Doubling Down

Today I saw a dirty pickup truck with a huge TRUMP: Make America Great Again flag flying in the truckbed.  I laughed, and my first thought was that this was a guy who doubling down on stupidity.  I know that there are some honest Trump supporters out there, who genuinely believe he is standing up for America or bringing back some kind of greatness, who voted for him with a real hope that things would change (or more likely, return to what they imagined the past to be). 

But what happens when you continue to believe in something, long after it's been shown to be a lie?  There's something within our human nature that even as the evidence comes out, some people won't believe it.  The old joke about how Trump could kill somebody on 5th Avenue and his supporters would still back him is becoming more and more true.  We tend to confirm what it is that we believe, even when it is certainly not true. 

Many years ago I served on a jury in which a man was charged with aggravated assault.  It became clear early on in the trial that the prosecution had nothing;. The story was basically denied by the initial accuser, the prosecutor didn't really press things, and most of us went into the jury room convinced that there was nothing there.  But one juror, a woman, was absolutely convinced he was guilty.  Maybe it was because the defendant was black and the jury was all white, but she wanted him guilty.  It took us awhile, but finally she changed her vote, if not her mind.  What was obvious to the rest of us was almost impossible to convince her of. 

I remember seeing that Nixon still had a 25% approval rating even as he was resigning.  There are some diehards who could walk on the moon and think that the moon landing was a fake.  And some will believe that 'no, really, h'e's a good person, I know it!' even as a guy is going back to jail for the 9th time.  We double down on our delusions more than our stupidity, I guess.  Hopefully it won't destroy us in the end. 

Summer 2015: Breathe-a-thon

It's the middle of the summer, so that means a)vacation for a lot of people and b)the Supreme Court is handling down a boatload of rulings before they escape the summer heat of DC for a few weeks.  It's always an exciting time for court watchers, but this year has been especially important, for in the past few weeks the court has legalized gay marriage nationwide, upheld Obamacare subsidies, made it easier for power companies to pollute, and kept as legal some of the more controversial lethal injection processes used to put to death the worst among us.  There's a bunch more they are ruling on, but I don't feel like looking up everything on which they have graced us with their wisdom and/or stupidity.

As you might expect, this has led to a lot of people FREAKING THE CRAP OUT.  While most of these issues will rarely affect any of us directly (though, in the case of the court finding the Obamacare subsidies legal, this will save me and my family a ton of money), What This Means For America has become the trending topic of the day.

If you are one of these people who have become irate or overjoyed, then, let me give you a few words of advice as we continue on through summer.  It's hot, and I don't want you overheating or dehydrating because you can't take the time to relax and breathe and eat.  Once you calm down, you can thank me.

-The apocalypse is not coming because the gays are married or people are getting cheaper health care or polluters feel more like polluting.  If it was, the stars really would fall from the sky, the sun would rain down fire, and the moon would turn to blood.  Last I looked up, though, this had not happened.  But if it does and you have been proven right, you have my permission to spend the rest of eternity telling us how wrong we idiots were.

-These are not the best of times nor the worst of times, nor the darkest of all eras nor the beginning of a new age of enlightenment. Read a little bit of history, people.  At least we're not actually shooting at others over a matter of whether it really is good to enslave people with dark skin color.  At least the plague is not killing millions even as we are engaged in 'the war to end all wars'.  At least rivers aren't on fire.  At least the economy is not in shambles and we are wondering whether or not we can afford to ever eat lamb again.  Are things perfect?  No.  But I'd rather live now and here than at most any other time and place of history.

-You are not moving to Canada or Costa Rica or Uganda or Sweden because some people did some things you don't like.  Once you calm down, your life is going to go on and you will realize how silly you looked at your threats to leave.  You are staying right here, just like everybody else.  I know, you feel like America has left you.  Wouldn't you be happier in a place in which people were not so environmentally destructive, or where gays were put 'where they belong'?  Yes, we all dream of moving to a place in which business is truly free or where human life is respected rather than destroyed.  But you're not moving.  You wouldn't be able to get ESPN there, would you?  Vacation there if you want, but remember, you're still an American.

Look, I'm not saying all this to denigrate what you believe, though I admit I am making fun of you, at least a little bit.  Nor am I saying that we shouldn't worry or get upset about bad things happening.  But I am saying that in the big picture, these things are really small potatoes.  They really are, trust me on this.  I know it seems like a big thing now, but in a few weeks you'll be outraged at something different.  Some presidential candidate will say something racist or something that goes against party dogma, or another fanatic will shoot up a mall or school or church building, or your football team will try covering up how they shrunk the goal posts to make field goals harder to make.  You'll be outraged about those things and have completely forgotten how distraught you were a few weeks earlier.  Come back and read this again.   Breathe.  Realize that it's not worth getting so mad about.  Go for a walk and tell God how much he needs to agree with your position.  And then come home and hug your kids.  You'll get through this.

Now, do we have that straight?  Are you ready to calm down and breathe again and stop freaking out?  Good.  Now, go get me some ice cream.  Chocolate chip cookie dough if they have it.

