Rise Up or Stand Down ?
- Karen Tate
- Jul 19
- 10 min read
Updated: Jul 28
Are we Social Justice Warriors or Spiritual Bypassing Conscientious Objectors?
Last week at our Eat, Talk, Laugh Salon we showed/discussed two films. One was Why Do People Worship Corrupt Leaders and the other was a psychiatrist explaining why Trump and MAGA are so cruel. Politics aside, it was enlightening to understand our collective human psyches or consciousness playing out in the world AND maybe even our own feelings, reactions and emotions. It was also a shot in the arm for me being among my tribe because we're herd animals - we need community - and I seem to run into far too many people who can "sit by injustice and call it peace."
We all have people in our lives who believe everything on Fox News-type networks. This newsletter edition isn’t about them. It’s about a different swath of people I want to shed light on in case you haven't met them yet. They're the people who don't seem to realize "neutrality is not grace."
Grab a cup of coffee and sit back and hear me out - 10 minute read
I want to discuss the people who are neutral, maybe they even say to fight back against oppression is wrong. Why? I’ve heard quite a few reasons for their outlook:
1) Don’t protest, don’t speak out, don’t name the source of the evil or give energy to what you don’t want to thrive because the focus gives it strength and helps it grow.
2) Focusing on the bad in the world disconnects or disrupts the frequency they are trying to maintain to stay connected to The Source, abundance, The Good. Instead envelope yourself in what you’re trying to manifest.
3) Protesting has never accomplished anything. John Lewis would disagree.
4) Expressing opposition or resisting The Bad puts you in a low vibrational 3-D world rather than allowing you to elevate into 5-D ascended consciousness.
5) Let’s not name or judge what’s right and wrong! Or who is doing it. Let’s get beyond right and wrong and come together in unity. That's what matters.
“The time is always right to do what’s right.” – Martin Luther King
Imagine if all our social justice warriors had said that throughout history:
Those in the French Resistance who fought the Nazi occupation in France.
The Underground Railroad which provided safe passage to slaves escaping the Confederacy.
Our Founding Fathers and George Washington standing up to British rule.
Countries who came together to defeat Hitler.
Gandhi’s resistance against the British to free India.
Martin Luther King’s preaching and marching against racism.
MeToo Movement.
PETA advocating against animal cruelty.
Greenpeace and Greta Thunberg's climate activism.
All the Woke social justice activists that fought for worker safety and rights.
Jesus overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the temple.
John Lewis' calling us to Good Trouble to stand for civil rights.
Groups helping Ukraine now.
The list of people fighting for justice over tyranny and domination is long.
When have the dominators, oppressors, the rich and powerful ever given away control and power because we send them love or respond to their tyranny by enveloping ourselves in love and compassion?
So according to my friends with the ideas in my aforementioned list, the strategy to fight oppression, domination, criminality, abuse, cruelty, corruption, fraud, murder, etc is ignore it, not let it into our psyches -- let’s just get beyond it. Accountability doesn’t even enter the equation because we don't even want to name the guilty. I guess we can do away with mediators, courts, disband the armies, fire investigative journalists, swing open the jail cells?
Some things are right and some things are just plain wrong. Period.
And some people are guilty.
If that’s judgment then so be it!
I know influencers like the beloved podcaster Greg Braden say in order to manifest “be enveloped in what you desire” - but to the exclusion of everything else? Did it mean relinquishing your social or moral responsibility as a citizen or human being?
Another podcaster I’d really come to enjoy also seemed to jump on this bandwagon and shifted her programming away from Trump, politics and what’s happening in the world – calling all that just distractions that feed evil energies - which is fine, but she’s now publicly against protesting the Trump regime and admitted she’s purging from her life and show anyone that pulls her back into 3-D awareness as she only wants to focus on 5-D love and compassion.
