Monday, October 29, 2018

"Well, The Scalping Was Brutal, But, Damn, That Dandruff Is Sure Cured..."



Exactly.

A piece published in the Wall Street Journal this weekend is entitled "Why They Hate Trump."

"They", of course, being, obviously those who hate him.

Curious and ever on the lookout for reasonable, cogent insight and/or perspective, no matter where it originates these days, I gave the article a read.

And, at the moment I finished it, one word came to mind.

Exactly.

It should be noted, at this point, that the author of the article, Michael Gelernter, is not one of the "they" that he describes. He is, actually, a computer science professor at Yale, clearly an educated man and while it's not fair to label him a "passionate" defender of Trump, it's totally fair to use the word advocate.

It's not a long read, and I think it important to not , even inadvertently, muddy the context by editing or excerpting, so, here's the piece, in its entirety.



Every big U.S. election is interesting, but the coming midterms are fascinating for a reason most commentators forget to mention: The Democrats have no issues. The economy is booming and America’s international position is strong. In foreign affairs, the U.S. has remembered in the nick of time what Machiavelli advised princes five centuries ago: Don’t seek to be loved, seek to be feared.

The contrast with the Obama years must be painful for any honest leftist. For future generations, the Kavanaugh fight will stand as a marker of the Democratic Party’s intellectual bankruptcy, the flashing red light on the dashboard that says “Empty.” The left is beaten.

This has happened before, in the 1980s and ’90s and early 2000s, but then the financial crisis arrived to save liberalism from certain destruction. Today leftists pray that Robert Mueller will put on his Superman outfit and save them again.

For now, though, the left’s only issue is “We hate Trump.” This is an instructive hatred, because what the left hates about Donald Trump is precisely what it hates about America. The implications are important, and painful.

Not that every leftist hates America. But the leftists I know do hate Mr. Trump’s vulgarity, his unwillingness to walk away from a fight, his bluntness, his certainty that America is exceptional, his mistrust of intellectuals, his love of simple ideas that work, and his refusal to believe that men and women are interchangeable. Worst of all, he has no ideology except getting the job done. His goals are to do the task before him, not be pushed around, and otherwise to enjoy life. In short, he is a typical American—except exaggerated, because he has no constraints to cramp his style except the ones he himself invents.

Mr. Trump lacks constraints because he is filthy rich and always has been and, unlike other rich men, he revels in wealth and feels no need to apologize—ever. He never learned to keep his real opinions to himself because he never had to. He never learned to be embarrassed that he is male, with ordinary male proclivities. Sometimes he has treated women disgracefully, for which Americans, left and right, are ashamed of him—as they are of JFK and Bill Clinton. 

But my job as a voter is to choose the candidate who will do best for America. I am sorry about the coarseness of the unconstrained average American that Mr. Trump conveys. That coarseness is un-presidential and makes us look bad to other nations. On the other hand, many of his opponents worry too much about what other people think. I would love the esteem of France, Germany and Japan. But I don’t find myself losing sleep over it.

The difference between citizens who hate Mr. Trump and those who can live with him—whether they love or merely tolerate him—comes down to their views of the typical American: the farmer, factory hand, auto mechanic, machinist, teamster, shop owner, clerk, software engineer, infantryman, truck driver, housewife. The leftist intellectuals I know say they dislike such people insofar as they tend to be conservative Republicans. 

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama know their real sins. They know how appalling such people are, with their stupid guns and loathsome churches. They have no money or permanent grievances to make them interesting and no Twitter followers to speak of. They skip Davos every year and watch Fox News. Not even the very best has the dazzling brilliance of a Chuck Schumer, not to mention a Michelle Obama. In truth they are dumb as sheep.

Mr. Trump reminds us who the average American really is. Not the average male American, or the average white American. We know for sure that, come 2020, intellectuals will be dumbfounded at the number of women and blacks who will vote for Mr. Trump. He might be realigning the political map: plain average Americans of every type vs. fancy ones.

Many left-wing intellectuals are counting on technology to do away with the jobs that sustain all those old-fashioned truck-driver-type people, but they are laughably wide of the mark. It is impossible to transport food and clothing, or hug your wife or girl or child, or sit silently with your best friend, over the internet. Perhaps that’s obvious, but to be an intellectual means nothing is obvious. Mr. Trump is no genius, but if you have mastered the obvious and add common sense, you are nine-tenths of the way home. (Scholarship is fine, but the typical modern intellectual cheapens his learning with politics, and is proud to vary his teaching with broken-down left-wing junk.)

