The problem isn't with the lies.
The problem is with the eyes.
And not the "eyes", exactly.
And you'll see what I'm talking about shortly.
Given that the IMAX 3D version of influenza has become the conversational elephant in the room, it's only natural that the political badminton perpetually playing itself out in social media is liberally sprinkled with medical expertise of one degree or another. Or not at all.
And that's "liberally" as in "in large and generous amounts", not "liberally" as in the adverb that sends Trumpists simultaneously reaching for their antacids and their AR-15's.
That's not to say, of course, that the ever present flow of "I know you are, but what am I's" that has become as much a part of our daily chit chat as "good morning", "good night" and "hey, whatta you lookin' at" have suddenly become a scarce as toilet paper on your friendly neighborhood grocer's shelves.....
...and, not for nothin', but what in the world are you all wiping that much?
It is, though, worth saying that, at this point in the time line, while the hailstorm and hubbub of the virus is taking up all the oxygen in the room, not to mention all the aforementioned Charmin off the shelves, there has been, while we have been otherwise distracted and deflected, a shift in one of our more primary paradigms.
And it, like so many other of our primary paradigms that have been jarred, knocked, banged or busted since Donald descended down the escalator from Mount MAGA, has changed not only the way we talk, the way we think, the way we do the things we do....
...but,even, in some ever increasing measurable measure, who we are.
Put a pin in that for a few. We'll come back to it.
My friend, author Alanna Nash, continues to "fight the good fight" for lack of a more applicable, minimalizing , sound-byte worthy catch-phrase (and 2020 'Murica shore do loves them a sound-byte worthy catch-phrase, right....right on....save the whales...Keep 'Murica Great...) when it comes to the, now, pretty much everyday, back and forth that ignites each and every time even a drop of Trump is injected into the flow of pretty much any and all conversations in social media.
The arrival of Coronavirus, or as Fox News likes to refer to it in their never ceasing, ultra patriotic efforts to unite us all, the "Chinese Coronavirus", is just the most recent hook on which we all hang our hats, roll up our sleeves, take out our brass knucks and tire chains and get about the business of beating the shit out of each other.
Here's a plot twist I am confident you were not expecting.
Let's take a pass on pissing each other off about what Donald did or didn't do, or, for that matter, does or doesn't do from here on out, when it came, and comes, to dealing with what has been reasonably labeled the first actual, genuine global crisis with which this particular president has been faced since he solemnly swore to execute and preserve, protect and defend, yada, yada and all that other malarkey that he's treated like a sixteen karat inconvenience as opposed to a sacred obligation.
Put simply, for the more erudite, red cap accessorized sophisticates in the gallery today, the first challenge to the nation and/or the world that couldn't be dispensed with via a few grammatically garbled, impishly misspelled tweets.
Let's just concede that
a) he has done, and/or is doing, a masterful job of leading our nation through the darkness and toward the light of yet another unprecedented brighter day......
...or...
b) has screwed the pooch so badly that America, as it has been, and been known, for over two hundred and forty years will be lucky to come out of this next few weeks alive....let alone prosperous....let alone....wait for it....great.....
Your choice, of course, depending entirely on your current P.O.V., M.R.I, blood pressure and/or bloodstream to Kool Aid ratio.
Supreme leader / pooch screwer
Either /I-ther
Neither / Ny-ther....
Let's call the whole thing off,
Oh, if wishin made it so.
Instead, let's meander back to that primary paradigm shift I mentioned a few minutes ago.
And, obviously, we're going to shoot right straight to the heart of the matter here. I'm just an old fashioned guy who enjoys washing down my bitter pill with a little tasty vocabulary and "meander" is not a word that gets a chance to come off the bench much anymore.
Then again, the screwing of pooches does, in fact, usually involve a considerable amount of meandering but I'm committed to staying on point here.
And here's the point here.
Four years, an infinite amount of injustices, insults, injuries to foundations that the Founders foundationed, endless awkward moments and a kabillion grammatically garbled, impishly misspelled tweets later and Donald Trump can still do no wrong.
And that's what's wrong.
But, again, not for the reason you're either assuming....or crouching down in preparation of jumping to defend.
And, as has been offered and re-offered to the demarcation line of delirium, not because those who insist on digging in even more deeply to preserve, protect and defend their president are blind to his transgressions, tantrums and grammatically garbled, impishly misspelled tweets.
With the exception of one relatively tiny demographic, they are fully aware and seeing very clearly.
The problem is not with their eyes.
