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See all postsThe Cynic by Christian Slayton, DAI North/Milan Chapter Secretary
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The Cynic
Cynicism is the voice of the defeated who cry out that 'nothing matters anyway'. It is the cry of the coward who refuses to take up the fight. It is the argument of the privileged loser, he who knows that his body and his life and his livelihood will be safe when evil blows in.People who fight for what they believe in cannot be cynical: they know that who wins and who loses matters.The cynic is not someone who looks at the battle and thinks "Fuck! It's rigged!" It is rigged. It has always been rigged. No, the cynic is someone who looks at the battle and says "Fuck it, it's rigged."The cynic thinks it doesn't matter. The cynic thinks it is all just a game, and one politician reigns much the same as any other. The cynic is not just wrong—the cynic is the good man who sits by while evil is committed. The cynic aids and abets the foe by doing nothing. The cynic who will not fight dooms us all!
Trump's supporters weren't cynical. They were fanatical. They know that politics isn't a game and it matters who sits in the president's chair. We lost 2016 for many reasons, but one reason was because too many of us thought that Clinton, with her decades of experience, was somehow the moral equivalent of Trump. Trump! Trump the fool, Trump the coward, Trump the megalomaniac! How bad must our cynicism have gotten if we could look at Clinton and think that she was somehow as ill-suited as Trump? How lost must we have been?
Death to cynicism, death to irony and to sarcasm, death to all that numbs the people of the world! The awake do not go meekly to the slaughterhouse, the alive do not succumb to paralysis, and we do not cede the field of battle while there is still a war to be fought!
Christian Slayton
DAI North/Milan Chapter Secretary
The Cynic by Christian Slayton, DAI North/Milan Chapter Secretary
read moreThe Cynic
Cynicism is the voice of the defeated who cry out that 'nothing matters anyway'. It is the cry of the coward who refuses to take up the fight. It is the argument of the privileged loser, he who knows that his body and his life and his livelihood will be safe when evil blows in.People who fight for what they believe in cannot be cynical: they know that who wins and who loses matters.
The cynic is not someone who looks at the battle and thinks "Fuck! It's rigged!" It is rigged. It has always been rigged. No, the cynic is someone who looks at the battle and says "Fuck it, it's rigged."The cynic thinks it doesn't matter. The cynic thinks it is all just a game, and one politician reigns much the same as any other. The cynic is not just wrong—the cynic is the good man who sits by while evil is committed. The cynic aids and abets the foe by doing nothing. The cynic who will not fight dooms us all!
Trump's supporters weren't cynical. They were fanatical. They know that politics isn't a game and it matters who sits in the president's chair. We lost 2016 for many reasons, but one reason was because too many of us thought that Clinton, with her decades of experience, was somehow the moral equivalent of Trump. Trump! Trump the fool, Trump the coward, Trump the megalomaniac! How bad must our cynicism have gotten if we could look at Clinton and think that she was somehow as ill-suited as Trump? How lost must we have been?
Death to cynicism, death to irony and to sarcasm, death to all that numbs the people of the world! The awake do not go meekly to the slaughterhouse, the alive do not succumb to paralysis, and we do not cede the field of battle while there is still a war to be fought!
Christian Slayton
DAI North/Milan Chapter Secretary
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, November 02, 2021 at 07:00 PM Rome Time
DAI Fundraising Extravaganza Event 6
Join us for our next four Fundraising Extravaganza Events of 2021!
We are pleased to announce the program of our remaining fundraising events for 2021. We thank all of the generous donors who have supported our first four events this year. To achieve our annual fundraising goal, we still need your continued support to prepare for the 2022 mid-term elections through voter registration and outreach.
Your contribution will help us get out the vote in Italy and ensure that we maintain and expand our Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.
After the success of our first hybrid virtual/in-person event in July from Florence, we will continue to organize events in different venues to build community for each local chapter or precinct.
Our fundraising events showcase the best of Italy: art, culture, wine and la dolce vita!
Season ticket holders are welcome to attend each event either online or in-person. If you have not yet purchased a season ticket, we have a special offer: 30 EUR donation for the next four events instead of 75 EUR!
Donations for individual events are still 25 EUR for each in-person event (this includes a drink & snacks) or 15 EUR for each online event.
Please provide your email address so we can send a Zoom link the day before the event.
For in-person event donors: we will send you the address of the venue as soon as we receive your donation.
For season ticket holders: please email us if you wish to attend the in-person events [email protected]
Arrivederci!
DA Italy Fundraising Committee
Event 6: Tuesday, November 2 at 7:00 PM CET
A lecture by Eli Gottlieb on the parallax view: American exile in Italy, seen from North and South
Live venue: Rome, location to be announced
Eli Gottlieb is a novelist, essayist and journalist. His novels have won him the Rome Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the McKitterick Prize of the British Society of Authors and have been published in 14 languages. A former Senior Editor of Elle Magazine, he has written for the New York Times, the New Republic, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, among others. He was a University Lecturer in Padova, Italy, and now teaches fiction writing and literature at Columbia University. He lives in upstate New York.
Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 06:30 PM Rome Time
Online and Live from Verona (location to be given upon payment) in Verona, ItalyDAI Fundraising Extravaganza Event 8
Join us for our next four Fundraising Extravaganza Events of 2021!
We are pleased to announce the program of our remaining fundraising events for 2021. We thank all of the generous donors who have supported our first four events this year. To achieve our annual fundraising goal, we still need your continued support to prepare for the 2022 mid-term elections through voter registration and outreach.
Your contribution will help us get out the vote in Italy and ensure that we maintain and expand our Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.
After the success of our first hybrid virtual/in-person event in July from Florence, we will continue to organize events in different venues to build community for each local chapter or precinct.
Our fundraising events showcase the best of Italy: art, culture, wine and la dolce vita!
Season ticket holders are welcome to attend each event either online or in-person. If you have not yet purchased a season ticket, we have a special offer: 30 EUR donation for the next four events instead of 75 EUR!
Donations for individual events are still 25 EUR for each in-person event (this includes a drink & snacks) or 15 EUR for each online event.
Please provide your email address so we can send a Zoom link the day before the event.
For in-person event donors: we will send you the address of the venue as soon as we receive your donation.
For season ticket holders: please email us if you wish to attend the in-person events [email protected]
Arrivederci!
DA Italy Fundraising Committee
Event 8: Tuesday, December 14 at 6:30 PM CET
A discussion on wine by Robert Camuto, author of the newly released South of Somewhere: Wine, Food and the Soul of Italy.
Live venue: Verona, location to be announced
Robert Camuto is a prize-winning American author and journalist who has lived in Europe for 20 years, where he has immersed himself in the food and wine traditions of Italy and France. Robert is a contributing editor to a preeminent American wine journal, and writes a twice-monthly column called Robert Camuto Meets… .
South of Somewhere is his third book and his second from Italy, following the critically acclaimed Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey (2010). He lives with his family in Verona, Italy.