Reflections of Me: Spring. It Hasn't Sprung Yet
Ah, here it is, April, year 2018. A time of year I always look forward to, usually with great optimism. Spring, meaning warmer temperatures, the blooming of flora and the stirring of fauna. Baseball, the only sport, in my mind, that truly imitates life. Sunshine, green grass, the smell of rich, verdant soil, and Nature displayed in Her most beautiful form. All will be right with the universe now.
Except--enter 2018. Winter refuses to release her icy hold. She allows glimpses of Spring, then covers them in snow and deadly icy temperatures. The gloom and pall of deep depression, Winter is, and she seems to want to extend her seasonal chill. Usually, we humans have periods during Winter's reign where we conduct festivals, meant to cheer each other up, and those are wonderful and help us endure the deathly cold, gray days. Keeping alive the hope for Spring. Usually.
Enter this new era. One in which, not satisfied with the death and destruction Winter brings, we humans--in particular, those of us in the fledgling Nation of the United States--have set out to kill each other as well. We have allowed to come into being a Government Administration that thrives on keeping it's citizens divided on almost any issue, that considers anarchy preferable to civilization, that enjoys chaos as it's own entertainment, that refuses to accept any responsibility for any of it's own actions, that prefers it's citizens to be as poorly educated and informed as it is possible to be in today's world.
I would like to share with you here, a letter to a editor in a typical, if not large, midwestern city. Where is not important, nor are names; suffice it to say, it is from a area where I grew up, where I lived from birth to my late teen years. I can say, I received there a above par education, and lived among people who were hard working, honest, caring, and intelligent in ways far exceeding just book smarts. Still, there were some--aren't there always? Who are easily manipulated, born followers, without the ability to comprehend the difference between reality and delusional paranoia. Who are incapable of taking information from several different viewpoints and assessing the truth from the garbage. The following for me illustrates just such a person ( I will make comments myself in response; I wouldn't bother with dealing with the writer directly, as he makes it obvious from his wording that the only information he requires is that which he has already been told to have ).
"With all the talk about gun control, let’s mention the real truth. These students in Florida must have had some outside help and financing to get so well organized. Undoubtedly, from liberal, anti-Second Amendment Democrats still filled with vitriol over Hillary Clinton's loss of the presidency and the strong backing that President Trump got from the NRA."
Phrases such as 'real truth', 'liberal, anti-Second Amendment Democrats' and 'vitriol' indicate that here we have a closed mind, one which accepts only what he chooses to believe and any contrasting opinion--even backed by factual information--is to be ignored as false, misleading, biased, and to be ridiculed by trying to lower any opposition to respond in kind. He is mired in his own fantasy world and will only believe any source which feeds his need to bully and out-shout any reasonable opposition to his ( and their ) views. No sense in trying to talk to him.
"The real truth is the NRA is composed of law-abiding citizens who practice and teach gun safety. No NRA member has ever been involved in mass shootings; rather, they are carried out by persons who should not have the ability to legally possess them to begin with. We have gun laws now that are not enforced. Liberals seek to crack the legal door open by banning so-called assault weapons, but they don’t fool us. Their ultimate goal is to ban all guns. Then only the government and criminals will have them. How has tough gun control worked in Chicago, L.A. or D.C.?"
Again, he uses the 'real truth' argument, even though one can easily presume he does not know all the persons comprising the NRA. He wants to believe what he says, so, he does. I know for fact that the statement, as a blanket description, is false: as a gun owner for most of my life, who grew up around gun owners, I can comfortable avow the falseness of the statement. He then again refers to 'liberals' who are trying to crack open some door so they can 'ban all guns'. Despite the fact that no one has seriously even suggested this, and most of current gun owners ( myself included ) are all for strengthening current gun laws, making them apply Nationally instead of varying State to State, and even, yes, banning most semi-automatic assault weapons. The level of his paranoia reveals itself further here. He even acknowledges that there are people in possession of firearms who should not be. Sadly, the tone of his overall rant reveals also that he may very well be one of them.