This all leads to an important question—one that will be dismissed indignantly today, but not by historians in the long run: Is it possible to hate Donald Trump but not the average American? 

True, Mr. Trump is the unconstrained average citizen. Obviously you can hate some of his major characteristics—the infantile lack of self-control in his Twitter babble, his hitting back like a spiteful child bully—without hating the average American, who has no such tendencies. (Mr. Trump is improving in these two categories.) You might dislike the whole package. I wouldn’t choose him as a friend, nor would he choose me. But what I see on the left is often plain, unconditional hatred of which the hater—God forgive him—is proud. It’s discouraging, even disgusting. And it does mean, I believe, that the Trump-hater truly does hate the average American—male or female, black or white. Often he hates America, too. 

Granted, Mr. Trump is a parody of the average American, not the thing itself. To turn away is fair. But to hate him from your heart is revealing. Many Americans were ashamed when Ronald Reagan was elected. A movie actor? But the new direction he chose for America was a big success on balance, and Reagan turned into a great president. Evidently this country was intended to be run by amateurs after all—by plain citizens, not only lawyers and bureaucrats. 

Those who voted for Mr. Trump, and will vote for his candidates this November, worry about the nation, not its image. The president deserves our respect because Americans deserve it—not such fancy-pants extras as network commentators, socialist high-school teachers and eminent professors, but the basic human stuff that has made America great, and is making us greater all the time.



I said at the outset that the first word that came to mind when I finished reading the piece was "exactly" 

In the interest of full disclosure, and in the spirit of the once hallowed, now pretty much disregarded tradition of telling the truth when and wherever possible, here's the truth.

The first thing, frankly, that came to my mind was "it's been quite a while since I heard such an articulate, well constructed, calm, measured, even reasonably presented batch of bullshit."

"Exactly" came next. As will the explanation of it right after I deal with a few of the author's points.



"...the economy is booming..."

I'm not an economist and neither is Gelernter. So, neither he nor I can testify to the true state of the American economy. What I can offer is that I got absolutely no benefit whatsoever out of the first of what I am sure will be several tax cuts, promised to benefit the "middle class" and not a day goes by that I don't read reputable reporting that the deficit has multiplied so dramatically that we may actually be in danger of a depression at some point....my stock portfolio, modest though it may be, has taken several major hits in the past several months due to the volatility of the stock market, most of the knee jerk drops directly connected to one Trump tantrum or one of those "tell it like it is" blunt tool comments that Gelernter and the Trumpers seem to find so appealing.....I am now a senior citizen, qualified for, deserving of and receiving Social Security and Medicare, both programs that I put money into over the course of a forty five year working career, only to be forewarned that the GOP plans to do what they can to gut those programs to deal with a deficit that wouldn't exist had there been no "tax cut" that, so far, hasn't done dick for me...or any one I personally know....so, hearing again, as I've heard much and many times in recent weeks, that "the economy is booming", especially when the term is used as a defense of Trump's crude, rude, obnoxious demeaning and denigrating of races, creeds, religions and any thing that doesn't tickle his toes, I sincerely, and admittedly, have a hard time not coming back at people like Professor Gelernter with a Trump-esque response, something along the lines of "you don't know what the fuck you're talking about..."


"....But the leftists I know do hate Mr. Trump’s vulgarity, his unwillingness to walk away from a fight, his bluntness, his certainty that America is exceptional, his mistrust of intellectuals, his love of simple ideas that work, and his refusal to believe that men and women are interchangeable...."

Well, run on sentence or not, that's a run-on stream of consciousness, there, Professor. I could write some of it off to "agree to disagree", for example, this men and women are or are not interchangeable business. Chauvinism, even misogyny, is as old as the garden and I'm not naive enough to think they're going away any time soon.

Simple ideas? Sure. I'm down with simple ideas when simple means uncomplicated, basic, practical and, most of all, successful. But I'm not at all on board when "simple" turns out to mean impractical, even harmful and, most of all, disruptive and/or destructive. The "simple" way to rid the barn of rats is to burn it down. You're going to find me not in the cheering crowd as the gas gets poured and the match gets lit.

