Posts Tagged ‘opinion’
Dear America
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Our country looks about as smart as a box of rocks right now. Has for the last umpteen years, really. Violations happen. Feathers get ruffled. Pearls clutched. Consequences unrealized. Guidelines get crossed. Rule of law, ignored. People march. Protestors and Federal Agents clash. Media flounders. President posts outrageous lies and intimidating threats. Ethics rules become a joke. Cash grabs abound. Allied countries dissed.
Oh, look! Something shiny over there. Ignore what the other hand is doing.
Just wait until the next election. That’ll show ‘em. Yeah, right.
People used to rage at the thought of pedophilia. Human trafficking was a most despicable act. Now, the most exposed ring of human trafficking pedophiles ever has been uncovered, and one of the key perpetrators gets off scot-free and is allowed to hold the highest office in the nation. Ignore the survivors.
Here’s an idea. When there is a civil war to end slavery, don’t let all the defenders of slavery go free to continue their inhumane treatment of others. And when a sitting President orchestrates an insurrection in an attempt to stop the counting of electoral college votes, formalizing the victory of his opponent, HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE.
Or, I suppose we could go through a laborious histrionics of official hearings and feigned media concern, wave our arms, and pull a giant dose of nothing out of a hat, subsequently letting the malfeasance continue at an ever-increasing rate.
How ridiculous do we appear to the rest of the world? At least the massive number of American citizens are armed with lethal weapons to defend themselves from the threat of the type of tyranny that is playing out right before the world’s eyes.
What’ll it be? An election or an armed resistance?
You know, I think there is a new movie out on Netflix, and if we place our sports bets correctly on one of the multitude of online betting sites that have achieved mainstream acceptance, we could come up with enough money to DoorDash some crappy fast food.
America, we’ll be just fine. Look how many Olympic medals the USSR was able to win under its oppressive All-Union Supreme Soviet state authority. Our new idiot leader will surely allow our professional (men’s) sports leagues to endure, especially since getting people to bet is easier than convincing them to pay a tax.
Dear America, we’ve made this bed, either by directly acting to make it happen or failing to uphold the ideals put in place to prevent it. Do not be surprised when (even more) bullets finally start to fly, or the next fair election never quite materializes. It’s all part of a long game plan that we’ve discounted at our own peril.
If you have the strength to love the inner souls of those who seek to terrorize and oppress, there is no better time to set your beams on high.
[big sigh]
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Mostly Obeying
Among the behaviors we were able to train Asher to obey rather easily upon adopting him, the one his is most prone to testing is having him stay out of the kitchen. We do not trust his loyalty on that one when we are not around and make a big effort to keep all food stashed out of view and out of reach when we leave the kitchen.
Asher knows to stay out when we are in the vicinity and he impressively will not go after his ball when it rolls into the forbidden zone. However, he is very consistent about taking a step or two across the line to see if the invisible wall may have been relaxed when Cyndie is busy cooking.
This is how I found him when I came down from the loft for dinner after Cyndie called to me:
He should not be past the refrigerator/freezer doors.
Mostly obeying, you might say.
Regarding the recent Wisconsin election that went the way of Susan Crawford who didn’t offer anyone money for a vote, we are feeling deep satisfaction to have been able to cast our votes for a chance at a better future. A chance is better than none.
When we were communicating with friends about the news of our desired outcome in the election Tuesday night, the topic of overt offers of money for supporting the other guy came up.
Cyndie commented, “I think illegal stuff should be illegal.” It really struck my funny bone. In a logical world, such a phrase shouldn’t need to be uttered. In today’s reality, I would like to wear a T-shirt with the thought printed across the front.
Gosh, imagine if there were enforceable consequences for violating just and ethical laws.
Imagine if the police didn’t seem so willing to fulfill the diabolical edicts of a wannabe dictator. I suppose they are mostly just obeying orders.
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Not Spending
Since I have been avoiding news, it was only a few days ago I learned of the call to U.S. residents for an economic resistance to occur today in protest of “the malign influence of billionaires, big corporations, and both major political parties” in America. I will have no problem spending absolutely nothing today, but I don’t think it will have much impact. I spend nothing most days. I don’t think anyone notices. Marketers still bombard me with advertisements.
