FBEL: Balancing the Humors

I’m going through some personal stuff right now, and it’s been rough. Some of the responses I’ve gotten to my last few posts have left me feeling raw and frustrated, and unsure of what to do and say going forward. After some long talks with Chris and others, I’m writing this to try and get some general thoughts out that I hope will help you guys and me.

First and foremost, if something is labeled “From Behind Enemy Lines,” then I am doing just that – talking about the Left, FROM the Left. That is what I’ve been asked to do, when I’m posting under that banner. I’ve been asked to give a Left perspective, or at least a “more Left” perspective, so that you guys can learn and to be sure that Vine isn’t an “echo chamber.” I am going to be more obvious in it, adding FBEL at the top of posts that are “representative Left” or “explaining Left” so that they stand out.

So my last post was about the memes I’d seen floating around, and in particular, about the Trump 2028 one. From where I’m standing, there are three groups of people. First, we have the far Left. They’re going to do what they’re going to do, and nothing you or I say is going to change it. I ignore them. Second is the group of “normal Left” or what I tend to call “thinking Left.” These are people who have chosen willfully to be Left of center, but are self-consistent, thinking, and reasoning. I might not LIKE their reasoning, and I may think it’s false in the grand scheme of things or missing important points, but they’ve shown me that they give actual thought and consideration to their position. I have many friends in this group.

The third group consists of people like me. We were a little Left of Center, if you asked us. People on the Right just lumped us in with “The Left,” and the Left considered us oddities and “too far Right for comfort” but generally tolerated us. We are no longer “a little Left of Center.” We are deep state Right, at this point, because the Left has shifted so far Left that we’re not even close anymore. Some, like myself, have chosen to take the couple of steps Right to join the rest of you under the Conservative tent, albeit in our own little corner while we acclimate. Others are dithering out there on the sandbar, wondering where the hell the tide went and why it’s so fucking cold these days.

I watched the Right pick up steam about a year ago, and turn Trump 2.0 into a real thing. I watched and saw that he’d grown both as a person and as a leader. The extra four years, the few pounds lighter, the understanding of how the incoming government was going to have to do things made all the difference. I got excited, for a change. And then Trump did something I never expected: he put out a positive political ad. I’d always said anyone who could manage to muster up a positive ad would get a much closer look from me, and that’s exactly what I did. And that’s how I ended up here, with y’all. You know what my investigation turned up, and you know it’s why I stay here rather than going back to the tide pools hoping for an errant Leftist wave to fill my hole.

I talk to a lot of people who are “thinking Left” and a TON of people who are dithering. To my way of thinking, these are the people that the Right should be appealing to. Why? Because the “mandate” that Trump currently has could easily dissipate with one or two wrong turns. What he’s doing is really important, but it’s stirring up hornet’s nests, and the Right CANNOT sit on its laurels and just wait for Vance to pick up in 2028. If the Right… If *we* don’t work at it now, that mandate could go down the drain and leave the Right dithering as well. I don’t want that. You’ve convinced me (the facts have convinced me) that this is the right place to be, and so damn it, I want it to continue.

Consider the viewpoint of someone who’s dithering. As a person who’s only VERY recently left that group (those who are dithering), I can tell you that the Trump 2028 image is jarring.

Discovering you’re no longer on the Left is scary. Suddenly all your friends are looking at you suspiciously. You’re looking at the media (who you’ve previously trusted) and thinking, “Gezus… you mean all those things (meaning all the media bull about Trump and the Right) were LIES? All of it? This is huge!” When your entire world view has been shattered and broken, more than anything you just want to go back into your “mostly Left” blanket fort and be snuggled once in a while and fed comforting treats. Because you know what? It’s comfortable in the fort. Being taken care of is comfortable. Being free is not.

It’s not comfortable over here on the Right. I fight with myself every fucking day. Do you know, I would give my left tit to go back to being ignorant and stupid about all this crap, instead of feeling sick and concerned and angry and frustrated and confused ALL THE TIME. I really don’t WANT to be here. I’m here because I’m a moral and ethical person, and this is what’s right, right now. For anyone who doesn’t have the type of morals and ethics that I do, the sense of “blunt as a brick” truth, there’s literally nothing calling them to the Right just now. And I’m here to tell you, most of these people are just learning to think for themselves. Let me say it again: most of these people are just learning to think for themselves, and it’s a really difficult habit to ingrain.

