Posts Tagged ‘lies’
Watching War
The ugly spectacle of war has a fresh outburst staining the human experience, echoing all the wars, big and small, that have come before. I don’t have as much reason to celebrate all things Ukrainian as I do to detest the decisions of Putin’s Russia. The possibility that Russia is undertaking aggression that risks chances of becoming a world war leaves us all witnesses to history repeating itself.
It is deeply unsettling to watch insanity play out in real-time. It is frustrating to witness lies perpetrated endlessly with little in the way of consequences. In the US, we have been subjected to bizarre levels of misinformation from unbelievable numbers of misguided followers of dubious individuals for too many recent years.
This morning I saw a few clips from just a few weeks ago with quotes from Russian leadership stating that they wouldn’t invade Ukraine.
Sure they won’t.
I don’t want a world war. At the same time, it feels wrong to just watch a world power unleash its military might against any other nation-state without a unified response from the rest of the world beyond threats to economically shun them. Maybe isolating the invading nation will ultimately cripple them, but it is really difficult to endure the carnage that is being unleashed in the meantime.
It stings to see and hear the blatant misinformation and concurrent ban of world news that is being reported as happening in Russia.
If there is a lesson to be learned in becoming a well-informed person, I suggest that it should be one of developing healthy skepticism when messages become repeatedly and exclusively one-sided. Whether it be reasons to go to war, reasons to avoid mitigation actions during a virus pandemic, or reasons to blindly follow demagogues and autocrats, the exclusive messages heavily delivered should not be unquestionably swallowed.
Today, in order to purge the profusion of information showing battle-scarred people and places in Ukraine, I am striving to focus on the people rising to the occasion of supporting refugees flooding away from the war. That, and trying to remain patient in the difficult wait for economic sanctions to cause Russia to end their military aggression.
While doing so, I’m finding new reasons to celebrate all things Ukrainian with every passing minute.
.
.
Even Jim
I don’t know how obvious it comes across to those of you who regularly stop by my daily dose of “things and experiences” but it is generally my habit to avoid overtly naming targets of my discontent. That is primarily a result of my house of glass being particularly vulnerable to thrown stones. Not that I ever strive to completely conceal my true opinion, however.
I tend to avoid getting into a fray that involves two directly opposing views whose participants are unlikely to waver from each of their own stances. Few, if any, issues are clearly and precisely “either one or the other” due to the reality that inequality and the reserve energy stored within is naturally inclined to move toward equilibrium and a static state.
The world is much more a mixture than it is a stash of separated ingredients.
Still, there are people who want not to perceive it as a mixture. They find ways to cope with the hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance of their views in ways I struggle to comprehend.
In the United States of America, too many have allowed themselves to accept outlandish, bizarre manipulations of reality by Donald Trump and the mysterious cadre of sycophants who enable his narcissistic kleptocracy that is wreaking havoc on this nation.
For four years I have wondered who could stop this. Each protection woven into the threads of our democracy appeared to unravel as abuses were pressed into it. At one time in my life, I perceived impeachment as an incredibly significant event. These days, it seems like a discarded tissue after wiping a nose.
Now it has come to this. Even famously apolitical comedian Jim Gaffigan has thrown in the towel on appearing immune to the spectacle of destruction. He tweeted the f-word!
If Jim can take the risk to stand up against the idiocracy, I can, too.
People responded to Jim’s outburst, complaining that as a comedian, he shouldn’t be making a statement about politics. But the same people want a failed businessman who hosted a reality tv show where he fired people to be their political leader.
Some Trump supporters defend their choice as a quest for morality and law and order. How do they fail to see the dissonance between their goals and the person they elected to get them there? How’s that working for them? Do they believe any of the lies spoken by their President?
Enough is enough, I say. Too much, even.
I’m with Jim.
One responder to Jim’s tweeted rant commented, “…couldn’t disagree with you more. Wish you saw the truth.”
In the face of two such completely opposing views of what constitutes truth, me thinks someone is failing to mix all the ingredients.
Personally, I see Donald Trump as a blatant liar.
.
.
Relative Something 