Ingrown

One big toe looks like a melting tomato with a fang sticking out and the other has an absurdly broken countenance.  I need to afford a podiatrist.

I’m so morbid, I check under the bed in my postage stamp domicile to see eyes on cats open and evidence of breathing.  I adore my cats, I raised them to be aware of world events and be polite.  Consequently they are current events adept and socially immaculate.  I just wish the rest of the world made more sense.

Fear is an astoundingly good force multiplier.

I can’t help but think that the hyper rapid, instantaneous infusion of all available information plays a profoundly deleterious role in the ignorance of the modern American electorate.  All available information means that at least half of that information is crap.  It’s become far more convenient to actually know less while believing we know more.  Social networks and cable news are an insidious culprit in a uniquely American context.  No matter what you’re predisposed to believe or willing to own ideologically, is there to be reinforced and cultivated far more fiercely with the click of a button.

That click might be on the internet or a cable television remote.

If you’re of a particular mind, all you need to do is look for it, and you will be rewarded with real time testimonials from thousands if not millions of like minded dumbasses.

No matter what Obama says or does, there are specifically actionable instructions on how to oppose it; what to say, how to think and where to fear.  Never mind how counterintuitive it so glaringly is.  Nevermind how what they would have you do and say fucks you specifically.  Nevermind.  Pay no attention to the carcass in your living room even though it’s expanding bloat blocks the view of the TV.  Nevermind.

Therein lies the rub.  No need for actual news.  No need for verifiable facts and information.  If you’re an ignorant asshole, you’re no longer alone by a long shot.

To be fair, the opposite is simultaneously true, as evidenced by events in Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, Yemen, Wisconsin and the portent it all surely represents.  None of these struggles and triumphs had a chance without phenomena such as twitter, facebook etc.  How cool and ironic would it be if Arab countries, Muslim populations,  serve to remind Americans of what the pursuit and sincere maintenance of freedom and liberty actually should look like?

Seriously.  How cool and ironic would that be?

That tells us exactly what they’re so afraid of.  You know, our “they”.

The same technology that just may be our demise, oppressed Arab countries have managed to harness as a formidable engine for fundamental change and justice.  Pretty goddamn cool.

I’m pretty sure now is the time for Canada to invade us.

Or maybe Cuba.

America is the dumbest fucking country in the northern hemisphere.

The only reason America enjoys any respect on the world stage is because of former presidents like Clinton and even Carter.  That and a legacy of goodwill that atrophies before my eyes.  Reagan remains a pungent, lingering shit stain and Dumbya is so much the ever present embarrassment that he can longer travel abroad without a very legitimate threat of arrest for war crimes.  Cheney was actually heckled as a war criminal at the CPAC  prom last week.  Hello.  That tickled my ass with a feather.

The fucktardian right wing is overtly fond of accusing Obama of apologizing for America.  They refuse to acknowledge the we’ve been the biggest dick on the world block for decades.  We’ve literally killed millions around the world in pursuit of  dominance for our corporations and the military industrial complex.  Truth is, we owe an apology.  We actually owe, *gasp*, reparations.  If only we could see ourselves in that mirror.  A mirror that is opaque for so many Americans because so many are so blissfully unaware of what we’ve been up to and so many more are so willfully ignorant.

It all comes down to the same thing it always has.  Personal responsibility.  Intellectual curiosity and accountability.  People must still have their own minds.  People need to understand that their own minds are the most important thing they have.  Now more than ever, Americans must think for themselves.  Who sane among us believes that current middle eastern upheaval is fomented by the left wing in America?  That it’s some socialist/communist agenda propagated by liberals?  Glenn Beck.  Rush Limbaugh.  Various other idiots.  Ha.  It’s profoundly and egregiously ridiculous.  The impetus for it all is glaringly conspicuous.  Wholesale paranoia and consummate fear of any genuine change in or for our very own homegrown plutocracy.

It’s all grassroots these days.  It’s all ball bearings these days.

Fear is one helluva serious force multiplier.

Last I heard, America was supposed to be the stalwart, the bulkhead, against aggression.

Yeah, right.  Yeah write!

Instead we stand by while they wage war on the planet and our environment, our people and every other people.

It’s why we suck.  It’s why we are no longer able to lead by example or might.  We’ve reached the point where we are a mere parody of our former selves.  A nation of shepherds reduced to sheep.

