by Jonathan W. Wanzer
July 16, 2025
The first half of 2025 has been quite the year, hasn’t it?
The division among Americans continues to grow deeper. Factions continue to isolate themselves within their narrow information bubbles, willfully ignorant of what is happening outside their limited perspective. We are all developing mental and emotional stress injuries from just trying to get through the next day. Traumas continue to accumulate, exaggerating emotions, shortening attention spans, and fuses alike, which adds to the division and isolation. Many of us have opted to avoid inevitable conflicts by refusing to talk or write about what we were thinking and feeling out of fear, fear of losing or not getting a job, fear of getting kicked out of school, fear of reprisals, vandalism, or worse, violence. Many of us feared the possibility of isolation from families, rejection from the communities we participate in, and some have feared excommunication from their religious communities for being dissenters and conscientious objectors.
I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted from all of it.
White supremacists and Christian nationalists, under the cover of MAGA, have generated so much hate and fear across the entire nation and beyond, just to further the avarice and ambitions of dominance of a handful of despicable, hateful people who literally couldn’t care less for the people they have persuaded to support them. Lying to their faces and stealing from them, committing their unethical and illicit actions in plain sight without fear of consequences. Their only concerns are self-aggrandizement and profit. Nothing they do is in the country’s best interest, nor the interests of their constituents. Most certainly, none of their actions are remotely Christian in nature. Their actions, and the fear and hate their actions generate, are indeed the antithesis of Christianity. They exist and thrive on fear and hate, there is no love in their actions or their hearts.
Until now, I have been complicit through my silence.
The school I have been attending contributed significantly to the development of Project 2025, and they continue to contribute to the destruction of the United States Constitution and government through their support of MAGA extremists. My complicity was with a heavy heart, but knowing what I was doing, justifying my complicity with the fear of appearing critical of the institution’s politics, prompting retaliation. Late though it is, my limits have been reached; I can no longer bear the shame of silence and inaction. I have applied to another university and a different program. I am hopeful that at some point in the future, I will be able to continue the path of a terminal degree.
My opinions and beliefs will undoubtedly cause some friction, as will my complicity.
Among my ancestors, several lines came to North America in the seventeenth century. They were immigrants. Whether 300 years ago or 3 days ago, they all made a journey of faith, vision, and hope. Immigrants built, and continue to build, this country. Without immigrants, the country would shrivel and die like an inbred genetic experiment. Likewise, the diverse cultures in America should be celebrated, not restricted, regulated, and whitewashed down to a colorless caricature of an America that never was. I am an ally to all the diverse communities that bring so much to the tapestry of American culture, First Peoples, immigrants, LGBTQIA+, and the displaced and forgotten. I support equality in all aspects of life for all communities. We are all siblings in the human family.
My heart breaks thinking about all those who have been alienated, endangered, and those who will die, because of willful ignorance and hate, in service of greed and authoritarian power.
There is no “us” and “them.” The construct of “the other” is a construct of ignorance, borne of fear, that breeds hate. “The other” is a tool of authoritarianism used to divide and alienate people. To dehumanize segments of the population, making it easier to hate and treat people with cruelty. The enemies of America, and indeed all humanity, are not people, the enemies are ignorance, fear, and hate.
The evils among us can be defeated, ignorance can be defeated, face your fears of “the other,” learn about different cultures, get to know people you don’t agree with, participate in your community, and the communities around you.
In love and hope,
~ Jon