It is 3:15 AM on Saturday morning February 17th, 2018. I haven’t slept well all night due to the salt from the pizza and large amount of sugar in the Mountain Dew I had for dinner. Looks like it might be best to cut back on Friday pizza night.
After tossing and turning for a couple of hours I finally decided to get up, forgo Zelda and finally get a post in. I’ve got a bunch of random thoughts I thought I’d get down.
The first is the travesty which has become a daily occurrence in the news and in American politics. It seems that the USA is in a downward spiral we cannot get out of, much of it due to our own error regardless of how much emphasis is put on ‘Russian bots’ and their amazing ability to influence American minds.
Back in the ’80s our parents told us not to believe everything you see on TV yet it looks like they’re absolutely convinced by anything they see on the internet. This wonderful invention, the internet, used to be a place of wonder, learning and connection. Now it is a marketplace where everything needs to be ‘monetized,’ the social networks are for ‘humble bragging’ and is something quite unlike what it had promised to be. I struggle to find websites I really enjoy and that do not become monotonous and depressing. I know they must be out there, or hopefully things might change but like the rest of America is something from which to gain money in the short term, long term consequences be damned.
It feels to me as though the soul of America is changing for the worse and is something patriotic parades and sporting events can soothe. Now we have debates over whether athletes should be forced to stand for the pledge. Nothing says freedom like forcing people to say an oath. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again in that the main purpose of America is to make money no matter the consequences. If you’re not out to get rich then perhaps you’re just not a true American? After all of my travels and learning about other cultures I prefer to think of myself as a citizen of the world; I’ve come to find the idea of pledging yourself to one piece of land, to one culture absurd and backward thinking. The culture that used to bind us is fraying and the Republican leadership shows no leadership at all. There is no ‘us,’ there is make money, look out for number one but please keep up the facade of patriotism. Take out healthcare, support the gun lobby no matter how many mass shootings we have, do whatever it takes to win even if that means letting Russia swing an election or two.
This administration is a mess, a complete circus and no matter how absurd things get we have Fox news to defend it. The President makes payments to porn stars? No problem, King Solomon had many concubines! I bet Trump could bang a prostitute right there in the oval office and Fox would try to explain it away. We’ve got a first lady who won’t even hold his hand on national TV.
However, I do not think we should hate anyone, hate is the wrong path to go down. One of the most true lines I’ve seen on the internet recently is that Meliana has gotten what she sold herself for. She was asked if she would be with Trump if he weren’t rich and she once responded “Do you think he would be with me if I weren’t beautiful?” After much thought I do not hate her, nor wish her ill. For some, marriage is a transaction and she wanted money which she got. You cannot always have your cake and eat it too. It was said that she “was in tears” when Donald won the election because it meant her life, the life she took on for money would disappear and she would be scrutinized. She just wants to shop, go to swank parties and now all of that has been muted. This all must be very hard for her and again, one should never wish another ill so I do hope she gets through all of this.
As for Donald, it looks like a reckoning is coming. You cannot wash away all of your mistakes by simply denying or calling it ‘fake news.’ Or can you? It seems that Republicans would abandon all, including being loyal to the good of our country in order to stay in power. This government it seems has nobody who would fit a “profile in courage” as Kennedy wrote about so long ago. Now, the ends justify the means and that end is to stay in power even if it meant destroying a country. The Russian bots are working and a good portion of the American public are not smart enough to resist.
We just had another school mass shooting here in the USA and what will the governments response be? It will be another moment of silence along with more thoughts and prayers. The USA will continue its downward spiral and things will get worse. The jobs of many have been relocated overseas and aren’t coming back no matter what promises are made by politicians. Automation and the adoption of AI will exacerbate all of this. Why? Because of money, of short term profits. Patriotism and doing what is the best for the country is quickly forgotten when it comes to the bottom line. Money is king.
And so what can an individual do in all of this? Nothing really, the tide will continue to roll in washing over the feet of those who try to stand against it. I’ll continue to turn inward and tune out the news, trying to live a happy life. I’ll continue to be kind to others, to try and help where I can but there is nothing that can really be done to stop this momentum. Even one tool, one right we have as a democracy has been stripped away by gerrymandering where an individual vote really counts for nothing. It is a waste of time to vote anymore.
Enough of that as I do not want to waste all my time on the dumpster fire that has become the national conversation. The world is a big place and I want to continue to explore, continue to learn and enjoy my life. Yet, it is hard not to type in the website of a news outlet in the same way it is hard not to look at a car wreck. What absurdity is happening now and equally what contortions is the Fox news network doing to explain it all away. Everything that doesn’t fit your narrative is ‘fake news’ anyway.
As for my overall life paradigm things continue to make less and less sense. Here we are at the height of human knowledge and science yet the masses still continue to follow religions, beliefs of people who knew little to next to nothing about the universe. I saw many images this past Wednesday of people with ash smudges on their foreheads in the shape of an ancient torture device. How can it be that when we have so much access to learning and knowledge that otherwise relatively intelligent people adhere to something that is just as ridiculous as worshiping Poseidon? And they look down on the Poseidon worshipers! Even that word, ‘worship’ irks me. I see educated people on their knees praying to a human idea that is supposedly “all good,” when there are kids with cancer, wars and things happening that no “all good” God would allow. You mention this and of course they have their reasons, reasons which they were taught, were programmed to believe.
And so taking a step back and looking at humanity as a whole we have the majority believing in an ancient, figment of our imagination, voting for despots who can seemingly do no wrong and who are becoming more and more isolated from each other on social networks whose only purpose seems to be to brag about ones self? It is all very depressing.
And that, is what is running through my head in the middle of the night on a very early Saturday morning. Zelda is also on my mind so perhaps I might spend the next hour or so exploring Hyrule.
