“There comes a time in the course of human events when no amount of cursing will suffice.” – John Barrymore. Maybe.
That
quote popped into my mind recently. I think this is one of those times “in the
course of human events.”
I
just don’t get it. I do not understand how so many people – millions of people
– could get so many things wrong. Yes, I’m talking about anti-vaxxers and
anti-maskers, Trumpers, seditionists, white supremacists, hate-filled
evangelicals, conspiracy theorists.
The
insanity has taken on a life of its own – Trump was the beginning nexus; now
he’s superfluous to the movement. Oh, they still love him and believe he is
Jesus’ anointed to lead us out of the valley of the shadow of libtards, but if
he crosses his tribe, they’ll turn on him as fast as he turns on people.
Like
the time a few months ago when he encouraged people at one of his rallies to
get vaccinated, and the crowd booed him. He has not said anything about getting
vaccinated since. Even Jesus’ anointed can be thrown under the bus.
That’s
the people, the voters. Then there are the politicians – omg, the politicians –
who persist in their suicide mission of telling people not to mask or vaccinate;
their attempts to keep everyone who does not agree with them from voting; and their
ongoing effots to manipulate the country for their own power and greed, and
then lying about it. Lying about everything.
I
heard a Republican strategist on the radio the other day. He told us that
Republicans are willing to work in a bipartisan fashion, and it is Democrats
who are slowing down or blocking legislation because “the thin slice of left
wing progressive extremists is insisting on their pie in the sky agenda.”
So,
everything is the Democrats’ fault because they are all Satan-worshipping-cannibal-pedophile commies who won’t allow the Republicans to pass their legislation for the country’s
good.
Lies,
lies, lies. And projection. I keep saying this because I believe it: if someone
persistently accuses you of something, or rails against something (like being a
pedophile), I tend to look at the accuser and ask myself, hm, where did they get
those ideas?
I
suspect the accusers are the pedophiles, like all those pastors who railed
against homosexuality and then got caught propositioning a kid in a public
bathroom. Whited sepulchers, the lot of ‘em.
“Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly
appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all
uncleanness.” – Matthew 23:27, ERS
It
makes me dizzy when I think about how many people are retailing these lies, and
how many people are swallowing the lies whole, and there is no way to reason
with them, or, at this point, trust them.
One
of the privileges of being an American is being able to gripe about the
government without getting thrown in prison. So I have complained plenty, but I
do not wish to have the government overthrown and replaced with a rotten
theocracy/fascist dictatorship. Or whatever it is the rapscallions want, these
self-described “patriots” who are trying to bring down the country.
It
makes me sad. Polar ice is melting, oceans are rising, storms are becoming more
deadly, wildfires rampage every year. There wasn’t a “wildfire season” for most
of my life, but now there is. All this is knocking on our doors, saying,
“Yoohoo, climate change,” but some people are still too busy trying to amass power
and wealth to pull together for the good of all living things, not to mention
humans, or to rebuild a survivable planet.
Some
people are trying to do that, against all the odds, against all the resistance
to reality.
I
have tried to be comic relief and social worker combined for myself and others,
because so much of how we experience life depends on our attitude.
Now
I ask myself, “What can I do in the face of the hopelessness I feel for my
country?” and other countries which are caught up in the fervor for
authoritarianism.
The
answer to what I can do always comes down to, “Write, and sing.” Those are my
skills.
Most
days I do not want to do anything but read British mysteries and watch
streaming mysteries, movies, and baking competitions. Sometimes, though, the energy
regroups and says, write something, or record another song. There’s a little
life in the old girl yet and a long life has shown me that you never know.
So
let us encourage one another. Do what we can. Live our best lives. Pray. Laugh.
Have lunch.
Yes. Don’t forget to have lunch.
