Doug's Darkworld

Another day, I can’t keep up with the weirdness. Trump did in fact suggest being added to Mount Rushmore. What can I say, he’s a legend in his own mind. And that of his followers, though what Trump has accomplished to be deserving of such an honor  is a mystery to me. I got nothing, he sailed on the coattails of the booming economy (such as it was) Obama left him, made the rich richer, added staggering amounts to the deficit, abrogated international treaties, and appointed lobbyists to power in great numbers. And broke all his promises to help Americans. This deserves a place on Mount Rushmore?  Oh well, Trump’s self image is like his priorities … interesting.

It’s more incomprehensible to me every day that America’s ruling class and many Americans have decided that Covid-19 will just go away if we all pretend it isn’t happening. Is that the plan? 1500 dying a day and the plan is to DO NOTHING? Today’s theory is that Americans suffer from mass learned helplessness. That’s where an organism has been so beaten down by bad events and helplessness in the face of them that they just give up. Granted that’s simplistic, but I’m just trying to understand why Covid-19 is wreaking historic carnage, and Americans aren’t demanding action be taken?

So this guy has an interesting take on how America got lost: Why Didn’t America Become Part of the Modern World? And by that I mean the yawning gap between America and the rest of the developed world. They enjoy vastly better working conditions, public education, universal health care, public transportation and pretty much everything else than Americans. It’s like they are wealthy modern nations, and everyone gets a fair share, what a concept? Not in America. I agree we have a huge problem, by all metrics we do, but I think his conclusion is simplistic. I think there’s a raft of factors that led the US down this dark path. Maybe a future blog.

I did come across a fellow defending America by claiming we have more freedom than all those socialist European countries! I’m going to be rude here. That’s fucking idiotic. People in Europe, Canada, Japan etc … IE the rest of the developed world  … enjoy the exact same freedoms Americans enjoy. They can travel freely, say what they want, join whatever religion they want, live their lives as they please. Freedom the likes of which the vast majority of humans never enjoyed. Yeah, they can’t run out and buy an AR-15. If your sense of freedom requires you to have a gun in your hands, grow the fuck up. The rest of the developed world has.

So part of Iowa got flattened. A derecho hit it. A what? A new one to me, basically a series of thunderstorms can create a windstorm the equivalent of a class two hurricane. 100 mph winds. Only 4 dead so far, but massive property damage. Missed us here, but 75 miles south, oh my. Nowhere on Earth is safe from natural disasters, a reminder to stay frosty.

I’m thinking maybe as people’s friends, family, and loved ones start to sicken and die from Covid-19, Americans will snap out of their shit. I’m losing people, but I knew Covid-19 was serious in March. That’s when I went to ground. I hope I’m not living in a failed state, but not reassured by what I see.

Oh well. Maybe Trump’s secret plan will fix it all. He does have a secret plan, right? Stay sane everyone, have a safe weekend. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: A meme found on Facebook. Yeah, no matter how bad the American government fails, the architects of the failure are never held to account. Go figure. Credit: It’s in the meme. Used without permission, claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law.)