Things That Annoy Me #3: "I care by supporting a cause without having to really do anything substantive..." (aka the ALS ice bucket challenge)

Half-Brother to TTAM #19: Letting your life and your likes be dictated by fads.  

It started about a week ago.  In my facebook and twitter feeds and on internet news sites I noticed that people were having buckets of ice water poured over their heads.  At first, it was just athletes and celebrities.  But in just a week it's spread to everyone.  Random people are being nominated to have buckets of ice water poured over them.  Everybody's doing it.

What is it?  Something called the 'ALS ice bucket challenge'.  I know...it's a fundraiser for ALS, and to raise 'awareness' of ALS.  In the past day I've seen probably 25 people do variations on this theme, all because they support the cause.  They care.

But here's the thing...what is ALS?  Would half the people who have taken this challenge really try to figure out what ALS is?  Has their knowledge of ALS increased because of this?  What are some ways their ability to cope with ALS has increased in the last week?  How many have chosen to take this cause up until at least Labor Day?  I'm assuming (since nobody has really explained what ALS is as part of their challenge) that ALS refers to what is sometimes called  Lou Gehrig's disease...a nasty disease in which one's body wastes away, named after the famous Yankee first baseman.  It's awful, and I wouldn't want to get it.  I support wanting it eradicated.

But, beyond raising money (something I haven't really seen anybody really doing, though one friend of mine says they have raised $31 million...but this week?  Month?  For who?), how do you really care?  How do you show your support for this?  Again, I have learned nothing even as supposedly my awareness is supposed to be raised.  How do I detect that I (or somebody I know) is coming down with this?  How should I help somebody who has this?  Where do I even give money to help researchers?  What kind of treatment options are being explored?  In all these posts, nobody has explicitly said anything about this.  Instead, they've had buckets of ice water poured on them.  And that does, what?

The reality is that this kind of 'caring' happens all the time.  Click a button on facebook, and you show your support.  That's it.  Want to get rid of an African child slaver?  Watch a Kony 2012 video!  Want to show how much you hate breast cancer?  Watch the NFL as they wear pink socks for a month!  Want to hate some other kind of cancer?  Buy a cheap plastic wristband!

Awhile back a friend got really interested in how Christians were being persecuted, particularly in North Korea.  He printed out a form letter written to the North Korean dictator and wanted me to sign it.  It contained allegations that I had not investigated.  It pledged to 'do everything I can to let the world know' of his actions.  I read the letter, not knowing much about what was going on, but had I signed it, it told Kim Jong Un that I meant business!  I am certain that all these identical form letters has left Kim shaking in his boots.

I know...I'm a harsh, unfeeling bastard.  I really am.  I must not care because I am questioning the intentions of a lot of people who think themselves well-intentioned.  I am asking whether people will actually do something substantive about things that they suddenly now have gotten interested in, or whether they are just being sheep that are trying to make themselves look good and supportive.

But maybe it's time that we start trying to do something real and genuine, rather than just do something that is full of empty symbolism.  You really want to show that you care?
-Go and find somebody with ALS or Alzheimer's or dementia and meet their caregivers.  They're probably exhausted, because those diseases (and many others) are brutal not just on the one who has it, but those who take of them.  Why not give them a break?  Agree to sit with the person for a few hours so they can go shopping or out to dinner with a friend.  If you're really brave, agree to sit up with the person for an entire night so that their spouse can get a good night's sleep.
-Ticked off about African dictators who kidnap kids?  Go an volunteer to be a soccer coach or a Big Brother or a Sunday school teacher at your church.  Actually get to know and support kids where you are, especially those who don't have good parental figures in their life.
-Angry about how certain religious minorities are being treated in other parts of the world?  Get to know a religious minority where you live.  Show them that Christians here in mid-America don't hate them just because of the color of their skin or the way that they speak or the god that they worship.  Show them genuine love, rather than sharing on facebook some article about how all Muslims are obviously terrorists.

It's time we did more than just be supportive.

It's time we did more than just tell people how much we care.

It's time we stopped with all this symbolic crap, and did something real.

We believe what we want to believe.

What's more delusional?

-A Notre Dame linebacker who for three years lives with an exclusively online/phone relationship with a 'girlfriend', who keeps embellishing this lie even after it is proven she is a hoax?

-A world-famous champion cyclist who tells himself that his cheating was justified because everybody else did it?

-Gun advocates who are convinced that everybody is out to get them, that the Nazi government is trying to take their guns because legislation has been proposed to limit the amount of ammo that can be in a clip and to ban the most egregious of weapons?

-Families who live with the thought that it's better to keep enabling family members who keep doing horrible things, because they are worried that they will lose them if they finally say no to them, even if keeping on saying yes accelerates their downward spiral?

One thing I'm learning in life is that people love to hold onto their delusions.  I wonder sometimes if everybody is mentally ill, or just that in our world of mega-information that there's too much information now to process, and that we need to return to a simple and less complex time.