A Response from Behind the Lines

This morning's rant from my friend and colleague Krakatoa, though impassioned and frankly right on the money, struck a rather sour note with me:

...If you are unfortunate enough to be a conservative stuck in that mess, well, it's not like you didn't have enough warning and opportunity to relocate. So I feel for you, but I'm honestly not losing any sleep over you...

Passions these days naturally are running high. I get that and I am no exception. But how can I be blamed for my life situation, as well as that of a couple of the other cobs and commenters who live in Antifaria? It ignores reality. I can't just snap my fingers and, voila! Deep in the heart of Texas armed to the teeth and gainfully employed. I still have family ties, roots, work such as it is (mostly lacking) and other things - namely for those of you who don't know, a wife who is a liberal, and a university professor to boot. So all of that kind of ties my hands.

I mean honestly, if I get beaten to death for not bowing down to the terrorists if I am unlucky enough to run into them in broad daylight when I'm not cowering in my apartment by night praying they don't break in, you're not going to be losing sleep over me because it's my fault I live here?

CBD adds:

I hope you realize that it isn't as easy as a snap of the fingers and off we are to Idaho or Texas with good jobs and surrounded by family and friends.

Sure, I would love to move out of the NYC metro area.

What do you suggest my wife and I do with our aging parents, who need our help, uproot them from their family and friend networks, from the places they have lived for most of their lives?

Or from jobs many of us have taken entire careers to create, that are not easily moved to Red America?

There's a smugness among some in comfortably conservative areas that at times can be every bit as infuriating as the contempt inherent in people who talk about the "flyover states.."

As one of our commenters often says about the Seattle area...."I grew up here...I'm not leaving."

That's a fine attitude to have. As much as many of us would prefer to live in one of the sane parts of the country, maybe we should fight for what we have and not give in to the mob.

And that comment segues nicely into the photo at the top of this post, taken less than a half hour ago as I returned from my weekly jaunt to Ass-Whole Foods, on still mostly deserted streets that are now boarded up. Some of them are covered in hastily painted "Black Lives Matter," as if it were a desperate attempt to beg the Angel of Death to pass over them. As I approached the corner of Houston and Broadway, I saw what appeared as something almost miraculous - the Egyptian coffee cart guy back in his old spot. I shouted "brother am I happy to see you!"

And as I crossed the street I started crying. Because it was a sign of life, here in what was and still is my hometown. Which may not be for long even after all this passes. Maybe that's another reason why us idiots still stay in these places, despite every outrage and depredation hurled at us. In a way, when I saw that cart, I got a bit of an inkling of what French civilians must have felt when they saw the GIs coming in to liberate their towns and villages.

Just then, I realized that today is the 76th anniversary of D-Day. So, please, dear friends. Have a little bit of understanding of us who can't escape.

V for Victory.

UPDATE AND WARNING:

This post is a civil response to a friend and colleague who I care for dearly. It is a prime reason that Ace of Spades HQ is the best place on the internet.

Want to add your two cents? Fine. But personal attacks and vulgarity hurled at us will not be tolerated. First and only warning.

posted by at 09:02 AM

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