Daniel Aegan

Is everyone having a good week? You may remember this function of mine. I haven’t blogged since way back in June, but it’s been a hell of a year. I’ve tried not to sully the internet with my opinions and nonsense, but here we are. I’ve been working on my books, my drafts, and my tarot over the course of those months, yet I didn’t feel like I should be blogging. Maybe it was out of a sense of moral fiber (whatever that feels like).

But anyway… I’m back now.

I’m not going to start bashing right from the start. I do have friends who support the opposite side I support. Or I did anyway. It’s weird even taking a stance. I never considered myself a democrat or a liberal in any sense other than I agree with them on social issues. Hell, my main political stance was was indifference. It took a really horrible president with really horrible followers to get my ass off the fence and declare my side.

And again, I’m not here to shit-talk President Donny and his hissy fits and outright lies. No. I’ve done enough of that on twitter over the course of the last four years (follow @Daniel_Aegan for more of it). But I’m not here for that. And I’m not there for that. I’m here and there to write.

But my brand is under attack.

Meh. Not really. Earlier today I got into a short and bitter flame war with a follower from writer twitter regarding this subject of political leanings and brands. I believe they used the term “author platform”; but “brand” sounds more pretentious, and this whole thing is really fucking pretentious. I’ve never defined my own brand. “I think I’m funny” usually covers it. Other times I take the role of the righteous asshole. Either way, protecting my brand by not taking a stance on something this damn important isn’t something I would do.

I’m getting ahead of myself. This whole, stupid thing started with this person (who I shall try real hard not to name) tweeted a tweet on Twitter, which tweeters tend to do, regarding the current clusterfuck of an election. Unless you’re an ostrich with a stiff neck, you’ll know that Biden has been slowly and steadily pulling ahead with the absentee and mail-in voting being counted. This caused the president to blow a proverbial gasket and go a number of rants. But again, I’m off topic. See everywhere else for details on said hissy.

Making a statement that you are sick of “the left” bullying because of the election isn’t a hot take. As far as temperature goes, I’d put it the take somewhere around the area of lukewarm diarrhea. I personally have not been bullying any Trump supporters unless they’ve come at me first, and I wouldn’t even call that bullying. I have, however, done a great deal of shit-posting over the last few days, and I am extremely unapologetic for it.

Why should I hold back? The bullying from the Trump supporters has been on a “heavy flow” setting since 2016. Now that their guy is losing I should hold back? No. Fuck that. I understand some people take it too far, but I’m not threating anyone or trying to sow seeds of civil war. No. Our president can do all that all by himself!

But this isn’t about that. Not entirely. It was stated by this person who caused me to have this brain fart you’re currently reading that commentary from the “left” won’t be tolerated. They said “bullying”, but I can’t in good conscience call it that. They went on to say that their brand was free or that kind of bullshit and an author taking a side is messing up their brand.

Please keep in mind I’m paraphrasing. I’m on a roll, and I don’t want to go back to twitter at the moment.

I read it all as something along the lines of “I don’t want to take a side, so no one is ok” while making the statement mainly about those on the left. There were other tweets saying the left is threatening riots, which is a huge red flag as to where they’re getting their “information”. I’ve been listening to people call protestors rioters for months, and it’s gotten old.

So getting back on subject, they also said taking a side with “the left” is bad your one’s brand. Let me take a moment to say: FUCK YOUR BRAND! FUCK ALL YOUR BRANDS! FUCK THEM! WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, FUCK MY BRAND!

Bear in mind I mean that with the highest level of respect.

This whole thing is ridiculous. This blog post I’m writing at this moment is ridiculous. Yet here we are, living in ridiculous times, blogging about ridiculous shit, while ridiculous flames consume this ridiculous democracy. I find the people I want to converse with are those who know a thing or two about who they are and where they want to fall when history sorts through the ashes that will be 2020. I’m not going to sit on the fence and say, “Gee, I don’t want to have an opinion because it will hurt my brand.” Fuck that noise. I chose my side, and I’ll deal with it. No one who supports the homophobia, xenophobia, hate speech, and all around fuckery of Donald “crybaby bitch-face” Trump want anything to do with me anyway. I think my brand will be just fine. And if it isn’t, fuck it. Not like it’ll hurt my deal with Netflix or anything.

And since we’re “just sayin'” things here: The Nazis rose to power thanks to people who didn’t take a stand or voice their concerns about it too. At least we have a platform to be heard. All of us. You can use yours to pretend you don’t take a side to protect your brand or platform or whatever-the-fuck, but the rest of us are going to use what we have to make our voices heard. And guess what, The Bitch, we’re fuckin’ exhausted and pissed the fuck off.

In conclusion: Fuck you.

-Daniel Aegan

11/6/20