Finally got back to this post and it wraps with Uncle Tupelo!!
My band is working on a Whiskey Bottle cover for our next gig. Maybe the best lyric ever:
"There's a trouble around, it's never far away
The same trouble's been around for a life and a day
I can't forget the sound, 'cause it's here to stay
The sound of people chasing money and money getting away"
In case anyone argues the other side - I came for the blue birds, the dogs, and the politics, but never stop including the music references, they are appreciated and we apparently share many of the same tastes on that front.
Man … why’d you have to go and do that? I was just starting to feel okay with hating the red-hatted knuckle-dragging pro-birth election deniers. Not hate, exactly, but regarding them with serious contempt and malice. Now I can’t do that, because … you’re right. I’ll try to do better, as hard as they make it - just because it’s unlikely that they will.
"Your average Fox anchor is afraid — or as afraid as you can feign when you’re pulling down seven or eight figures a year — that our country has been overrun by un-American nihilists who’d rather let the place burn than see it be under the control of the other side. Your average MSNBC anchor is afraid that our country has been overrun by un-American nihilists who’d rather let the place burn than see it be under the control of the other side.
And they say finding commonality is dead."
Yes, both sides see it the same way.
Both are entirely convinced
they are the mother of the baby
---the only true mother--
and that the other side is out to kill the baby.
If one side IS the real mother,
will she cry out to King Solomon
who is about to slice the baby in two
(metaphor for our impending civil war)
"Give the baby to her, just don't kill him!"
No, because each side is actually half of the real mother.
So, is it “who can you trust” or “whom can you trust”? And while I’m at it, although I pity the brainless MAGA cultists (seen a lot of cultists around here in NorCal going back decades, I still despise the Orange Fraud. Am I bad for despising someone? Nah…BTW, still no hummingbirds in the backyard….(Sigh!)
This is an excellent piece and the comments thus far as well, excellent. I think we get candidates that amplify our fears to thunderous, mind numbing levels. The flood of immigrants over the border for instance. Rapists, killers drug dealers, replacements for our white skinned hides in darker hues, and on and on. All objective looks at this issue show a much less clear picture with significant economic and social benefits. Lower crime per capita than legal citizens and a willingness to work jobs no legal citizen will touch. Ever picked fruit in your life, that pretty stuff in the grocery store? How about vaccines? Knowledge will triumph over ignorance huh? We have measels and polio resurgence on the planet, some in the US. Vaccines had eliminated these and now, with all the Ignorance, amplified to thunderous levels but the anti vaxers, parents are electing to not vaccinate kids. Don't trash those iron lungs just yet. In a way, it is true that truth will win in the end. Unvaccinated kids will die out of the population more quickly than those vaccinated and with them the memory of their parents decisions. The acceptance of some "Truths" is a matter of faith and not of scientific or logical examination. The existence of God or God's for instance. Is it true that Moscow Marjorie is really a bombastic imbecile slacking her thirst in a stream of pure addlement? Observational evidence would say yes. I'll close this rambling affair with a quote I believe to be from Mark Twain, "It's not what you don't know that causes trouble, it's what you know for sure that ain't so."
