The Travel Blues and Shock and Awe
Well I am sitting in Phoenix waiting for my connecting flight and I am dog tired. Working 16 hour days for the last two weeks has been no fun, but has taken me out of the 24/7 news cycle and jumping back in is causing whip lash. First some thoughts on what I have observed. Working in the San Antonio area with people who work horrendous hours, there was a total apolitical environment. But I did hear a few comments that made me think that in this environment, most people don’t really read or are in touch with, what should I call it, reality?
One person casually mentioned to me that they needed to get their Social Security as soon as they could because it will soon run out. Well, I see Fox News dominates. I left it alone. Social Security is fully funded through 2030 and some minor adjustments and it can go on forever. Now these would be the same people who probably think we live in an entitlement world, but they sure want to get theirs. I think what was most disturbing was the airport and overheard casual conversations in Texas where I heard racial things that I haven’t heard in years.
Then of course, I turned on the TV to find Rick, the Pope, Santorum is making the big comeback and I wonder if the country has lost its mind. Let’s see, Obama gets up every day to destroy the country, and if you don’t live by my religious beliefs and you are given the freedom to choose, it is religious tyranny. And the press talks about these people as if they are rational. Oh, and lets not forget global warming is a hoax, and we Republicans did not cause this mess. All I can sumise from all this is that the country is dumbing itself down and we are becoming this little religious, white, backward hick country. It is really scary.
Or, I took a few comments out of context, I am tired and grumpy, and as my son says, I have become the grumpy old man who yells, “You kids just get the f*&k off my lawn.” This is going to be an interesting November because I think it will tell you all you want to know about whether we can still think and are a leader in this world, or we are becoming a Southern Nation where ignorance, connections, and being white are all that matters.
Well, you knew (didn’t you) that I would take exception to that remark about the South. I would argue that the South never had a “corner” on the ignorance market. Granted, there are plenty of ignorant, racist, sexist white people down here, but have you ever read anything about Woodrow Wilson’s attitudes about Blacks and women, just for a surprising example? Northern elites and California liberals want to point a finger at the South and call us the scourge of civilization, but its just the pot calling the kettle black, if you ask me. There are ignorant people in every corner of the world, and the politicians of the world love to exploit them.
Having said that, I can hardly stand to go to a public place any more in this little bastion of shallow thinking where I live. These people give conservatism a bad name.
So we’ll be grumpy together, Friend.