Gee, fellas, it's difficult to sum up the year 2021 in one word but I'm gonna give it a go......EX-HAUST-ING. Sensory Overload. Sensory Overreaction. Sensory Pantload. All are apt descriptions for the past 12 months. Everything someone said or did or thought was blown up to illogical and mostly absurd proportions. Some with good reason. Some with no reason at all other than to make money. I read a recent Pitchfork interview with Devo founder and current TV and Film music composer Mark Mothersbaugh who said:
After the shootings at Kent State, we realized that rebellion wasn’t the way to change things anymore. Once the government gets irritated enough, they just lock you up or kill you. There’s no such thing as democracy—it’s all just corporations and the ebb and flow of capitalism. We were thinking, “God, the way it’s going, we could have a movie star or a sports guy as president. People are getting stupider.”
The freedoms we have as Americans are vast and wide and that's why people from other countries want to come here. If we narrow these freedoms, many which have certainly been proposed by certain politicians, the number of people wanting to come to America will likely decrease much to these lawmakers' eternal contentment. When people say that 'freedom isn't free', this is true but not just for fighting in wars when our government says so but also for stepping up and doing the right thing in times of domestic crises such as when certain people are not paying their fair share of taxes or when there are medical emergencies and certain citizens decide to opt out of their civic duty to help save other citizens lives. Yes, it is our right as Americans to protest or debate as long as it is done in a responsible manner. Also, in my personal view, it also has to be done in a non-volent way; regardless of what end of the political spectrum you find yourself drawn towards. The trend towards 'cancelling' each other is a very dangerous game to play because it may look and feel that it's being handled by the right side (or whoever's side you think you're on) right now but where does it all go from here? I'm not sure anyone will want to stick around for the conclusion as the entire spectacle has a 'mob full of pitchforks and torches' type of vibe to it. At the end of the day, it all comes down to this: Can we resist the outside forces that are doing their best to divide us, or can we overcome this charlatan's ruse and find a way to work together despite all of our differences? Please turn off whatever device on which you're reading this (I know that this lovely blog and cat videos are your only sanctuary right now but still......) and really think about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment