activism

Grassroots campaigns have proven instrumental in bringing about political, social or environmental change; you've got to start somewhere-might as well start here.

My First Protest
The Conservative Party Conference was in Manchester last week, and plenty of people were unhappy about it. This isn’t a huge surprise as they’re lagging behind in the polls, social problems are rife, and the government is single-mindedly pushing through a disastrous exit from the European Union — a move that will leave the UK worse off on just about every metric. Still, we have to respect the Will of the People — even if they’re too uninformed to know what’s good for them (the UK media and government have become notorious for downplaying the EU's successes in Britain and exaggerating the negatives).
By Katy Preen8 years ago in The Swamp
And, the Carnage Continues
Could it be that the times of today are masked by the Devil's hand? One has to wonder considering the carnage that played out in Las Vegas. The perpetrators of calamity continue to carry out their heinous acts of unspeakable terror. Each violent act is proceeded by yet another more devastating slaughter of innocent lives. We have to remember that it was just about a year ago that another willful act of senseless murder eclipsed yet another murderous atrocity that was carried out before. It is as though every year there is yet another more tragic senseless loss of life by someone that is willfully aware of what they do. It doesn't help that the United States has by far the largest collection of deadly weapons of any other nation that are in the hands of their citizens either.
By Dr. Williams8 years ago in The Swamp
No Nazis in Our Gothenburg
Weeks before the media began to whip up sensationalist articles about the coming march. Thousands of violent left-wing protesters would descend upon the streets of Gothenburg they said. The dreaded Antifa, who “were equally as bad as the Nazis,” would be there too. The day before, the free Metro newspaper ran the headline “places to stay away from this Saturday.”
By Phillip Woodford8 years ago in The Swamp
Black Lives Matter...
Black Lives Matter Too! Why, you ask? Because it is a common idea and belief among many members of the Black community that our lives do not matter. This did not stem from one isolated incident but CENTURIES of mistreatment. Black people feel and fear that our lives don’t matter and that is what people who opposed BLM in the early days don’t get.
By Dre Joseph8 years ago in The Swamp
Kneeling During the Anthem Is a Respectful and Peaceful Way to Protest
I support kneeling during the anthem. It's a peaceful form of protest. It is respectful (explained further later). It's a Constitutional right protected under the First Amendment.
By Raymond E. Strawn III8 years ago in The Swamp
Corrupt the Youth. Top Story - September 2017.
This essay does not intend to add to the thousands of think-pieces on Donald Trump's profound unfitness of the Office of the Presidency on the basis of his politics, for it is clear that the subjectivity surrounding the definition of “unfitness” has rendered this line of argumentation useless for those not already convinced of its validity. For 60-odd million Americans, Trump's attitudes do not qualify as unfit, and I will leave it to others to rip the hair from their own scalps as they shout hollowly, but how do you not get it?! The disbelief that the other side of the political aisle could possibly believe whatever lunacies they hold true is based on the presumption that one's own core values—whether they inclusivity and fairness on the left, or security and stability on the right—be intuited just as readily in the hearts of their opponents, and it is this incredulity that has led to so many argumentative stalemates among the Public. All of our moral-political decisions stem from these core values, and to assume that everyone shares core values is to have stopped discussion before it has begun. Therefore, I will not argue with either the right or the left, because in the present case it does not matter—this administration has launched an attack on the truth itself, a concept without which "left" and "right," along with most everything else, is mostly meaningless.
By PJ Reilly9 years ago in The Swamp
Rise
Colin Kaepernick is an American football player and former Quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. During a preseason game in 2016, he sat down during the playing of our country’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
By Darryl C. Richie9 years ago in The Swamp
On Punching Nazis
Do you know when there's a fashionable idea going around, but there's something that feels a bit “off” with it? I spend a lot of time in skeptical and atheist circles, and there is always some real-world issue reduced to a vague abstraction, to be resolved with “logic.” Inevitably, the removal of any human element leads to a completely abhorrent solution, and yet the “rationalists” stand by it even when the consequences of their thought experiment are revealed in horrifying technicolor. This never-ending quest for simple, neat solutions completely ignores the fact that life is messy and does not lend itself to unambiguous certainties.
By Katy Preen9 years ago in The Swamp
People are Struggling to See the Danger of the Right
Worryingly, I have seen more and more people aligning themselves, knowingly or not, with views of the alt-right movement, often indirectly supporting the views of Trump. There’s a lot of reason to want to be part of a seemingly anti-establishment movement and it’s important to understand the reasons for the rise of populism, but people seem too often to just be misdirecting their confusion to support public figures like Milo Yiannopoulos, because people like this appear to have a strong message and confidence, which is understandably attractive at a time of political and social turmoil.
By Katie Kenyon9 years ago in The Swamp
Stand Up for Your Rights
What can one say about life? How do we measure our lives? Is it by our bank accounts? Is it by the amount of friends we have and our overall sense of popularity? Is it by the type of car we drive or the size of the house we live in? Truth is that it varies from person to person.
By Prince of Peace9 years ago in The Swamp
Can We Achieve World Peace In 90 Days (or less)?
International Day of Peace (or World Peace Day) is celebrated globally each year, on 21st September. Its sole purpose, to bring world peace to the attention and forefront of our minds, with a view to ending war and unnecessary violence on a global scale.
By Sarah Eve9 years ago in The Swamp
Hug a Nazi
I’m almost finished with the first draft of a book titled How to Stop Feeling Afraid, in which I use all my experience as a high and middle school disciplinarian to show how nearly all aberrant behavior has its roots in fear. Why did that guy call you names? He’s afraid. Why did your girlfriend snub you in public? She’s afraid. Why were you robbed, threatened, hurt, dissed, cut off in traffic? All, all (except for the sociopath) because that person’s fear was powerful enough to overcome their natural human tendency to get along with others.
By David Bulley9 years ago in The Swamp