Mistrust of intellectuals? Due respect, Professor, shame on you. You're an intellectual and you know better. In Trump's world, the word used is "mistrust" but the word demonstrated is "jealous", "envious", even "fearful", but certainly, "intimidated", because we all tend to be afraid of and/or intimidated by things we don't understand. And highly educated people, many of whom simply resulting from that education, being fairly described as intellectual, are feared by people who don't know as much or read as much or simply, think about it, as much.

But the phrase that pays in that paragraph is the first phrase. "...the leftists I know do hate Trump's vulgarity..." Here's a thing. What reasonable, civilized, mature human being, regardless of any political leaning or preference, doesn't hate vulgarity? And what same reasonable, civilized, mature human being wouldn't find their patience sorely tested and in danger of wearing out after three plus years, and no end in sight, of daily, even hourly, vulgarity, most especially vulgarity that has somehow been "trumped" up and assigned the status of being some kind of noble badge of honor? And then, said badge of honor for vulgarity awarded to an individual who, in theory, is supposed to represent, or give his or her very best shot at representing, the very best of who we are, the very best of who and what we can be, but, in fact, symbolizes, no, make that personally demonstrates daily, even hourly,  the very worst...the very worst flaws in our characters, the very worst of out weaknesses, bigotries, prejudices and flaws....not the best of who we can be....but the very worst, lowest depth(s) to which we flawed beings are capable of sinking?

"......True, ", Gelernter goes on, "Mr. Trump is the unconstrained average citizen. Obviously you can hate some of his major characteristics—the infantile lack of self-control in his Twitter babble, his hitting back like a spiteful child bully—without hating the average American, who has no such tendencies. (Mr. Trump is improving in these two categories.)

Uh, okay. By "improving in these two categories", just exactly what 's your definition, there, Professor? That he's only a blunt, profane, cheap shot, fourth rate, violence inciting asshole once a day instead of on the hour?

The main thread of this stunningly moronic fabric that Gelernter weaves in his essay is the notion that, at the rock bottom core of it all, Donald Trump appeals to those to whom he appeals because he is "one of them". He gets them. They get him.

I'll grant you two things, Mike. Can I call you Mike?

First, in large measure, you're absolutely correct. Second, in even larger measure, that's the fucking problem.

America, most especially the America that exists in the year 2018, needs more, so much more and different, so very different, than a president that is "one of us."

More on that in a minute.


".....But what I see on the left", the Professor continues," is often plain, unconditional hatred of which the hater—God forgive him—is proud. It’s discouraging, even disgusting. And it does mean, I believe, that the Trump-hater truly does hate the average American—male or female, black or white. Often he hates America, too...."

At the risk of being rightly accused of putting words in other people's mouths, here, Mike, indulge me for a few moments while I step up and speak on behalf of these "Trump-haters" whom you, at the very least, intellectually, assume also hate America. And, for the sake of those in the Trump supporter line who share their hero's "mistrust of intellectuals", I'll ratchet back the vocabulary a little and dumb it down.

The idea that those who hate Donald Trump hate America is as fuck all stupid as it is insulting.

Let's skip the psychobabble back and forth having to do with "projection", the defense of inexcusable attitudes and/or behaviors by accusing others of those attitudes and behaviors (a methodology that your boy king there, by the way, is a universally recognized and acknowledged Jedi master ably aided and abetted by his estrogen saturated Himmler/Goebbels comedy team of Kellyanne and Huckabee Sanders).... and do what we in the oldies radio biz call a "Shirley Ellis".

"get right down / to the real nitty gritty"

The root problem with your entire argument, actually, your entire premise, is your conflating Trump and "the average American".

And you're invalidating your own premise not by what you're including, but by what you're leaving out.

Every time you use the three words, "the average American".

When, in truth, and in fact, each use of that term requires a fourth word.

Any one of a number of fourth words.

"the average uneducated American".

"the average uninformed American".

"the average racist American".

"the average misogynist American".

You get the idea.

 ".....Granted, Mr. Trump is a parody of the average American, not the thing itself. To turn away is fair. But to hate him from your heart is revealing...."

Taking extremists and rubber room residents out of the equation (and, hey, Mikey, who doesn't have a chunk of those in their tree house no matter how savvy and sensible the rest of us are?), the recurring chorus in your wanna be hit song there, that those who "hate Trump" hate him personally and "from the heart" is annoyingly trite, off key...and a Top 100's worth of off base.

