What a Boring Bunch of Dopes

October 31, 2023October 31, 2023 J.M.Boring, Conservative, Humor, Liberal, Politics, Social MediaLeave a comment

Is there anything worse than someone who turns every topic of discussion into something political? I submit that there are many, many things worse. Attacks by swarms of fire ants, having to endure a laborious lecture on why Taylor Swift is important in today’s world, buttercream frosting… these are just a few that come to mind. That being said, it is absolutely exhausting trying to navigate the nuances of everyday chit-chat these days. What ought to be innocuous piffle about the weather inevitably becomes an analysis of climate change as a byproduct of white supremacy and how the patriarchy is responsible for everything from volcanic eruptions to bad breath. So, why are we the way we are? More importantly perhaps, what can you do in order to stave off insanity for another day or two? Let’s see if I can help at all.

First off, the question of “how we got here” is sort of laughable. To think that we are worse off now than every other time in human existence is incredibly arrogant. Human beings have this innate desire to look at their own struggles, trials and tribulations as the worst in all of human history. Somehow, religious people demonstrating outside of abortion clinics has become worse than the ancestors of those folks hanging people for witchcraft. The irony is that if any of these perennially upset goobers ever actually read a book about history that wasn’t written by someone with more concern about commentary than context, they’d realize their ersatz sense of horror was well, ersatz. Do we argue a lot? Yes. Do we argue more? Probably. The rise of social media has created a landscape where we can argue about absolutely anything with strangers whenever we’d like. Now, you’d think that simply arguing with a stranger would be something most folks would like to avoid. But to the contrary, it has become so de rigueur for the socially conscious true believer, that it ought to have a spot in the Olympics. The reason for this, in my mind, is that our lives have become so soft, that the natural human desire for conflict, struggle and finding meaning in both are squirting out of our fingers and onto our screens in the form of half-researched gobbledy gook and snark. It is not rocket science. People, especially young people, are bored. They are bored because they are the first generation of young adults who had every single moment of their lives planned for them in advance. They were never allowed to scrape their knees because they were forced to wear knee and elbow pads to bed. People thrive on conflict. Many moons ago, the daily business of keeping yourself alive was all the conflict you needed. Now, we have refrigerators, HVAC, indoor plumbing, dollar menus and Tylenol. The life of a working-class person in the United States is ten times better than the life of a wealthy person in the United States 100 years ago. Humans have come a long way, but we are still essentially the same animal as we always have been, at least instinctively. Conflict now comes in the form of appropriated righteous indignation and an almost admirable sense of self-importance made manifest in poorly worded arguments, memes and pseudo-activism.

So, what do you do in order to maintain sanity? Ignore “them”. Ignore the always aggrieved of all political bends and stripes and if you can manage to avoid acknowledging their existence at all, even better. More than half of these folks are suffering from nearly fatal levels of Dunning Kruger delusions and the rest are usually super boring. I know that it is nearly impossible to ignore these types these days because they make it part of their “activism” (boy, do I use that term lightly) to make sure everyone knows how upset they are. But give it a shot anyway. If you can’t, simply agree and move on. Don’t engage with the intention of changing their minds. It is as pointless as telling someone they ought to listen to jazz instead of rock. These causes are fashion. They are performance art. Tell someone their favorite movie sucks and see how viscerally they react. It is the same principle. Causes now are much more about how they make the individual ally feel after the fact than about actually helping the people they purport to care about. Every generation needs its own fashion trend. This generation has chosen the downtrodden. Which would actually be wonderful if any of the incredible amount of energy expended on these causes did a damn thing to help anyone other than the protestor. Remember, marginalized folks, your disenfranchisement gives boring people a reason to get up in the morning and meaning in their lives. I guess they at least owe you for that. What to do about the ever-whiney? Feel sorry for them, say a prayer, flip a coin into a fountain, whatever floats your boat and then move on with your life. So, what if the lunatics end up running the asylum? Would you even really notice a difference?