“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.” MLK
In full transparency, she’s had me on her show. She mentioned my Normalizing Abuse book in her new book, citing it to make some points about the psychology of humanity. I reviewed her book and tried to help her get podcast interviews. We had a great rapport and our interview got a lot of good press so I communicated with her about this shift she was making. I felt comfortable asking, gently and in all sincerity, if I'm interpreting her recent new position to mean she believes I should stop teaching about all the ills that are outgrowths in patriarchy (misogyny, sexism, homophobia, predator capitalism, xenophobia, women’s issues) because if I focus (teach/speak) on these social ills, I’ll cause these conditions to thrive? She responded by pulling our interview from her platform without answering or comment. Did I hit a nerve? I guess in her mind I’m suddenly relegated to 3-D frequency and pulling her there too? Hey, that’s okay. I feel confident I’m good. Pulling our interview is like banning books. We have to teach the unaware about the evils of the world otherwise how would they know? I'm living proof. I went the first 30 years of my life "not knowing" because in the South, no one talked or taught about it. I'll agree to disagree with my podcaster friend and I’m still an occasional listener but her new tone has become a bit too sanctimonious for my taste. And maybe her shift is really about something else? Fear? Abdicating moral and social responsibility?
Or put in vibrational frequency language, I'm quite sure courage, fairness, equality, upholding what's right or justice and agape are higher vibrational frequencies than feigned love, compassion, apathy, fear or selfishness. And is it true love and compassion if you're tuning out injustices, insulating yourself to only your own needs to elevate and ascend? Seems like a cognitive disconnect to me.
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” – MLK
Some others I've run into out there suggest we should deny or have disdain for naming what is right and wrong, maintaining we should not judge good and evil and instead just be about love and unity. Well, I maintain that love does not mean standing down, ignoring or being quiet in the face of evil. Love is fighting for your fellow human, species and Mother Gaia in whatever form that resistance takes. It’s called agape. Love of the common good and well being for all mortals, animals and the planet. Interesting, the aforementioned podcaster says healthy boundaries are a must – well, what does she think maintaining healthy boundaries sometimes entails? Healthy boundaries aren’t magically attained or maintained. At the very least it means speaking out when these boundaries are violated - and might require a lot more. And what about when we see other's boundaries, their human rights, being violated? Are we off the hook to care or act? Or do we only care about our own boundaries and dismiss violations of others' boundaries? Is that selfish? Apathetic?
And we probably all have a gal-friend that loves to write and talk using heartfelt phrases and flowery language that she no doubt calls speaking from the heart. I swear sometimes I think I’m going to drown in her moral and spiritual superiority. I’m surprised she doesn't cause hearts and roses to rise up into the arms of angels in heaven. It's hearts, love, and compassion all the time…..spiritual bypassing do you say?! I’m going to have her fitted for a halo soon! And she never mentions the word Trump in these "sharings" or mentions any of his bad deeds. I doubt she knows most of his deeds because she’s too busy enveloping herself in what she desires. I know she voted for him. She thinks he’s a good for the economy.. Does that tell you all you need to know? Am I the only one thinking this is messed up? And when I say she's in denial and I don't like her gaslighting and spiritual bypassing she says I'm harsh. Well, what else do you do when you obfuscate, or you're quietly trying to defend the indefensible - attack the messenger!
Some things are right and some things are wrong.
We have to have the courage to see and say it.
To me, love means when ICE comes for your neighbor you go out there and say something. Maybe you physically struggle to prevent your friend from being taken by masked thugs. You film the kidnapping. You call your friends, senator, pastor, local television. You get on social media and tell everyone what’s going on. You don’t hide behind your door, write newsletters about love, wrap yourself in flowery words that make you feel good about yourself or call on a version of spirituality that gives you license to do nothing.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – MLK
I can envelope myself in good and what I want to create while I also resist! It's about balance: To me, love means getting up in the morning in gratitude for what I have, feeding my beloved feline daughters, taking care of my husband, making my calls on 5calls.org, making my grocery list according to goodsuniteus.org, checking out social media to see what new atrocities are happening and planning what I can do to be of service: working on the the next phase of our salons teaching social and cultural themes, planning the next uplifting women's circle, doing informative podcasts with no monetary compensation, writing and raising awareness about Goddess, grocery shopping, calling loved ones and friends that need an ear, putting on the calendar volunteer work for local Democrats and Indivisible. I'll joyfully play Mexican Train and do chair yoga.