We don't hate Trump personally.

We hate lack of education. And the dangers of being uninformed. And racism. And misogyny. And sexual bigotry. And hypocrisy. Oh, land a goshen, we is awash wit da tidal wave of hypocrisy.

And the profane, obscene, horrific witnessing of a president of the United States repeatedly, consistently, predictably standing in front of a large group of people, any large group of people and pandering to their primal hatred and prejudice and bigotry. Purposely and egregiously choosing to incite when the opportunity is right there to inspire. Stirring up mockery and ridicule and denigration when the opportunity is right there to stir up passion for unification....

Leading a nation up the slope to the peak of the highest mountain of what the human being is, when called to tap into their inner strength, capable of achieving.

Not leading the lynch mob down the street, torches lighting the night and bringing out the hatred in their eyes and the bold red in their caps.


Gelenter wraps it up...."Those who voted for Mr. Trump, and will vote for his candidates this November, worry about the nation, not its image. The president deserves our respect because Americans deserve it—not such fancy-pants extras as network commentators, socialist high-school teachers and eminent professors, but the basic human stuff that has made America great, and is making us greater all the time.

Wow. Just wow.

I guess ethics classes aren't a mandatory part of the curriculum needed to graduate with degrees in computer science, then, huh, Professor?

Yeah. Didn't think so.

"...Donald Trump is the unconstrained, average citizen...."

Except for the other aforementioned adjectives I mentioned, there, Mike, I hear ya.

Here's a last thing, though.

That whole "average citizen", he's "one of us" business?

Put yourself in the middle of any row of any Trump rally. Or, for that matter, in the middle of any crowd of "average citizens" in the America of 2018.

Now, pick one of those people and bestow upon them the authority to determine the future of your children...or grandchildren or, in the larger sense, the future of mankind.

You'd have to be a fool...or an idiot......to not , at the very least, think twice about handing that kind of license over to someone you consider "average".

Let alone blunt, profane, obscene, racist, misogynist and not even, in the slightest, interested, for a nano second, in anything....ANYTHING.....that doesn't come wrapped in a package of praise, worship and adoration for him.

See what I mean?

Exactly.






Saturday, October 27, 2018

Don't Waste Your Ammunition...



Eleven people are dead in Pittsburgh.

And for the next few hours, days, maybe a week or two, you're going to hear the usual cacophony of piousness and platitudes, ranging from the predictable, now cliche, call for "thoughts and prayers" to the predictable, now cliche cries for gun control.

Here's what I suspect you won't hear anywhere else but right here.

For the time being, debate, discussion, even conversation about this latest in the predictable, now cliche', expectation of random mass shooting deaths is a waste of time.

Tom Wolf, the Governor of Pennsylvania, tweeted the following just a few hours ago.

"...This is an absolute tragedy. These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans...."

The tweet continues for a sentence or two, but the first of the two part senselessness is pretty much covered by that excerpt.

And the second part of the two parts?

As I just said, the senselessness of debating, discussing, even conversing on the subject of this shooting, those deaths and those yet to come.

And here's why it's a senseless waste of time.

The Governor is right.

This is, in fact, an absolute tragedy. 

And the Governor is wrong.

Because as long as the Congress of the United States is in bondage to the checkbooks of the NRA, gun manufacturers and any and/or all interests, special or other wise, that profit from the sale of weapons and weapon accessories.......

...and as long as the White House is the residence of a man who has no moral compass, no intention whatsoever of leading a unified nation, who has, does and will continue to incite bigotry, prejudice, hatred and violence, endorsed, supported, cheered, even celebrated by rally halls full of  bigots, haters and potentially violent excuses for human beings, calling themselves supporters, but simply putting lipstick on a pig named lynch mob......

as long as....and until that, and they, are stopped.......

Due respect, Governor Wolf, you're wrong.

What happened today in Pennsylvania is, in fact, who we are as Americans.

Those who endorse, support, cheer, even celebrate a lynch mob leader and his outlaw gang.

And those who continue to allow the lynch mob to walk the streets.

Eleven people are dead in Pittsburgh.

Same shit, different shooter.




Thursday, October 25, 2018

Turns Out, We Did Know, Then, What We Know Now...



It starts with a little test tube.

