So just in case you didn’t know, bad shit happened on Saturday.
I have spent the past few days trying to process it. No one around me is talking about it really. I think some people don’t care or see it as significant in any way. I think others are just a little to shocked to try and take it in. I have read stuff every chance I get and trying to figure out why it seems to effect me more than a lot of other people. Maybe other people feel like it is too delicate to talk about. I don’t know.
I do know that I hate modern American politics. I used to love politics. It used to excite me to see what was going on and where these dipshit politicians were taking America. I cried the day Obama was elected because I believed in him. Now I am just beyond disgusted. Politics are more like a professional wrestling match and less like a discussion of policy. Atleast back in the day the corruption and screwing of the country was done with some decorum. Now we just scream uselessly at each other trying to out flame and rhetoric the other side.
It got like this before the civil war broke out too. One congressman actually beat another congressman with a cane. They were atleast fighting about big issues that controlled the very shape of the way our country governs itself. I get getting that worked up over states rights and slavery. We have people beating each other over fiscal policy that most people don’t grasp or health care, which again, most people don’t get. Really?
Wasn’t it a clue that maybe we should tone down the rhetoric when the woman got beaten by a mob at political rally?
Its not just the politicians and media’s fault either. It is the American people’s fault. Our Constitution is a contract between the government and ourselves. Our founding fathers did not trust governments and felt that the only way to keep a government healthy was to keep a close eye on it and actively participate. We don’t do that anymore. We let the parties tell us what to think and who to vote for. We identify with one side or the other and believe whatever we are fed. We respond to the bullshit rhetoric. We call each other idiots and we never really look at what is going on.
I am guilty of all of this too. I won’t pretend that I am not. I have strong beliefs. You aren’t going to convince me that Sarah Palin is good for our country or that the national government has any place in the discrimination industry. I think I am so shaken up because I do sometimes scream more than I listen.
Now the shooter was probably just a very mentally ill individual. The crazy political environment probably had very little to do with why he opened fire. Politicians have been targets for these people since the beginning of politics and crazy. I doubt he was a normal, stable guy until he went to Sarah Palin’s website and saw the cross hairs on Arizona and then decided he needed to kill because of that. This could have easily happened with Democratic mudslinging against a Republican. I don’t think this means that we should let this incident pass without taking a hard look at ourselves.
I wonder what would happen if we toned down the screaming a bit or if we actually paid attention to what was going on. Things are bad in this country right now. Life is hard and people are scared. Fear makes people accept really stupid things. We hand over rights, we listen to ridiculous hate speech, and we bounce to blame. History is full of examples of people being dumb because they were afraid.
I wish I could end this blog with some great eloquent point about how to fix our future or great swelling point that shows how smart I am but I don’t have it. I don’t have answers. The only thing I do know is that we need to fix stuff. We need to start listening and paying attention. We need to be not stupid.
/steps off soap box
Geeks a Geeking