Saturday, January 9, 2021

Revolting


I really don't enjoy this.

What I want to do is publish the post I already had scheduled for today. Old fart meets credit-card reader, and hilarity ensues. I want to explain why spider bites are usually on your fanny because spiders object to being sat on. I'd like to tell you that my new shampoo smells like Pine-Sol and now I get out of the shower wondering if I've been scrubbing the toilet bowl with my head.

But I can't, because we can't go three days in this country without a lunacy grenade going off. We're all collateral damage, and the shrapnel is by now lodged in all of our hearts, and half of us are trying to pluck it out and half are happy to let it fester.
 
Nearly half cannot comprehend losing an election, because everyone they knew voted the same way they did. They cannot visualize their opposition, even though they've been mocking us for four years. Did they, too, believe we were fictional bots?
 
And some of them answered the call, when the call came. They were standing by, an army ready for their leader to deploy. Still, it was shocking. At first it almost looked like men were gaining the Capitol by scaling its walls, but surely that can't be--walls keep people out. Don't they?
 
But no, there they were, a faction of fat fascist fucks playing dress-up, and no, I'm not fat-shaming; I'm merely describing; they are shaming themselves. Just look at those fat white fucks. Where is Lorena Bobbitt? Get her on the phone.

These are described as "mostly white males," although that is a nod to their tattoos: this group is all about white power, and meanwhile, while we fantasize about where they can jam their rebel flags, Black power is alive and well a few states to the south, extracting the monkey wrench from the gears of the Senate with grace and peace. This is a day for the books.

But no sooner do we all bear witness than the Mostly-White-Males' operating system begins planting new seeds of deceit and broadcasting them into the soft spongy soil of the brainwashed: Antifa did this awful thing. That we totally approve of.
 

Sure. Those are definitely anti-fascists dolled up in raccoon underpants and traitor's flags. But it has come to this, that if I read a headline about vandals leaving a severed pig's head at Nancy Pelosi's house, I do not immediately know what group is responsible. Because the radicalized left and right occupy much of the same territory, where the politics of confrontation erases civility, and defense of freedom erodes freedom, and war is proclaimed the path to peace.
 
I do not equate the two. Neither by extent, or intent. I understand that the left musters in the cause of justice, and the right in the cause of a toddler's notion of liberty. But I have seen both sides attack an assault-weapon ban for the same reason: the need to fight our own government. I'm horrified to hear it from the right. It breaks my heart to hear it from the left.
 
After a while, the soldiers at the fringes start to look the same. Rage is its own fuel. Fury is all-consuming, and obliterates reason and dissent. Can it be quarantined? Set up a tournament, a jousting match. Duels: penises at ten paces. Make it ten inches, they still won't touch each other. Make it pay-per-view, and we can buy ourselves some nice health care, reparations, solar panels for all.

As for the shameless architect of our ruin, I do not want to see him harmed. I do not want to see him hanging upside-down in the town square. I wish to see him escorted into a court of law and delivered without ceremony to a secure location, wearing horizontal stripes and as long a necktie as he wants.

 



50 comments:

  1. I like your final sentence and couldn't agree more. I am seriously worried for your country right now.

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    1. This particular dread started for me with the Malheur Refuge occupation.

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    2. Yes, and before that Ammon Bundy's armed standoff with BLM officials who tried to collect the lease money he owed this country. The more these criminals get away with in their armed standoffs with America, the more emboldened they become.

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    3. I meant the other Weird-Name-Guy, his dad Cliven Bundy. Eejits all.

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    4. That whole thing upset me beyond measure.

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  2. As if the last 4 years haven't been surreal enough... this. Wow, what a good (but sad) read. Thanks for the words, Murr.

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  3. I don't understand how freedom and fascism are the same thing to some people. The same "some people" that say things to Hair Furor I guess. You are right about three days being the longest stretch we can go before the insanity outdoes itself again. I am still hopeful that it will stop in a week and a half, but not holding my breath.

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    1. It's amazing to me how successful one dim man can be in fomenting a civil war in just four years.

