Thursday, October 11, 2018

Mirror

Labeling a blog post “Politics” is a risky endeavor regardless of affiliation or moral principles. Which is why at the last minute I changed it to Mirror. I like to think my opinions are more unbiased observations than politically motivated diatribes. I’m sure the comments will disagree but that’s fine, they are more than welcome to create their own blogspot blog and shout into the void alongside side me. There was a time that feels at this point like the far flung past that politics was treated like an embarrassing fetish, something whispered about between like minded peers but never publicly announced. The old adage being “there are two things you don’t talk about, religion and politics”. It seems lately that political belief has become religious and any affront against a person’s favorite politician might as well be blasphemy against their chosen deity.

For me this transition was noticeable first on websites like tumblr and radio stations that insist Don Imus is still a hit. Hidden away on the equivalent of fetish message boards. With the 2016 election we witness this thinking spill out to the real world. Instead of two normal candidates pitching different platforms that would in practice act similar. We had possibly the most hated woman in the United States running against a man who has been described so fully and widely that I struggle to come up with a new arrangement of words. Here’s my best attempt, Donald Trump who in his old age had moved away from looking human and now resembled an orange left out in the sun, adorning a wig of fair pubic hair.

Clinton was a political mainstay, from her days as First Lady to her time as Secretary of State, she was never far from the political fray. Trump on the other hand was viewed as a self made man (in reality it was his father and Mark Burnett), an illusion that wouldn’t be exposed until years later and at this point no one really cares. For some reason these two brought the venom out of the country. It wasn’t only their fault of course, social media and misinformation rallied moderates to worshipers. Perhaps his supporters find it unfair but I think it’s undeniable that Trump allowed extreme racists to feel more comfortable culminating in the unite the right rally and the death of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville.

I know many people want to point at Trump as some mastermind who set the events of the current political landscape in motion. My personal opinion from what I’ve observed from afar is, that kind of Machiavelli planning is beyond him. The man often appears as if each sentence out of his mouth surprises even him. He’s nothing more than a useful idiot who at times can’t be stopped from saying or doing something stupid, cruel or otherwise below the standard we once held the presidency to.

I don’t often write about politics, in fact the only other time I can recall doing so was at the introduction of “alternative facts”.(see We Need to Talk About Donald) A phrase that amused me then, when I thought we were all on the same wavelength, but chills me today as I think the cult of Donald would believe and defend him if he suggested the sky was green. There was a particular event that inspired me, while ordering dinner from Moe’s, ( a burrito place for those who haven’t had the pleasure of sampling their homewrecker) I looked at the giant television screen next to the cash register. Normally it was playing whatever popular sporting event was on. That day however with a lack of games to choose from it instead played the news. The casters silently reciting their prompted lines. A graphic read “NY man charged with building bomb he wanted to detonate at National Mall on Election Day, FBI says”.

The man in question wanted to draw attention to the political climate by committing a heinous act. While I worried about which topping to get there was a plot seemingly straight out of the beginning of a post apocalyptic novel being thwarted. It shook me, this is the world we live in. Fearing attacks from lunatics with an axe to grind. I wonder if America is great again just yet? Furthermore is the pit in my stomach caused by the headline, or was the home wrecker a bad decision?

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