“BOGO!” (Buy one, get one for a reduced amount [used to be: get one free]).
“Last Chance to get this offer!” It’s funny that I keep getting that email over and over.
“Buy Now, Pay Later!” Everybody loves to offer me credit
I’ve read some debate on the logic of this 24-hour economic boycott. Won’t this have a bigger negative effect on the small businesses? Won’t people just make their purchases the day before or the day after?
I don’t know the answers, but I like the idea of enough people in the country adjusting their behavior at the same time to achieve a measurable result that could be noticeable to those in power. I hope it works. If collective action by masses of ordinary citizens (while we still legally can) reveals a significant level of dissatisfaction, maybe it would inspire those with power and influence to take more meaningful and visible action to interrupt the dismantling of all that was sacred in our formerly great nation.
I’m curious how soon the folks who voted for this current mess and the folks who chose not to vote at all will notice the undoing of our democracy does them no favors. Will those same people be spending feverishly today to counter the protest? I suspect the majority of the people who chose not to vote would likely choose not to participate in a boycott, either. Apathy tends to reflect “the body at rest remains at rest.” The mind that doesn’t care continues to not care until the consequences finally bite into its tender backside.
Personally, I feel it’s a crying shame that organizational frameworks seeking to promote fair treatment and full participation of all people are seen as so threatening to some people. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion does not seem scary to me. I guess what’s scary to the big corporations is that the new administration in Washington, D.C., doesn’t want fair treatment for all people.
Let’s rally our like-minded friends and relatives to save their money today and join those sending an economic message to the big money machine that we don’t appreciate the direction things are going.
I’m going to go talk with the horses and see what they think about the state of the world today.
The only thing I will be spending is time.
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We Can
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we can do this
standing on our heads
like those who came before
those who survived
attempted extermination of their tribes
those who endured hardships of two world wars
those who lived through the great depression
how about the rise of crime syndicates during prohibition
how despondent must it have felt
to get knocked down repeatedly
in quests for equal rights
this country survived
how many assassinated leaders
climate disasters
economic failures
pollution calamities
drug wars
political scandals
terror attacks
space shuttle explosions
can we get past
social media addictions
corporations’ algorithms
malignant narcissists
gaslighting white supremacist kleptocrats
undereducated generations
conspiracy-minded idiocy
religious dogmatic insanity
shameless hypocrisy
we can
we can stand fast
we can outlast
the worst of any attempts
to destroy the rights
of citizens to know the truth
of a free press
of free and fair elections
of the democratic ideals
in the U.S. Constitution
we can love one another
we can help our neighbors
we can feed the hungry
we can honor those who came before
and the generations yet to come
we can do this
together
standing on our heads
we are innumerable
a great loving multitude
and there will always be more of us
than there will ever be
of those who prefer we give up
and go away
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Long Trip
By the end of my third blissful day of isolation from any news, I was briefly thrown back into the repugnant reality of our election outcome by a video post someone shared with Cyndie. We watched it together. A man speaking directly to the camera, speaking to the majority who chose to elect a person who, in my opinion, is so unfit to lead this country that what just happened wouldn’t be believable as a plot in some fictional story.
The harsh reality of our situation –sane people, marginalized people, everyone in countries around the world who didn’t even have a vote– came rushing back to my consciousness in a flash.
I feel like I am living in the movie “The Sound of Music,” and a car of thugs from the new regime might be showing up any day to insist we fly their flag above our doorstep.
If I were to respond in the manner of my personal philosophy, I would conjure feelings of love for the people who have chosen the next President. I’m feeling rather hypocritical in my failure to achieve this for them as a group at the moment. Maybe on an individual basis, I could muster some meager successes. Love the person, not their intentions?
Stop the madness; I want to get off.
In an attempt to return to my happy place, my vacation from the daily news cycle, I recall camping trips where I was completely isolated. There would be no news if I were on an expedition to a remote place. I would be justified in a sole focus on watching my steps, guarding myself from the elements, eating for fuel, and absorbing the beauty and wonder of my surroundings.
