Right-Wings

THE ABSURD TIMES

See, Darwin really wasn't wrong. Survival of the fittest means domination of and by the mediocre.

Living in Amerika

by

Franz Kafka

Recently, I have noticed what moves the fools in the Trumpnik wing of the political spectrum. This arose from an exchange over social media with one of them in particular, but with observation of many others. The majority of their opinions are second hand, derived from media such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and others who relentlessly push their own version of reality, those once referred to as "rabble-rousers".

I was impressed not so much by the falsity of their "facts," but by the selection. For example, one of them directly insulted, or tried to insult me, as insane or something like that. I was not sure as to whether he thought he was making an actual diagnosis or merely asserting his manhood or a similar adolesent foible. I learned, finally, that he simply had been handed selected items and connected the dots (or had them connected for him), and been first firghtened and then determined to fight to defend himself, his country, his savior, and so on.

For example, there is a persistant fear that Moslems are going to institute Sharia Law in this country, even though many Republican values seem to reflect it (relegation of women to second-class citizens, fear of the non-christian (vs. non-Moslem), hatred of sexual identiy isues, desire to curb free speech (once Trump wanted the freedom to sue the press), and so on. Our Constitution is fairly clear on the separation of church and state, perhaps inspired by a memory our founding fathers had of Oliver Cromwell (who actually made a few good points, btw.). No, they can rest easy. Sharia Law will not be instituted in this country.

The recent bombings were listed as examples of how Moslems are attacking Christians. Putting aside the fact that the Koran honors both Judasm and Christianity, those who did attack the churches in Sri Lanka were Islamic State-inspired, and now claimed by the group as their own work. They, however, can hardly be thought of as Moslem. Such behavior as witnessed in the earlier days of ISIS can hardly be credited as Islamic, just as much of what is done here in the name of Christ can hardly be claimed as "Christian". Furthermore, ISIS said the attacks were carried out in retaliation for the attacks on Mosques in New Zealand. Attacks here on Synagogues in Pittsburgh could hardly be called Christian. The list becomes endless and one finally comes to the conclusion that we are living in the midst of psychopaths.

Many wonder why people can be so disturbed with this situation (and we will return to it, don't worry). Well, perhaps your parents, even your grandparents, perhaps some of you, can remember when the President of the United States was JFK and the Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (Bobby). Once evening while campaigning Bobby Kennedy was in Indianapolis when he was tolk that MLK (Martin Luther King) has been assassinated, no doubt for speaking out about the war of the time, and announced the fact to his campaign crowd, mixed race to be sure, and quoted the words of the Greek Dramatist Aeschylus. It was the one large city in the entire United States that did not erupt into a race riot.

Today the President is Donald Trump and the Attorney General who replaced the closet Confederate Jeff Sessions, is William Barr. The last sane personell near to Presidency were Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State who called Trump a "Fucking Idiot" after a meeting about nuclear warheads, John Kelley who said he had the job as a "punishment for past sins," and Secretary of State "Mad-Dog" who told his staff after a crazy order to assassinate President Assad of Syria "We're no goinna do any of that shit." They are now gone. To paraphrase an old line from a comic: "What does it prove? Darwin was wrong!"

So, we have the religious feuds that are mainly used to excuse other modes of discrimination and violence. Do we really need to go into all the ways that religions are abused? No, we've done enough of that except we have not yet picked on the Buddhists. That religion supposedly believes that God is in everything, especially within onself. When shown the insanity of the Islamist activity in destroying old and valuable Bhuddist statues, the Dali Lama said, while giggling a bit, "they could still have been useful for tourism"! Hardly a call to arms. However, attacks on Moslems in what was once Burma was done in the name of religion. Hardly an act of meditation. And that woman sitting in her spacious dwelling and who once was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize did nothing to intervene. The military acted, on assumes on orders from Buddha?

Christian money makers on TV claim hurricanes are sent by God to punish states for homosexuality. Glory to God. Give us a break. What passes for Islam in most Christian afficianodos is not ISLAM, but rather Wahabbism. Some guy named Wahabbi, back in the 18^th Century, decided to re-interpret Islam and that is what passes for it today (At the time, both his father and his brother thought he was wacked out, but accounts differ and details, as usual, are fuzzy.)

So now we have the current mass of candidates for the Democratic nomination. Any of them would be better than Trump and that is a given. You do have to admire the guts of Sanders on voting rights. He did say that everyone should be allowed to vote, in or out of jail. Yes, even the Boston Bomber. In fact, that is about all anyone is quoting about that. Fortunately, I saw the entire thing. The rationale: the rule should be that everyone of voting age should be entitled to vote, no matter what. If we start chipping away at that principle, there is no way to stop it. Now this is me: for example, it was once fashionable to ban Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, aka Schickelgruber. Well, then what next? Lolita, yes! Encourage pedophilia? No way. Huckleberry Finn, of course, usus the "N" word. How about the Bible? Why not? Lots of begetting and begatting in that! So, back to Sanders. Once they start to chip away at a right, they keep chipping awwy until there is nearly nothing left.

Student Loans

Well, we might as well get onto that. People are surprised when I told them I could put myself though University by playing semi-pro baseball during the summer. However, during that time, most all of the tuition is paid by the state. In Chicago, it was all paid for by the state and City. Then, they atarted to chip away at that. Today, hardly any of the tuition is paid for by the State, even in a State College or University. Why? We can't afford it? Bullshit.

The last balanced budget submitted was the last one Clinton left with Bush II. Well, georgie saw that and said, "oh boy, we can have a war, make lots of my people happy." So much for fiscal conservatism. Today, we are trillions in debt and Trump decides to cut taxes. Never mind that the top three families in the country own as much as the lower 50% of the population, they need a tax break. The money free higher education and loan forgiveness would cost would eliminate the kind of indentured servitude we have in this country. Most countries in Europe already have free higher education except Finland, where people are given a salary to go to University.

Culture

The decline can be seen with stand-up comedians. Some may remember Shelley Berman. He last appeared on BOSTON LEGAL as a doddering judge and also in the FOCKERS as a judge who let Peter DeNiro out of jail because Dustin Hoffman's wife, Barbara Streisand, a sex therepist, had improved his (the judge's, sex life. Deniro was a CIA agent who invented his own circle of trust and did DNA tests on prospective husbands and also invented a plastic breast to be filled with his wife's breast milk so he could bring up his child properly according to CIA standards.

Well, in the past, he was able to do a very funny and successful stand-up routine called Franz Kafka on the telephone. Who in the audience these days would know who the hell Franz Kafka was and what he meant or that he depicted the Statue of Liberty in his novel AMERIKA as holding a giant sword, not a light? How funny would a modern audience find a lecture on the Universe with someone who combined Wittgenstein and Xeno into it? Who the hell were they, you ask? Well, never mind. If you have to ask, never mind.

So, welcome to the age of Fat Donnie, our current President, from the party of Abraham Lincoln.