Sunday, November 22, 2020

Look- The Earth Is Not Flat And The Emperor Is Completely Naked



I have been just terrible at answering comments the last few days. Lord knows I have enough time but as I've noticed since this whole isolation thing has begun, time is just ridiculously slippery somehow. Today for instance was another day when I haven't gotten comments answered and for no good reason. The day somehow just...got away from me and here it is, about to be dark and I've got to cook supper and I want to get something written here although for the life of me, I do not know what. 

It's been another regular day in these somewhat unusual times, meaning I have been home and have done regular things. I worked in the garden a little, replanting some beets and spinach, weeding and thinning. I did a few crosswords. I...
What else? 
Nothing, really. 

Took a nap. There. That messed me up. I almost never nap these days. There's just no excuse and god knows I don't want to interfere with my greatest pleasure which is falling asleep at night. My sleep is a respite from the insanity which is life today in America. I keep thinking about the old saw of putting a frog in a pot of cool water and putting it on the heat and how the poor frog doesn't realize he's in danger until the water reaches boiling point. That's what it's felt like here in the states since 2016 when Trump became president. Remember how shocked people were when he claimed, baselessly and easily proven false, that he'd gotten the biggest crowd for his inauguration in history? We were outraged, we were dumbfounded! It was perfectly clear from the pictures that no, he had not. And. yet...he insisted it was true. His minions insisted it was true and the term, "alternate facts" was invented. 
I feel as if we've been living in an alternative universe since then.
Bizarro world, if you will. 
And it has only gotten worse. Even now, it seems that few news outlets dare to call Trump's "alternate facts" lies which is absolutely what they are. He lies every time he opens his mouth and those lies have ranged from the patently ridiculous to the deadly dangerous, especially when they have involved the pandemic. 
It turns out that the lesson in the old tale of the Emperor's New Clothes is as true today as it was when it came out in 1837 in Anderson's Fairy Tales for Children. As much as we humans would love to believe that we are far more sophisticated and educated than any generations before us, we obviously are not, and the advent of the internet has allowed those who proclaim the emperor not to be naked but in fact, to be clothed in the finest velvets and silks and linens ever seen in the history of the universe that they are absolutely correct! New myths and legends are born and believed, perpetrated by the internet to fit the alternative facts and thus we have conspiracy theories and QAnon and I don't-even-want-to-know that seemingly no rational person could ever possibly believe, and yet- here we are. 
We are at the point where we aren't surprised at all when the nude emperor struts about claiming that he won an election that he so obviously lost. We sit and drum our fingers waiting for the days to pass until the new president is inaugurated and the petulant orange penguin has waddled off in chains, if necessary.
But even though we can feel fairly certain that our systems will work to ensure a transition (I don't even dare call it a peaceful transition), there is always the fear that nothing else has gone as it should in this administration and that somehow sanity will not prevail, something horrible and unthinkable will occur, and, well- I dare not even say what could happen. 

And off course the unending months of the virus spreading across our land, our world, making us redefine our very existences would be enough to trigger insanity in most of us in "normal" times and these are absolutely not normal in any way, shape, or fashion. 

No wonder we've lost our bearings, our senses of safety, security, motivation and also our minds. 

At least that's how I feel tonight. 

Love...Ms. Moon

24 comments:

  1. Other countries are ridiculing us like we used to ridicule crazy presidents, kings, emperors, ayatollahs and dictators whose craziness kept them from admitting loss. I can't imagine what the history books will say about this....a bully of a president who was a narcissistic grifter, and the disease that killed over a quarter million Americans while said grifter just played golf. Joe and Kamala need our prayers and support to undo what this SOB has done.

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    1. And another thing that the history books will have to report is that so many American citizens supported the narcissistic grifter whole-heartedly, including an entire political party.

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  2. "...the fear that nothing else has gone as it should..." that's it. That expresses exactly this deep deep sense of unease that hovers and won't let me mind be still. The feeling that makes me want to Rip van WInkle to January 21st. Or even February 21s for that matter. I'd give up an extra month to awake and find that all is right with the world again. Now it's time for me to go get dinner on the stove, too.

