Hey Thomas, just to be 100% clear — when I said Romney is still “a fucking republican”, that was actually a statement of tolerance not division I was responding to a comment that said “sure he supports BLM, but he still wants to defund social security.” My response was to say that we can still praise someone and give them due credit for coming out on the “right” side of an issue, even if they continue to hold other views you don’t agree with. In this case, Romney’s other political beliefs have nothing to do with his support for BLM, and rejecting that support because of his other views is totally non-productive.

As for me, I have many many disagreements with Romney, but I absolutely respect the fact that he showed up and hope that he can become the post-Trump face of the GOP. He is the kind of Republican I very much enjoy disagreeing with, because he doesn’t come off as a total political nihilist like the current constellation of GOP representatives have under Trump.

So yeah. I love me some healthy world-centric conservatives! I hold a number of conservative-aligned views myself (particularly around 2A). We need many more of them these days. So just remember that if you hear me criticizing the GOP, I am speaking about a particular social holon, and not about conservative views/values as a whole. Genuine conservatism is very different from the current GOP leadership, which has become rife with plain-sight corruption from where I am sitting.

There have been many voices who decry Integral and Integral Life discussions as too heady, too cognitive, too theoretical. The Inhabit episodes, from my point of view, are trying to address at least some of this by encouraging embodiment, rather than taking viewers/listeners on a full, mental-analytical tour of, say, the holarchy or whatever. In this episode, the opportunity is to inhabit this moment in time and culture around race issues, and to, as the title suggests, inhabit or embody one’s resistance to “business as usual.” To the extent that was indeed its aim, it mostly succeeded, in my experience of it.

While Ryan spoke little, I have to give him big kudos for stating and returning to a couple of times the importance of “heartbreak” in coming to awareness of racial horrors and injustices, and in committing to action. I don’t believe outrage, anger, or ‘righteous fury’ are the starting points for many white Americans around racial issues, so it’s important to not skip over these other responses to suffering that can also motivate action towards change.

On another point, while I see Justin’s perspective and agree in theory that it is up to whites to eradicate racism, it often doesn’t work this way in terms of legal reforms and such. If we applied this thought to other isms, then we would say it’s up to males to end sexual harassment, assault, and other forms of sexism against females–but we don’t see many males engaged with #metoo, for instance (or many females engaged with ending sexism against males). Or as applied to income/wealth inequality, we would have to say it’s up to the “monied” people to end that. I think in the human interiors, this kind of thinking applies in terms of development, but not so much in the exteriors. People who are “in power,” or hold power, often don’t want to give it up, whether that’s males, whites, or the 1%.

And speaking of sexism, some people consider the use of the internet slang term “Karen” to be a form of it. (I’m not all that invested in this subject, but will speak to it anyway.) As I understand, the term refers to middle-aged, upper middle-class white women who are “perceived to be entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is considered appropriate or necessary” or a woman who is “racist and using her white privilege to get her own way at the expense of others.” As a conservative writer I read stated, there is less talk/discussion of a Karen male-equivalent because white males have always been perceived as entitled or demanding, racist and using white privilege to get what they want. Another writer offered that an exact equivalent for ‘Karen’ is rare among men as males resort to violence rather than mere “pushiness.” Another one offers “Ken” as the name for the male equivalent, but you don’t hear much about that. And I know there are all kinds of internet terms for males of one kind or another (Chad, Kyle), and I appreciate this is a form of “get back atcha” as Black women and men have been stereotyped and called various names. Still, it doesn’t seem all that helpful. Just an opinion.