There I am with my MAGA friend. Drinking coffee, slightly spiked with Jameson, in his living room while our 2 young daughters are laughing and playing in the next room. 48 hours with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy is replaying on the wall. Somehow the conversation turns to the inevitable. Despite all my yearnings. And there he is, as he goes into how Joe Biddn is an idiot. How he uses to be pro Isreal but now tends to agree with the campus left that were the object of his oppressive missives. How January 6th was an inside job by the FBI, offering up one example of a singular protester. As he delves into his conspiracy theory. I reach for my phone and pull up a video of January 6th. He launches into how, "not 1 cop was killed except for Ashley and how it's the people house, they had a right to be there". I then turn the phone and with images of Jan 6th playing and I ask. Do you have the right to knock down the people's door? Do you have a right to jump through the people's broken window frame? As cops were clearly being beaten in the video I ask. Which one is an FBI agent? Is the woman punching the cop FBI? What about the guy with bear spray? Is he FBI? He then begins to what about the riots in Minnesota. I've been having these conversations with him for over 8 years off and on Matt. I've heard all the conspiracies. I know them all myself. I don't know if I could fathom more of their fears. I ask, what is it you want to do? Burn it all down? End democracy? No, he broils, but it's time for a reset. What does this reset look like I ask? He can't answer. And there is my fear. That my friends minds have been so captured by conspiracy theories and algorithms. They don't even have the faculty to envision the future they do want past the destruction of their own fears. That and the fact that you are against the elitist financial order but burning fossil fuels and covering the planet on a carbon blanket of waste and plastic is fine. Because climate change is a hoax dreamed up by the rich to control the masses? When the rich seem to be getting along fairly well with the current state of barrels of oil being sold? Im glad I'm not the only one that feels the way you do Matt.
Man - that just blew my mind. Thanks. So I just stopped watching almost all TV cable news because of what you’re saying. I wish I had the capacity to rotate through the channels but just got tired of being played emotionally.
Also, "How do you assess who is telling the truth?" ..easy- it's those expressing "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control"
Sometimes "they" call moderates, squishes. Not casting aspersions, just sayin'. On seeking "The Truth", I used to listen to a Libertarian talk show host by the name of Gene Burns many, many years ago. He regularly used to say, which I've adopted, that you should never believe anything anyone ever tells you unless you know it to be true or verified it for yourself, including what he said.
Oh, my gosh, I loved this so much! Humility, love of others, even our enemies, coupled with unflagging belief in the truth and the importance of acting on it--you put it into words in a wonderful way. I have been having many deep discussions with people lately and here are a couple of the thoughts running around in my mind: Maybe coincidentally, maybe not, my good friend who is an observant Jew told me the meaning of "Israel" is "wrestling with God." The theme of the homily at Mass this weekend was we should keep "wrestling with God" when bad things happen to us; when we are downhearted by evil in the world. Keep wrestling with God about what it all means, about whether he really cares for us, and don't give up. Accept that we are not right about everything, and be open to the spirit of truth teaching us new things. Realize that I must pray for Donald Trump--pray that he will repent, that his evilness will not prevail--because he is a child of God just as I am, and God loves him as much as me. This does not mean I don't see him, his actions, and his danger clearly as evil; it just means that I am commanded to love even him, even my enemies. I could go on, but you probably get the idea.
Truth has been exiled. I say good riddance. She is a heartless bitch who doesn't care if she hurts feelings, goes against things you hold dear, or suggests that your situation is the result of decisions you made. I ran into truth this morning in the bathroom. I stood on the scale and she showed up. She had the gall to suggest that I make some lifestyle and dietary changes. Truth looked haggard. She has been exiled to a cold and dark place. She blamed it on not getting enough clicks so that E.D. drugs and furniture you put together yourself would be sold. I told her she was wrong. It was her own fault for not validating enough feelings and being more positive. I can't remember the last time truth gave me a belly rub and told me I was a good boy. I know how to deal with truth. With just a few mouse clicks or screen taps I can find a veritable Baskin Robins of "truths" that validates everything I hold dear, confirms my suspicions about "them", and gives me a nice dopamine hit. Truth is lonely and hungry because she isn't being sought out or fed.
Have been looking at the various networks since the '68 campaign. Still look at more than one side, trying to find good writing, which is not necessarily easy. The more views the better the image.
Finally got back to this post and it wraps with Uncle Tupelo!!
My band is working on a Whiskey Bottle cover for our next gig. Maybe the best lyric ever:
"There's a trouble around, it's never far away
The same trouble's been around for a life and a day
I can't forget the sound, 'cause it's here to stay
The sound of people chasing money and money getting away"
In case anyone argues the other side - I came for the blue birds, the dogs, and the politics, but never stop including the music references, they are appreciated and we apparently share many of the same tastes on that front.