Sorry kids, we are a joke that keeps getting funnier and the world is starting to laugh with abandon.

If you’re not embarrassed, you’re not paying attention.

I am disgusted.

Drinks for my friends.

11 Responses to “Ingrown”

  • Carolyn Johnson:

    Why the mean looking man on the top of the page? Scary.

  • Leslie Harris:

    I have felt like america has lost its soul for a long time, and it makes me sad…we have become oppressors, warmongers, haters, cheaters, liars, phonies, evil. The pervasive and underlying rot coming through due to the likes of the Rethugs,Rush L, OHannity, Ann Coulter, Boner, Cantor, Mitch the Corporate Bitch,OReally, and all who shill for the corporations and contribute to the rot, is getting wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy out of hand..
    We need to walk like Egyptians…

  • Chris:

    We’re heading back to the age of the Robber Barons on the path we’re on. Loved the world news today, couldn’t tell the footage of the protesters in Bahrain apart from the footage shot in Wisconsin. It was good to see people stand up for themselves and against the rampant screwing of the middle class and Republican cronyism. Sucks that that pack of idiots was elected to govern the state in the first place. We’ve got a similar batch here in Maine. Really liked a report I heard earlier. Republican leadership suggesting that the National Guard should be called in to break up the protests and force the state workers back to their jobs. Now that’s smaller government in action.

    “Last I heard, America was supposed to be the stalwart, the bulkhead, against aggression.” I don’t know man, in my lifetime hyper-aggression has been the dominant trait of American society, the best way to conduct business and the true mark of the American Male.

    “It’s become far more convenient to actually know less while believing we know more.” More than accurate observation.

    “Social networks and cable news are an insidious culprit in a uniquely American context.” Maybe it’s our imperial arrogance, or our belief that just because we have a freedom to speak, we should immediately practice this right before we even think or digest content.

    I don’t know. Something is… wrong with the country.. the country’s very soul, as Harris stated above. But, sometimes I fear, (there it is) that this idea of a pure American Soul never existed in the first place.

    • Michael Douglass:

      Ah yes, the robber barons. That is what we’re facing. Like you, I’m encouraged by the events in Wisconsin. Our national soul has always existed and manifested in our regular people, our middle class. The middle class is not only the soul but the social, intellectual and moral center of America. The middle class have consistently prevailed when threatened for at least the last 150 years in terms of civil rights, unjust war and economic oppression. They are often agonizingly slow to organize and unite but they always have and we are seeing signs that they are finally engaging again. I am hopeful.

      Thanks for reading and participating. You’ve given me a topic for my next blast.

  • Right spot on, as usual, Michael. I, too, am completely disgusted but could never quite express it as crisply as you have in this article. Thank you.

  • Michael Douglass:

    You’re entirely welcome. Thanks for reading and participating.

  • Jennifer Amstutz:

    Michael, as usual I love your rant. And it’s not so much a rant as I feel a peek inside my jumbled neural network and a synopsis of what was “seen”. Brilliantly like-minded, we seem to be! “A nation of shepherds reduced to sheep” – quite succinct, quite true.

  • This is for you Alcari.I don’t care what culture you are. What you said to me, lets me know that you don’t bevlie in Jesus Christ, and you are not a christian. F.Y.I., the bible is not a horrible book, it’s just a horrible book to you because you have evil written all over you. Now get this straight, I can act any way I want to on the internet because you don’t know me personally. If you live in america what does that make you. I know what you are tring to do little girl, because it is so obvious. You are tring to get me all up set and everything over this Statuue of Liberty, but guess what I’m not and I can see write through you because that’s a little game that the devil is playing in your head. And I’m am a child of God,I’m a christian, and I’m saved. So I guess when you went to church it didn’t do you any good, Did it? So why did you go to church? And to get back on the subject you can correct me all you want because I don’t care. So you can go back to where ever you came from because you don’t belong in america, sweety. And I would be glad for you to leave because we don’t need people like you here in america. I wouldn’t care if you left this universe. And I know I’m not helping this situation sitting here arguing back and forth with you, so I’m just going to pray for you and pray that you change your ways, and recieve the lord in your heart. And to get to the end of this conversation I’m going to pray that you get counseling or go see your doctor and get mental help. O.K. Have a wonderful evening!!!

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