I am going to do something I fight with myself every day to keep from doing: dive into politics on social media. In truth, what’s on my heart goes much deeper than political issues, and given America’s lack of ability to go beyond mere surface issues, it will likely go there. Still, I am going to put myself out there. Forgive the length.
In 2024, America is a dumpster fire. Sure, one can argue that the country has been a dumpster fire throughout the last decade; however, I feel that, over this summer, the flames have reached the half-filled gas cans and chemicals at the bottom of the dumpster and are about to explode.
2024 is a presidential election season, so we can usually expect a clown show that makes the movie “Idiocracy” less satirical and more prophetical.
But this one has been utterly bizarre. Since July, we watched a presidential debate which caused one campaign to implode. We witnessed an assassination attempt of a candidate by a 20-year-old kid who outsmarted what was thought to be the world’s most elite protection agency. Fortunately, a mere cock of the head made the difference between a clean shot to the temple and the a glance off the top of the ear. Then came Joe Biden suspending his campaign after being “encouraged” to do so. Then Vice-President Kamala Harris accepted the nomination without a single vote. This was followed by a media frenzy to literally rewrite history before our very eyes in order to sanitize her extreme radical statements and word salads into a more moderate position.
Then came the Olympics, from the opening ceremony to the women’s boxing controversy with a female competitor forfeiting the match after two blows to the head by a wannabe woman.
This summer has been unsettling to say the least. Questions rose within me, which really are more rhetorical than not but which will likely be deflected as “talking points” by people who would rather not think about them. They’re real questions asked by someone who is trying to truly understand the dumpster fire we’re currently in.
First, how did the media spend the last three-plus years trying to convince the masses that the president was sharp as a tack only to express surprise at his mental decline following the debate? For that matter, how did the White House press secretary get away with zero accountability after blaming Biden’s strange movements and distant expressions as “cheap fakes” only to drop the term following the debate?
How did a 20-year-old kid get on a rooftop 140 yards from his target with a rifle and a range finder under the watchful eye of the Secret Service? How is it that after three weeks they still don’t seem to know what happened?
Why are far too many people—from social media geeks to a firefighter to a city council member to a police sergeant—lamenting the fact that the shooter missed? How has society grown so barbaric?
How is it that following the shooting, the president tells the nation to tone down the heated rhetoric only to then call his opponent the greatest threat to democracy?
How is it those in charge proclaim with absolute certainty that they are fully accountable for the failures without actually being held accountable?
How is MSNBC’s Joy Reid still taken seriously after saying a case of Covid is just no different than getting shot in the head? For that matter, a week after the shooting, how can Whoopi Goldberg criticize Trump’s granddaughter’s speech for humanizing the man, urging her viewers that we can’t let them humanize him?
Have we lost the ability to detect irony? For that matter, how is it we are supposed to trust any of these institutions any more in word or in deed?
Is the media bipolar? How is it that the same media fawn all over Biden the last three years only to demand he step aside following the debate and before once again fawning all over him as “the greatest president ever” once he finally did so?
How is it the Vice-President with favorability ratings consistently the high 20s suddenly jump overnight be nearly 50%? Why is it that someone known to be the queen of word salads and zero accomplishments as VP, is now said to be the next greatest president ever?
Why are we letting the media scrub the internet of Harris as “border czar” even though they used that term regularly over the last few years? How come the title “most liberal senator” is now something that’s trying so hard to be hidden? How is she being hailed as a moderate even though there’s actual video of her saying the most insane things?
In the world of sports, how can the opening ceremony be hailed as unifying when it offends 25% of the world’s population? How can the organizers and participants claim that the last supper scene with drag queens was both based on that scene while at the same time saying it was a festival celebrating Dionysius? Is Dionysius the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of French culture?
How is Christians protesting the ceremony are told to get over it by the same people who in a million years would never do anything close to that with the prophet Muhammad? Or is the terrorist attack against the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” still too fresh in their minds?
How is it that female boxer had to forfeit everything she worked for after getting hit in the head twice in 30 seconds by a wannabe woman? In pretty much everywhere, wouldn’t that be called domestic violence? Even after she said she (the real woman) had never felt a punch so hard before, she nevertheless received criticism for not shaking the dude’s hand after the match? Why is the media trying so hard to downplay this?
Why is it conservatives are called weird for their beliefs by a presidential candidate who has her picture taken alongside a dude with a beard in a dress while insisting men can have periods and get pregnant? How is this considered normal?
Further, how is it possible that anyone who asks questions like these considered bigoted and full of hate?
Honestly, any attempt to answer any of these questions will likely fall flat.
I am asking these questions—truly unsettling to one who is trying to get his head around what’s going on. These questions are really a reflection of a far bigger problem: us.
We the people.
We no longer strive for truth, but only what we want to hear. We are willing to be intellectually dishonest in order to justify our beliefs. We nuance, redefine, or move the goalposts to support our biases. We will even agree with that previous statement while having no intention of ceasing to do it ourselves.
Sadly, I am seeing a potential end of our society, and this is not because of whichever candidate wins the White House. I see it because we the people refuse to hold any standards or accountability toward politicians with whom we agree while accusing the others of setting double standards.
No matter who wins in November, the dumpster fire will continue to burn.
We the people are to blame for allowing these institutions to pour fuel on the fire.
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