At the end of the day, I lay my head on my pillow and say a prayer acknowledging my connection to the Divine. I don't have a halo. I don't think I'm special. I just use my hands and voice for good, for what I think is right, even if making a distinction between right and wrong seems like judgement to some.
Yes, I want to fix the world. Yes, I want to help make it a better place. Isn't that our obligation? Did we not teach our children to have good judgement? To know right from wrong? To leave things better than how we found them? Why is this morality suddenly off the table, especially when it comes to Trump?
Are these people today’s version of conscientious objectors? Only the conscientious objectors were usually against military service - killing people.. They were seen as cowards, many lost jobs and were ostracized in society even if some of those wars were questionable and controversial. Why? Because atrocities were happening in the world and we saw it and wanted to do something about it. We knew right from wrong and cared about fixing it. Today's “conscientious objectors” are not avoiding the draft, i.e., literally killing the enemy. Instead they're thinking about themselves. Enveloping themselves in hearts and flowers while the real social justice warriors do the work that they’ll eventually benefit from without having gotten their hands dirty - nor have they risked getting anyone mad at them - and they don’t expose themselves to evil either. Hmmmm....??? They let others do it.
Six degrees of separation has many of us knowing people being damaged by reckless cruelty, abuse of power and a violation of our constitutional protections. And they say we can't call out right from wrong, protest or name the abusers? Reminds me of the pedophile cover-ups in the Church. I mean this isn’t happening over in Europe or the Middle East or on Mars. Nor this about a petty squabble. This is happening in our own country, in some of our own neighborhoods. Throwing love and compassion at what's happening today is the equivalent of Republicans offering thoughts and prayers for school shootings rather than seriously considering reasonable gun laws. What exactly would these people stand up and speak out for if not losing democracy and freedom? Is any atrocity a red line? Do we have to wait for it to touch them personally for them to care? What if the Divine put these challenges before us all to test our moral character and our genuine love or agape?
Think about it.
If we all just thought about ourselves who would be around to fight evil?
Matthew 22:37–39
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
The Virgo analyzer in me wants to dig into this,
understand this position and screams Why-TF!!
I notice that the people I’m talking about are safe. They’re white. And as such they have privilege. They don't know oppression and discrimination like non-white people have lived. They seem to be doing alright or well financially. They could easily slip into the crowd and become invisible. Maybe they could even reclaim their Christian faith if it becomes against the law to be something other than Christian. Their newsletters and public personae were carefully constructed to be about love, not resistance. That said, some are former fundamentalist Christians, so odds are many might have grown up in authoritarian homes where speaking out wasn’t allowed, women were second class and they had to obey male authority. The Trump regime is just more of the same. It’s familiar. It’s not frightening and they aren’t at risk. Could that have something to do with their inability to stand up or see the need for resistance?
For further understanding, when I took classes from Smith College we learned women don’t stick together and fight for their own collective economic interests and freedom because of inter-sectionality – in other words, we’re more divided by race and class than aligned by gender. Women choose being close to those in power or control for safety. And/or... they might be willfully ignorant and misinformed, living in fear or in denial. Maybe they want to have it both ways, not taking a stand, or risk getting anyone mad at them so they sell books, classes, have followers, look benign, even spiritually superior. Take your pick.
Are these people fostering evil and oppression with their neutrality, denial or silence?
The famous writer Sinclair Lewis said when fascism comes to America it will come wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross. Well, he hit the nail on the head. Only we might add to the quote:
When fascism comes to America it will come wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross and preaching spiritual bypassing.
As we will it, so shall it be!
We are the collective consciousness and we determine our reality!
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