I want you to think about it. You’re just learning to think for yourself, and someone from the Right side of the aisle tosses that Trump 2028 image at you. You are trying to figure out what’s true and what isn’t, and here’s this image, presented as is, wholly without context. The Left erupts and points, and says, “See, what did we tell you? We’ve been saying for years that this is what they want, and now they aren’t even hiding it! It’s because they think they have a mandate!”

If you’re just learning to think, that’s enough to scare you right back into your blanket fort.

When the newbie/sand dune/lost person looks Left, they see what appears to be a rational message, if somewhat hysterical. It has a visceral appeal. When the newbie looks Right, they see people chuckling. Because I’m part of the Right, I know that the chuckles are about the humor of the meme. But the newbie doesn’t know that, and all they see is laughter. They have no context to understand that the meme is an “in joke” because it IS an in joke. I’m struggling because, while I know you guys see the humor in it, I don’t. I can rationalize easily enough that you guys have a different sense of humor than I do, and that’s okay, but even I’ve had an emotional and “knee jerk” reaction to responses regarding the Trump 28 meme. I personally don’t see the humor at all, but I don’t have to. I can move on and ignore it.

Except that I can’t, really. I’m in this odd position. I’m someone reaching out and trying to provide a space for folk who feel abandoned by the Left. I know how it feels, and I know enough about the Right to know that this is an accepting place where people who can think and use logic will do just fine. I’m pretty good at “translating” from Right Speak to Left Speak, and vice versa. That’s kind of the rub: in order to talk to the stranded people who are trying to figure out where to go, I have to speak in their language. In order to introduce them to the Right, I have to do so in a way that is both wholly truthful about the Right, and acceptable in translation to those coming in. It’s a thin line to walk, and I think I normally do fairly well at it.

Things like the Trump 28 meme tend to derail that progress, however. Because the meme feeds so seamlessly into the half truths and outright lies of the Left, it’s very easy for the newbies to look at me and wonder why I’m so special that I understand the “in jokes” and have to “mansplain” them. I don’t want to be doing the explaining and mansplaining… I just want people to think for themselves, and I believe that if they do so, they’ll drift right out of sheer necessity, because Left of me is definitely not “thinking land.”

So I guess what I’m asking is… how do I (or even do I at all) explain stuff like that meme and others like it to newbies? The only reason I’m here is because Chris took the time to actually explain things to me. If I’d gone on just what I was seeing, shadowed by the ugliness of the Left, I never would have made it over. I don’t want that to be the case for others, and sometimes I feel like I’m working at odds with everyone Right of me for doing so. There are just SO many people out there, floundering around and confused, and it’s in my nature to help and to teach.

So Birddog said, “I would probably share the 2028 meme, not because I want to have it happen, think it a good idea, or think anyone on the right is actually seriously proposing it. I would share it because it makes the left batshit crazy. When they lose their minds over stupid shit, it has an effect on the ignorant voters and might push them right.”

I was over on the Left. I think I can say fairly authoritatively, no, it doesn’t push them Right. Stuff like that really pushed me further Left. I probably would have drifted Right much earlier if it hadn’t been for people doing stuff to “make the Left batshit crazy.” When we don’t have enough actual information to make good judgement, it just looks very wrong, and counter to what many Right pundits are saying. It creates a dichotomy that’s tough to get past.

This is not to say that the Right shouldn’t enjoy such humor in their own places. Here, for example, is a place I expect to see things like Trump 28. If I find it funny, I enjoy it, and if I don’t, I move on. No stress, no mess. I know roughly where the poster is coming from, and I know it isn’t something done from malice. It just tickles their funny bone. But when it gets loose into the mainstream social media, it loses something. The Left is so constantly brainwashing their people that the Right is doing illegal, immoral, and horrible stuff that it literally feeds right into it. It makes my job of translating even harder than usual, and that gets frustrating.