"Young minds are easy to manipulate and were taken advantage of for pure political purposes."
Here, he makes a standalone statement, one which is basically universally known, but he just has to tag it by referring to it being done for 'political purposes'. It's most commonly called education, Sir, and those minds can be manipulated towards many things: the arts, the sciences, religion, humanities, just to name a few. Again, the level of his paranoia rears it's ugly head; no matter what level of education one has, in the end, in a civilized society, there is always politics involved. What his paranoia reveals is a fear that there may be youth surrounding him who, through their own experience, develop political views contrary to his. One could say that he, and those who bolster his blinder views, are almost scared enough right now to pee their pants. But the ones doing the scaring are, largely, themselves, by refusing to even consider common sense and logic and refusing to listen to those who want to make things better.
"Never forget it was liberals who managed to kick God out of school along with respect for human life. They’ve given us abortion on demand, gay marriage, euthanasia – freedom to do as we choose, regardless of the consequences. - Name Redacted. "
Here, he drops to the lowest common denominator: the phrase 'kick God out of school along with respect for human life'. Huh? Where do people like this even get some of this stuff? I grew up in a small midwestern town, went to a community school, from the mid-50's until the mid-60's, and I can tell you---God was not a part of my schooling ( there were Churches for that ) and we were taught the utmost of respect for human life, by school and by our own families. He avows here that liberals have done things to guarantee us freedom of choice--a right mentioned in the Constitution, by the way -- but are Hell bent on taking away his second amendment rights. Please, folk--you cannot have it both ways. He fails also to note that his legal right to bear semi-automatic firearms resulted from a very liberal interpretation of the second amendment by a conservative Supreme Court.
I will end here, by saying I did not, nor would not, attempt to have a conversation with this gentleman or any who profess his views. His very wording indicates he will listen to no one who does not agree with him, making any attempt to reach a common point of agreement between us impossible. It is a prime example of how the divisions in our country are getting wider, and being encouraged to widen by the chaotic antics of our current administration. Optimistically, I believe those like him are becoming fewer in number, and I have faith that our foundation will allow this entire mess to be fixed in the future. However, there has been a lot of damage, and it is going to take time--and the young people who have finally had enough of living in fear in their own back yards--to correct it. I also have faith, now, that they will.
Except--enter 2018. Winter refuses to release her icy hold. She allows glimpses of Spring, then covers them in snow and deadly icy temperatures. The gloom and pall of deep depression, Winter is, and she seems to want to extend her seasonal chill. Usually, we humans have periods during Winter's reign where we conduct festivals, meant to cheer each other up, and those are wonderful and help us endure the deathly cold, gray days. Keeping alive the hope for Spring. Usually.
Enter this new era. One in which, not satisfied with the death and destruction Winter brings, we humans--in particular, those of us in the fledgling Nation of the United States--have set out to kill each other as well. We have allowed to come into being a Government Administration that thrives on keeping it's citizens divided on almost any issue, that considers anarchy preferable to civilization, that enjoys chaos as it's own entertainment, that refuses to accept any responsibility for any of it's own actions, that prefers it's citizens to be as poorly educated and informed as it is possible to be in today's world.
I would like to share with you here, a letter to a editor in a typical, if not large, midwestern city. Where is not important, nor are names; suffice it to say, it is from a area where I grew up, where I lived from birth to my late teen years. I can say, I received there a above par education, and lived among people who were hard working, honest, caring, and intelligent in ways far exceeding just book smarts. Still, there were some--aren't there always? Who are easily manipulated, born followers, without the ability to comprehend the difference between reality and delusional paranoia. Who are incapable of taking information from several different viewpoints and assessing the truth from the garbage. The following for me illustrates just such a person ( I will make comments myself in response; I wouldn't bother with dealing with the writer directly, as he makes it obvious from his wording that the only information he requires is that which he has already been told to have ).
"With all the talk about gun control, let’s mention the real truth. These students in Florida must have had some outside help and financing to get so well organized. Undoubtedly, from liberal, anti-Second Amendment Democrats still filled with vitriol over Hillary Clinton's loss of the presidency and the strong backing that President Trump got from the NRA."