I would like to get back to my odyssey of living free from depression on a small rectangle of forest and fields, caring for the land and a few rescued animals, and exploring ways to share love with family, friends, and strangers alike. I’m interested in returning to being able to sleep through the night.
I’m not confident I’ve amassed the necessary provisions. I’m not aware of having any trustworthy maps. I guess I haven’t really planned for this journey. It wasn’t my idea. I guess my expedition is more like being lost at sea.
Ah, but I’ve got my dignity. I’ve got my pride. I’ve got millions of like-minded people who know exactly how I’m feeling. I’m confident we can get through the challenges of the days ahead. But no one likes platitudes. We can’t phrase our way through this trip.
We need to feel our feelings and be honest with ourselves in our choices about what comes next. For my mental health, I intend to continue avoiding the site and sounds of one person in particular until such time I feel better able to cope.
I’m hoping the mountain I am about to climb will be for singing and not as an escape to a safer place.
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Shared Fatigue
Take a deep breath and see if you can make it through this paragraph-long opening sentence:
I relish coming upon an online discussion thread shimmering with a shared public expression of fatigue over daily reports of insanity from the cultish acceptance of unhinged statements and behaviors of sycophants worshipping at the alter of one depraved and narcissistic old man campaigning for the Republican party.
Never forget, we are many. We may be exhausted, but we will still all make it to the polls to vote by next Tuesday in the USA.
How many people in the world have questioned over and over how such unsavory and historically abhorred ideas could be finding so much open acceptance in this day and age?
Buddy Hackett and Robert Preston, Warner Bros. Pictures
How is it that ethics guidelines have so easily become arrogantly discounted? Where is the “rule of law” when so many people simply ignore subpoenas, judgments of significant fines, or DOJ warnings of illegalities?
Seems like we should all re-listen to Harold Hill sing to the good folks of River City about “trouble with a capital T.”
What happened to common sense, neighborliness, and adherence to the Golden Rule? How did society allow “do as I say, not as I do” and religious hypocritical lifestyles become the dominant guiding themes?
Is it really that difficult to understand and respect the importance of the separation of church and state?
The majority of us are tired of false equivalency. We are tired of whataboutism. We are fed up with fear-mongering. We are jaded by endless pants-on-fire lies. We are worn to a frazzle by the perpetual whining about being the victim.
How much repeated grifty shenanigans can one country take?
We need a break. We deserve a break.
Hey, billionaires. Pay a fair share of taxes, would ya? You can still boast that you gave ten million dollars to a charity. You can do both!
I suspect that somewhere in all this, there is a lesson to be sussed out. I don’t know whether it will be a unique one for each group or individual or something grand for all the people of the world. (What do you bet it has something to do with love?)
On November 5th, we will cast votes that will determine whether things get worse before they get better or whether our democracy holds together on a course toward ideals envisioned by our best and brightest.
For the common folks of this nation, the decision should not be difficult. This ain’t rocket science.
We need to tune into that generational intelligence we all carry and open our eyes to the snake oil elixirs being pitched. Don’t buy a pig in a poke. Help bring an end to the constant ravings of a pathetic lunatic.
Let’s make the US of A better than it’s ever been.
All of us are looking forward to the possibilities. Vote to keep the outcome out of any courtrooms.
Amen.
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So Weird
What I find weird about hateful, angry people is the level to which they are succeeding in unabashedly flaunting their rude or disrespectful statements and behaviors. It has become increasingly difficult for honorable people to collectively compensate for the onslaught of unsavory energy trashing our world.
It is weird how the prevailing narrative of a US Presidential election is that one person winning the office will instantly solve all the problems considered most important to that candidate’s supporters. I don’t think it works that way.
It seems rather weird that people willingly draw attention to their allegiance to a rude and disrespectful ideology. Big signs, big flags, and blatant vulgar language intended to profess adamant support for arguably the weirdest candidate who repeatedly violates laws and standards.
Weirdness prevails despite the desire of some people to have their version of normalcy universalized. Is up up today or is up down? Group thinkers against group thinking. There should be only good news in the world and we are willing to kill people to achieve it. I’m not weird, you’re weird.
If two wrongs don’t make a right, does doubling down on weirdness make any outcome less weird?
Is it weird that people who lie tend to get angry when presented with facts that counter their lies? Imagine if they didn’t. It would be mind-blowingly weird today if liars suddenly accepted correction and ended their deceit.
For some people, weirdness is considered a badge of honor. Those who wish for an absence of nonconformity are unlikely to see it that way.
I find myself returning to the phrase, “[Thou] doth protest too much.”
The more energy a person puts into protesting being labeled weird, the more likely they are cementing the authentication of said weirdness.
If the shoe fits, weirdo…
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Hard Imaginings
Looking back on stories I’ve been told about things that happened before I was born, it occurs to me that I’ve lived through a relatively long period of stability. Thankfully, the U.S. Civil War and the two World Wars didn’t end the United States.
I was four years old when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Too young to comprehend the full depth of such political turmoil. From my perspective, the world continued rather seamlessly.
My childhood occurred during the years my country was fighting the war in Vietnam. I was too young to be drafted into military service. I recall being occasionally aware of the risk, but my life was mostly insulated from any dramatic impact of the war. There were reports on the television news about casualties and protests, but as a kid, most of that drama went over my head.
My world involved stepping out our front door to hop on my bike and ride around the neighborhood to see who was outside forming a game of baseball, football, or kick-the-can. The first movie I saw that was rated “M” for Mature in a theater was, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in 1969.
Throughout my life, I developed a naive sense of normalcy about my country. I trusted the local, state, and federal governments to maintain law and order. It was easy to turn a blind eye to our interference in other countries and abuses of power at home. I felt the truth would eventually come out and miscreants would be brought to justice.
I’ve lived a comfortable life. Even when the riots in Minneapolis broke out after George Floyd was murdered by police officers, my property was not at risk. Slowly, things calm and people return to their usual routines.
Is it possible now that the democratic system of government the United States has been operating under since declaring independence from foreign nations is at risk of failure from within? It appears the citizens of this country have shifted significantly from a time when there was broad agreement over who our enemies were, foreign and domestic.
Imagine if we suddenly lost our right to freedom of speech against an authoritarian ruler. The kid in me can’t reconcile how anyone in this country would accept for one second a politician who holds anything but contempt for dictators or communist leaders.
After watching the chilling apocalyptic thriller, “Leave the World Behind” on Netflix, it occurred to me that the majority of average people will have a very hard time on their own in influencing greater society if our government collapses. It is easy to see how things could devolve to every family (or person) for themselves.
It is my hope that the year 2024 will find a vast majority of U.S. citizens coming together to overwhelmingly dispatch any candidate who doesn’t honestly and seriously support our democracy with freedom of the press, equality for all, separation of church and state, and ultimately, liberty and justice for all.
Next November, vote to preserve democracy. Kleptocrats, grifters, and wanna-be dictators need not apply.
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Not Ever?
Once again, Editorial Cartoonist Clay Bennett’s work resonates for me. Agreement, disagreement, …words tangle in attempts to convey life and death complexities that, when reduced back down to LIFE and DEATH, shouldn’t be quite so complex. What level of vengeance… Never mind.
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Think about it.
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Behavior
.
what is going on
around here
this year
that makes any sense
discernible sense
to informed people
or last year
for that matter
last six years
last hundred years
ask the planet
how it’s going
wait
don’t bother
it’s been telling us all along
but we don’t listen
or we do
but don’t respond
adequately
we muddle
brilliantly
word salads as art
successfully sprinkling love
on happy occasions
helping hands
in times of disastrous need
forgetting to follow the money
that is driving calamity
shortsightedness
wrongheaded fears
and basic human shortcomings
weaving a fabric
deleterious to the very society
societies wish to preserve
to be anti anti-something or other
becoming a fashion statement
lacking logic
seeking a forest without the trees
assuming the sun is spinning around us
because it looks like it does
day after day
hateful behavior becoming acceptable
because
why not
it’s what’s been going on
around here
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Relative Something 