Today was Swiffer-ing and cleaning day. We do it ourselves nowadays since we cancelled our cleaning team for the time being. They, like many others, have been sadly deprived of their income due to this Pandemic. So many will be falling through the cracks, and what desperation mixed with frustration is capable of doing worries me to no end! While dusting my bookshelves, I switch the television on. I often do that these Virus days simply to hear other human voices. When I listen, I get snippets of real News in between an abundance of superfluous Views spewed by our agenda-driven so-called journalists who dominate the airwaves with plenty of nonsense, and who are looking to sensationalize, or seeking that Gotcha moment! Anyway, I notice – as I am pretty sure everyone has – how most of the so-called journalists, analysts and other specialists are either airing their segments from their home studios, or their homes. I am most amused, though, by how most of those broadcasting from their homes have the same backdrop: Bookshelves! How did that convergence occur? Was it Happenstance, or Copy-catting? Some of them, such as the many on our MSM, and, especially, most on FOX, would do better with the Enquirer, and other such sleazy tabloids as a backdrop! Anyway, I do hope that the MSM channels are not the only source of news that smart people listen to. There are many other listening and reading choices for those with more discerning intellects.
So, while the Left has this vindictive vitriol and irrational hatred for Trump, and the Right has this stupefying adoration and over-exultation of him, the divisiveness ends right there, because irrelevant of whether our so-called journalists and analysts are on the Right, the Left, or the Center when it comes to the Foreign Policy of these United States they are ALL in agreement save for some superficial, half-hearted and purely cosmetic differences. Am I the only one who thinks so, I wonder? This issue has been a Constant since I arrived to these shores in 1981 right after the Iran hostage crisis was over. At that time, it was Iran that all branches of our government, the “specialists” and all our media had termed as the Enemy. Through the years, I have seen how there has to be a Designated US Enemy no matter whether it is Republicans, or Democrats in control of the government: Iran and Cuba, except for very brief interruptions here and there, have been Constant Enemies; Afghanistan and the Taliban are Enemies in whose pursuit we demolished the whole country and ended up losing that war, just like we lost Vietnam; Iraq and Saddam, the Enemy, where we did not find any WMDs which was why we attacked that country in the first place and sent it back to the Stone Age; Ghaddafi, the Enemy, and Libya which we have totally devastated; North Korea, and Kim, the Enemy, about whom Trump later said: we fell in love; Venezuela, and Maduro, the Enemy, where we continue to exert criminal sanctions and organize coups with our despicable Puppet Guaido and those elusive “contractors,” while Always denying that we do, though no one believes us anymore; the issue of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in the Ukraine and of how annexation is A-Okay if Bibi is doing it, but not Enemy Putin. Hypocrisy? Double-standards? You don’t want to know my furious thoughts on this. Russia again, and Enemy Putin’s Meddling in our Elections, which begs the question why is it alright for the US to meddle Anywhere and when Russia does the same it becomes a Crime? Hypocrisy? Double-standards? You decide. And now it is Enemy China and the Virus that Trump chose to pooh-pooh and then blame China for Everything while asserting that our response was blameless. Hypocrisy? Double-standards? Obviously! What really troubles me, though, is that the United States has this insatiable need for a Scapegoat, a Wag-the-Dog distraction, an Enemy, a Battle, a War at all times. As I finish dusting, I am pondering if all those television personalities with all those books as their backdrop could analyze why confrontation and double-standards are so much part of this country’s DNA? For, what purpose do all these books serve if not to educate and enlighten human beings, rather than simply to support one’s “views”? Are they merely snobbish décor? I have little faith that the paid hacks on the Left and on the Right would address this stuff, or any issue that really matters. However: Trump Said, Trump Did, Trump Tweeted? Unending, although I must admit that the Virus has somewhat shifted their 24/7 focus on him!
Earlier this month, we were reliving the Kent State University massacre that Nixon (whom Trump says he learned a lot from!) had authorized, and during which four students were gunned down by the National Guard, nine were wounded, and hundreds of students were traumatized. Nixon’s argument – which proved to be totally false – was that there were Outside Agitators instigating the students, and that Internal Dissent was destroying our Freedoms! I mention this because we were remembering that May 4th. Commemoration of exactly 50 years ago, and to illustrate how the Ruling Powers always manage to find justifications for their actions, irrelevant of whether those are founded, or unfounded, and irrelevant of which of our political parties is the Ruling Power! How corrupt!
As I mop my floors I think how once this Pandemic hit us it began revealing fissures in governments throughout most of our “civilized” world, especially in so many aspects of our Exceptional Nation and to how dysfunctional, how unethical, how party-driven, how cruel are so many of our laws, how blatant it has become to see that the powerful, whether on the Left, or on the Right, have always been looking after their own interests first while throwing crumbs to the people, such as the trillions of supposed relief funds that have not yet reached those who need them most, while bestowing millions on corporations, and some were paid to fly-by-night companies! Transparency? Dream on! However, and to be fair, when it comes to this Virus that came upon the world so quickly, so lethally and is so unknown and so unpredictable a Perfect Response was next to impossible, and all nations were late in wrapping their arms around it, whether it was China, Europe, or the US. Nevertheless, Trump fumbled our response “bigly,” and if I were to do, or say, half the things he says and does some “bodies” would have emerged out of the shadows and cuffed me already while marching me straight to the Paddy-wagon (Irish for cop car)! Just sayin’!!
Many writers are saying that things will have to change for the better after this, that there will be more attention paid to Essential Workers, less of the Union busting that has been going on relentlessly since the Thatcher and Reagan eras, more Equality, more Justice, more Compassion, and more Negotiation rather than Confrontation amongst the nations of our world – now more than ever. Frankly, whether it is the irresponsible hacks opining on our television screens, or when I look at all those reckless, selfish humans (my daughter calls them Covidiots!) running around here, and elsewhere in our sick world demanding their so-called “freedom” from stay-at-home guidelines, or listening to some of the thoughtless and corrupt politicians protecting themselves while asking citizens to sacrifice themselves and go back to work without a clear and safe policy, my doubts increase that this could ever happen, and I hope that I am wrong in my perspective. Yes, we are, indeed, living in very sad, inexplicable and dangerous times! Stay very, very put and vigilant everyone! Despite all the inconvenience, eventually, eventually! it will be over!
P.S. Couldn’t we just Swiffer Virus out? Maybe only in Trumpistan?!!
My Seventy Year Old Eyes 