Day 1429 – What to do?

Sunday, December 22, 2024

There’s a wave coming. I feel it building. The earth isn’t quite shaking but there are trembles. Trembles of idiocy. A man who has no morals, scruples, ethics, or sense is going to be running our country soon. He has been aided and abetted by fools, cons, and the insidious greedy. They don’t care one wit about our country or its principles. 

I heard him say he ran on groceries. That prices of groceries were up. He then named items that were groceries. As if it was a contest where he was asked to name groceries. Eggs, bacon … This from a man whose running mate stood in front of a display of eggs and said $4 a dozen was too much, while the sign behind him said 2 dozen for $4. They have no idea, and they don’t care.

It seems Elon Musk will be running the country and Donald will be holding press conferences. The major plan seems to be to increase the debt, slash any programs that help people and give people like Elon a huge tax break. Or as one headline put it, “Elon’s tax cut will be paid with your Social Security and Medicare.”

Ah me. what to do? Well, go about your business, and … and what? I don’t know. It all seems so horrible. Not as horrible as if the reformed heroin addict and brain worm eaten tuna poisoned fool actually gets in charge of HHS, but pretty bad. But then again I saw the picture of Tiny Tim on crutches with the caption asking, “What’s a little Christmas without Polio”? I saw caption that in Michigan cases of some terrible disease are up like 1000% since they’ve stopped vaccinating people against it.

Do your own research!

Yeah. Right. Rupert Murdock and OAN will give it to you.

Speaking of OAN who wants to listen to Matt Gaetz? OMG.

After the High Renaissance came Mannerism. Think El Greco and many others. The colors were distorted, limbs elongated and twisted. Why? What happened? The realism of the High Renaissance could only go so far. Artists, and I’m guessing society, were looking for something new.

In 1907 when moving pictures came to Paris the artists of Montmartre realized they had to change. No longer would realistic portraits pay the bills. Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on your point of view), there was a museum of African art. There were masks with one face but shown from two perspectives. One eye showed the face from the side and the other straight on. What? You thought Picasso came up with that idea all by himself?

If art follows and reflects our culture and society what will we see in the coming years?

If culture is what people say to one another and pass down from generation to generation what is being said?

If we are informed by quacks, fakes, and lies what happens to our society? If a lie travels faster than the truth what chance do we as a society have?

There are three examples from history that might be relevant:

Constantinople: Every time the church officials and the rich landowners came into power they passed laws that relieved them of paying taxes. The taxes then fell completely on the middle class. The middle class then left and literally, “took to the hills.” Constantinople stood as a bulwark against the Islamic forces. Time and time again they stopped them. Then came the cannon. A weapon they refused to pay for. The other side bought it and with it they shattered the mighty walls of that city. In Europe people were astonished. How could it have fallen? It never fell before? (Hint: you did nothing to support them!!!)

The 100 Years War – it ended due to exhaustion. Not by the two main adversaries but by everyone else who did the fighting and were dragged into it. Apparently, after round after round of one religious fanatic or the other coming into town and killing every one of the other belief, people had enough.

Mussolini or Basar al Assad: Bullies sometimes get their comeuppance. Not always, there are lots of examples of them dying while still in power: Stalin and Franco come to mind. What determines whether they stay of go is one of two things: an outside force or a uprising of the population.

How do societies fall into these messes and what are the remedies to not? Education seems critical to stopping it. Access to information seems another. Both are under attack in our country. Will we survive and be the nation we were? With over 50% of the population barely able to read at a grade school level and a majority of people listening only to propaganda the odds are not in our favor.

We can all do little things. Help out. Help to educate. Don’t let someone get mistreated. It is our job to speak up. To stand up when someone bullies another. to point out falsity whenever possible.

Gas is under $2.90 a gallon.