Oh...and that one relatively tiny demographic?. That inevitable small percentage of any population of human beings that actually do sleep soundly every night sincerely believing that education is the root of all evil, Kellyanne Conway is Joan of Arc without the Bic Lighter, wearing the MAGA red t-shirt that proclaims " You Can Grab My Pussy Anytime, Mr. President" is second only to flag waving when it comes to real, God blessed patriotism....and that the only good skin is a white skin....well, with a pinkish hue.....well, okay, maybe just a hint of tan, but we're talkin' long, God fearing, hard working days in the field and not any of that, you know, other brown skin.
Meanwhile, back to the fully aware and very clearly seeing.
The problem isn't with their eyes.
The problem is with their "ize".
As in romanticize.
Desensitize.
Mythologize.
Dehumanize.
And one more, big pair of "ize" just ahead.
I mentioned Alanna Nash, in particular, because one post and comment thread of late did an empirical job of shining a bright light on the "ize" in play here.
Names and specific quotes are academic. Suffice to say that the original post was a legitimate criticism of the way Trump had handled something.
Inevitably, and sadly, within just a few comments of agreement and/or reasonable debate, one commenter took harsh task with the criticism and opened fire with pretty much every note we've all come to recognize, by heart, from the Trump Sympathy Symphony.
What made this particular salvo unique was, first, it was clear that the commenter was not just a hit and runner, or even a troll, but was, in fact, a longtime friend of Alanna's.
It was also clear, from her grammar and spelling and overall presentation, that she was not a member of that aforementioned tiny tasteless T Shirt, Mama don't allow no brown skins ' round here demographic.
Her point of view, while clearly passionate and flirting with furious, was articulate and cogent.
And it was her ability to articulate and her command of cogency that connected my dots and made me realize what we, as a nation, are actually dealing with four years, an infinite amount of injustices, insults, injuries to foundations that the Founders foundationed, endless awkward moments and a kabillion grammatically garbled, impishly misspelled tweets later.
It's not that his followers don't see that he is a blunt tool. They see just fine.
It's not that his followers don't see that he's a liar that lies more than a woodchuck chucks wood. They see just fine.
It's not that they don't see that he belittles people who dare to disagree with him, he ridicules anyone who isn't loyal to the point of obsession. They see just fine.
It's not that they don't know with crystal clarity that he is wrong about nothing and right about pretty much everything and that he is never, ever, ever responsible, accountable, to blame or deserving of criticism of any kind for any reason.
Never.
Ever.
They see just fine.
It's not that they don't know, for an indisputable fact, that he did, as he campaigned to be chosen for the privilege of serving the entire nation as President of the United States of America, denigrate, ridicule and mock Serge Kovaleski.
They are much older than five.
And any five year old sees that he denigrated, ridiculed and mocked Serge Kovaleski.
They see just fine.
But, somewhere along the way, at some point in this darkly, satirical dramedy that's now in year four of season one, they decided that whatever the means were, the ends more than justified them.
Way more.
The most more. The best more. The just terrific more.
The "nobody knows more than I know about more" more.
Okay, so he belittles people. Yeah, whatever. I got a nice little raise this year. God bless you, Mr. President.
He lies and makes things up. Blah, blah. Everybody lies and especially Pelosi and Schumer, just like Obama and Hillary and Bill and...yeah, whatever. The economy is booming. God bless you, Mr. President.
He ridicules anyone who isn't loyal to him. Waa waa. Somebody hires you and they have a right to expect your loyalty. Unemployment rate is down. God bless you, Mr. President.
Well, so what if he mocked that crippled reporter guy. That guy wrote nasty things about him. So he can dish it out, but he can't take it. Puhleeze. Our president is going to get that wall built, man. God bless you, sir.
They see just fine.
The problem isn't with the eyes.
The problem is with the "ize".
And that earlier promised big pair of "ize"
"...the attempt to explain or justify (one's own or another's behavior or attitude) with logical, plausible reasons, even if these are not true or appropriate...."
Rationalize.
and...
"...to make, conform to...or reduce...something to a standard of normalcy..."
In plain English.....
To make it normal.
Normalize.
Belittling, ridiculing, denigrating, mocking, bullying.
Made...no, scratch that.
Reduced... to being normal.
Ignorance, ineptitude, insensitivity...incompetence.
Normal. Normal. Normal........Normal.
The problem isn't with their eyes.
They see just fine.
Oh...
One more "ize" worth mentioning here.
Occasionally associated with viruses.
Most often associated with cancers.
The kind that destroys cells.
And the kind that destroy societies.
Metastasize.
