The number of persons self-aware of the differences between what they want and what they need could maybe fill a soup kitchen’s volunteer roster sign-in sheet. Apparently contributing to society means accepting only entitlements and privileges. When salvation without sacrifice is found nowhere in nature and misses the point entirely of that popular Christianity thing. The American response to Americans experiencing any travesty is “Sucks to be you lol”. On the other side of the decimal is “How can I personally help beyond a humble-brag selfie?” and absolutely never is it “What have I myself possibly done to’ve enabled or contributed to this?” Musk’s hurt by Chappelle’s audience and attempts to oppress its footage afterwards show that the more insular we keep ourselves, blocking things uncomfortable/unfamiliar/unflattering from our schools, news and social media and day to day lives, the more we mistake fantasy for anything but.
Ben Franklin famously said the only certainties in life are death and taxes (while doing nothing to help combat that reality) but you still put on clothes to leave the house because of the distinct probability there may be others who just don’t want to see what you have to offer. Bram Stoker swiped the old Russian gypsy proverb that “Evil must be invited into the home” which implied bad things undoubtedly happen but one doesn’t need to make it any easier. Culture today is entirely subjective but in terms of life and death all wish to believe in absolutes. And if something’s not bluntly reaffirming for you how right and sexy you are it’s all word salad or disinfo or both. If your preferred sources for information never say anything unflattering about the people, places and things you believe in, you are not being informed, because there is not a person, place or thing in all of existence beyond reproach. And if those people, places and things are indeed flawless and can do no wrong, why do they require your unquestioning support? Principles and convictions which can be disposable or replaceable were never principles or convictions, they are fetishes, in every sense.
Patriotism is the belief that self-contradiction is necessary to survival, most noted by the allowances given to anything threatening the actual survival of one’s fellows. If you oppose the degrees of entrapment, extortion and exploitation fundamental to Capitalism you’re no real patriot, and if you oppose wars generally or gun-ownership specifically you’re no real patriot, because saving Americans is un-American. Saving lives is rarely synonymous for a political attack, but when it is the parties attacked should reflect on that in the mirror. My gut tells me that making suicide illegal is the state being sadists saying we will forking tell you when you’ve had enough now get back to working and paying taxes and dying in fields of combat.
Granted, people forbidden from liking or disliking whatever non-lethal thing they want is yet censoring. Free speech doesn’t guarantee an audience or acceptance, and mandating responses for or against denies the basic human right to self-determination. There is no variety of fascism in human history not boiling down to demanding one’s thoughts and feelings be replicated by others suffering their own. Rights aren’t about getting what we want, but getting what we need. That’s why endangering others is not a right, because nobody needs that. “What do you mean I’m not a princess and the world is not my oyster serving only my peace of mind and confirming how right and sexy I am in all matters.” – the responses to this, basically.
You can say no to drugs while also being considerate of others. My mom had no immune system so as her caregiver we were quarantining before it was trendy, but every dipshit from her church wanting selfies with the dying lady was ignorant to the concept of asymptomatic transfer. Homebound, we were never vaxxed but I knew to avoid crowds in a pandemic. Film production as a different example necessitates people who travel a lot, so require extra measures because if Americans don’t get their entertainment then they truly lose their shit. And I can understand that because those people are largely snowflakes who see themselves as centerpieces to the universe. But overly-cautious does save more lives than not in any circumstance. How many people do we know that died running with scissors? Covid policy was openly schizophrenic, and not having the right battle plans in place prior is damning of pretty much every administration we’ve known. Just another Capitalist state justifying commerce above all else. The rest of the world felt differently and the rest of the world had nowhere near the fatalities endorsed by American patriots who obsess over symbology way more than the life it represents. That’s what documented reality says. But this country was hit hard because most people absolutely did not try to protect the vulnerable, they cried at the idea of not being constantly indulged and catered to by the world around them no matter the costs.
I was in the belly button of the bible belt for the worst of the pandemic, a very conservative region, but surprisingly about half knew to not take chances, because their own memories said more for them than did their political leaders. Nurses are platinum. Fight privatization tooth and nail! The matter of who pays for what barely scratches the surface of ills. Corporate lawyers drag feet protecting life for workers or consumers, and pharmaceutical companies affording as much to out of court settlements as to marketing is anti-life. It was so messed when word first got out JP Morgan and the like were looking into the NHS a few years back. Enrichment as the priority of healthcare impairs healthcare. I think the boomer generation downplays college debt assistance because they have decades more of medical debt themselves which they cannot fend off. The last 5 years of my mom’s life she was altogether bedbound and confused more often than not, and the last time she walked or managed herself was into Hardin Memorial hospital in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Zilch accountability. If I hadn’t moved I’d have burned the place down. But if not for some nurses who likely risked their jobs that place would’ve finished her off sooner. I shut out the past and present comprising my world to afford her what dignity and comfort I could muster, but what got her in the end was her heart giving up the ghost. Physically, her blood was less and less able to hold onto any iron, so that her heart was getting too weak to get enough oxygen to her brain. Spiritually, it was from all the friends and family gone years without ever considering returning a phone call, text or DM to the sweetest, most innocent woman they would ever know. Make no demands of others and they don’t know what to do with you. I logged into her facebook weeks after she passed and told them all precisely where they should get poked, and then I memorialized the page and I will never to my dying day apologize for that.
That’s where indulgences led them.
Rewind some 25 years, during a brief stint at Broughton Mental Hospital in Morganton, NC a wise social worker told me I wasn’t depressed, I was a realist. Huge impact. We standardize, demonize and criminalize the emotional spectrum’s range and call it liberty. We are indeed wrong to cause a scene over not getting what we want, but when stakes are high and hope is gone to sea we’ve every earthly right to be upset or furious, even if pop culture shows time and again how badass it is to smile in the face of adversity. That is madness. I think I got into reviewing back when because I did not want to replicate the thoughts/feelings of others being obliged, but rather work to formulate my own. I learned we are entitled to own thoughts and feelings, and nothing else, and denying that breeds every conflict. Too many of our internal conflicts come from us not wanting to own up to our lust or wrath or the harm they inflict, and too many of our external conflicts come from ourselves or those we meet demanding that personal esteem is the priority or responsibility of anyone else. Altogether I was locked up for depression across three states inside a few years, but that ended when I began withholding love and cruelty both unless a party truly has it coming. Nothing is more self-defeating than sharing love or cruelty with persons not needing the experience.
Those affording places or things either one however, are fucking nuts.