Phrases such as 'real truth', 'liberal, anti-Second Amendment Democrats' and 'vitriol' indicate that here we have a closed mind, one which accepts only what he chooses to believe and any contrasting opinion--even backed by factual information--is to be ignored as false, misleading, biased, and to be ridiculed by trying to lower any opposition to respond in kind. He is mired in his own fantasy world and will only believe any source which feeds his need to bully and out-shout any reasonable opposition to his ( and their ) views. No sense in trying to talk to him.
"The real truth is the NRA is composed of law-abiding citizens who practice and teach gun safety. No NRA member has ever been involved in mass shootings; rather, they are carried out by persons who should not have the ability to legally possess them to begin with. We have gun laws now that are not enforced. Liberals seek to crack the legal door open by banning so-called assault weapons, but they don’t fool us. Their ultimate goal is to ban all guns. Then only the government and criminals will have them. How has tough gun control worked in Chicago, L.A. or D.C.?"
Again, he uses the 'real truth' argument, even though one can easily presume he does not know all the persons comprising the NRA. He wants to believe what he says, so, he does. I know for fact that the statement, as a blanket description, is false: as a gun owner for most of my life, who grew up around gun owners, I can comfortable avow the falseness of the statement. He then again refers to 'liberals' who are trying to crack open some door so they can 'ban all guns'. Despite the fact that no one has seriously even suggested this, and most of current gun owners ( myself included ) are all for strengthening current gun laws, making them apply Nationally instead of varying State to State, and even, yes, banning most semi-automatic assault weapons. The level of his paranoia reveals itself further here. He even acknowledges that there are people in possession of firearms who should not be. Sadly, the tone of his overall rant reveals also that he may very well be one of them.
"Young minds are easy to manipulate and were taken advantage of for pure political purposes."
Here, he makes a standalone statement, one which is basically universally known, but he just has to tag it by referring to it being done for 'political purposes'. It's most commonly called education, Sir, and those minds can be manipulated towards many things: the arts, the sciences, religion, humanities, just to name a few. Again, the level of his paranoia rears it's ugly head; no matter what level of education one has, in the end, in a civilized society, there is always politics involved. What his paranoia reveals is a fear that there may be youth surrounding him who, through their own experience, develop political views contrary to his. One could say that he, and those who bolster his blinder views, are almost scared enough right now to pee their pants. But the ones doing the scaring are, largely, themselves, by refusing to even consider common sense and logic and refusing to listen to those who want to make things better.
"Never forget it was liberals who managed to kick God out of school along with respect for human life. They’ve given us abortion on demand, gay marriage, euthanasia – freedom to do as we choose, regardless of the consequences. - Name Redacted. "
Here, he drops to the lowest common denominator: the phrase 'kick God out of school along with respect for human life'. Huh? Where do people like this even get some of this stuff? I grew up in a small midwestern town, went to a community school, from the mid-50's until the mid-60's, and I can tell you---God was not a part of my schooling ( there were Churches for that ) and we were taught the utmost of respect for human life, by school and by our own families. He avows here that liberals have done things to guarantee us freedom of choice--a right mentioned in the Constitution, by the way -- but are Hell bent on taking away his second amendment rights. Please, folk--you cannot have it both ways. He fails also to note that his legal right to bear semi-automatic firearms resulted from a very liberal interpretation of the second amendment by a conservative Supreme Court.
I will end here, by saying I did not, nor would not, attempt to have a conversation with this gentleman or any who profess his views. His very wording indicates he will listen to no one who does not agree with him, making any attempt to reach a common point of agreement between us impossible. It is a prime example of how the divisions in our country are getting wider, and being encouraged to widen by the chaotic antics of our current administration. Optimistically, I believe those like him are becoming fewer in number, and I have faith that our foundation will allow this entire mess to be fixed in the future. However, there has been a lot of damage, and it is going to take time--and the young people who have finally had enough of living in fear in their own back yards--to correct it. I also have faith, now, that they will.
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