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    1. I think a lot of us wouldn't mind hibernating for a few months. But I swear- if Trump does get any comeuppance I want to be awake to see it.

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  3. I don't watch the news, or listen to it. I'm just over it, until January 21st.

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    1. We'll let you know if they have to drag Trump from the White House in chains.

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  4. it IS frightening to think of what could yet go haywire.....considering the past 4 years and his history of theatrics and cronies who continue to lick his heels (would have inserted a different word but I'll leave it clean). As you said...the fact that we've lost all sense of security or sanity or safety.....we are faced with turning inward and trying to gather our strength....which is what we HAVE been doing.......but I'm ready for a guiding light..... which I am hopeful of, come January or February. Please let it shine
    Susan M

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    1. Yes. Please, please let it shine.
      And please, let the legal follies that Trump is propagating simply dissolve into nothingness.

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  5. January 20th cannot come fast enough, have a sweet night.

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  6. I'm getting tired of lies and hoaxes and conspiracy theories and I'm confronting people now instead of just being quiet. People don't like it but enough is enough already.

    My cousin in Florida texted me tonight. She has surgery in a week for a mass in her pelvis. Wish I could get to Florida.

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    1. Oh no! Do they know what sort of mass it is? I hope with all of my heart that it's simply a sort of benign something.
      I'm proud of you for confronting people. Enough most certainly IS enough.

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  7. And I am so with you. If anything, these times continue to show us that we need to let go of old tired worn out concepts and the same old same old - lies, shitty leaders, whatever. When we yearn for normal life to return, let's take a careful look at what we really want and stick to the normal life that really matters.
    As for that monster in orange, there is a hilarious thread on twitter by the Kenyan journalist @gathara who reports on the US election the way western media reports on African elections. This is what he wrote on the weekend:

    #BREAKING Far-white US autocrat, Donald "Papa Don" Trump, who is barricaded in the presidential palace after losing elections, is reportedly furious with his staff after they tricked him into signing up for the G20 summit by pretending it would be a 20-hole round of online golf.

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    1. That IS pretty funny, Sabine. Of course it's spot-on, too. That last golf trip was absolutely unbelievable.

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  8. Have you heard what Trump-supporting attorney Sidney Powell has been saying about alleged election chicanery? More rubbish to support the madness of Trump's totally unfounded accusations. Mistakenly, I thought that people had to be well-educated to become lawyers. Instead she's saying, just as an example, that some voting software was created at the direction of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that votes for Mr Trump had probably been switched in favour of President-elect Joe Biden. What utter nonsense and yet those infected with the Trump virus probably believe her!

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    1. She's so crazy that now even Trump is saying she's not on his legal team although of course he was bragging about having her a few weeks ago. And of course his followers believe whatever she has said. There is nothing they would not believe- except for the truth.

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  9. saw a tweet today that some voters in Michigan have filed suit against Trump's campaign for trying to get the mostly black Detroit votes thrown out. also Trump fired wacko lawyer Sidney Powell saying she was too crazy even for him.

    I have days like that. not yesterday though. it was a beautiful day out and I was motivated.

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    1. I wish every damn state would sue his ass.
      And today was a beautiful day here, Ellen.

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  10. I'm concerned about what will happen on inauguration day too. I fear it will be anything but peaceful. Regarding "alternative facts", didn't Anderson Cooper once crack up on live TV when one of Trump's lackeys referred to "alternative facts"? Love that guy!

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    1. Anderson keeps it on the level. I do like him too.
      We'll just have to see what happens on inauguration day. It'll be different this year on so many levels.

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  11. I think most of us will not be entirely at ease until after Biden's inauguration. And even then Trump will be sitting in the corner firing off angry tweets and mobilizing the dangerous minority of people who still listen to him. I'm pretty sure the NY Times has called Trump's statements lies when the word applies.

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    1. Yeah. The NYT's doesn't really mince words.
      And at least Trump won't be tweeting from the POTUS account. That goes to Biden on Jan. 20.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.