Everything Old Is (Sadly) New Again or, The Tao of the Curmudgeon

(I started this over a year ago. It's still a thing. Sigh.)

I suspect that my first post in over a year is going to be, shall we say, less linear than usual. Lots of things rolling around in the old cranium, so this will be spew-ish. If I'm feeling inclined, I might edit it into something more like what you're used to, but perhaps a view into the rabbit-hole that is my brain might be entertaining.

So many things are puzzling to me these days. I know I can't be the only one who wonders if we've somehow zipped into an alternate universe where all the socio-political progress of the last 40-50 years has vanished. Voting rights are no longer considered endangered in a country where less than 35% of the population bothered to vote and a good portion of that 35% was influenced by a few people who could buy the entire country outright if it were legal. And it practically is.

The rights of women to control their own reproductive destiny are once more back on the table– also, seemingly, to the highest bidder. People with no "skin in the game" (maybe I should say "uterus in the game?") get to decide when and how American women get pregnant or choose not to remain pregnant. But these same people a) not only have no interest in early and effective sex education for children, but b) seem to think that having knowledge of such things is an open invitation to sex it up all over the place. This, despite years of solid research to the contrary.

We are letting our collective id run free, making "telling it like it is" a thing far less valued than "Before you speak, ask yourself: is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?" We are seriously contemplating making choices for our country based on who is the biggest outsider, as if that is a good thing.

We have abandoned the pursuit of truth in public and political discourse and, to some degree, in our journalism. We're more interested in page views and the metrics of superficial engagement than we are in actually engaging people on the issues and talking them out– even (especially!) if we disagree.

We have become so easily offended that our students require safe spaces and trigger warnings. That members of the largest segment of religious America claim persecution because a growing number of people disagree with them, or have decided that practicing their faith does not require other people to practice it similarly.

Oh, well. Like I said. Spew-ish. I promise that the next entry is not only organized but incredible. I know this because I didn't write most of it.

Until next time...