Wednesday, December 7, 2016

" The best art and comedy are done in desperate times."

Well, once more we return to the old blog, and I think now we have no choice but to go to the place where many things must be talked about, discussed, dissected and rendered.

So, where have I been? A lot of places, and the world has again become a busy one. 

Let's first get this bit of business out of the way, shall we? While many believe something monumental, a master stroke, if you will, shall be thrown down, I believe we are stuck with what we have.

Yes, President Trump.

Taste that, will you?

You know what? Nothing's changed. Not one thing has changed at all. If anything, it has brought into focus the world we live in.

America, here's the choice you made. Get ready for a ride, because it's gonna be one. The ultimate reality show is now ready to take the stage. This is Donald's World, and you and I are mere extras.

What went wrong? Not that I know, but I'll tell you what I think:

1--The liberals ignored the working class, and took for granted that Hillary Clinton would carry them, while they focused on same old, same old.

2--The new liberals who embraced Bernie Sanders, and yes, what an amazing campaign that was. This at the best, has energized a generation...now will they follow through? Remains to be seen.

2a--The Bernie fans who got butthurt by the convention actions? You (and others), who took your vote and went home? YOU FUCKING BLEW IT!

You have an obligation to vote, a civic duty. Those of you who took your vote and went home. Think about that. 

3--You who voted for that self-centered posturer, Gary Johnson? Sorry, kids...Libertarianism by any name is a fantasy, a happy land that does not exist.

"I just want my bread buttered on both sides." -- Graham Parker

I want no rules, no laws, no taxes, no this, no that. I want my weed, my guns, my right to do anything I want anytime, any way. The Constooshun says I can! Let the free market run things, go to the ER if you're sick, just let me drive my SUV at 150 miles per hour down the potholed highway and off the unrepaired bridge to my certain death in a pool of contaminated, flaming water if I want...

Something like that, I guess. I have one close friend whom I call the Intelligent Libertarian, because I believe she realizes you cannot destroy the nation in order to save it.

4--Green Party? Jill Stein? The Greens can't manage a fuck in a brothel. They can barely manage lunch. No grass roots. 

Look, I can tell the Greens how to organize, but give up the big prize and do the work! Figure out a platform. Roll with it. 

Even if six or seven of you in a town are Green, do this: pick one of you. Run for office, get the signatures, get on the ballot, and fucking run!

Even if you lose, you win by getting something started. You will win new votes. You keep working, growing, stick to it.

So now we have Trump, who has given a frustrated, pissed off, angry electorate who feel ignored, a false voice. If you think he speaks for you...well, you been played.

Oh...and for the millions of people who did not vote? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BITCH. SHUT YOUR MOUTHS RIGHT NOW. 

Stop posting your shit on Facebook, and elsewhere. Grow up!

If your man won, fine. Gloat. Act like you won a show-up trophy, because that's about all you got.

We are a nation (largely) of spoiled children. We've had it so good for so long, and we want more. 

This video says it all:



So what do we do now?

I tell you what...I'm gonna do my fucking job. I am fortunate. I work in a company that does it right, straight forward, no frills. You get news. You get things that you need to know about.

On the network I work for, when you hear us, you hear news. You hear stories. You don't hear pop culture references, no opinionated whinging, no agenda journalism. You get the real deal.

I challenge you to listen to one hour of "Morning Edition" or "All Things Considered." Shut your mouth. Sit there. Listen.

If you do not come out of that learning something you did not know, then, "I can't do nuthin' for ya, man."

For those of you who continue to whine about narratives, and other buzzwords spoon-fed you by a crazed "toilet-trained media" cabal (thank you, Mark Jackson), know that you have a responsibility to not spread things you know are lies. Ranting and raving about whatever some trained monkey (sorry to the monkeys) said, that's not gonna do it.

The "proudly ignorant" (another person said that, and I do not recall who did), they believe if they yell their dumbness loud enough, it becomes truth.

Let them.

Let the dystopian, multi-tentacled life form rant, rave, howl, beat their chests (and something else)...they do nothing to me.

Let them watch their reality shows, their WWE, their UFC, their TV preachers, hell, even the new Star Wars movie for all I care. Keep amusing yourselves to death. Keep eating yourself to death. Keep being the self-centered, self-adoring, "doesn't affect me crowd."

Be like these people, which George Carlin so brilliantly caricatured:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR8aFDosQBQ

You need to paste that in...they won't let me embed it. Hmmm...

As they get played like a cheap fiddle, we can still live our lives. We know what we have to do. 

The best art and comedy are done in desperate times.

So anyway...my opinion is thus: we are in a spot, but one we put ourselves in.

We can get out of it, by not quitting. Older folks will tell you..."we've been through worse than this."

How true.

The Depression. My parents remembered that. Being broke, no money, no work to speak of, nothing. The farm barely making it, etc. 

World War II. Think about that. Think of the carnage. Our lost people, the millions lost at the hands of Nazi Germany and Japan...the millions of people in the occupied territories, entire tribes wiped out, the Krimchaks for just one of many, not to mention the Jews.

Think of how that war ended, and what we did. 

Ask anyone still alive who remembers that. We got nothing on them.

And people talk like we need that again...

We think of our upheavals, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, and what is going on in the Middle East right now.

Ask someone about Vietnam...one man who served told me bluntly, "There's nothing to talk about."

Think about what he brought home. Think about what our people bring home from the recent wars. 

I think about a veteran, half my age, with a service dog I met. This man looked whole physically, but mentally he was gone. Nice person, very quiet and kind...all he said was he'd been in Iraq. Nothing else.

I don't know what he saw, or what he did. But that meeting kills me, every goddamned time I think about it.

Think about what the refugees are running from. Why do you think they want to get to Europe, or to the US?

It's not to blow us all up, apart from a few fanatics, and we've got plenty of them right here to deal with.

Doesn't affect you, right? Wrong.

It does. If affects all of us.

So I have a job to do. I'm going to do it, to the best of my ability. What I say on here is one thing, what I do for my calling, that is a much different thing.

Now, what are you gonna do about "it"? That thing that's been wrought? 

Do what you know is right, not what people tell you is right. Your values supposedly aren't much different than mine...I hope not.

Be honest, be real, and do what you are supposed to do. 

I had a strange experience two nights ago...I was in Washington, on my way to the Verizon Center for a Capitals game. In a hurry.

At a corner, a small, elderly lady turned to me...dressed as I am...she asked would I help her across the street?

Yeah, this happened. 

I said I'd gladly do that. She was a bit unsteady. She explained she only lived a block up, and that she was recovering from a brain tumor.

I have a friend who was recently diagnosed with one. We talked about that, and she explained a little of what she'd gone through.

Next to a CVS, she said I can make it from here, and she thanked me. We talked about the game, and how I do some radio work for the Caps' AHL club, the Hershey Bears.

She knew her hockey. She mentioned Boston...living there. I said I'd lived there ten years.

"Where?"

I told her a lot of places, mostly in Watertown. Then she said, "I'm from New Hampshire, originally."

I said, "I'm from Vermont."

Never got her name, but we connected.

Things like that. Little things.

And yeah, I made it in time for faceoff.

How about that?

So suffer the slings and arrows from others, but be aware we're all one in this little reality show, and we need to do our part. Even if it's off script.

Okay, I got writing to do. I have a life to live, and I shall not destroy more of the planet than I need. I'll also save what I can. 

If this upsets you, sorry, but you'll just have to suffer it. Instead of yelling at me, calling me names, threatening me, how about you think of what you can do to be better. 

#thinkaboutit 

Peace, Out.





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