During a first season episode of the landmark drama, "The West Wing", some twenty years ago, now, a conversation takes place between C.J. Gregg, the White House Press Secretary and Josh Lyman, the deputy White House Chief of Staff.

Josh has been given an ID card that will give him access to an escape plan in the event of a nuclear attack and is struggling with the personal morality involved in realizing that, because of his rank in the executive branch pecking order, he has been designated for survival while many of his co-workers, his friends, even family actually have not. And those friends and family are almost sure to be sacrificed when, he, Josh, will be spared.

The conversation takes a poignant and profound turn when Josh offers this insight on how unprepared, even unaware, so many people are about how quickly life as they know it can be stunningly altered. Even ended.





".....It's not gonna be the red phone and nuclear bombs," Josh begins,   

"......It's gonna be this.... Smallpox has been gone for 50 years. No one has an acquired immunity. Flies through the air. You get it...you carry a ten-foot cloud around with you. One in three people die...

.... If 100 people in New York City got it, you'd have to encircle them with 100 million

vaccinated people to contain it. Do you know how many doses of smallpox vaccines exist

in the country? Seven.... 

.....If 100 people in New York City get it, there's gonna be a

global medical emergency that's gonna make HIV look like cold and flu season.....

....That's how it’s gonna be, a little test tube with a rubber cap that's deteriorating... A
guy steps out of Times Square Station. ... Smashes it on the sidewalk...Pshht...."




Witty punchline surfaced a few months ago and I find myself using it from time to time these days.

"remember....the first 15 minutes of every disaster movie is people rolling their eyes and clucking about how ridiculous the idea of the "impending catastrophe"is...."

Because, first, of course, denial, or, at least, its brutal cousin, mind numbing disbelief is pretty much always the immediate go-to in the human psyche when it comes to being confronted, even assaulted with disaster.

And psychologists almost surely have some clinical term or another to describe the inclination most of us have regarding that level of catastrophe.

Kind of a global destruction spin on the old fashioned "well, it's just a little lump....it can't be all that serious....if I ignore it, it'll just go away...."

We've all seen enough "big event catastrophe/disaster" movies by now, though, to be more than familiar with how it plays out.

There is the first hint that something just isn't quite right.

Cool heads and keen eyes realize that it's actually worse than that.

Those folks do their best to convince those in a position to do something about it that they need to...do something about it......

At this point, insert "eye rolling and clucking" about how ridiculous the idea of the "impending catastrophe" is.

And, then, the next thing you know.......

...either the volcano erupts or the earthquake begins or the tsunami appears...or there is a blinding flash of light and, on the horizon, a cloud of dust in the the unmistakable shape of a immeasurable mushroom rises......

....and eyes stop rolling and clucking ceases, replaced by eyes wide open in fear and panic, hysterical screaming....you know how the script reads. Feel free to fill in your own dramatic details.

There's a problem with Armageddon....or, more to the point, our consumer point of view conception of it.

It's bad enough that we roll our eyes and cluck our clucks and dismiss the little warnings until it gets to full blown volcano/earthquake/tsunami/nuclear blast status.

But, add to that, our very very naive notion that life altering, even ending, level disaster will only come in the form of full blown volcano/earthquake/tsunami/nuclear blast.

And that those little warning signs are the predicable, recognizable ones we've seen in hundreds of movies, give or take a Dwayne Johnson.

Possibly, even probably, as Josh pointed out, via the brilliant words written by Aaron Sorkin, it won't be red phones or nuclear bombs at all.

Possibly, even probably, it will all start with a little test tube.

A little test tube filled with bigotry, prejudice, hatred....fear of another and others because of their color or their religion or their gender....a little test tube with a rubber cap that's deteriorating....and some guy steps on to a stage at a "rally"....and stands behind a podium with a once upon a time sacred seal.....and for no better reason than his neurotic addiction to praise and worship and adoration....smashes it on the stage........and no one has an acquired immunity......so a thousand people get it....and spread it to a thousand more....who spread it to ten thousand more.......

...and the next thing you know.....

....explosive devices start showing up in mailboxes and on front porches......

Not a volcano...or earthquake.....or tsunami.....or blinding nuclear detonation in sight......

Just a little test tube.

Lying smashed to pieces.

 



Tuesday, October 23, 2018

"We, The People", from the Latin, Meaning "You're One Of Us, Right?"



Don't it just make your blood boil when you see somebody stomp on the American flag?

