Daen's Musings #5
So on my way home from work, I was listening to the radio. The music station cut out at the top of the hour, like it usually does for a quick news update. I barely listened to the news back in the day, and then it just got too depressing, especially during the initial covid outbreaks and lockdowns. Now I listen to see if we're ever going to learn from our mistakes.
Sure enough, yesterday was also about covid. "Blah blah, some governor blah blah, challenging a ban on a mask mandate."
I turned off the radio at that point, just so I could repeat the sentence a few times in my head. Ok, so let's start at the basics. There was a mask mandate. Ok, most people see that as a good thing. Then there was a ban on that mask mandate. Apparently some people don't see the mandate as a good thing. Someone important, I guess, or they wouldn't have the power to ban anything. Now there's this governor who's challenging the ban.
So we have pushback against pushback here. The governor is challenging the ban- pushing back against it. By placing the ban, the judge was pushing back against the mandate. By placing the mandate, the federal government (most likely Biden or someone working for him), was pushing back against... disease.
What the hell is happening?? How did we get here?
I was under the impression that societies are supposed to be orderly. Whatever the reasons for the big decisions made by the people in charge, those decisions are supposed to be followed, right? I mean, when the South was forcibly desegregated, Federal troops were sent in to enforce it! I saw the footage (not in real life; I'm just a youngster compared to most of this history).
That was the people in charge of the government seeing racial injustice, ordering a means to end some of it, and then sending in troops to make sure those orders were followed. Pretty straightforward, right?
But the more I learned about American history and politics, the more I saw that the desegregation example was the exception, not the rule. Most of the time when the people in charge give an order, there are about a billion examples of pushback. The more people affected by the order, the more kinds of pushback, and the more widespread they are.
Don't get me wrong: that's not necessarily a bad thing. When Trump issued his travel ban, there were judges who pushed back against that. There were spontaneous protests and simple refusals to enforce it in airports all across the country. Pushback can be a good thing. Ironically if he'd waited a few years until covid was on the scene, he could have cited a public health emergency. Like the stupid children that we are, we would have allowed discrimination in the name of safety. Just like Biden is using the threat of covid to maintain racist policies set in place by Trump!
Safety means nothing if we have to sell our souls to get it! There's no point in raising our kids in peace if we have to instill bigotry in them in order to do it!
obligatory angry breathing
I think I got a bit off topic. Where did I start here? Right. The challenge of the ban of the mandate. When I got started today, I was going to talk about how complicated our process of law and enforcement have become. Needlessly complicated, I'd say.
We're a country founded on the idea that the majority has the final say. Right? I mean that's how I learned it in school. If thirty percent of the population believes we should all do one thing, and sixty believes we should be doing another, the thing that the sixty believes should win out.
Well, regardless of how you feel about masks, or covid itself, the belief of the simple majority is quite clear. So why are there places all over this country where people defy that will and do the opposite? Simple answer: because they can.
If you can't win the election, cheat. If you can't cheat the election, stymie the people who do win. Don't be one of those idiots who uses their position of authority and trust to benefit the people who trust them. Instead, use your power and influence to get more power and influence! That's how politics works, right? I mean it's not like you have a higher responsibility or anything. It's not as though your efforts to frustrate, delay, and disorganize anything done by your opponents has any... negative side effects for thousands or millions of people. Perish the thought!
Oh, and most importantly, if anyone asks you why you need so much power, wealth and influence, never, ever give them an honest answer. In fact, don't even think about it too hard. Don't think about it at all if you can manage it. Why is meaningless after all. There's no point to asking why, ever. Oh, and there are powerful medications to help you sleep if you're having problems doing that.
Gah! What kind of garbage system is this, anyway? How did we end with such an ineffective way of doing things? No wonder we've made basically zero progress on climate change despite the fact that almost all scientists agree how catastrophic it is. Why bother actually paying attention to the science when we can cater to the peoples' desire to feel safe, and lie to them. We can pretend it's not happening, or if it is, that it's not serious. Or if it's serious, that it's not our fault. Or if it is our fault, that it's actually a good thing! I'm not kidding. People actually claim that.
I should wrap this up. I started with an example of how complicated our system is. Now it seems pretty clear to me that the complications are a feature, not a bug. If our system was ironed out, and all the wrinkles removed, it would actually serve the people. The reason any and all attempts to change our system as a whole are so vehemently opposed... is because the people in charge don't want it to change. Of course they don't. They profit from it.
Sorry to end on a low note. If you want a word of advice to head out with, I guess it's this: whenever you see a politician say or do something, ask yourself why they did that. If the most likely reason is that they profit from it, consider supporting someone who isn't them.
