Thank you! I guess that is part of the dynamic, right? The silent majority is used to being silent. This is largely a movement led by women. Some men might not like that aspect of it. I do like it. They have so much at stake. We men need to shut up and listen more. But also get out there and yell.
I’m part of the demographic you're trying to reach: a middle-aged white woman working in corporate America. And I recognized myself in your words.— not because I feel safe (I don't), but because I know the temptation to tell myself, "I'm just one person. It's too big, too broken, too far gone to fix." And I admit, I sometimes wonder if the people who voted for this even deserve for it to be fixed.
But that’s the lie, isn’t it? The one we tell ourselves while the fire spreads. "Keep your head down. Stay quiet. Focus on your work. It'll pass." I support my mother and grandmother. I need my paycheck. So most days, putting my head down is exactly what I do.
And I hate it. I hate that I still do it. Writing about it is all I’ve managed so far.
Thank you for refusing to stay silent, even when it would be easier. This post won’t make the algorithm happy, but it might wake a few of us up — including people like me, who should’ve done something by now.
I'm so far away from being good at this. So far, all I can really muster is screaming into the void. I guess it's a start. And lending support where I can. I helped a younger trans kid find some housing in Georgia where they live. That felt good. It's hard for trans folks here in Georgia, so everything helps.
From an old white woman to Charles Bastille: well done! You call it what it is. Go ahead and mix it up. I for one want to read your fiction AND your political commentary.
We "older people" who knew protest when it was nearly universal in this country and worked, we wonder, where are the men...for that matter, where are we all? White women too? Old ones. Yes, always working. Still working. But that's not good enough any longer.
This is the one sentence everyone should realize is the absolute truth about people who still support the IDIOT and his minions who are tearing the country into bits:
"None of their explanations make sense to me. It’s like their cognitive reasoning is broken, as broken as a fragile plate of china thrown to a marble floor by an insane ape."
If we are the silent majority, we had best get to screaming.
This had to be said by a white man because it is a truth that has more impact than anyone of alternate demographical standing could convey. You know that of which you write.
Thank you, Charles.
Just to add:
Where were the men protesting on behalf of women losing their bodily autonomy to a SCOTUS made up of religious fanatics? (Some did, I know but it wasn't a nationwide movement strong enough to quash that ruling.)
Where were the men to protest women being punished for tending to their own health needs? When laws were made that would put women, and the doctors who treat them, in the position of being charged and incarcerated for having their lives saved when obstetrical surgery was needed? Why did they not rise up in support of the women in their own lives, at the very least?
When will the pendulum swing to the point where all humans care for all humans? Is it even possible anymore?
Thanks Ellen. That was my incentive for expressing my various characteristics. It definitely isn't pride. There are a few folks in my demographic who don't embarrass me, but not many.
These men exist. They have a plan. Silence/surprise is the greatest asset one can have when turning the tide of a movement, battle, or war. Don't believe sight unseen that just because you do not hear or see these people that they do not exist. The Japanese have a saying: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." It applies to their schooling, their work lives, their families, their politics, and their wars. This is a similar path.
Charles — when you say silence is easiest, I hear the echo of whole generations. In my house, silence wasn’t ease, it was law. The laundry never left the house, the bruises never left the skin. We were told to hold it all in, to swallow the ache, to never wash dirty linen in public.
I see the same threads in your words — the Protestant ethic, the work, the keeping-up. It trains people to bury pain under duty. To pretend the house is clean while the rafters crack.
For me, breaking silence isn’t about politics first. It’s about unlearning that household law. It’s about saying the unsayable out loud so the next generation doesn’t live in locked rooms. Maybe that’s where men go missing — stuck in houses built on silence.
Wow, you described my household as I was growing up. We weren't told to do these things, to be silent. It all happened organically. Same consequences.
I was chatting with someone else about this today both online and in real life and I wondered out loud if the Internet quiets the protests. People rant online, then get back to living their lives.
Ironically, though, as this regime continues to overreach, the optimist in me believes it will be the ultimate organization tool to bring take them down.
Charles — your words land in a house I know. Silence in my childhood reads like law: laundry stays inside, bruises stay closed, ache swallowed. Online, your image of rant then return rings true.
I carry an American heart that breaks often. My childhood wounds lived in a different country and family, and still they keep docking onto a larger cultural hull: Reformation currents, Protestant work ethic, Hanseatic trade routes, Hanoverian ties to English thrones, Quaker and Puritan labor piety — all shipped across oceans and sewn into how households run. I am digging here, tracing how public systems and private rituals weave into the same cloth.
For me, breaking silence begins at home. Saying the unsayable aloud rewires the house so the next generation inherits different rules. I share your cautious optimism about the internet as an organizing tool; I hold a tender hope too: small voices gathered become pressure, pressure becomes shift.
With ya brother, but I'm leaving to protect my family. Sincere apologies. I've been screaming into the void, lost friends, shunned by family. I'm from the deep south, I wish you luck and applaud your determination.
Thank you! I guess that is part of the dynamic, right? The silent majority is used to being silent. This is largely a movement led by women. Some men might not like that aspect of it. I do like it. They have so much at stake. We men need to shut up and listen more. But also get out there and yell.
