Definitely a major line in the sand was permanently crossed. Leagues beyond 9/11 or the Financial Crisis or anything prior, excepting maybe the world wars or major historical wars. The last of our innocence was destroyed. Permanent traumatization now. For anyone who was alive during this period.
And frankly, no, I’m not sure what it was exactly. Sure the Covid pandemic and everything that came with it, the permanent pause of our lives, callously watching almost a million people die in a year was traumatic, the glaring reveal of the dramatic economic disparity in the country and around the world, how we now talk constantly about it and see horrific images of it daily but never seem to be able to DO anything about it; but more than anything, the most disturbing four years of nonstop daily insanity competing with inanity that led first to shock then horror then action then no consequences then anger, more action, no consequences, anger turned into grief and apathy, hearts and minds numb, escapism, and right when when many began thinking we were nearing the end and started to retrain our bodies to start exhaling, on January 6th of 2021 we watch in horror once again just like on September 11th of 2001 in another stark reminder of how utterly tenderly and deathly fragile our civil society truly is. Shock. Horror. Fear. Anger. More apathy. Dead inside.
Seems mostly for the bad, but we could point to “some good” that has come out of it I suppose. We’re more awake and aware, striving towards more equality. But at such a great cost. Now humans just walk around in shock, going through the motions they believe they were programmed to.
Someone mentioned to me that they were upset about some argument they had a friend who believed anyone still unvaccinated is suffering from the same idiocy that created the brief but disheartening prominence of Trump in modern society for that hopeless reckless time and he has succumbed to the idea that them all dying off would be the best possible outcome for America and the rest of the world. I asked my friend, “since you agree with this idea at its core, why fight it for ideology? Why not just agree with your friend and be done with it? So our demons and enemies are no longer invisible voices in smoky backrooms or down dark alleys; they’ve found voices and public platforms and acceptance among others. They’ve discovered there’re more of them. Let them die off from Covid man.
And Jeez, the Covid arguments… That’s the least of it. The covid split…. I admit I don’t think about it anymore….but I’ll notice from hearing about social media that some people still do..? Cant say for sure obviously. Because it’s just hearsay, like this text from you…. Is covid related… yet again, as if people have still not found anything else to occupy their attention or time.
But hell, take everything on earth and throw it all in and take a knife and savagely cut it down the middle…. That’s how we’re left. Just beastly split down a false middle. People thinking they need to pick a side. As if we’re at war. It’s crazy.
Fucking deer in headlights now, everyone. War torn and ravaged to near death… numb. Deserted. Godless.
Good stuff to explore for possible ramifications for near to mid term future…. We’re watching several former civil societies around the earth implode and be retaken by fascism. And there’s not a free people or power broker nation around who will dare do anything about it. Everyone’s too scared of losing their footing now. This is how world wars start. Not with a gunshot but rather from pretending nothing is going on. Everyone looking the other way. Hoping they’ll wake up the next day and it will have been a nightmare. But it’s not going away.
At this point humanity needs a global shock to wake it out of this line in the sand partisanship. Or we’ll be an easy target. China / North Korea / Iran, shit, anybody really, could literally steamroll right over the West right now and nobody would even pay attention or care. Because nobody in the West has anything to believe in or fight for. The wind got knocked out of everyone so bad. We’ve got no truths left. Nothing noble or valiant to fight for. Just different sides of silly arguments. At least in fascist countries theres the illusion of nationalist pride.
It’s hard to feel a sense of nationalism when you cannot talk yourself into seeing anything good or noble…. Maybe big picture… freedom and democracy and capitalism…. But those are really big picture…. People don’t seem to care about that stuff now. They’re too focused on the small partisan political things that have eroded our greater nationalist ideals, bashing Biden or pelosi or trump or McConnell. That’s all so small and temporary… unimportant on a global or humanist scale….
Fascist countries recognize that strange anomaly in the West, and are using it to make huge inroads and broad sweeping changes that affect us all. But almost nobody in the West is noticing it. It doesn’t even make the news. Except to watchdog groups. But nobody’s got time for watchdog groups anymore. We throw them annual awards and financial backing hoping they’ll watch the dog for us. But no ones watching. Everyone’s just clamoring for the award and the funding.
I am as fascinated by it as I am disturbed. There’s only so much a small group of individuals can do…. After a while you just hug your spouse tighter and say “fuck it, we may wake up in armageddon tomorrow, but we tried.”
And then it becomes more akin to voyeurism than survival. Or perhaps voyeurism and then survival. I cant be sure anymore I’ve bounced so many time’s between the two.
Good grist for the mill though. For future generations to examine and ponder…
Yep. Both I guess. Look for the little joys AND analyze the data to assess future outlook and try to figure out what happened to prevent it again….
Just seems like the same old Egypt/Persia/Greece/Rome/Great Britain thing…. All over again… A spoiled factor eventually leads to moral and intellectual decay and petty infighting, permitting easy access to enemies within and without.
No big man in the sky to help or advise or ease the pain. Just an endless cycle of birth suffering and brutal deaths.