Ugh

This was something I wrote back in October 2016. It's old, but it still feels relevant.

Back when Donald Trump famously remarked that his followers were so "loyal" that even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, they'd still vote for him, I partly suspected that he had found a subtle way to marvel at how stupid his followers were. Of course, I soon came to realize that Trump is not, in any way, capable of subtlety.

This morning I watched an excerpt of a news program where a reporter was talking to Trump supporters. Most of these people were as un-subtle as it gets. They didn't admire Trump for his grasp of foreign policy (do they even know what that is?) or his knowledge of the Constitution and how government works (they don't know those things, either). They didn't admire him for his ability to build coalitions within the party, his honesty, his morality, his charm, or even his good looks and physical fitness. They admired him because he is "strong" - and by strong, they meant loud and aggressive. That's what they like. They like bullies.

All the people talking to the reporter (including the women) were loud talkers, the kind of people you don't want sitting near you in a restaurant.The men were particularly obnoxious. In one case I was a bit concerned that one of the men might physically attack the petite female reporter, as he began to try to intimidate her with his looming stance and aggressive comments. She moved away, keeping an eye on him just in case. (That's the kind of behavior Trump supporters see as good debate skills.)

Trump supporters don't care about his racism, his sexism, his hypocrisy, his dishonesty, his possible criminality, his disloyalty, his ignorance, his crudeness, his impossible ideas, his overall obnoxiousness. All they care about is his loud voice. That makes him "strong", and by golly you gotta be strong to be a leader. Ugh.

And while there are some people who finally, finally, are moving away from Trump because at long last they have seen that he has no redeeming qualities, there is a core group that actually admires and identifies with the very things that make him a monster. Those people will never change. If he actually does shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, they will still vote for him. I'd say, go ahead and vote for him, because if he wins you will get what you deserve. But the problem is that if he wins, it won't be only those who voted for him who pay the price. We will all suffer. I don't deserve that. The good people of America and the world don't deserve that.

 

Hoarding

My Mom, as a young married woman, noticed when visiting her Mother - my Grandma - that Grandma kept junk mail. Mom complained to Grandma, who denied that it was junk. When Grandma wasn't looking, Mom threw the junk mail away. But Grandma found it in the trash and retrieved it. So Mom sneakily took the junk mail and threw it away at her own house.

Forty years later, I realized that Mom was a hoarder. She kept old papers and useless junk that piled up all over her house and made it look like a garbage dump. I couldn't get her to part with anything. I complained, and she said she wasn't so bad compared to her own Mother, and then told me the story about the junk mail.

"But you save junk mail!" I protested. "No I don't," she claimed. I turned to a box on the floor and reached inside, exposing a handful of Grandma's ancient junk mail, carefully preserved along with dead relatives' bank statements from closed accounts at banks that no longer existed, postcards from the vacations of long-forgotten people with indecipherable handwriting, clothing still in the original packages, and the occasional spoon.

What Mom didn't know was that I had already developed the habit of taking her hoarded trash home wth me to throw out.

 

Will Real News Return?

News outlets have completely forgotten what news is, or how to find it and how to report it. They all became obsessed with trump in 2015. I believe it was Jeb Bush who said the coverage of trump in 2016 seemed to blot out the sun. Since then, whether they are allegedly conservative, allegedly liberal, or something else, they all report endlessly on 78-year-old trump's every move, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If they aren't repeating something he said or did, they are quoting what other people said about him. If they report any story that isn't actually about trump, they find a way to slip his name into it. It's like being suffocated under an orange blanket.

Someday, the old geezer will be gone. They'll manage to keep reporting on him for a while - how he died, what others said about his death, the funeral plans, the actual funeral, the various facts that finally "come out" once he's dead, etc. And for a long time, they'll keep finding ways to relate other stories back to him. But gradually, the blanket will be lifted. A day will go by without that name being mentioned. Then two days, then a week, a month, a year.

Someday folks will realize that there are people in their 20s or 30s who don't remember trump, who don't even know who or what it was. Maybe then, the concepts of news and news reporting will be rediscovered. ^@themrskwest

 

Whose Nose Is It, Anyway?

Imagine a state government that decides to outlaw rhinoplasty and septoplasty. In other words - no nose jobs. They are under the influence of a small but vocal religious sect that opposes cosmetic surgery as being against God's will. "Your face is sacred," they insist.

Of course, it's not just about imposing one group's religious beliefs on the larger population. The government also sees changed noses as a way to evade facial recognition software and other surveillance/identification systems.

People who need nose surgery because they have breathing problems are dismissed as a tiny, meaningless minority. People whose noses are damaged in accidents or by violence are told that it's "God's will," and they should learn to love the new look.

Plastic surgeons, protesting against political interference in medical decisions, are vilified as money-grubbing demons who mutilate people for profit. People with crooked noses who travel to a state where rhinoplasty is still legal are reported to authorities and their medical records are seized. People with naturally small, straight noses are viewed with suspicion by religious zealots who harass them in public and send death threats to their homes. Protestors outside plastic surgeons' offices carry signs with graphic photos of bloody, swollen noses, and chant at everyone entering the office: "Don't break your nose! Don't break your nose!"

A couple of politicians get publicity for themselves by blocking state highway funding as a protest against government agencies that allow employees to use paid sick leave for nose surgery. The unrepaired roads contribute to an increase in traffic accidents - and more damaged noses. People who get out-of-state nose jobs are afraid to be seen with bandages on their faces, so they stay indoors or wear disguises.

People unhappy with their big, crooked noses are labeled as having "facial dysmorphic disorder" and are told they need counseling to accept themselves as they are. Parents who allow teenagers to get nose jobs are investigated by Child Protective Services. Some people go to underground practitioners who may or may not be safe. Some people become so desperate they try to fix their noses themselves, using steak knives and crochet hooks. Sometimes it works, but some people get permanent brain damage, and some bleed to death. Anyone with a nosebleed is suspected of having had an illegal nose job.

Celebrities who had nose jobs back when it was legal write books about their experiences; a few are invited to testify before Congress.