I’m part of the demographic you're trying to reach: a middle-aged white woman working in corporate America. And I recognized myself in your words.— not because I feel safe (I don't), but because I know the temptation to tell myself, "I'm just one person. It's too big, too broken, too far gone to fix." And I admit, I sometimes wonder if the people who voted for this even deserve for it to be fixed.
But that’s the lie, isn’t it? The one we tell ourselves while the fire spreads. "Keep your head down. Stay quiet. Focus on your work. It'll pass." I support my mother and grandmother. I need my paycheck. So most days, putting my head down is exactly what I do.
And I hate it. I hate that I still do it. Writing about it is all I’ve managed so far.
Thank you for refusing to stay silent, even when it would be easier. This post won’t make the algorithm happy, but it might wake a few of us up — including people like me, who should’ve done something by now.
I’m listening. I’ll try harder to speak up, too.
I'm so far away from being good at this. So far, all I can really muster is screaming into the void. I guess it's a start. And lending support where I can. I helped a younger trans kid find some housing in Georgia where they live. That felt good. It's hard for trans folks here in Georgia, so everything helps.
From an old white woman to Charles Bastille: well done! You call it what it is. Go ahead and mix it up. I for one want to read your fiction AND your political commentary.
We "older people" who knew protest when it was nearly universal in this country and worked, we wonder, where are the men...for that matter, where are we all? White women too? Old ones. Yes, always working. Still working. But that's not good enough any longer.
This is the one sentence everyone should realize is the absolute truth about people who still support the IDIOT and his minions who are tearing the country into bits:
"None of their explanations make sense to me. It’s like their cognitive reasoning is broken, as broken as a fragile plate of china thrown to a marble floor by an insane ape."
If we are the silent majority, we had best get to screaming.
I wish I could gently put my arms around you. Pat your back.
No words. I am weeping.
Thank you so much. We could all use a hug right now. Maybe we need to initiate impromptu flash mob group hugs. :-)
I’m in!!
This had to be said by a white man because it is a truth that has more impact than anyone of alternate demographical standing could convey. You know that of which you write.
Thank you, Charles.
Just to add:
Where were the men protesting on behalf of women losing their bodily autonomy to a SCOTUS made up of religious fanatics? (Some did, I know but it wasn't a nationwide movement strong enough to quash that ruling.)
Where were the men to protest women being punished for tending to their own health needs? When laws were made that would put women, and the doctors who treat them, in the position of being charged and incarcerated for having their lives saved when obstetrical surgery was needed? Why did they not rise up in support of the women in their own lives, at the very least?
When will the pendulum swing to the point where all humans care for all humans? Is it even possible anymore?
"You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one."
~J. Lennon
Thanks Ellen. That was my incentive for expressing my various characteristics. It definitely isn't pride. There are a few folks in my demographic who don't embarrass me, but not many.
These men exist. They have a plan. Silence/surprise is the greatest asset one can have when turning the tide of a movement, battle, or war. Don't believe sight unseen that just because you do not hear or see these people that they do not exist. The Japanese have a saying: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." It applies to their schooling, their work lives, their families, their politics, and their wars. This is a similar path.
Charles — when you say silence is easiest, I hear the echo of whole generations. In my house, silence wasn’t ease, it was law. The laundry never left the house, the bruises never left the skin. We were told to hold it all in, to swallow the ache, to never wash dirty linen in public.
I see the same threads in your words — the Protestant ethic, the work, the keeping-up. It trains people to bury pain under duty. To pretend the house is clean while the rafters crack.
For me, breaking silence isn’t about politics first. It’s about unlearning that household law. It’s about saying the unsayable out loud so the next generation doesn’t live in locked rooms. Maybe that’s where men go missing — stuck in houses built on silence.
Wow, you described my household as I was growing up. We weren't told to do these things, to be silent. It all happened organically. Same consequences.
I was chatting with someone else about this today both online and in real life and I wondered out loud if the Internet quiets the protests. People rant online, then get back to living their lives.
Ironically, though, as this regime continues to overreach, the optimist in me believes it will be the ultimate organization tool to bring take them down.
Thanks for the great comment.
Charles — your words land in a house I know. Silence in my childhood reads like law: laundry stays inside, bruises stay closed, ache swallowed. Online, your image of rant then return rings true.
I carry an American heart that breaks often. My childhood wounds lived in a different country and family, and still they keep docking onto a larger cultural hull: Reformation currents, Protestant work ethic, Hanseatic trade routes, Hanoverian ties to English thrones, Quaker and Puritan labor piety — all shipped across oceans and sewn into how households run. I am digging here, tracing how public systems and private rituals weave into the same cloth.
For me, breaking silence begins at home. Saying the unsayable aloud rewires the house so the next generation inherits different rules. I share your cautious optimism about the internet as an organizing tool; I hold a tender hope too: small voices gathered become pressure, pressure becomes shift.
Thank you for naming the shape of things.
— Jay
With ya brother, but I'm leaving to protect my family. Sincere apologies. I've been screaming into the void, lost friends, shunned by family. I'm from the deep south, I wish you luck and applaud your determination.
This is excellent. Thank you.
Thanks for reading! :-)
This was very good, I’m looking forward to reading your fiction😉
Thank you! I hope you enjoy some of it!