Who Are The Minnesota Lemmings?

Sorry to say, the Minnesota Lemmings are not a new sports franchise, at least not in the traditional sense. I’ll give you a hint though, by citing this definition

lemmings: (2.) a person who follows the will of others, especially in a mass movement, and heads straight into a situation or circumstance that is dangerous, stupid, or destructive.

These lemmings that eat up conspiracy theories are so blinded by lies, they don’t even see the cliff they’re about to plummet over.
www.dictionary.com/browse/lemmings>

Still can’t guess? “The Minnesota Lemmings” I speak of are the organized mobs of both local and imported, paid and unpaid, waves of humanity drawn to Minneapolis to either gawk, chant, carry signs, record videos, scream, taunt, push, kick, throw objects, physically threaten, and/or otherwise obstruct Federal Officers from doing their jobs in any and every way possible. Sadly, the majority of these mobs apparently truly believe what their Leaders have declared (i.e. that they are acting as the “Protectors of democracy, freedom, and human rights” on behalf of innocent migrants and citizens allegedly targeted to become slaves, deportees, prisoners, and for death by the big, bad Trump Administration. The fact that these mostly well-meaning followers do not see how they’ve been lied to and manipulated by the self-righteous politicians, media, activist groups, and those funding them is as tragic as as it is terrifying. And while it is nothing new for people to act as lemmings and sheep, more than ever before, with today’s technology, the consequences are quickly becoming within a hair’s breadth of catastrophic for of us.

Cartoon image of Lemmings jumping off a cliff.The German text translates to:
“Turn back!? Now that we’ve come this far!?!”

My goal is to COOL and not fan the flames of division, by providing context that has been sorely missing from most reports and opinion pieces elsewhere.

As a former die-heart liberal Democrat, I do not believe the current gulf between Americans is as wide as legacy Media, left-wing Politicians and Activists try to portray it. Most people, (regardless of their politics, skin-color, gender, religion, financial status, or ethnic background) simply want the ability to earn enough to keep themselves and their families adequately fed, physically safe, comfortably housed, free to express themselves as individuals, afforded the right to pursue whatever personal goals they have without artificial obstruction, to feel certain that they will be treated with the level of respect they’ve earned, and to know that they will be judged here on earth by an unbiased legal/judicial system that cannot be bought or manipulated by anyone. The Founders of our Country, an extremely diverse group of individuals, following years of research, practical observation and experience, debate, and experiment, devised a brilliantly planned framework for governing the USA that could guarantee the desired result for every Citizen, as long as each one of us steadfastly upheld our own responsibilities under that adopted Federal Constitution, including faithfully holding true to its’ underlying principles.

Amazingly, our Founder’s wisdom has held us together for 250 years. Together, we’ve witnessed periods of tremendous growth in population, territorial expansion, scientific and social progress, economic strength and world-wide influence. And while that path has faced tremendous challenges from both without and within, we have always managed to work through the difficulties and our differences, by subverting our personal egos to find a way to work together lest we risk destroying our common dream for “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. So why has our future suddenly seem to have changed direction?

In my humble opinion, based on history and objective facts, it is our own very success in improving the quality of life for nearly every single person in our Country combined with a loss of focus on where those blessings came from and the gratefulness due, that has lead us to have entirely unreasonable expectations. We have failed increasingly over the generations to fully recognize the value of hard work, patience, self-sacrifice, and self-reliance that made the abundance we’ve enjoyed possible. And most of all, we have increasingly failed to recognize the vital importance of moral principles, personal integrity, and inter-personal ethics. The result is that we have made ourselves ripe as a nation for manipulation by the relatively small set of people (I call them “The Users”) who feed off of a large population willing to follow their lead, without much more than an overt firey appeal to their target’s immediate emotions and desires. The Users know just which buttons to push, while The Lemmings, thrill to partake in the rewards of having one’s endorphines surge each time their ire and rage gets activated and shared, thus having little interest into questioning their favored Leader’s ultimate intent.

The issues raised by the above are many and each deserves further examination and discussion, but for the purpose of this immediate post I’d like to bring it back specifically to what is happening in Minneapolis, Minnisota under the guise of “Righteous Protests” against the presence and operations of Federal ICE Agents. Essentially, ALL of the chaos, turmoil, fear and outrage being portrayed by the Leftist Leaders rests on the necessity of you buying into an “Us versus Them” mindset. They accomplish this by framing every word, every scene, with high energy and the sense of urgency, using absolutes in terms of oppressors and victims, using strident and shocking images and pushing predetermined conclusions. They do their best to leave no room for you to think, consider, question, or decide; wanting only for you to react in lockstep in the direction of their lead.

Over many years, Leftist Leaders have trained us to blindly accept who are the “Good Guys” and who are the “Bad Guys” based only upon the direction their fingers are pointed. The “Wealthy” are always to be considered “bad” – but only it’s not one of their own. Gun Owners are always evil – but only if it’s not one of their own. Laws are always oppressive and unfair – but only if they are enforced against themselves. Those who break the law should always be allowed to get away with it and even cheered – but only as long as they don’t harm (or vote against, God forbid!) one of The Users designated “Good Guys”. In essence, according to the Left, all ethics are “situational” and the law only applies to everyone but them. Yet despite that mindset, the fact is that ICE Agents are in Minnesota for the sole purpose of doing their legal duty of enforcing U.S. Federal Immigration Laws by taking into custody persons who are in this Country illegally (a felony) and whom have engaged in further criminal activity. The Agents have performed these exact same duties thousands of times in almost every single other state of our Union, without any significant notice or disruption, much less a single fatal incident. The only difference has been solely due to the total lack of cooperation by Minnesota’s Democratic Politicians, local police, and the surge of both local and out-of-state and mainly paid professional “Protesters” who have not only been welcomed by that state’s leaders, but actively encouraged to engage in violent action against Federal Law Enforcement. There is no honest way to deny this fact given the plethora of unedited recorded and documented evidence freely available for anyone with an open-mind to examine.

