince others to get out.
I rode over to the bank post haste and was happy to see my branch had not closed, it had been "something wrong with the building; we all had to leave". I put my two checks in and the balance is within a few dollars of my calculations.
I rode over to Whole Foods and there was the usual "Child Fund" or whatever generic name it is, booth set up. It was manned by a tall, large, friendly, Black lady and we talked about performing there and so on. She told me there's a guy who plays the ukulele there all the time, who plays later at night. I said I'd found that the later-at-night crowd was smaller but the people more relaxed and friendlier and the tips good. She said they'd stayed there with their booth until Whole Foods closes at 10, and she raved about how much better the late-night crowd was.
I could have hung out and talked and joked around for an hour, but I had to eat so I went in and got some carnitas and grilled peppers and a bottle of water and fueled up.
Then I walked over to Target, which is a bit of a walk but I need to get used to walking because when I'm back in Hawaii I'll probably be walking and taking the bus at least for a while. I went into Cost Plus World Market and looked around but didn't find anything I wanted, then Marshall's which was really stripped of the kind of shirt I was interested in, then went to Target where I got some tape, index cards, laundry detergent, that sort of thing.
I walked back ... at least the walk is nice for looking at all the different plants. I got back to Whole Foods, got some eggs, and rode over to the Amazon place for bubble mailers, then meandered my way home. I found 7 books so that's good.
I put things away and went back out to check the medical dumpster (nothing) and the veggie dumpster (Romaine lettuce and several hothouse cucumbers).
There had been a ton of people out and around today, traffic was heavy, maybe it's payday for a lot of people or something.
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