Are We Living in a Jane vs Charlie world?

In an increasingly divided world, make sure you're on the right side.

As someone who is inclined to see both sides of a story (maybe it's all the Libra in my chart), even I can see that we're living in a world of increasingly opposing extremes with very little middle ground to tread. We are in a world of good versus bad. A world of mean versus kind, helpful versus hurtful. A world where we are either part of the solution or we're part of the problem. A world where we must understand, as the late great Jane Goodall said, that we cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around us. What we do makes a difference, and we have to decide what kind of difference we want to make. We're seeing far too many people choosing to be part of the problem - the combined problem of violence against humanity and against nature, but we're also seeing more and more people choosing to be part of the solution - the solution of caring for their fellow humans and caring for the natural world that sustains us.

Pick your favourite dead celeb.

Charlie Kirk died by violence (ironically, while preaching violence) on September 10th, and Dame Jane Goodall died while still out there, spreading love and kindness three weeks later. The response to Kirk's death was an exercise in mass mind-fuck. This dude who spouted dangerous right-wing rhetoric, celebrated gun violence, targeted academics and others he considered 'too left leaning', preached against queer rights, and demanded the removal of women's autonomy was mourned as a goddamned hero when he died. Oh my gawd! Anyone and everyone piped up online with heartfelt condolences. Flags flew at half-mast. Even the Canadian parliament gave this nasty little man a standing ovation (you'd think they'd have learned to show some restraint from when they accidentally gave an aged Ukrainian (literal) Nazis a standing ovation a few years ago, but, nah...). I suppose many people really did think of Kirk as a hero (shame on them!), but I'm pretty sure that many people just feigned sympathy to avoid violent backlash. As is, some Kirk supporters have still found reasons to violently assault people they suspected of not being fans of their hateful hero.

At the other end of the recently dead celeb spectrum we have Dame Jane Goodall who spent the better part of her ninety-one years on earth working tirelessly to preserve all the things we love (chimps, nature, dignity, decency...). I feel pretty certain that humanity mourned for this dear woman equally, or perhaps even more than we did for Kirk, but just not as loudly or grotesquely. If you're a subscriber to this newsletter, my bets are on you mourning the death of Jane rather than Charlie.

Oh no! Not Dolly!

Just days after we lost Jane, there was a (thankfully) false alarm that Dolly Parton was in medical distress. I swear, when I saw that on my screen, I knew that if she died I would crawl into bed and not emerge again for days. Fortunately, as often happens on the internet, Dolly's apparent kidney stone situation had been wildly blown out of proportion and she had to come back online to let us, her adoring fans know that she "ain't dead yet!".

The thing is, like Jane Goodall, Dolly Parton has spent her life being a force for good. She has spread nothing but love and joy and kindness and acceptance over the past six decades she's been a public figure. Dolly is the absolute model of decency that so many of us revere and that we should all aspire to emulate.

You don't have to be famous to make an impact on this world.

In less than one week, millions of completely un-famous Americans will take to the streets in what promises to be the largest protest in American history. Millions of absolutely ordinary people are expected to turn out for the 2nd No Kings day of national resistance to the frightening authoritarian power grab we are experiencing. Hundreds (thousands?) of people you've never heard of have spent months organizing this event for these millions of unknown protestors. Every day we're seeing people whose names are unknown to us standing up to ICE, writing letters, making phone calls, joining boycotts, helping their neighbours, being kind, being caring, making a positive impact in the battle against evil and ignorance. If you're reading this, perhaps you are also doing your bit in our universal fight for decency. Whatever you're doing, it doesn't have to be big. You don't have to do it all and save everything. Hell! Even Jane and Dolly could only do so much good with their massive platforms, but the important thing is that we're all doing something, doing what we can with what we have, and making sure it is something that Jane or Dolly might approve of.

Definitely NOT Dolly-approved!

Of course Congress' Chief Butt-Licker Speaker Mike Johnson, in his desperate efforts to protect the Pedo-in-Chief, has now declared the No Kings protesters as "Antifa" (Duh! Of course we're anti-fascist, and of course the fascists are bellyaching about it.), "Haters of America", and "Pro Hamas". This snivelling little weasel is stirring up hatred and violence from his gullible base. Friends - please take care and stay safe if you're hitting the streets on October 18th. This horrid little congressional law-breaker is calling for violence from the mindless MAGA crowd who are decidedly Team Charlie. Make sure you have a safety plan in place. Stay with friends, and stay peaceful if the thugs try to create trouble. Channel your inner Jane or your inner Dolly and march with joy.

“Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.” Jane Goodall

On a good day, when I am able to keep the sense of dread at bay, I feel overwhelmingly that, even though these are really tough times, they are at least providing us the opportunity to tap into our higher selves, find our role in the world, and make a difference. In the before times, we did not really see the need to come together like we're doing now. We didn't collectively feel the urgent need to channel this level of creativity and courage that we do now. Perhaps, in the before times, most of us probably hadn't even figured out what our role was in this world. (Who knew that I'd end up writing? Well, actually, my English prof back in 1987 told me that I should be an essayist. Four decades later, I have accidentally followed his advise.) In the before times, it wasn't quite so evident how imperative it is to pick the right role model for how we make a difference in this world. Now it's crystal clear - are we in Camp Charlie or Camp Jane? Everything we do has an impact on this world, and we have the choice and opportunity to make our impact positive. From Jane's Book of Hope: “We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place—or not to bother.” These days, if we care about anything, we cannot afford 'not to bother'. The world needs each of us and the gifts we bring. Let us bring our gifts with joy, with love, with laughter, with integrity, with courage, with care. In honour of the late great Dame Jane Goodall, let us understand that we each have a role to play in stopping the rise of fascism and repression and cruelty and hatred that the late Charlie Kirk championed, and let us see what wonders we can create together.

With feet planted firmly in Team Jane,

Jessica (she/her)

One more inspirational quote for you!