Observation Friday: Cool It

December 9, 2016December 9, 2016 J.M.Conservative, Donald Trump, LiberalLeave a comment

Conservatives need to understand that the more they spout off; “GET OVER IT, SHE LOST!!!” the more ground they lose in the ongoing, never-ending, back and forth of the American political culture war. The excuse; “they [Democrats] do it too… they say they won’t recognize a Trump presidency!” holds absolutely no water. How many of us, at one time or another, referred to Obama as “their [Democrats] president”? The rub against Paul Ryan, Reince Priebus and Congressional Republicans or the, “establishment” was that they didn’t do enough to obstruct Obama or his policies. Do you, Conservatives, honestly believe that liberals are going to simply roll over? Everyone reaps what they sow. It would be in the best interest of Trump’s most ardent supporters to realize that simply because you believe your ideology to be correct, doesn’t make it so in the eyes of your political opposites.

The Republican Party decided to dump the mantle of moral superiority that it rightly held in contrast to the DNC when it nominated Donald Trump. That does not mean that it should be cast away for good. In fact, it might be in the best interest of Conservatives to attempt to lift it back up in case they need to turn to it again after the next four years. If not they are left with a situation where the only defense they would be able to muster of themselves would be the, “we were conned but we had only the best intentions” argument. And that is not a good look on anyone.

Those on the right: Cool it. We may need to look principled again one day.

Hey, you never know.

Dumpster Fire: Round 1

September 27, 2016 J.M.Conservative, Election, GOP, Hillary Clinton, Liberal, TrumpLeave a comment

It was as advertised; a somewhat boring affair with Clinton at her coldest and Trump at a 7 out of 10 on the narcissistic rage scale. Nothing of substance came out of either candidate regardless of the fact that fairly substantive questions were asked. Questions were left unanswered and the best the viewer got out of it lands somewhere between, “what have we done” and “is it too late to pick a couple other candidates?” The best overview / rundown of the night was a single tweet I read which simply stated: “We are talking about birtherism before national security. Let that sink in.”

TRUMP: Breakdown and lasting question

He started strong and brought up the fact that she had been a career politician with little or nothing to show for it. He hammered her record and for a few minutes made her look like a lightweight compared to his tell-it-like-it-is rhetoric. However, that was only after she had brought up the fact that his father facilitated his success with his loan. It shows that he can still be gotten to. His past and his family’s past is his Achilles heel and anything to do with him personally sets him off like a roman candle. His entire appeal among his mainstream followers is the fact that he is not a politician and that he is a business success who seems to be as upset with the direction of the country as they are. What he is overestimating however, is the amount of self-serving grandstanding the on-the-fence voter can handle. The answer remains to be seen in November but I am guessing that answering policy questions with examples of your all-inclusive and racially welcoming golf resorts isn’t going to be something that makes you look like a deep-thinking policy genius. He is going to need to look far more presidential in the next two debates to repair the damage he did to himself last night when it comes to policy and planning. If he can’t beat Hillary in a debate… how can he expect us to believe foreign powers will capitulate to his brand of bluster? Question: How the HELL did he not destroy her on the emails when they had a five-minute back and forth on cyber attacks and the possibility of cyber terrorism?

CLINTON: Breakdown and lasting question

Woah. It is always interesting to watch a politician lie. It begs the question; how does someone train themselves to be devoid of all feeling? It’s actually impressive. What she lost in the beginning she made up for during the second half of the debate by putting Trump on the defensive. He is not good when he is on the defensive. Now she knows that. No one is really all that good on the defensive. Proof of this fact was seen last night when she simply thumbed over the fact that her email gaffe potentially put America and Americans abroad at risk by saying; “I made a mistake.” What would you expect from the woman who also famously asked what difference it made? She has been in this circus long enough to understand more about policy and the repercussions of policy decision than her opponent. That was made painfully evident by the fact that she is more automaton than human. Her thousand yard stare, forced chuckles and emotionless delivery is downright creepy. Does she have the chops to be the president? No. But neither does he and at this point this election is more like choosing a plug for a sinking ship than a captain to get us into port before we go under. Question: How the HELL can she keep a straight face when discussing law and order a few minutes after essentially disavowing due process?

RESULT: Draw, with a slight advantage to Clinton.

Two more of these trainwrecks to go.

Get some popcorn… and Valium.

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte

September 22, 2016 J.M.Alt-Right, American, BLM, Charlotte, Conservative, LiberalLeave a comment

Last night saw the latest round of riots brought forth by a reactionary segment of the populace, led by a group headed by pseudo-activists and race baiting imbeciles, backed by the money of one George Soros. The demonstrations which by all reports started peacefully eventually devolved into a chaotic situation where the familiar aspects of the BLM movement reared their heads. Namely; looting, violence, highway blockage etc. To say that Americans are sick of this sort of nonsense would be redundant on a cosmic level. But what to do about it?