Of course it does. There's no other reaction to be expected from any reasonable and/or reasonably intelligent citizen of the good old U.S. of A.

Turns out flags ain't the only thing too often stomped in the land of the, give or take, free and the home of the, depends entirely on how you look at it, brave.

Madam Secretary is a weekly TV drama portraying the life and experiences of a fictional female American Secretary of State.

For the Hillary bashers in the cheap seats, sit your asses down and hush. The fictional Secretary Elizabeth McCord is a woman and is Secretary of State. And there endeth the similarity.  



In what is both poetic irony and poetic justice in a period in American history that finds a misogynistic blunt tool of a blowhard bully taking up space behind the desk in the Oval Office, this fictional look at a fictional family whose Mom is the fictional head of the U.S. State Department was created, is produced and is, very often written, by......you know where this is going, right?.......

...of course you do.....

...a woman.

But the topic du jour is neither feminine empowerment nor egregious sexism. It has, actually, nothing to do with the whole "place of woman in the workplace, let alone society" debate/discussion. What follows could have just as easily been written by a man and offered up by a man.

But it wasn't and it wasn't. It was both written, and spoken, by women.

The impish provocateur lobe of my brain gets a tingly about that simply because it's yet another fun for all ages way of sticking it to the misogynist blunt tool behind the desk.

Who has, of late, been doing way, way....way more than his share of the aforementioned stompin'.

Not on the flag....at least, not exactly.

At the end of a recent episode of Madam Secretary, Elizabeth gives an address to a group gathered after one treaty signing or another, the usual gang of geopolitical suspects in attendance and articulates beautifully on one of what has been, until recent times, one of the qualities that made America shine...from sea to...well, you know the rest.


"What".....the Secretary begins, "... is an even greater threat than nuclear weapons? That which makes the use of them possible.

Hate.
 
Specifically, the blind hatred one group or nation can have for another.
 
And that is why I am convinced that nationalism is the existential threat of our time.
 
I want to be clear.
 
Nationalism is not the same as patriotism.
It's a perversion of patriotism.
 
Nationalism promotes the idea that inclusion and diversity represent weakness, 
that the only way to succeed is to give blind allegiance to the 
supremacy of one race over all others.
 
Nothing could be less American.
 
Patriotism, on the other hand, is about building each other up and embracing our 
diversity as the source of our nation's strength.
 
"We the People" means all the people.
America's heroes didn't die for race or region.
They died for the ideals enshrined in our Constitution.
 
Above all, freedom from tyranny, which requires our unwavering support of a free press,
freedom of religion all religions the right to vote, and making sure nothing infringes 
on any of those rights, which belong to us all.
 
Look where isolationism has gotten us in the past.
 
Two world wars.
70 million dead.
 
Never again can we go back to those dark times when fear and hatred, 
like a contagion, infected the world.
 
That, as much as ending the threat of nuclear war, is what today is about.
 
And it's why we must never lose sight of our common humanity, our common values, 
and our common decency.
 
I was reminded recently of our nation's founding motto, e pluribus unum.
 
Out of many, one.
13 disparate colonies became one country, one people.
 
And, today, we call on all Americans and people everywhere to reject the scourge of nationalism.
 
Because governments can't legislate tolerance or eradicate hate.
 
That's why each one of us has to find the beauty in our differences instead of the fear.
 
Listen instead of reacting.
 
Reach out instead of recoiling.
 
It's up to us.
 
All of us.
 
 


There are, at least, a couple of things noteworthy about that profound soliloquy.

It presents as empirical evidence of the power of words. The right words. At the right time, spoken in the right tone with good, sincere intent and in a spirit of seeking solutions.

And it underscores the irony, not to mention the injustice on display, of words written into a script for an episode of weekly television by someone who most assuredly would be branded with the scarlet letters, H and E for Hollywood Elite, with a dash of L and S for Libtard Snowflake, contrasted with the garbled, meandering, meaningless stirring of the shit pot theoretically disguised as "presidential" oratory.

Nationalism is not the same as patriotism.

It's a perversion of patriotism.

Don't it just make your blood boil when you see somebody stomp on the American flag?

Of course it does.

Does for me, too.

Just like when I see somebody stomp on sacred, bedrock foundational American values.

Like patriotism.

By equating it with nationalism.

Or, depending on your level of education and/or political affiliation, better known to you in a couple of more familiar versions.

