I like to start conversations with Aloha. There are a couple of reasons for that.
I live in Hawaii
Aloha means hello (and goodbye)
Aloha means we breathe the same air
Aloha is a reminder that we exist together
Aloha means love, compassion, and understanding
so….
Aloha.
I’m Vagobond, the editor of Antichrist2020.com - if you want to know my real name, it’s pretty easy to find out, but since this is overtly political and religious and the internet is filled with bots, spam, malware, and hateful trolls - I’d rather make all of the above have to jump through the hoops. Honestly, if it’s important to you, just send me an email and I’m happy to tell you as long as you aren’t being all cuckoo about it.
I’m a socialist. Specifically, I’m a Libertarian Socialist. Essentially, that means that I don’t believe people should be punished or killed for being poor. I don’t think that some people should have impossible to understand wealth while kids are dying of things that can be fixed. There’s a lot more to it - of course.
I don’t think we are born to be exploited but I recognize that we live in a world where most of us are exploited literally to death. I don’t think we have to live in a world like that. I think we can do better.
So, why antichrist? Not for religious reasons. I’m irreligious in general. Also, I like the things that we are told Jesus taught. It’s our world that seems to go against all of that. We are all faced with an antichrist world that raises up the most hateful of bullies, punishes the meekest of cooperators, and seems to reward those who deserve it least - over and over. The name for this site and newsletter came to me as one of the worst human beings I’ve experienced rose to power in the United States. If ever there was an antichrist personified, it is that guy. I’m hopeful as 2020 comes to a close that maybe he will disappear from the scene. In the meantime, I will speak to his power. I will point out what I see as his exploitation and abuse.
My grandmother, a dragon-lady if ever there was one - pulled me aside when I was young and said she wanted to tell me a secret that would give me power. As the youngest boy among a bunch of cousins, I liked that idea - I was all ears. “Words are the most powerful weapons,” she told me. I tried to explain that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me’ - but she stopped me “That’s the big lie,” she said “Bones heal but the wounds from words end dynasties and collapse kingdoms.” Then she gave me a copy of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and told me to read it. I did.
Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions. - Thomas Paine, Common Sense
I never stopped reading…or writing…or listening…or observing.
We can live in a better world. We can do better. Let’s do better.
~Vagobond