20/20 Hindisght

A week-plus later, and the events of this November's election sting a little bit less than they did in the first couple of days afterward.  

I am a seventy-two-year-old white, heterosexual male who lives rather comfortably in retirement (not extravagantly by any means but we have 'enough'). I have always been in the majority in this country, no matter the setting or situation. 

My position of privilege, if you wish to use that term (I do), allows me the luxury to do the 'Big Thinking on Important Stuff' posture since my worries about the price of gasoline or ground beef in the market are relatively small. Sometimes I judge other peoples' behaviors far more harshly than my own; I'm a much better lawyer for my shortcomings.

I have to remember I'm sitting in a position that others do not enjoy in terms of the aforementioned 'enough.'  People vote with their wallets and their bellies and demagogues are adept at convincing people that what they say is more real than what is actually happening. Perceptions of realities and realities are too often the same thing.

I've concluded we have about half a nation that no longer processes information from sources that I would consider as 'mainstream news' (daily newspapers, local TV stations, nationwide cable news outlets). 

And when I say I fear NON mainstream news I'm not talking about Fox and the Zanies at places like OAN where some truly frighteningfever dreams are offered as facts every day. I'm talking beyond that, to things I'm aware of but rarely sample because they are too strange for me; things like 4chan and WhatsApp, and hundreds, if not thousands, of YouTube channels that make NewsMax look like the NY Times. 

The swamp of dis and misinformation is probably depthless and certainly terrifying. It's the combination of technology and hate/ignorance that has become the greatest threat to all of us.

I think there was despair this election cycle over everyday issues that outweighed my (elitist) concerns about the importance of women's reproductive rights and protecting democracy. It's hard when you're struggling to make ends meet to have the luxury and energy to appreciate larger concepts like DEI.

It's easier to blame 'the others' for all of your ills, as Weimar Republic Germans did in the 1930's. Sadly, with the state of education across much of the USA, not many people will learn, much less remember, the lessons of the Germans' despair that birthed Hitler and the Holocaust.

And while you may dismiss my words as somewhat florid and untrue, I fear I'm closer to the end of my country and things will only get worse and not better. 
Buckle up for a very dark ride.
-bill kenny