America First.

and...

Make America Great Again.






 


Sunday, October 21, 2018

Less Than Less Than Zero


It's more than just a little ironic that, during the Days of Donald, a brighter light than usual has been shining on the vocabulary deficiencies of the average Joe and Jane.

Part of that, of course, traces back to the root cause of a lot of the woes we face.

Lack of education.

Which is also known, in some instances, by the term tossed about by political pundits from mostly the disloyal opposition.

Being uninformed.

Somewhere along the way, the traditional life path of educational pursuit in America, from kindergarten to elementary, from middle school to high school, from college to post graduate, fell not only out of fashion, but even out of favor, as if, somehow, being educated was the intellectual equivalent of being rich.

As far as those who weren't were concerned, those who were were nothing more than snobby, spoiled pricks who thought they were better than everyone else.


Never mind that it's very much a false equivalency because while not everyone can achieve whatever is necessary to acquire great wealth, there is nothing stopping anyone from acquiring as much information, read: education, as that person desires and/or is willing to put the time and energy in to find.

Especially today, with the public library still open for business and ready to welcome one and all. Not to mention the library that houses a billion times more information and education than the finest brick and mortar collection of the printed word.

The Internet.

Now, this is where the inevitable "but, what about" brigade chokes up a hairball, something in the form of "what about people who can't afford computers? huh? what about that, Mr. Informed Educated Snobby Spoiled Prick Who Thinks He's Better Than Everyone Else?"

Yeah. About that. If you're reading this, then you already have a computer or you have access to one. Most likely in the form of that smartphone that you probably stood in line for two hours to be first to get.

And if not, then you can, at absolutely no charge, get access to a computer at least six days a week by stopping into your.....wait for it.....public library.

Meanwhile, vocabulary be deficient.

And here's a word you're going to hear a lot in the coming days, weeks, months that a lot of people actually don't fully understand.

Deficit.

Here's the easy to find (right there on that computer or smartphone I mentioned) dictionary definition.



Deficit.
 noun

 
(in sports) the amount or score by which a team or individual is losing.
"came back from a 3–0 deficit"
 
 
 But here's the application you'll more often hear about when the word is used in those coming days,weeks, months.....
 
     
       an excess of expenditure or liabilities over income or assets in a given period.
       "an annual operating deficit"
 
        And even closer to home for you...... 

 
      The amount by which something, especially a sum of money, is too small.
          synonyms:shortfall, deficiency, shortage, arrears
negative amount, loss
"a large deficit in the federal budget"



Okay. At this point it seems a little unfair, even a little rude, of me to start us off down a path of snarking about how deficient the American vocabulary is these days and then rattle off all these syllables.

Let's put this in living in a short burst, texting world fashion.

Deficit is just a fancy, educated snobby spoiled prick way of saying "debt".

As in what you owe.

As in, what you're in.

As in, how are we ever gonna get out of?

Here's another hilarious, obviously elitist edition of the def.

A deficit occurs when expenses exceed revenues, imports exceed exports or liabilities exceed assets.

Like I said, debt.

Too much out goin'. Not enough in comin'.

And debt is a lot like extra poundage. One of those things that just sort of creeps up on ya. I mean, come on, nobody goes to bed on Tuesday night and wakes up Wednesday morning to find they've put on a hundred pounds.

There's at least a couple of Thanksgivings, two or three Christmases, some long football seasons with too much beer and pizza and one whole hell of a lot of stress eating before you get to that moment when you start your morning by steppin' on the scales and blurt out "what the fuck?"

Of course, as with everything else they do, our governments, be they local, state and/or Federal, surpass us like we're standing still when it comes to the fat of the land.

Those dudes and dudettes can put us in a hole faster than a serial killer whose main get off is digging the graves and burying the bodes.

Here's something your more insightful financial gurus will tell you.

One factor that plays a large part in the accumulation of debt but doesn't always get the attention it both deserves and needs is hidden costs.

Again, the nerdy bookworm description reads: Unforeseen expenses added on to purchases.

Usually, those expenses refer to things like fees. Credit card fees, hotel and resort fees, the always intriguing, but less than amusing "handling" fee, as in "you just pay shipping and handling."

Unless there's some kind of orgasm involved at the end of the process, it seems a little arrogant of product merchants to be charging you for simply using their hands.

