Shame on any fellow Tennesseans who turned on their own, a man of integrity, conscience & a loyal civil servant, Bob Corker. Especially when he stood up to an unhinged, incompetent, morally bankrupt, narcissistic & treasonous New York City coward. A coward who claimed bone-spurs to get out of military duty but denigrated an actual war hero, even after he died. See the article HERE:
A conman with a fake charity and fake university who celebrated murderous dictators put his own unqualified family in charge. A conman who thought he’d try some other dictator techniques by inciting a mob to overthrow our democratic republic, the will of the people, & have his own Vice President murdered in the process.
A cowardly conman is responsible for five deaths (so far), including a US war veteran & policeman killed by his unhinged-from-reality QAnon (lizard people believers) & MAGAt followers. I once met this coward, dined with him, and tried to tell people is a human piece of scum unfit for leadership. Still, it fell on deaf ears because people hear what they want to hear & instead had him sign their Bible. Or attacked me, the guy they actually know, online instead. At least no FB “friend” or follower has threatened to kill me… yet.
I have always staunchly defended my home state as a state full of good people who celebrated those of integrity & ethics. It pains me deeply to have to eat those words. I wonder what I wasn’t seeing and what confirmation bias I, too, was suffering from to get it so wrong about my beloved Tennessee.
On coverage of the riot, I saw TN state flags alongside flags of Jesus. I saw a national interview of a couple from Knoxville whining about getting maced during their little “revolution” adventure after trying to storm the capital. A “revolution” that left people dead, our nation reeling, & the rest of the world wondering. If this had been a real failed “revolution”, her head would have been missing from her shoulders.
The volunteer state once sent so many to bravely serve our nation voluntarily. Now voluntarily Tennesseans trek to DC to try to destroy it? One Tennessean was armed with zip ties. Who goes to a protest with zip ties? When I listen to local talk radio in Tennessee, I am appalled. They should lose their FCC licenses. Maybe they will? Maybe I’ll sue? I sound like the coward conman, don’t I?
When did so many Tennesseans become cynical, hateful, conspiracy-theorists loving people? Did the coward cause this, or have they been so all along? Was I just too blind to see & the coward brought this to the fore? Or did I romanticize Tennesseans too much?
Did I choose to see goodness where intolerance & nastiness was right there in plain sight? Of course, there are good and bad people everywhere, which certainly includes my home state of Tennessee. I wasn’t entirely misled by the goodness that I see and feel when I go home.
But maybe, I too quickly and too proudly defended the place and saw it as I wanted it to be, rather than as it truly is… or has become.
I’m gonna have to think twice before reflexively & proudly defending Tennessee from those who would lazily stereotype it. Maybe they were right, and I am wrong after all? Likely, we were both right and wrong in nearly equal measure, but it’s clear Tennessee is not the shining beacon of decency I once claimed. It has another side. Deep down, I knew this, but yet, I downplayed it. And as it’s painfully worsened the last four years, I tried to ignore it. No more. I gotta call it as I see it from now on.
I still love Tennessee. And I will continue to defend against lazy stereotypes. But not like before. Not after so many Tennesseans supported this coward conman, who caused this insurrection. Not after being so intellectually lazy too. Stereotypes are, after all, based on some kernel of truth. It appears the grain of truth in Tennessee was more extensive than I had imagined.
I’m gonna need some time, and that fact saddens me almost as much as what happened last week at our nation’s capital.
“If you support evil, you are evil” – we all have some soul searching to do, and it starts with me and my relationship to my home state of Tennessee.