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    2. Check out “Life After Hate”. A great detox program for people duped into hate groups.

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    3. I don't understand how freedom and fascism are the same thing to some people

      The "freedom" they want is the "freedom" to oppress others.

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  4. I feel like I'm in mourning. I don't even recognize our country anymore, and my fellow countrymen scare the shit out of me. His approval rating is still high, which tells me that about half the country actually approves of fascism (even though they would not call it that.) I'm fucking scared, Murr. Mostly I'm scared for Joe and Kamala; I hope that they will be safe.

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    1. Yes, we're looking at assassination territory, but then again I remember being so scared for Obama whenever he was giving a speech.

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    2. I do wish the Inauguration would be held indoors. Outdoors is just too dangerous right now.

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  5. Yes.
    Fundamentalists of any flavour frighten me Your country seems to have far too many of them.
    And a big YES to your final sentence.

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    1. One thing that distinguishes fundamentalists from everyone else is the devotion to certainty.

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  6. Well, you have really depressed me because I thought it was a battle between good and evil, lies and facts, sanity and insanity. Now you say both sides are crazy. Maybe we should let those fight it out on some island, somewhere.

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    1. Both sides are not equally crazy, not by a very long shot. On the fringes people become fundamentalists. But our fringe is smaller and mostly unarmed and with sounder motivation. I do despise the normalization of confrontational politics and mob action. For instance, every state house in America is likely to be invaded by goons on Inauguration Day. I would prefer to see them met by overwhelming numbers of peaceful people, such as we saw all last year in the BLM marches, or in the Women's March of 2017.

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  7. Anyone who doesn't question the righteousness of their beliefs is a danger.

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    1. This to me is one of the big differences in the factions: one side requires certainty. On the very edges both sides require and revel in certainty. I'm not only comfortable with doubt, I court it.

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  8. Glad to have Lorena reference. Off with their heads!

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  9. Malheur and the Bundy ranch standoff were where the federal government screwed up big time. They were so afraid of a repeat of Waco they allowed the right wing fantasists to believe they could do anything and there would be no consequences. End result? Naifs like that delusional woman at the Capitol crying in disbelief that she had actually gotten maced when all she'd done was storm the Capitol to try to start a revolution. It's a good thing they're almost all as incompetent as Cheetolini. If they'd actually known what they were doing, the body count would have been a lot higher.

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    1. Every word you said. Yes. Malheur chilled me like no other recent event, and we are seeing the aftermath now, and we're not done at all. This is why I rail against mob actions and the politics of personal confrontation on the left. It's a minor part of the big picture, but must not be normalized by any of us. And the other side isn't listening to me anyway.

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  10. Two thoughts:

    1. The coup attempt reminded me of the difference between "surprised" and "startled." If someone who is known for throwing lit firecrackers at people promises to throw a lit firecracker at me, when he does it I will be startled, but hardly surprised.

    2. New Yorker writer Masha Gessen's great-grandfather explained to her that the Bolsheviks ought not to be taken seriously, because they were a bunch of grifters with no political plan. His article was printed the following day—November 8, 1917, on the Western calendar—in what turned out to be the last issue of Birzheviye Vedomosti: it was promptly shuttered by the Bolsheviks, who had seized power.

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  11. I need a printer-friendly version so I can share this with friends. It's the best summation of how I feel about it that I've read, and I've been reading way too much about it.

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    1. I'm still not sure if my SHARE buttons exist on this site. I don't see them anymore on my device, but these things do get shared. If you want to share, you can highlight and copy what's in the browser and share that. Meanwhile, send me a dang eight-year-old!

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  12. I read today that the scant Capitol Police presence, unaugmented by National Guard, was deliberate. Because they didn't want to upset anyone, or make them think they were expecting a confrontation. Wait...what? WHAT?? So you deploy 1/10 of the force you should have, with Trump bloviating and lying and actually instructing them to hold a violent "strong" confrontation, telling them to walk on down to the Capitol, and you just have your tiny force there smiling at the doors, just hoping for the best?? Murr, I know exactly what you mean by not wanting to blog about this. But guess what? You actually aren't required to. I spent hours on a post last night that's never going to see the light, because I'm too angry. So angry. And so devastated. So this morning, instead of posting it, I did a drawing instead. That's my Ginsbergy Howl. Love you.

