GC071 – Enough is enough: back after four and a half years

Hello again, it's Mike O'Connor and welcome to the Enough is Enough edition of GeyserCast.

It's been a long time since GeyserCast has been on the air, but this is a special occasion

because about a week ago in Charlottesville, we had the Enough is Enough event where people

showed up with guns and body armor and helmets and Nazi flags and anti-Semitic weapons.

Anti-Semitic slogans and intimidated people in a town in a demo that turned my stomach.

And so I want to be on the record.

I don't want to look back in 10 years and say, oh, well, actually a good example is

there's a famous quote from Martin Niemöller.

Who's a German pastor during the war in which he said, first, they came for the socialists

and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade

unionist.

Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.

Uh,

uh,

I think in this case, there are going to be a lot of people left because

there is such an overwhelming majority of people in this country who are

appalled at what happened in Charlottesville.

And so I am pretty confident that the situation isn't quite the same.

There's certainly been a lot of stuff going on this week that would indicate that.

Unfortunately, our president,

who I've also been quiet about,

um,

doesn't seem to get that.

And so I also want to go on record condemning Donald Trump for his behavior on this one.

Uh,

he's,

he's not being a good guy.

And for you, my unborn grandchildren,

you need to know that there were a lot of us who feel this way.

And I just want to be one of the ones that spoke about it in public,

on the internet,

going out to,

archive.org so it can never,

ever go away.

Um,

this just isn't acceptable.

Or as George W.

Bush said during the inauguration,

that was some weird shit.

Uh,

just amazing.

So there's been,

you know,

there's been a lot said.

I'm not going to add a whole lot to that,

that,

for those of you listening now,

uh,

haven't already heard or read.

Um,

it's,

it's just,

uh,

just one more voice.

That's all.

Um,

and I,

I think one of the,

uh,

interesting threads that I came across was

a discussion about the paradox of tolerance,

where if,

uh,

you're tolerant,

then you should tolerate all behavior,

not just behavior you agree with,

but behavior,

you disagree with.

And if you don't tolerate that,

then you're intolerant.

Uh,

and that's a,

that's a tasty philosophical paradox to chew over in,

uh,

late night sessions over beer.

Um,

and for the most part,

I'm pretty much a subscriber to that.

I'm,

I'm big fan of Gandhi.

Uh,

I've been a nonviolent advocate for a long time.

But,

uh,

there is a line.

And I think the ACLU confronted this pretty well.

Uh,

when they,

uh,

said earlier this week to the Nazis,

look,

we will defend your right to free speech.

Uh,

as I defended it back in the early days of W.

O.

R.

T.

in Madison,

right after I left,

the Nazis showed up and wanted to speak on the radio.

And,

uh,

I think what did the right thing by letting them speak.

Um,

and I think the,

the,

uh,

the left,

uh,

the Madison left did the wrong thing when they trashed the station.

I think the right to say that stuff is core to what makes this country what it is.

However,

there's a line you cross.

And I think the ACLU has drawn the line pretty clearly.

When you show up with guns,

uh,

and you kill people,

that's a different thing.

And I think that's what we went through this week,

is we have to draw a line somewhere and say,

look,

that's not right.

Uh,

last thing I'll say about this is,

yes,

now Giesercast has bumped into Godwin's law,

which states,

that's an old internet adage that states,

as an online discussion grows longer,

the probability,

of a comparison to Hitler,

uh,

or his deeds,

uh,

approaches one.

And Giesercast plus Sex and Podcasting is now,

I don't know,

150 episodes long.

And,

uh,

we finally got there.

But I'm happy to say that this is a good reason to do it.

Uh,

I think that there are a lot of false analogies there.

But,

uh,

we are in an era in this country,

where authoritarianism,

is,

uh,

an issue that we need to be aware of and combat.

Uh,

and I'm,

I'm,

just saying,

out loud,

uh,

where I stand.

Uh,

it has been a while.

Uh,

part of the reason is because,

uh,

we're pretty busy here at the farm.

Um,

uh,

prairie restoration,

habitat restoration,

and,

uh,

habitat restoration of 500 acres is a lot of work.

500 acres is about the same size as a state park here in Wisconsin.

And there's only two staff,

one full time,

that's Marcy,

and one part time,

that's me.

Uh,

so if there's ever an idle moment,

I can always find something to do.

Uh,

I've also,

uh,

taken up online classes in learning digital music and digital sound production.

Uh,

and spent a lot of time on that in the last couple of years.

And I like to humor myself in saying that I probably got a lot better at it as a result.

Uh,

and more recently,

uh,

I was taken with a bug to rearrange all the audio,

music,

digital gear into a new setup.

And it's taken a while to sort of iron that all out.

But now that Gizercast is back,

and,

uh,

Groove,

I'll probably talk about some other stuff on some other shows.

Um,

if you're new to Gizercast,

probably the easiest way to subscribe is through iTunes.

If you type Gizercast,

all one word,

into iTunes,

you'll get the podcast.

If you want to,

if you want to hear the old stuff,

you probably have to go to the website,

which is,

uh,

gizercast.com.

It goes all the way,

way back to the beginning.

Uh,

and there's lots of silly stuff.

And there's lots of silly stuff in there.

And more silly stuff to come.

But,

for now,

I,

uh,

think I'll wrap this one up.

Hope you enjoyed it.

And I'll see you the next time.

Bye.

Thank you.