Man … why’d you have to go and do that? I was just starting to feel okay with hating the red-hatted knuckle-dragging pro-birth election deniers. Not hate, exactly, but regarding them with serious contempt and malice. Now I can’t do that, because … you’re right. I’ll try to do better, as hard as they make it - just because it’s unlikely that they will.
Matt,
You laid it out:
"Your average Fox anchor is afraid — or as afraid as you can feign when you’re pulling down seven or eight figures a year — that our country has been overrun by un-American nihilists who’d rather let the place burn than see it be under the control of the other side. Your average MSNBC anchor is afraid that our country has been overrun by un-American nihilists who’d rather let the place burn than see it be under the control of the other side.
And they say finding commonality is dead."
Yes, both sides see it the same way.
Both are entirely convinced
they are the mother of the baby
---the only true mother--
and that the other side is out to kill the baby.
If one side IS the real mother,
will she cry out to King Solomon
who is about to slice the baby in two
(metaphor for our impending civil war)
"Give the baby to her, just don't kill him!"
No, because each side is actually half of the real mother.
The real mother of the baby is democracy--
where we learn from each other
and find common ground.
I pray both the mother, democracy,
and the baby, America,
will survive our gathering storm
with no more than skirmishes
and not an all out war.
So, is it “who can you trust” or “whom can you trust”? And while I’m at it, although I pity the brainless MAGA cultists (seen a lot of cultists around here in NorCal going back decades, I still despise the Orange Fraud. Am I bad for despising someone? Nah…BTW, still no hummingbirds in the backyard….(Sigh!)
Thanks M.
This is an excellent piece and the comments thus far as well, excellent. I think we get candidates that amplify our fears to thunderous, mind numbing levels. The flood of immigrants over the border for instance. Rapists, killers drug dealers, replacements for our white skinned hides in darker hues, and on and on. All objective looks at this issue show a much less clear picture with significant economic and social benefits. Lower crime per capita than legal citizens and a willingness to work jobs no legal citizen will touch. Ever picked fruit in your life, that pretty stuff in the grocery store? How about vaccines? Knowledge will triumph over ignorance huh? We have measels and polio resurgence on the planet, some in the US. Vaccines had eliminated these and now, with all the Ignorance, amplified to thunderous levels but the anti vaxers, parents are electing to not vaccinate kids. Don't trash those iron lungs just yet. In a way, it is true that truth will win in the end. Unvaccinated kids will die out of the population more quickly than those vaccinated and with them the memory of their parents decisions. The acceptance of some "Truths" is a matter of faith and not of scientific or logical examination. The existence of God or God's for instance. Is it true that Moscow Marjorie is really a bombastic imbecile slacking her thirst in a stream of pure addlement? Observational evidence would say yes. I'll close this rambling affair with a quote I believe to be from Mark Twain, "It's not what you don't know that causes trouble, it's what you know for sure that ain't so."
There I am with my MAGA friend. Drinking coffee, slightly spiked with Jameson, in his living room while our 2 young daughters are laughing and playing in the next room. 48 hours with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy is replaying on the wall. Somehow the conversation turns to the inevitable. Despite all my yearnings. And there he is, as he goes into how Joe Biddn is an idiot. How he uses to be pro Isreal but now tends to agree with the campus left that were the object of his oppressive missives. How January 6th was an inside job by the FBI, offering up one example of a singular protester. As he delves into his conspiracy theory. I reach for my phone and pull up a video of January 6th. He launches into how, "not 1 cop was killed except for Ashley and how it's the people house, they had a right to be there". I then turn the phone and with images of Jan 6th playing and I ask. Do you have the right to knock down the people's door? Do you have a right to jump through the people's broken window frame? As cops were clearly being beaten in the video I ask. Which one is an FBI agent? Is the woman punching the cop FBI? What about the guy with bear spray? Is he FBI? He then begins to what about the riots in Minnesota. I've been having these conversations with him for over 8 years off and on Matt. I've heard all the conspiracies. I know them all myself. I don't know if I could fathom more of their fears. I ask, what is it you want to do? Burn it all down? End democracy? No, he broils, but it's time for a reset. What does this reset look like I ask? He can't answer. And there is my fear. That my friends minds have been so captured by conspiracy theories and algorithms. They don't even have the faculty to envision the future they do want past the destruction of their own fears. That and the fact that you are against the elitist financial order but burning fossil fuels and covering the planet on a carbon blanket of waste and plastic is fine. Because climate change is a hoax dreamed up by the rich to control the masses? When the rich seem to be getting along fairly well with the current state of barrels of oil being sold? Im glad I'm not the only one that feels the way you do Matt.
