A Crazy World

It seems as if this world is spinning further and further into craziness. Think about it.

We used to be a patriotic people. We'd rather be dead than red. We loved capitalism and democracy and we knew -- we absolutely knew -- that we were the best country on the planet and those communists and socialists and such were, well, not as good. (That would be putting it mildly.) No longer. We're electing a slew of folks anxious to switch off the capitalism lamp -- "The capitalism lamp is off. Please extinguish your enthusiasm." They hope to terminate the American dream and bring the industrial America to its knees. Paid for, of course, by capitalists and democrats. The double standard is lost on them.

In our patriotic fervor, we celebrated our military, those who risked and even gave their lives to defend our country and way of life. Not anymore. They're the bad guys. Google recognizes birthdays of obscure people and normal holidays with the exception of anything military. Veterans day? Not a chance. Memorial day? No way.

Like the military, those who guarded our borders were our second line of defense. We trusted ICE to keep out bad things and let in good things. They were the homeland defense. No longer. Government folks are calling for their disbanding. "But," I wonder, "who will keep watch when they're gone?" The answer, of course, is no one. That's the goal. Quite a change. Not quite sane.

When I was a boy, my dad took me aside, pointed to a policeman, and told me, "If you ever get into any trouble, just find one of those guys and they can help you." How the mighty have fallen. We have over a half a million police officers in this country. A few have proven to be a problem. But it doesn't matter that they're the ones we hope to catch that speeder that blew by us or stop the guy trying to get into our windows at night. They're the ones that are banned from coffee places because they make people feel uncomfortable. Like ... what ... they're going to shoot up a random barista place? No, it's not rational. But don't bother us with facts; we'll go with feelings.

We used to hold men in high regard. Fathers were honored, husbands respected, brothers counted on. Now? Not a chance. In today's world anything male is by definition questionable at best. Probably ought to be removed. Well, I suppose if they can get in touch with their feminine side, they're not all bad. But a male feminist? No, thanks. They're sexist and patriarchal and we might tolerate them, but we don't hold them in high regard. Watch any Hollywood production and what you'll likely find is dysfunctional father and the horrible ramifications that brings. That this isn't actually a true statistic isn't important; it's just how we see men now.

When I was a young man, I knew some things. For instance, I knew that 2 + 2 was 4. No question. And I knew that there were men and there were women. No question. Not us. We've moved so far beyond that. Now there are lots of genders, defined solely by how we feel, and not even that. It's how we feel at the moment. Because the "gender fluid" might be on an eternally sliding scale. Because that makes perfect sense ... if you're into crazy.

It wasn't that long ago that even unbelievers had respect for Christianity. No, not their cup of tea, I'm sure, but those Christians were generally good people. You couldn't argue with that. Well, you've come a long way, baby. "Christian" is being redefined as the new evil. "Look at what Christians do!" Except all the things you might point to aren't Christian. "That's okay. We are calling it. Christianity is out. Humanism is in. Our new and improved inclusivism will exclude Christians. Our better sense of nonjudgmental tolerance had judged that we won't tolerate them. Oh, just about anything else. Just not them." Just not rational.

The thing is this appears not to be a moment in time; it appears to be a trend. And these aren't isolated examples; these just scrape the surface. Let's terminate human life and call it "women's reproductive rights." Let's arrest parents who try to raise kind, courteous, well-behaved kids in whatever manner we currently find offensive. We will not agree to disagree. We will not allow free speech. We will simply continue in this downward spin, all the while taking potshots at those dirty rotten people who offer microagression and trigger words because if there is any right guaranteed in our Constitution is the the right for me not to be offended. A crazy world.