So what does this all mean?

The most important take-a-way is that if you truly care about people, about protecting human rights, about ensuring equal justice, about ensuring the freedom and liberty guaranteed under our Constitution, and about ensuring the continued existence of the United States of America as the one stable beacon of hope as it has been seen for two and a half centuries across the world, then it is time to:

  • Stop being a lemming.
  • Stop following the crowd.
  • Stop believing the Haters.
  • Stop believing anyone promising free tickets to paradise.
  • Stop expecting to get anything you’re unwilling to work for or to give to others.
  • Stop expecting to be safe from those you attack.
  • Stop expecting to be protected by those you treat with disdain and disrespect.
  • Stop expecting to get away scot-free for your own bad acts against those you have pre-judged and condemned.

Beyond that, I believe we can all benefit by re-reading and taking to heart the Ten Commandments, a non-denominational treatise universally respected, and which is at the very core of our Federal Constitution. I’ll leave for another day to discuss more about that latter document: how it was developed, what it means, why, how and by whom it is being actively threatened, and what we can do about it. Until then,

…Be True and May God Bless You!

Evolution of ‘IconDoIt.Blog’ a.k.a. ‘The Art of Survival’

Back in 2009, I began this blog during a dire time in my life when I was battling a multi-front war against the demons of uterine cancer, hepatitis-C, non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis, epilepsy, unilateral sudden-hearing-loss (due to a stroke) and the devastating side-effects of 3 separate 12-15 month rounds of the now outdated, ineffective chemotherapy comprised of Pegalated Interferon-alpha2B and Ribavirin (both of which list suicide and homicide amongst their so-called “side-effects”!)which kept me flat on my back for multiple years, while also revealing a genetic-defect that lead to full-blown hereditary hemochromatosis, a condition that causes iron to build-up in one’s major organs and brain. In the years since, colon cancer, hepatic encephalopathy, and various other serious and not so serious physically challenges heaped onto the mix. Separately, I was also engaged for the 1st 10 years of this blog in an acrimonious, depressing legal battle to obtain my deceased Mother’s medical records in the hopes of finding clues to the root cause of my physical ailments before they could ultimately kill me (in 2003 my physicians gave me a prognosis of 5-10 years at most). SO, the thinking behind the start of “IconDoIt – The Art of Survival” was to give me a coping mechanism that would distract my mind, occupy my hands, give me something to smile about and allow me to be productive in a positive way that my physical limitations could manage.

At the start, I had no idea what the future held or how a simple blog could – and would – actually serve as the psychological means for me to hold onto my sanity and resolve through seemingly impossible challenges (which continued to expand throughout the years and well beyond my own physical concerns.) Through the blog, I made friends across the USA and indeed the world that deepened my understanding, compassion and gratefulness for the many blessings I’ve had andthe shared strength of faith, validation, and forgiveness. I developed skills I never knew I had the capacity for that evolved from creating tiny 128px x 128px icons to life-size designs on hundreds of products sold around the world through 8 online stores and broadened my interests, research, knowledge, writing skills that have lead to my being able to offer practical usefullness to others in ways that I never dreamed about.

As a result of my life expanding and contracting over the years as a consequence of not only my own progress but also due to major breakthroughs in treatment options, technology, the inevitable effects of aging, and life-altering family challenges (including the loss of my live-in Mother-in-Law to dementia, devastating loss of my long-distance father, the heart-breaking loss of my life-long best friend to suicide, the earth-shattering loss of my soul-mate husband of 44 years, and the on-going roller-coaster life with my adult son who remains my everything), my involvement in keeping up this Blog has dwindled down to basically nothing since 2012 except for numerous unpublished posts, held back perhaps due to false pride over being depressed and not wanting to inflict my not-so inspiring thoughts on my Readers. I realize now I was wrong to hold back, not only for the good it might have done me but also for the potential way I perhaps could have helped others by admitting I am only human after all, and not impervious to feeling the negative effects of injustice and the type of defeat that threatened tremors at the very core of my soul.

My preferred self-image of constant optimism and moral courage at all times, while an ideal I have always strove for, has not been as effortless as I had tried to convince myself and others. This reality caused me to question my continued worth, despite all my past accomplishments and new avenues, which I then used as an excuse to pull back on my direct interactions with others (an excuse made easier for me to accept due to the fact of my subsequent complete loss of all hearing, diminished vision, and increased mobility problems.) Yet knowing in my heart that none nor all of those challenges combined could justify feeling sorry for myself, I am finally trying to live up to a new resolve to get back to trying to live up to my potential for making a positive difference in this world by sharing my experiences, both good and bad, my thoughts, my talents, and looking for new ways to engage with others and hopefully inspire at least one other person out there (along with myself) to do more than we thought we could.

I appreciate your patience.