Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder?

In case you have not noticed, I have been off the airwaves (so to speak) since December 11, 2023.  I would like to discuss that along with a few other observations about the world we live in.

First, my absence and why:

The war against terrorism.  I have found the post October 7 world to be on an accelerated path to intolerance and violence.  The vitriol directed at Israel for finally taking it to terrorists who have been murdering and kidnapping Israelis for decades holds Israel to a higher military standard than any country at any time has been asked to achieve, while at the same time Israel acts  according to a standard of civilian protection that no other country has ever achieved in time or war.  But my writing on this topic is like a fart in a tornado —  without impact.  The Israeli haters do not care about the facts and the vast majority of the rest do not know the facts. That is depressing and stifled my writing desire for a time. 

The weather.  I live in a place where the skies turn gray in the middle of November and stays that way through the end of March into early April.  In the past, this did not get to me that much but this year, wow, it really slammed me. It really got to me this year. I would wake up, look out the window, and groan.  It sapped my energy, coarsened my attitude, eroded my zeal to accomplish anything, and made me miserable.  That was depressing and stifled my writing desire for a time.

Politics.  The House Republicans have ceased being a party with a platform and have become a platform for self-aggrandizement and idiocy.  Even the Senate Republicans can’t believe it.  The House Republicans are more aligned with Vladimir Putin than they are with Nikki Haley.  They would rather allow Russia to conquer Ukraine, Hamas to survive, and the border remain “open” than deny Trump what he believes will be good issues to bang over Biden’s head in the upcoming campaign.

Antisemitism.  When it comes to hatred and violence against Jews, I have never been optimistic regarding most of the world’s attitude.  Shall we say I never have believed it was positive in favor of the Jews.  But this explosion of antisemitic verbiage and action has exceeded my own very dark expectations.  Holding every Jew responsible for and committing violence against them for the actions of the State of Israel is akin to holding every American responsible for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Or holding every Catholic responsible for everything the Pope says.  That this is actually happening is very depressing and that too stifled my desire for writing.

The Media .. all of it, whatever the source.  Traditional media is beginning to look a lot like social media.  The overwhelming objective of both is eyeballs, click through, readership or whatever else you would like to call it.  Just do not call it news.  It is either political advocacy and/or punditry, and/or opinions, but it is clearly not reporting of the news and it decidedly not facts.  That explains the media’s (in all varieties) fascination with Trump.  Facts do not matter.  Trump is the media equivalent of a 5-car pile-up or a trainwreck …  People just cannot fail to look regardless of severity, seriousness, or meaningfulness.

And this pandering is also perverting how news (such as it is) is reported.  Here are a few examples.  The headline is “Baker Mayfield Sounds Off on Todd Bowles.”  Now I do not know about you specifically, but I am willing to bet that most folks will assume that Mr. Mayfield has unkind things to say about Mr. Bowles.  The headline is manufactured to grab attention.  In this case, however, in the actual content, Mr. Mayfield is quoted as saying ““Unbelievable guy.  …that guy’s even keeled.  … He’s got some jabs that he throws in, really witty guy, fiery passion.  But I respect him.  He’s a great guy and I enjoyed working with him.”  If the reader actually read the article, it’s bait and switch.  If the reader only read the headline, they have been misinformed.

Another headline read, “Scientists reveal a significant connection between vaccinations and Alzheimer’s Disease.”  Given where we have been since 2020, I assumed (and I am guessing you would as well) that it was another article decrying the dangers of vaccination.  Au contraire mon frere.  The article reads “a groundbreaking new investigation led by a team from the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston has brought to light a potentially significant connection between adult vaccinations and reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease.”  Same story as above.   At best it is burying the lede.  More likely it is deliberate bait and switch, pandering to readers’ belief that the worst will happen.

Again, this helps explain the media’s obsession with and focus on Trump.  He is a trainwreck you cannot help but watch.  Our innate fascination with the macabre forces most of us to look.  The continual drumbeat of this kind of “news” is depressing and that stifled my writing desire for a time.

Critical Thinking.  Half of Trump supporters, the polls say, will refuse to support him if convicted.  Really?  Only half?  The Trump company CFO has already been convicted of financial crimes and is now in the dock for perjury.  Trump has lost two defamation suits, and in one of those trials, the judge deemed that Trump was a rapist.  He already owes one plaintiff some $83 million and the corruption trial might cost him upwards of $400 million or more.  The public email trail shows Trumps complicity in the January 6 insurrection.  The recorded phone calls and public emails and testimony demonstrate complicity in trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election.  He has publicly lusted after his own daughter and is a serial adulterer as well as a sexual abuser.   But it will take a conviction to convince 50% of Trump supporters to give up their adoration?  I think the real issue, even more astonishing, is the 50% for whom a conviction changes nothing.  This state of affairs is depressing and that stifled my writing desire for a time.

Politics (again).  Rashid Tlaib (Dem) was elected to the 12^th Congressional District of Michigan.  Omar Ilhan (Dem) was elected to Minnesota’s 5^th Congressional District.  Matt Gaetz (Rep) was elected to Florida’s 1^st Congressional district.  There are others, but these three will do for now.  Taking in all of the press that these folks have generated, I cannot for one moment believe these folks represent their district, their state, or their country more than they represent an ideology.  And while they occasionally discuss topics regarding the state of affairs in the US (usually hawking a party line:  Tlaib and Ilhan for the Democratic Socialists of America and Gaetz for the MAGA wing of the Republican party) their real focus is elsewhere.   They are certainly not the only Representatives to put ideology before the national interest, but they are in the top 10 for sure.  I find our politics to be severely depressing and that stifled my writing desire for a time.

So, that explains why I have not been writing.  I was depressed as all hell and just did not have the energy nor inclination to write.

Clearly the world has not stopped turning in the absence of my blogging.  Just in the past week…..

Apparently, what Taylor Swift thinks about the election and why she is watching football have become the 2^nd and 3^rd most important agenda items on the MAGA list.  The first item, of course, being very accurately aimed at kissing Trump’s wrinkly orange/white ass. 

Also, it is apparent that Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (no relation to Ron Johnson of Wisconsin except in competency) cannot do simple math, have lost two votes that he brought to the floor.  Sheesh.

I have temporarily relocated to someplace warmer and sunnier and I feel better already.  But the most (if not only) important idea that came out of my morose navel-gazing was the conclusion that my silence affirms and condones that which I abhor.  

So, “Illegitimi non carborundum” or in real Latin “Noli sinere irrumatores te conterere” which in colloquial English is “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”  I have decided to abide by that.  No more silence. I encourage you to do so as well.

I will be writing more frequently and I really do feel better for having  made that commitment.