Wow! I was not prepared to see a thread like this here on RayBradbury.com.

I did not vote for Trump, so I hope not to be criticized.

Looking at this objectively, there is only one winner for an election. If your candidate of choice loses, does that mean the system of government is broken? Certainly not!

I also find it astonishing that people who claim to be accepting, loving, and progressive are unable to tolerate that their candidate lost.

Best wishes to all of us. I miss Ray.

quote:

Originally posted by Blind Henry:
Wow! I was not prepared to see a thread like this here on RayBradbury.com.

I did not vote for Trump, so I hope not to be criticized.

Looking at this objectively, there is only one winner for an election. If your candidate of choice loses, does that mean the system of government is broken? Certainly not!

I also find it astonishing that people who claim to be accepting, loving, and progressive are unable to tolerate that their candidate lost.

Best wishes to all of us. I miss Ray.

Acceptance and tolerance, unfortunately, is not a two-way perspective among many who still decry the election results...they demand it of others but not of themselves. I agree that it's unfortunate to see this kind of liberal hysteria thrust upon the Bradbury board.

Did you guys even read anything I posted, let alone anything Ray Bradbury ever wrote? (Fahrenheit 451, "A Sound of Thunder," along with a whole slew of others from well-known to obscure which could be named in reference to the current situation? This includes all of Ray's nuclear war pieces as well as those dealing with political dystopias and racial prejudice. I'm thinking "Embroidery" in particular. Better go shell those peas because they're never going to push the but-- WHOOPS! BOMBED THE BIG ONE! And don't bother shutting off that dripping faucet, either. It's "The Last Night of the World.")

*Sigh*...since some people apparently still didn't get the memo...how can ANYone look at the links and other items here and yet

FAIL TO SEE

that we (not just a handful on this message board but millions who marched on Saturday all over the nation with a sizable turnout worldwide) are NOT upset because ANYONE "lost" (with a 2.8 million vote majority far surpassing all previous records), we are upset because an unstable, dangerously mentally ill, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, ableistic, xenophobic, environmental terrorist, anti-science, anti-education, thin-skinned, delusional, paranoid bully is now in charge of the entire country and the leader of the free world and WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE (if not a majority) are apparently okay with that! If his attitude and behavior do not completely and absolutely disqualify him from ANY political position or position requiring adult responsibility or even basic intelligence, what wonder that our minds are absolutely boggled by questioning what perchance might? (Well, besides being female, some religion other than Christian, or a person of color.)

Did you not notice that after Kellyanne Conway spouted off with her "alternative facts" the other day, George Orwell's 1984 shot to the top of the Amazon bestseller list? Can Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 be far behind?

He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned already decreed after two less than reverent tweets, no National Park Service sites can use Twitter for any purpose until further notice. Luckily some NPS employees have circumvented this by means of an unofficial account, but if this is not censorship at its worst, what is? And Ray Bradbury has said that Fahrenheit 451 was not even about censorship--there are other very serious issues such as, well, I dunno...brainwashing and thought control?

Most disturbing is the seeming acceptance by wide sections of the public (including elected officials now feeling backlash from using language similar to and not even as openly offensive as helped elect or at least failed to prevent the election of our current commander) of this newspeak-style speech and thinking as if the situation were IN ANY WAY NORMAL! If the party commands you to profess that the inaugural crowd was huge, 2 + 2 = 5, the Russians had no influence on the election outcome (or worse, if they did, it's no big deal because Obama is black and Hillary's emails were not secure enough...or something), well, you have to accept it, because, you know, if you don't you are not respecting the democratic process, giving elected leaders their due, and you are a crybaby wailing because you or your candidate of choice did not receive a participation trophy.

THIS IS SERIOUSLY DISTURBED THINKING with which millions seem okay, and okay with using flashbang grenades and pepper spray on anyone in disagreement! It is a sign of a deeply disturbed and sick society!

For those failing to comprehend the seriousness of the situation and the distress of those capable of grasping it without explanation, these items should prove enlightening:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...e035e4b0f616ef3031db
http://www.latimes.com/opinion...-20161220-story.html
From a religious perspective: https://sojo.net/media/letter-my-trump-voting-family

What exactly have you people read of Bradbury's, and what did you derive from it?

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quote:

Originally posted by Blind Henry:
If your candidate of choice loses, does that mean the system of government is broken? Certainly not!

Certainly not, indeed! But it's in danger of being broken.

While I don't really post much in this thread, I do believe it's in the spirit of the Fahrenheit 451 Mr Bradbury that these observations are made.

People who choose to accept lies over evidence can't be helped, but it's infuriating when they expect everyone else to play along!

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
Did you guys even read anything I posted,

Some. I also live in Washington State -- the uber-liberal metropolitan Puget Sound area -- so hear far enough of the nonsensical, intolerant progressive hysteria to already get the gist.

quote:

let alone anything Ray Bradbury ever wrote?

Indeed I have. Even his darkest work was largely imbued with an optimism for the future, of the imaginative possiblities of what could be just beyond the horizon, and, just as much, with a distaste for cynicism of human achievement and potential.

