Trying to Navigate the Middle of the Road
I’ve lived in two neighboring towns my whole life, and right now, I’m in the one I grew up in. Lately, the town’s been doing some stuff I don’t get. First off, I barely go on social media anymore, especially Facebook, because it’s such a negative space, and I don’t need that in my life. But now and then, I’ll check in to see what’s happening.
I came across another one of those weird things happening in the world that I can’t wrap my head around. Apparently, President Trump has his own social media platform called Truth Social—I didn’t even know that—and he posted this video the other day that I think is just gross and inappropriate. (Do people even use the term gross anymore?) It shows him flying a jet fighter over one of those No Kings rallies and dropping stuff on the crowd. And then we wonder why everything feels so messed up. I mean, this is the leader of our country, supposedly the greatest country in the world, and he’s out here posting stuff like that.
I used to be proud to say I was a Republican. Nowadays, I’m not so sure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to start calling myself a Democrat, but I do think it’s time for a change.
Why, you ask? Let’s see, there’s this: Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery, and rape. – Politico
I have never thought or spoken about anyone in this way; therefore, I certainly don’t want to be associated with it. The problem is it seems to come from the top. While the President may not express himself exactly in the same way, he certainly implies that he shares the same views.
It’s not surprising that people are like this. Watch television or movies, listen to podcasts and talk shows, look at some of the groups on social media, and you will see hundreds of examples of the same thing. It’s incredible the things people will say, hiding behind a computer. What is worse is that people actually believe what they see.
Yes, we are all protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, guaranteeing us the right to be a******s, but it doesn’t make it right.
I honestly don’t know what to make of the Trump administration. Some of the stuff he does seems fine to me, but then other things just leave me scratching my head, like, why?
The latest thing is his Health and Human Services Secretary, R.F.K. Jr. (I think that’s his title), saying there’s some link between taking Tylenol during pregnancy and kids having autism. Oh, and if you have a boy and he’s circumcised, that could somehow be connected to autism, too. Where do they even come up with this stuff? I just don’t get it. R.F.K. says these things, Trump seems to go along with it, and they make a big deal out of it. I don’t understand why.
For about the last ten years, I have been living under a rock, intentionally, I might add. I used to be quite involved with politics, especially local issues, but something changed, and I just stopped.
I’m trying to remember why. I think it’s because I became disillusioned with the whole process. There came a point where you could no longer have any rational discussion about anything. It was replaced with vitriol and personal attacks rather than making valid points. I suppose it was easier for people to attack rather than actually consider the issue. Things haven’t changed, I think it’s worse as it’s now become more violent.
I started thinking about how much my political view of the world has changed in the last ten years or so. It’s been a gradual thing, like getting older. You don’t realize you’re getting old until, bang, you can’t move as fast as you used to.
Watching the morning local news (yes, I know calling it news is a stretch), I have been struck by several random thoughts and questions concerning the current state of affairs in the country.
Here they are in no particular order:
So there you have it, some random thoughts from watching the morning news for a mere 60 minutes.
Please feel free to share and comment. It will certainly encourage me to get back into writing again.
Is Atlas finally shrugging? After our emergency alert from the president yesterday I am beginning to wonder.
The more things change. Now that I am semi back from my self-imposed writing exile I think I will throw out some random thoughts. So much hasn’t happened since I stopped writing regularly.
The more they stay the same. Today I spent some time looking at some of the blogs I created over the past years. The most popular one was called “It’s Clear as Mud” which doesn’t appear to exist anymore. Probably because I didn’t renew the domain name. I also wrote the “Sturbridge Tea Party” blog. Both of these were mostly about politics.