The well-intentioned must put on the righteous armor of battle. It is always heartwarming and uplifting when after these sorts of incidents we see people giving out, “free hugs” to police, videos of people offering them bottles of water and those lovely still shots of people praying together. It is the little things that count and sometimes they can make a huge impact. However the time for hugging has passed. Putting on the righteous armor of battle means having honest dialogue within the communities that find themselves at the heart of these conflagrations of reactionary garbage. The well-intentioned are doing officers no good, whatsoever, by hugging them one minute and then going home the next to live next to the people who were looting a store, with no intention of calling them out for their crimes. Ask a cop; would you prefer that the well-intentioned focus their efforts on calling out those within their own communities who would bring harm upon themselves and their neighbors … or a hug? The fact of the matter is simply this; America, where since the trauma of 9/11 and our subsequent horror stemming from the fact that tragedies are by and large unavoidable, has become a place where we simply accept the tragic as a regrettable yet acceptable aspect of our culture. Which is infuriating. I don’t pretend to know the exact answers to our social problems but I am absolutely certain that in order to put the Charlottes behind us, normal, everyday folks need to step in. Yes, hugs and bottles of water can make an impact but working towards a situation where hugs are no longer needed is a far nobler pursuit.
The right needs to stop giving police a pass simply for being police. If you are a conservative, you need to understand that a uniform and a badge does not equal a crown of thorns and the Five Wounds. Police officers are human beings which means that they are prone to make mistakes. The career which one chooses has nothing to do with their formation of character or inherent character. If it were true that each career spoke to the virtues of the people who naturally were inclined to those positions, then … ahem… priests wouldn’t have brought the Catholic Church under such scrutiny, teachers wouldn’t be on the news every other week for inappropriate relationships with their students, lawyers wouldn’t go to prison for defrauding their clients, doctors wouldn’t need malpractice insurance and no one would have to hear about Anthony Weiner’s wiener. The fact is; some cops are fantastic. They all have a dangerous job. Some cops have no business being cops. Naturally they don’t belong less than a mile around anything dangerous. This immediate rush to judgement on the part of the right which usually condemns the victim as a ‘thug’ or ‘gangster’ is the converse yet identically misguided reaction the left will throw out which casts all police in a villainous light. For a group of people who say they stand against intrusion into their lives by government agencies, some on the right sure don’t mind when the intrusion allows them to take up verbal and ideological arms against anyone who attempts to introduce the idea that law enforcement has an accountability to the citizenry. The advice, condescendingly thrown at blacks in this country by conservative social media, is this; if you didn’t do anything, comply and then sue. Solid advice. So if the police are to be held to the same standards as the ordinary citizen is, perhaps rushing to judgement is a bit hypocritical?
The liberal left and BLM needs to be honest. The time has come. It is painfully obvious to anyone who simply observes the current social climate in this country that the left wants segregation. When segregation is forced upon society, it is a fascist concept with deep-seated racial bias as the prime motivator. When it is voluntary however, it is simply the last course of action of a marginalized people yearning to exercise their right for safety. We can see this with safe spaces on college campuses, segregated housing on college campuses, the lambasting of that HORRIFIC scourge of ‘gentrification’ and the most hilarious example; cultural misappropriation. BLM and the fringe elements of the left don’t want to peacefully coexist with their neighbors of all races and creeds. At all. Ever. That would put an end to their reason to exist in the first place. The more upheaval and vitriolic rhetoric, the better for the left. It is the same with the alt-right. Pepe the frog isn’t going to want to share his lily pad with frogs that are browner or have a different tone, regardless of how Americanized the new frogs wish to become. The left has become a parody of itself in recent times. What it has shown however, is that the parody is in essence a by-product of the left’s own acknowledgment, be it denied, of the lunacy of its fringe. Eventually, when a movement has gone too far, the only option is to continue the trajectory out of an almost mischievous school-child sense of wonder. How far can we push this until someone pushes back? This became painfully obvious when the politics couldn’t match the momentum of the social aspect. Enter the perfect example: Bernie Sanders. What Sanders did, was offer a glimpse of the politics that perfectly matched the Utopian projection that the perennially misguided and chronically boring white liberal preached of. And why did Bernie lose to Hillary? Because he didn’t get enough votes. There simply weren’t enough people who bought into the fantasy. The train is off the tracks. The truck has jack-knifed and the fallout is a loose confederation of badly organized, fragmented social justice movements which do more harm than good to all parties concerned. The overall narrative of BLM and the American left is no longer even partly coherent. It is about segregation as a means to illustrate the horrors of American society. The irony could burst the Liberty Bell.

