Yield to Hate

Well, I think my Jamaica essays, if they were a cup of coffee and each blog a sip, have come to an end. No promises though. 

I did write an epic 27 pager of the trip (photos included) for Coffee Lovers magazine. The owner of the magazine is interested in publishing the tome from the way it sounds. If not, I will pitch it elsewhere. I make a decision to write for my own reasons and if others wind up wanting to read it, all the better. Feel the same way about this blog. I have no expectations. I give freely. But, actually, I would like to get paid for the piece.  People piss on what they don't pay for. It is human nature, Mon.  

I have found my writing mojo in that I pick topics that I have a high degree of interest in (beer, culture, writing, travel, coffee, theology) and then place myself in the middle of a story somewhere. My task is just to report what I observe in my own particular and peculiar style. Sad to say that I don't think fiction is a talent of mine. I like the facts, although I have found that fiction is particularly great of conveying facts. Kind of odd. I learned more facts from  The Chronicles of Narnia than Google News.  

Alternative facts, fake news, which brings me to the topic for today. A couple of Sunday nights ago, the Facebook page of CraftBeer posted a bottle of Yuengling Lager and asked the question "Yes" or "No." Yuengling Lager (and their other beers) occupy a beer space between mass produced beers like Bud or Miller and Craft Beer.  So, the question was, "Is Yuengling in or out as Craft?" The smart answer is out. I made comment that Yuengling is "Good but not great." At room temps, it is downright skanky but when served cold and the off-flavors are suppressed, it tastes good. 

A great beer tastes excellent warm just like great coffee tastes wonderful cold (a dream come true, beer and coffee in the same sentence!). I added to the comment that I couldn't stand that Yuengling endorsed Trump. Well, you'd thought that I had thrown a Molotov Cocktail by the abusive return of fire that I received. I have to confess that I kind of like messing with Trump supporters. I know it is not a healthy habit but many of them are so misinformed, it is like taking candy from a child. Case in point:

Here is what followed to my comment:

- So you think Yuengling should support Planned Parenthood?

I was like, no umm, I am conservative a Pro-Life.

- You must be a lot of fun at a party, dipshit.

Actually, I am kind of fun and witty. I was going to add good-looking too, but decided against it.

-  What is it like to seethe with  anger?

I don't know. 

- Keep politics out of beer.

Precisely, wish old Dick Yuengling had.

- What does Trump have to do with beer?

It is called Free Enterprise. I don't wish to support a company that backs a candidate I can't stand. 

- How do we know that you are fun and witty at a party? I know, you told us!

I know a lot more about myself than any of you.

- Something  about me being a fucking cuck with a boyfriend

This was particularly nasty and pretty much ended the back and forth on the Facebook comments. I hope even my detractors knew this was vile.

I was naive in that I underestimated the verbal vociferousness of the responses. Like when I confronted my neighbor down the way about stealing my Recycling Bin and he called me a "Fucking Pussy." I thought he would come clean  and fess up. Instead, he went on the offensive and it took every ounce of my spirituality to not reach through the screen door and wring his neck like a chicken. I walked away but learned a lesson to remember that dishonest, rude and obnoxious people, will typically double-down when caught in their original transgression. Just like Trump supporters will continue to defend him even if he lets the nuclear weapons fly.   

It is fair game when a company backs a candidate to have to answer to their customers. It is highly relevant. Yuengling used my dollars to back the Donald and you had better believe that it makes me want to drink another go-to beer. I have been drinking Yuengling Lager since the early 90's when it made its way to Lancaster. Because of me and others like me, the brand has become a billion dollar baby. I resent that Yuengling assumed that I was all in on Donald Trump. I am  not and never will be. Ever.

My Dad's uncle told me an interesting story when I was in Germany back in 1981. He said that when the Nazis started out, it was a gang of disaffected losers called the Brown Shirts. Rudolph (my Dad's uncle and my grandmother's brother) wanted to roll a couple of them but my grandfather thought better of it being a cautious man. In the Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn likewise tells the story of the Cheka (a precursor to the KGB) knocking on doors at night and neighbors cowering in fear behind closed doors. Had they, en masse, resisted the Cheka, the horrors of Stalin and his henchmen killing millions of people would have never happened. Likewise, had the Nazis being actively resisted by decent people, the concentration camps and World War 2 would have likely not happened. 

Now, let me get this clear. I don't think Trump is Hitler or Stalin. I do think he is rude, impulsive, and a poor human being--what is worst about America. I opted out of voting for either HRC or DT because I thought both of them not worthy of the office. Trump's behavior is more resembling a leader of a Banana Republic (Bannon Republic?) than the world's leading democracy and I am not going to back down because silence is assent. I will  keep tangling with Trump's defenders. I am more informed than most of them and can respond without becoming retaliatory at the level they want to drag me down into. 

As if to remind me that the Alt Left is just as rude as the Alt Right, I was merging onto the entrance to Route 30 a couple of days after the Yuengling skirmish where the other driver had the Yield sign. He blew the sign off and would have caused an accident with my car had I not slowed and stopped. I typically will slow down rather than contribute the creation of a crash but will let the other driver know that I know by honking my emasculating beep-beep Honda Civic horn that they blew off a sign. Signs exist for a reason and a civil society respects them. Next time, the driver on my end may be a stressed-out Mom with kids in her car and the reckless driver could  cause a serious accident harming innocents. So, I take a stand for the common good because I am a big boy and can deal with the fall-out. Better me than her.

As I got closer to the other dude's car, I saw that he had one of those "Co-Exist" bumper stickers.  As he pulled out onto Route 30 and I went by him in the passing lane, he had his middle finger up as if taped to the window. Nice man. Blame me for you not following a stupid sign.  Again, taking a lesson from don't expect a inappropriate person to stop being inappropriate, I went on my way, not escalating the situation further. I'd like to say that I return curses with blessings but I am not there yet on the whole. I am working on it and asking God to give me His spirit to  do so. 

Matthew 5:45

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.