Therefore, those who decry with anger, fear, and venom the results of the election and foresee cataclysmic times ahead may wish to revisit Ray's work.

I have less than zero interest in debating the issue, so will make that my final comment in this thread...other than to say again that I find it ironically unfortunate that political fear-mongering is so visible in a forum designed to celebrate one of America's most optimistic authors.

"I don't want to predict the future; I want to prevent it."

~ Ray Bradbury

Regarding the picture and quote opening this thread. As we all know well, Charles Dickens was a big influence on Ray Bradbury, and the Ghost of Christmas Present with the specters of Ignorance and Want beneath his cloak was the first image which sprang to mind, though the specters beneath the present time's cloak should be Evil and Stupidity assisted by Desperation. There were the truly evil voters, Nazis, KKK, White Nationalists of all stripes, along with others not deliberately evil but just stupid enough to vote for Satan himself if he ran Republican. Then there were those in the middle where evil could scarcely be distinguished from stupid--Conservatives thinking anything which upsets Liberals is good, regardless of resulting damage to human beings and the environment, even if they shoot off their own foot by losing their Social Security and health insurance along with God Knows What-All else. Lastly, a significant portion of the population, and what may have really swung the end result, were largely rural lower income people so fed up with their concerns being ignored while watching their way of life being lost, that they would vote for someone spouting wild lies about restoring American greatness and putting everyone wanting a job to work, just on the off-chance that he actually intended to try to do any of this, and would actually be able to accomplish a fraction of the outrageous promises he made. I must believe the majority of his voters fall into the category of desperate rather than evil or stupid or lose what little hope I have left for this country.

There wasn't room or time to cover all of Trump's negative traits and people's legitimate objections to them in the above post, and editing to add a few I had left out, I think may have resulted in the longest sentence I ever wrote! The hypocrisy from Trump and that and/or blind spots from him and his voters are absolutely maddening--staggering, in fact. Everything he accused Hillary of doing, he has done the same only more and worse, and yet neither he nor his voters care in the least!

Here is an article explaining desperate voters' point of view: http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-...-no-one-talks-about/

Sally Field doesn't understand it either, and she wants answers: http://www.hollywoodreporter.c...flix-election-952298

Here is a list of alarming, awful, absolutely unacceptable horrible things Trump did in just the first four days in office: http://americannewsx.com/hot-o...ys-in-pay-attention/

Yet supposedly intelligent people persist in hiding their heads in the sand claiming everything is fine and all evidence to the contrary is just misguided liberal hysteria! That's what enrages us--not just the insanity, but the sheer stupidity.

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With Ray Bradbury's outspoken opposition to McCarthyism, how could anyone familiar with his work possibly imagine for an instant that he would be in the least bit okay not only with the current regime's abuses but with the way a public apparently composed of brainwashed Millie Montags lets it get away with it?

What frustrates and enrages those protesting is the blatant cluelessness of those continuing to act as though this were the legitimate election of a normal human being instead of a foreign government manipulating information to place a dangerously insane despot in power. Attempting to portray protestors to this travesty as sore losers afflicted with nothing worse than sour grapes is an insult not only to concerned citizens everywhere but to basic decency and common sense.

Here is a diagnosis from an expert who violated professional code to make it, showing he is not normal: http://bipartisanreport.com/20...-of-president-trump/

Lots more here: http://www.nydailynews.com/new...-m-article-1.2957688

"How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?" -- Bob Dylan, "Blowin' in the Wind."

I don't know, does 43,000+ per year sound like enough? https://www.washingtonpost.com...m_term=.8ec987547927

To those who say "Give Him a Chance," I say this:



None so blind as those who will not see:

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2017 Starter Pack. Happy New Year and You're Welcome.

Who could have dreamed when the Milgram Experiment began in 1961 that a little over 55 years later the entire country would be turned into one giant Milgram Experiment with half the country shouting at the other half to sit down, shut up, and just follow orders while disregarding the evidence of their own senses, the dictates of conscience, and the knowledge between legal and illegal actions? (Hitler had the advantage in that nothing he did was illegal. It was simply so horrible that no one thought to make laws against it until after the fact.) Luckily the National Park Service, the EPA, and a good section of the public is NOT bowing to this. We are about to learn once again what real American heroes look like! (Trump could scarcely have meant this by "Make America Great Again," but whatever works!)

Didn't the more conservative Republicans have a Tea Party movement a few years ago?

quote:

Originally posted by Blind Henry:
Didn't the more conservative Republicans have a Tea Party movement a few years ago?

It was called (official term) Tea Party or (derogatory term) Teabaggers.

Ray Bradbury wrote the short story "Darling Adolf," about people's responses to a man with the misfortune of looking like Hitler. It is now interesting to observe peoples' reactions to a man in power acting like Hitler. https://mobile.nytimes.com/201...tuff-of-fiction.html

Presenting proof positive that the current situation is, as I have been saying, straight out of "A Sound of Thunder," caused by someone having stepped on a butterfly! You see, they're already changing the spellings! I try to tell people and nobody listens!