In the end; this is a question of culture. More important, it is a question of the denial of culture and the collapse of decorum as a prerequisite for meaningful discussion. I do not see the tide rolling back anytime soon. That being said, Americans tend to do their best work when all seems hopeless and lost. It just takes some guts. Wearing a ski mask and throwing a bottle at a cop isn’t gutsy. Nor is calling a dead black kid a thug from the safety of your laptop. We are capable of overcoming anything. If that truth is to be realized, then we are either on the verge of a social peace which would rival the Pax Romana or we have gone too far to rely on our inherent American abilities and character. And that is a reality I am not willing to entertain.

Yet.

The 2016 Election and Total Freedom

May 24, 2016May 24, 2016 J.M.2016, Conservative, Donald Trump, Election, GOP, Hillary Clinton, Liberal, LibertarianLeave a comment

We’ve moved beyond the, “lesser of two evils” model here in 2016. On one hand, I reject the hysterical fear mongering of the right which states that a Hillary presidency will lead to the National Guard busting in your front door to steal your guns while they force you to watch an atheist perform an abortion on your wife. I reject the laughably reactionary warning from the left that a Trump presidency will see, Free Guns for Toddlers stands on every corner being run by Klansmen against a backdrop of mile after mile of crucified immigrants. On the other hand, these cartoonish examples of extremes do not negate the fact that we have two choices which are doing their best to appeal to the extreme wings of their respective sides.

First of all, the decision not to cast my vote for Donald Trump has nothing to do with me wanting a Hillary presidency. That particular castigation has been thrown at me a number of times by rabid Trumpkins. No, I will not bend my knee and get in line with your incomprehensible lunacy so you can pretend you have a normal candidate for the next six months. You made this liberal bed, you hitched your wagons to this disingenuous star, you own it. Hell, your own man said you didn’t need us, so why do we need him?

Answer: we don’t.

For the first time in my life as a voter, there is no lesser of two evils to choose from. They are equally as reprehensible. Thomas Sowell (one of the most brilliant men alive) said it best of Trump; “There was a time when someone who publicly mocked a handicapped man would have told us everything we needed to know about his character.” It is awfully apparent at this point, that the fact that he has said and done absolutely disgusting things over the past year is neither here nor there on the national stage. It doesn’t matter to his droves of followers who were basically equated with sociopaths by the man himself when he used the now infamous shooting-on-Fifth-Avenue line. He is a died in the wool liberal who has been a liberal his entire life. He walks back absolutely everything he says that gives me and other conservatives even the slightest glimpse of hope for his candidacy within hours of saying it. His body of work stands for itself and I don’t trust people who have made umpteen millions of dollars looking out for no one but themselves. So basically, I don’t trust millionaires, period.

Hillary is equally as nauseating. She will kowtow to special interests in a manner which would make a lobbyist blush out of thrombosis inducing cringiness. Every single move she has made over the past year is so painfully rife with pander that it is hard to take her seriously, even when she’s coughing uncontrollably. She is so loathed by her own side that she is being given a run for her money by a kindly old lunatic who looks like he’s perpetually frustrated with a jacket zipper stuck on a shirt button. Don’t misunderstand Bernie’s appeal. A very small number of his supporters are true socialists and an even smaller minority of those Bolsheviks actually have half a clue on what socialism is. He is appealing for one reason and one reason only to the majority of his supporters and moderate Democrats; he’s not her.

To reiterate my previous point: there is no lesser than equation in this election cycle.

When faced with the choice that Americans are going to have to make in November, it is easy to fall into despair. I did for a while. Until I realized the magnificent liberation that comes from being absolutely skunked. A line from Matthew Broderick’s character in the movie, The Freshman sums it up best; “there’s a kind of freedom in being completely screwed… because you know things can’t get any worse.” I can actually vote my conscience this go around. Quite frankly, the last two GOP nominees for president didn’t exactly light my sociopolitical, partisan world aflame. In fact, I wasn’t a fan of either. This year, I can honestly vote for who I think would be the best option for leader of the country. As a conservative, my vote doesn’t matter here in New England. That fact coupled with the awful choice equals total freedom. Ah, that makes it all a little better.