Some of you may wonder why I bother (I wonder that sometimes, too). Why keep reaching out when half the time I get my hand slapped? Well, I guess it comes down to my personal morals and ethics again. I don’t want to shut myself away from half the world (and wouldn’t even if most of my business model requires people on the Left to buy my stuff). I don’t have the luxury to shut off the Left… but I also don’t want to.

I see the wide divide of our governmental “sides” as a sign of sickness, not health. It doesn’t appear to be what our Founders wanted, nor did they talk about such a great divide unless they were referring to Britain and France. I believe very strongly that those people floundering around in the middle, on the sandbar as it were, need someone to hold out a hand and be rational, thoughtful, and thought provoking. I think they need someone to teach them how to think (either again, or for the first time, depending on their ages). I see some people starting to do it now. Charlie Kirk, for instance, who drives me bonkers at times but is so good at engaging young adults and pushing them  into thinking for themselves.

The way for the Right to “win” this thing, to truly change the hearts and minds of We The People, to bring about calm and logic and thought to the chaos that is politics right now, is to appeal to people. I don’t mean change what the Right thinks; quite the opposite. But maybe the method we’re using to extend the message needs some tweaks. Maybe we (as a group) need to learn just enough of “their” language to draw people in and show them the absolute wonders of this side of the aisle.

My view from “left of center” is a bit grim right now. With the Right on the winning side for a change, I expected the wry humor to continue (it has) but the smack-down rudeness to take a backseat for a bit. It hasn’t, at least from where I’m standing, and I am not sure how to process it. I can tell you my feels, but I’m not sure that is of any use at all.

I love it when Vance gets up and says, “Y’know, I lost my temper with Zelenskyy. I had reasons, and they were good ones, but it still wasn’t a good look and I regret it. I’m still learning, and I’ll keep working to do the best job I possibly can. I love my country, and all of you.” (Not an exact quote, but based on something he said during a quick interview after the whole Ukraine begging thing.) I respected that, so damn much. THAT is what I want to see. And I truly believe that is what appeals to the people in the center.

That is what drew me to the Right. Integrity. Grit. Morals. Ethics. Go-get-edness. A willingness to give a hand up (but not a hand-out). An understanding that we live in an imperfect world and people are going to make mistakes, sometimes grandiose ones, but that we still have to get up, brush ourselves off, and keep on keeping on. Values. Heritage. Tradition (but not so much that it’s holding us back). Stability. Order. Patriotism (but not so much that it becomes a religion unto itself). And practicality.

I desperately want to see the world that Trump and Vance and their team have hinted at. It’s a modern, updated version of the world that we tried to envision in the 50s and 60s, minus the flying cars. Though hell, with Musk in the mix, maybe we’ll get those after all. It’s a clean dream, where real issues like homelessness and domestic abuse are addressed with practical ideas that lift people up and give them just enough help to encourage them to fly and be free. It’s a world where the Constitution means something, and the Bill of Rights isn’t just a piece of paper.

I want to live in that world. I think I can live in that world, but only if the Right holds onto the mandate we’ve been given. While I see Trump holding on, and Vance doing an amazing job, I’m not sure that the GOP as a whole, or the Conservatives behind them, are really in tune with it. I am worried. I am afraid of seeing the people under the tent snatching failure from the jaws of success.

So that’s where I am right now. It’s unpleasant. I’m not trying to change you, or change your culture. Chris said I’ve done a pretty good job being the “female mechanic who brings in a poster of a fireman in his underwear and boots to add to the other half-clothed calendars, rather than bitching about the naked women.” I’m trying to fit into the culture I’ve found, because it’s a GOOD one. But being an outsider who’s only just arrived, I see things differently than you guys do. Sometimes, I get told I’m wrong, and I get frustrated because I’m telling you what I see, and you’re hearing something else. I lose the ability to communicate my idea, and it leaves me standing on a precipice, unable to explain. The *viewpoint* may be wrong, but I’m only describing what I’m seeing. And I’m in a better position to see it than you are.

Now I’m going to go slink off and play with my seeds.