SENSE AND NONSENSE

  "TO BE OR NOT TO  BE."

TO THINK OR NOT TO THINK.

TO BELIEVE OR NOT TO BELIEVE.

SENSE AND NONSENSE.

Apparently these are the stark choices we are given these days. There are no spaces left for talk and compromise. Certain topics become verboten in various circles, more and more, as people become incapable of discussing things in an open, rational manner. Rationality goes out the door as tempers rise and temperatures rise along with it. 

Yes, there are topics which should, most definitely, raise temperatures. Having a supposedly educated doctor accuse Israel of "cannibalism" is one such topic, quickly covered in one or two sentences - Crap!! Nonsense!. Middle Age prejudice and must be ripped out by its roots. Period. End of discussion.

On the other hand we have growing issues here in America  which are ripping us even further apart, shredding our unity more and more. Trigger terms go along with it and are part of the problem as they preclude rationality and calm, once introduced into the discussion. CRT. Critical Race Theory. White Rage. Reparative Preferment. Derangement Syndrome. Try to have a rational discussion once these terms are introduced. No way. And yet we must find a way. Else all will be lost.

And the honor roll of nonsense continues to grow. A Representative is hauled into court as she blocks someone on her personal twitter account. Violation of free speech is claimed. Really? Truly? Are we now to lose the ability to decide for ourselves with whom we wish to converse? C'mon! Thankfully, the Judge ruled sanely and it was allowed, as she has an official Twitter account for that other person. But the principle remains. What if she did not? Would she be forced to converse with another who had obvious nefarious reasons behind his quest? Would it be allowed to force someone to open themselves to verbal and emotional abuse? Where do rights for people mesh or contravene each other, and how do we fix the crazy and crazed issues that have arisen?  Beats me.

Because people are reacting with more and more irrationality towards trigger terms, I believe a condo went down. Knowing from 2018 how serious the problem was, nothing was done. Why? Because the trigger term - money needed, financial demand of huge numbers - ramped up the fever pitch and tamped down the rational thoughts and understanding - spend now, or spend more later, even as the danger grew - to life, limb, and property. Plans were finally being made to repair, but too late, lost in a roar of a "progressive collapse" of the building, consuming its inhabitants.

From whence this problem of too much shouting, too little talking, too many demands and too little compromise, too little faith in the precepts of our country and the determined efforts to subvert them. I believe it was propagated during the campaign of Trump, was fed great hunks of fertilizer during his mostly irrational term in office, continue to this very day with rallies to 'reinstate him', as over 1/3 of registered Republicans continue to believe that "Big Lie", even as it has been refuted, time and time again. Even as basically the same people, benighted citizens of five states and segments of others, refuse to take the vaccine for nonsensical reasons, including conspiracy theory. What the hell! These same people will demand and expect the hospitals around them to be prepared for a surge as the Delta variant reaches these dangerously unvaccinated people, endangering others along the way. Including family and friends. What the hell again!

Finally, here is some food for thought. Rep. Paul Gosar is openly, brashly, having a joint fund raising rally with Nick Fuentes, a known racist, a Holocaust denier. Where are the voices that should be raised now? Where is the indignation? Where is the recognition of similarities, the parallels, to the rise of Hitler and other fascists? What is this nonsensical fixation on 'communism' and 'communists'? Even China has diluted its communist brand, encouraging capitalism in many areas. 

A new Dragon Man branch of man was found, and I wonder how much further, if any, we have come since then. His skull has a huge cranium, open for growth of a larger brain. Too many of us these days have an empty cranium as we refuse to think, refuse to recognize and distinguish right from wrong, evil from good and how to compromise, to recognize the concerns of opponents and meet somewhere in the middle, give and take. Most of all we need to recognize the truly backward and perilous trends and the need to refuse to compromise with evil. 

What the hell again! Will we, do we, ever learn?