Okay, I've been at it for two days now, but still no luck reading Laura Loomer's tweets "with qualified love." Advice?
Man - that just blew my mind. Thanks. So I just stopped watching almost all TV cable news because of what you’re saying. I wish I had the capacity to rotate through the channels but just got tired of being played emotionally.
Great scribble Matt.
One of many verses in Scripture that tell us plainly not to look to man for certain leadership is Isiah 2:22
Also, "How do you assess who is telling the truth?" ..easy- it's those expressing "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control"
But they are sure hard to find.
Yes!- .".. let us reason together- saith the LORD." (some KJV "saith" for effect)
and you gotta love how His reasoning works...
"If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land;
but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
Sometimes "they" call moderates, squishes. Not casting aspersions, just sayin'. On seeking "The Truth", I used to listen to a Libertarian talk show host by the name of Gene Burns many, many years ago. He regularly used to say, which I've adopted, that you should never believe anything anyone ever tells you unless you know it to be true or verified it for yourself, including what he said.
Oh, my gosh, I loved this so much! Humility, love of others, even our enemies, coupled with unflagging belief in the truth and the importance of acting on it--you put it into words in a wonderful way. I have been having many deep discussions with people lately and here are a couple of the thoughts running around in my mind: Maybe coincidentally, maybe not, my good friend who is an observant Jew told me the meaning of "Israel" is "wrestling with God." The theme of the homily at Mass this weekend was we should keep "wrestling with God" when bad things happen to us; when we are downhearted by evil in the world. Keep wrestling with God about what it all means, about whether he really cares for us, and don't give up. Accept that we are not right about everything, and be open to the spirit of truth teaching us new things. Realize that I must pray for Donald Trump--pray that he will repent, that his evilness will not prevail--because he is a child of God just as I am, and God loves him as much as me. This does not mean I don't see him, his actions, and his danger clearly as evil; it just means that I am commanded to love even him, even my enemies. I could go on, but you probably get the idea.
Truth has been exiled. I say good riddance. She is a heartless bitch who doesn't care if she hurts feelings, goes against things you hold dear, or suggests that your situation is the result of decisions you made. I ran into truth this morning in the bathroom. I stood on the scale and she showed up. She had the gall to suggest that I make some lifestyle and dietary changes. Truth looked haggard. She has been exiled to a cold and dark place. She blamed it on not getting enough clicks so that E.D. drugs and furniture you put together yourself would be sold. I told her she was wrong. It was her own fault for not validating enough feelings and being more positive. I can't remember the last time truth gave me a belly rub and told me I was a good boy. I know how to deal with truth. With just a few mouse clicks or screen taps I can find a veritable Baskin Robins of "truths" that validates everything I hold dear, confirms my suspicions about "them", and gives me a nice dopamine hit. Truth is lonely and hungry because she isn't being sought out or fed.
You brought a smile to my face.
Have been looking at the various networks since the '68 campaign. Still look at more than one side, trying to find good writing, which is not necessarily easy. The more views the better the image.
Thanks for the read.