And, of course, during the great American adventure of buying a car, there's fees in places most people ain't even got places.

That's the thing about buying things.

Or, while we're at it, buying into things.

More often than not, there's a hidden cost.

Or costs.

The America offered for sale by Donald, during the Days of Donald, is filled with hidden costs.

Pretty much exclusively paid by those who continue paying for a ride on the once amusing, now more sad than amusing, Trump Train.

The rest of us....well, the rest of us don't buy it.

Which isn't to say we're not paying for it.

Here's some examples....and, for the sake of the examples, let's assume that you're still an enthusiastic participant in Trump transactions.

You're buying that the tax cut he and his posse carved out a few months ago, and the additional tax cut that's sure to come right after the midterms, assuming they remain the majority party, are going to ease your fears, lessen your burden and set you down the path to financial happy ever after.

The hidden cost? Every educated, qualified financial expert on the planet Earth, regardless of their politics, predicts that the massive debt already resulting from the loss of tax revenue will either trigger a recession, even depression, of a magnitude unseen in five generations...or...loss of revenue will have to be offset by going after the funds currently being paid out to me...and you....and your loved ones....in the form of Medicare....Medicaid.....Social Security...... 

You're buying the myth that he is a "successful businessman" and "not a politician" who can efficiently "run America like it's a business" bringing financial prosperity to me and you and...your loved ones.

The hidden cost? The list of bankruptcies, hotel and casino failures, meat product sales failures, private university failure, etc, reads longer than the list of failed relationships and marriages in the Kardashian family and could be an entire semester's worth of an economics class entitled "How NOT To Run A Business If You Want To Succeed.". And none....none of those failures is untrue or incorrect...or "fake news". None. Those failures and his method of "successfully running America like it was a business" pretty much has you putting your entire financial well being and the well being of everyone you care about, never mind any of the rest of your fellow Americans, on the number six on a roulette table, where the roulette wheel has only one number on it. And that number isn't six. Oh...and as far as "he's not a politician" is concerned?  By handing over the reins of power to a failed businessman with no quote, unquote, political experience, no intention of listening to any voice but his own, no ability to learn from mistakes because he is pathologically convinced he has yet to make a mistake....ever....about...anything..... you have essentially hired a third rate carpenter....to perform life saving heart valve replacement surgery on the person you love most in the world...and millions of others in the world awaiting the same operation.

You're buying the idea that random arrests of undocumented people, with no particular game plan or end game strategy, badly organized and sloppily carried out, is making the streets of your town safer.

The hidden cost? Your family, friends, anyone and everyone you theoretically care about and/or concern yourself regarding their impression of you are seeing that you aren't at all bothered by children being taken away from their parents and placed in cages like the ones you see at your local mall pet shop. And when all of that madness is finally brought to an end, you will never....ever....be seen the same way you were before you allowed, even encouraged, that to happen. And your streets are no safer than they were before that first child was torn, screaming, from their mother's embrace.

You're buying and endorsing, by not condemning, his endorsement of, and not condemning, white supremacy, Nazi-ism, bigotry, prejudice, hatred, extremism,"body slamming" journalists, live dismemberment of journalists, mistreatment, even abuse of women.

The hidden cost? What possible explanation for that endorsement will give you any....any chance at all of redemption and/or forgiveness when your time comes? You truly needn't give a moment's care to what I think....or what those people in your circle think......or what anyone in this life...anyone....thinks of what you've allowed to go on.......it isn't this life you have to worry about........

You're buying that lies are acceptable, disrespect is a virtue and not a vice, any and all means justify any and all ends....bullying is bravery. Cowardice is to be congratulated.

The hidden cost? A forfeiture of whatever simple, basic human dignity and decency you possessed before you became...what you have become.

Whatever else you may, or may not, be perceiving in the days of this demagogue, as benefits,, any objective auditor, regardless of their politics, could look at your balance sheet and alert you that your investments of time, energy, money, spirit, even soul are costing you considerably more than whatever profit there might be.

The thing, though, about our value systems, our core belief systems,...our hearts, our minds...even our souls.....is that trying to describe gains or losses puts our already under-stocked vocabulary to the test.

If only there were a word that sums up the abandonment of better angels in favor of surrendering to fear, prejudice, hatred, ignorance....indecency.....as it applies to the human spirit.

Turns out there is a word.

Deficit.