I will end up voting for whoever the Libertarian candidate is or perhaps write-in someone else. Because after careful consideration I’d rather throw away my vote than to cast it for someone my principles can’t reconcile. I’d rather know that I had nothing to do with our national nightmare than be part ot it. Sorry, Trumpkins and Hillbots. But my soul ain’t for sale.

Not this year anyway.

Extreme Begets Extremes

May 6, 2016May 6, 2016 J.M.Conservative, Election, GOP, Liberal, TrumpLeave a comment

I hate to sound like a liberal apologist. I loathe to sound like a left-winger. I cringe inwardly and outwardly when I think I remotely sound like a Salon.com contributor. But, every once in a while you have to set aside the icky feeling which springs from the question; do I sound like them, in order to make a point. With our current apparent choices for president this November, only one thing is absolutely clear; President Obama was a catastrophic cultural failure.

It is a common misconception to believe that the current state of American politics represents an unprecedented drop in political decorum. This is simply untrue. The attacks which were run against candidates and parties in the 19th century make today’s debacle seem tame by comparison. It cannot be ignored however, that while the current state of things is much different from the way it was over 116 years ago, there is still a tremendous amount of vitriol swirling around out there in the ether.

So we have what we have now. The extreme ends of both parties and ideologies are gaining an enormous amount of traction. As recently as the previous election cycle, the idea of a seriously contending Democratic candidate alluding to the virtues of socialism would have been unthinkable. At very least, the natural inclination to extol the virtues of socialism by the left and candidate would have been stifled to the point where the dirty word itself would merely have been alluded to in an attempt to pass ideology as sweet sounding policy. Now, we have a presumptive Democratic nominee who was almost beaten by a socialist. An openly socialist, socialist. It would be in the best interest of Hillary to recruit Bernie for VP but that would be career suicide for the man who built his campaign on the platform; ‘I am not like her.’ Then again, at his age, how much more career can there realistically be?

We have a presumptive Republican nominee who has been as far from conservative as a GOP candidate could possibly be. Lets use the previous comparison formula to keep things on an even playing field. As recently as the previous election cycle, the idea of a Republican candidate donating over a hundred thousand dollars to the person they are running against coupled with a solid liberal history would have been unthinkable. A candidate who literally told his supporters that they were stupid with his shooting-people-on-Fifth-Avenue analogy. There is no amount of logic, empirical evidence or outcome projections that can dislodge his rock solid support. His appeal is far easier to quantify than one would care to admit. It is not because he is a great candidate. It is not because he holds the same ideals as his supporters. It is not because he is a principled conservative. It is not because his vision for America is sustainable let alone attainable. It is because the human mind relegates reason in order to achieve its most sought after goal; instant gratification.

After almost two full terms of President Obama attempting to change the character of the United States, the frustration levels among some on the right-wing made thoughtful political calculation, analysis and reason seem almost nauseating when contrasted with the immediate release offered by a figurehead who says all of the awful things that swirled in their minds but were afraid to say. Pulling the lever for the Donald offered many disenchanted GOPers the instant gratification they desperately wanted which came after watching Romney flounder in ’12 coupled with the subsequent hurricane of Obama overreach. Donald Trump is not a presidential candidate. He is a drunken rant to your buddies after you’ve had a bad day. Or a bad seven years. The relative ease by which he sailed into the nomination is on par with the relative ease that the president’s ideological paradigm shift took root in the left over the past seven years. For every action … well you know the rest. There is an old adage which is said any number of different ways but it perfectly reflects the sentiment at the core of the Trump Train. See if this rings a bell: I knew it was a bad idea then and I know it’s a bad idea now but man, did it feel good at the time.

There are two solid facts that need to be understood by anyone who supports a candidate who could be considered politically controversial:

Political tides are cyclical. One always comes as a response to the previous.
Smugness from the previous cycle amplifies the more destructive elements and voices from each subsequent cycle.

With Trump leading the charge at least in title, you can be sure that with or without a win in November and with the appeal of socialism among the young and the reckless that are just now graduating; the push back is going to be unthinkably extreme. I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to learn those two facts the hard way. But I guess it doesn’t matter because at the time it felt great. For some people at least.