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    1. Your drawing was perfect. And it was a howl. We all do what we can and hope we can find a stronger way. I can't figure out how to make your drawing appear here...

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  13. Thanks for this. I also am wondering where my country went. For example, just today my daughter who live in NE Portland was in the line to get in at New Seasons on 33rd when she realized that the two burly guys behind her were laughing and bragging and filming themselves about having been in the crowd that took over the Capitol in Washington, and crowding up close to her. At which point the guy behind them started calling them on it and it looked like a physical fight was brewing. She was admitted at that point and told the attendant to call the police because of what was happening outside. That person who stands at a closed door letting people in one at a time, had no idea there was any problem. So an hour later she is taking a walk to Wilshire Park which is a block from her house to calm down and is approached by a crazy guy with a butcher knife screaming he is going to kill her. She fled home and called the cops. As she tried to explain the dispatcher said "Oh you are calling about the guy with the butcher knife at Wilshire. We have him." This is in liberal Portland in a neighborhood widely considered safe. What has happened. I do think the current Atlantic article on QAnon as a new potent religion is worth reading, but seriously, this issue is not over just because Biden will be sworn in on the 20th. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/

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  14. Honey? You are talking about the grocery store five blocks from my house. We walk there and stand in that line all the time. I do not know what I might have done, but I have learned that my aversion to conflict dissolves whenever I encounter overt racists or the goons behind your daughter in line. I completely flame out, and Dave has to drag me away to safety whilst wondering what damage he can legitimately do. We are in for some serious shit as a country now, and many of the enemy are drawn to Portland for the very reason that it is considered a liberal enclave--which it is, central-city--so no doubt these assholes were emboldened. On Inauguration Day, they are all planning to storm State Houses across the nation. I know Antifa will be ready but I would so much prefer these fuckers be met by thousands of little old ladies like myself.

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    1. Also: the dude with the butcher knife is no doubt just another mentally ill man that fell through the cracks in this Billionaire-Take-All nation. And not related to the other fuckers.

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    2. I'm 83 and I live in Portland I'll join you!

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  15. Excellent blog, as usual. Thanks.

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  16. My thoughts exactly. But I do like the idea of the televised penis wars. I really hope Biden has really good security for the inauguration and a bullet proof vest.

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    1. I hope he makes it virtual. There's a pandemic going on and he doesn't care about crowd size.

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  17. This is very well-written, as we have all come to expect. Perhaps I will comment more later. You see, I'm kind of shell-shocked into speechlessness. Like many other DC residents with whom I have spoken, I am still not sleeping well. In an online gathering of people my age, I shared that it has not been since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 that I have been so disturbed and worried by "politics".

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    1. YES! I remember being little when that happened and I guess I heard enough for it to freak me the hell out! That and the air-raid drills in school. (Hiding under our desks? Really? That would work???) I used to pray each night ( I went to a Catholic school. I am a recovered Catholic now.) and one of the things I prayed for is: "Please don't let the Russians throw bombs at us." (I had very little idea of how bombs worked. I just knew it wasn't good.)

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    2. I was in eighth grade. I remember asking our science teacher about that hiding-under-desks thing. He said it was to keep things from falling on us. Like what? "Like that entire wall."

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    3. At age 7 I had nightmares of bombs falling on/around my school - but - that was in 1945...not the Cuban missile crisis.

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  18. Well said, Murr. I, too, am terrified for our country.

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  19. Your title, "Revolting", shines like a light over every point you make here

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  20. I remember when they dropped the atom bomb. I had nightmares for months of a mushroom cloud.

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  21. Yes to all of it but the last paragraph, you are more Merciful than I apparently, no Fate he receives is punishment enough for what he's done while being the worst President in History.

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