January 20th ...
Given the date, it’s pretty much impossible for me not to be thinking about politics ... so I’m going to go for it. Some of you may not want to read it, and anyone who does read it should be reminded not to take it personally, whether we agree or not.
Back in November, I said that the election may have marked the end of a once-noble country, or that it maybe just showed that the country was never all that great to begin with ... and the last couple of months have made that statement all the more evident. The more one learns about Mr. Trump and follows his actions, the more it becomes clear that the man is abhorrent and the policies behind his rhetoric are evil and dangerous. At the same time, it becomes more and more clear that Trump has sold his followers a ridiculous and impossible bill of goods - promises that he will never be able to keep, but that he will spend the remainder of his tenure lying about or explaining away. Plenty of his voters will buy that, though ... just as they bought the package of falsehoods that gave Trump the electoral college.
So what does that say about Mr. Trump’s followers -- about a block of people large enough to sway the course of American government? To me, it says that a Trump supporter pretty much has to be either a pretty terrible human being, or an extraordinarily gullible one ... or maybe a little bit of both, since at its core hate is a very powerful and enabling trigger. I honestly don’t see that as much of an exaggeration. I’m not going to say much more on hate in these paragraphs, but I’m going to say a little more on gullibility, since if you want to retain even a shred of hope for American humanity that’s the only place left to look.
One of the main reasons the American far right is so successful right now, I think, is that they figured out how to exploit the gullibility thing quite a while ago ... back in the Reagan years, really, though they’ve gotten a whole lot better at it in the last couple of decades. They’ve learned how to twist history, distort current affairs, and inflame anger in very powerful ways. That’s obvious to pretty much any thinking person who listens to AM radio for any length of time; the stories are so cherry-picked, convoluted, and insanely skewed that it would be hilarious if not for the fact that people actually take them seriously. But people do, and they don’t fact check or look for context, and after someone listens to those voices long enough the truth doesn’t have much of a chance. And besides, people are lazy; digging up the facts would be too much work, and would deprive listeners of that wonderful feeling of hate-filled empowerment.
Of course, there are other culprits that do exactly the same twisted thing, sometimes pandering to the left, as well ... Facebook is by far the worst offender, of course, but you all know how I feel about that place. More skewed soundbytes, more incitement, less depth and less rational thinking. Think how much different our discourse would be, how much different our country might be, if we were all a little bit less lazy ... if we still got our news from morning newspapers and weekly newsmagazines instead of shock jocks and clickbait links. Maybe our politics and our voting would be a little more reasoned, too. (Or maybe not. Who knows ...)
Anyhow, that’s enough for today, but be forewarned - you’re probably going to get a few more of these. I’m pretty seriously worried about the damage that’s going to be done over the next four years ... or at least until the impeachment trial. :)
To make up for the rant, here are a couple more evening photos from my recent hikes with Charlie:
Back in November, I said that the election may have marked the end of a once-noble country, or that it maybe just showed that the country was never all that great to begin with ... and the last couple of months have made that statement all the more evident. The more one learns about Mr. Trump and follows his actions, the more it becomes clear that the man is abhorrent and the policies behind his rhetoric are evil and dangerous. At the same time, it becomes more and more clear that Trump has sold his followers a ridiculous and impossible bill of goods - promises that he will never be able to keep, but that he will spend the remainder of his tenure lying about or explaining away. Plenty of his voters will buy that, though ... just as they bought the package of falsehoods that gave Trump the electoral college.
So what does that say about Mr. Trump’s followers -- about a block of people large enough to sway the course of American government? To me, it says that a Trump supporter pretty much has to be either a pretty terrible human being, or an extraordinarily gullible one ... or maybe a little bit of both, since at its core hate is a very powerful and enabling trigger. I honestly don’t see that as much of an exaggeration. I’m not going to say much more on hate in these paragraphs, but I’m going to say a little more on gullibility, since if you want to retain even a shred of hope for American humanity that’s the only place left to look.
One of the main reasons the American far right is so successful right now, I think, is that they figured out how to exploit the gullibility thing quite a while ago ... back in the Reagan years, really, though they’ve gotten a whole lot better at it in the last couple of decades. They’ve learned how to twist history, distort current affairs, and inflame anger in very powerful ways. That’s obvious to pretty much any thinking person who listens to AM radio for any length of time; the stories are so cherry-picked, convoluted, and insanely skewed that it would be hilarious if not for the fact that people actually take them seriously. But people do, and they don’t fact check or look for context, and after someone listens to those voices long enough the truth doesn’t have much of a chance. And besides, people are lazy; digging up the facts would be too much work, and would deprive listeners of that wonderful feeling of hate-filled empowerment.
Of course, there are other culprits that do exactly the same twisted thing, sometimes pandering to the left, as well ... Facebook is by far the worst offender, of course, but you all know how I feel about that place. More skewed soundbytes, more incitement, less depth and less rational thinking. Think how much different our discourse would be, how much different our country might be, if we were all a little bit less lazy ... if we still got our news from morning newspapers and weekly newsmagazines instead of shock jocks and clickbait links. Maybe our politics and our voting would be a little more reasoned, too. (Or maybe not. Who knows ...)
Anyhow, that’s enough for today, but be forewarned - you’re probably going to get a few more of these. I’m pretty seriously worried about the damage that’s going to be done over the next four years ... or at least until the impeachment trial. :)
To make up for the rant, here are a couple more evening photos from my recent hikes with Charlie: