… Maybe Not Tomorrow…

[Writing from the phone again – yay Varsity wrestling…]

Yesterday, I closed with several questions:

How long did the “new normal” last after 9/11?

How was the information of early 2002, which proved to be wrong, viewed as the truth surfaced?

What will it take for things to stop before they go too far?

How do you think this will end?

Answers to these questions would understandably vary, and it would be completely fascinating to see what variables would be associated with the responses.

Would a straight-ballot Democrat or Republican have wildly different answers? Would identity or preference reflect more commonalities than one would immediately assume? Does location change us so fundamentally that we are more different in our understanding than is desirable or healthy as a nation?

For me, my answers haven’t changed much over the years simply because I find it difficult (but not impossible, mind you) to think in solid absolutes – even back when my participation and safety were more… involved… in some aspects of our recent history…

How long did the “new normal” last after 9/11?

This is fascinating because things never changed and the initial paranoia slowly faded into a resigned acceptance… You know… because there was a “threat” out there which we had to be wary of at all times…

That “new normal” became the defense budgets that just never truly went away… In fact, I’ll leave this as a bookmark for later edits, but has anyone noted whether or not our spending has increased or decreased since the last troops left Afghanistan?

Oh… and you still have to remove your shoes before going through the TSA checkpoint at most airports – does anyone remember why?

How was the information of early 2002, which proved to be wrong, viewed as the truth surfaced?

I find it completely fascinating and even somewhat distressing how quietly any follow-on discussion of Iraqi weapons of mass distruction (interesting that the phone would not let me change the word from “distraction”) once they were not found in the quantities and states of usability implied by the media in late 2002 through early 2003…

So… A pretty big truth which has been moved on from…

What will it take for things to stop before they go too far?

My perspective on this is that, if we could have stopped this destructive nuttiness… if we truly wanted to, we would have by now.

In reality, the division and fear generates viewers for news and revenue for social media. One of the reasons I think this blog doesn’t get much traction is that I refuse to let this devolve into some vapid and superficial type of click-bait where I garner views and interactions via the Morton Downey Jr. route: garbage sensationalism.

Instead, we find ourselves here because… well, because we like it here. We like having something deep to pontificate about and (some of yous), well, you just like emotions… especially the ones which short-circuit logic and kick that dopamine our comfortable lives are incapable of providing.

Attrition of the sane adds up to big change…

Robert Kaplan, “Weimar Forever: How the World of Today Resembles the Weimar Republic”

How do you think this will end?

I’ll give you a hint: there’s no sequel. There’s no Volume 2, or 3, or graphic novel where the story continues on because the main character had plot armor written in… There’s no quick saves or respawns… There’s only how we create the conditions for the next chapters.

… And there is no end. We keep on keepin’ on… and we abide when we survive.