Hey, remember those old WWE matches we used to watch on Saturday afternoons in the 80s? Back when they were known as WWF, back when the big names were Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, The Iron Sheik, Ricky Steamboat, and Macho Man Randy Savage? The classic 80s wave of pro wrestling, yeah, that one.
There's this shtick that Hulk Hogan used to do that always cracked me up, and it was what I call the One Hit Too Far. Whoever was in the ring with him would be beating the snot out of him, hitting him with chairs, forearms, face slaps, piledrivers and so on, but that One Hit...
That one hit and he'd just stop cold, eyes wide and locked on his opponent like something in his head had just cracked. He’d literally tear off his shirt. That would be the 'oh shit' moment where the bout would flip and he'd fight back, unrelenting and unforgiving, until the other guy was out cold for the count. We loved watching Hogan's bouts, waiting for that moment. Even if it looked like he would lose, that would be the Fighting Back moment, and we all loved it. It was always pure entertainment.
Interestingly enough, this is the point I'm at with Republicans right now.
Sure, it's a silly comparison.
But I'm at that moment when the conservatives have been saying shit about my friends and family and my neighbors, treating them as less than American. Less than human. [Oh, and calling us names like Libtards, Antifa, Cucks, and so on.] And hitting them relentlessly with one hurtful Executive Order and one obviously slanted cabinet fill after another. And then hiding behind the flag and free speech and religious freedom and the Constitution whenever we call them on it.
I seem to be at that One Hit Too Far point, where I'm fucking sick of it and want to hit back.
[Which of course leads them to calling us more names like Thugs and Fascists and Anti-American.]
It's a brutal, abusive relationship, and I'm really fucking tired of it.
I'm tired of being the abused one in this relationship.
I'm tired of turning the other cheek, taking the high ground, and shrugging because Free Speech Reasons.
When is it free speech to call someone a b*tch or a n***er or a f*g without reprisal? Is it the name-calling that is protected? Or is the line when those "in charge" (a term I use loosely, considering the current administration) start rewriting the rules and attempting to change reality to fit their own?
Is the line when I can no longer tick off all the requisite boxes that makes me American in your eyes?
Where is that line to you?
And what do you expect when you've moved it and then crossed it so many times that we're starting to fight back?
