Velocitization

Is there a limit to our acceptance?

This week I thought I would wax philosophically. Uhh ohhhh! Mark is doing that ‘thing’ again! Yes — but, this time — I think you might like this little excursion. Why? Because you might find it medicinal, a way to feel better in a crazy, ‘off the rails’ world. Here I go…

Philosophers can be the warmest of humanity, and philosophers can be the cruelest. They think and act ‘poetically’ and have the highest praise for our inner goodness and cheer on our bright future — offering sage advice to keep us on track because, that’s what they do! How could you not love a philosopher?

But when we refuse their wisdom and take a wayward path, derailing from our destiny with Nirvana there comes a time when we all need a harsh dose of reality. That’s when the philosophers seem to change — and become cruel. The sad truth is that they did not change, we did.

That sequence of thoughts fades away — and this is where I take you to the place where I wanted us to be at the start, but I was afraid to go there, without some prep first.

We all want good things for everyone — some want more for others, and some want it all for themselves — and most of us are smack-dab in the middle! The grind lately has been — what is good and what is not? I am not even sure where the common ground is today, as even our definition of “healthcare” is questionable!

Just think — twenty years ago no matter what your political party you would have agreed that the U.S. is a sovereign nation, drugs were dangerous, lives are precious, the family unit is a key resource, God is good, science is in constant refinement, and we are all responsible for our own actions.

Today, almost all of those ‘common ground issues’ are in hot debate! This is the ‘canary in the coalmine’ — our destiny is screaming, “Over here, you are going the wrong way!” I am not sure if it is a ‘thing’ but when you are on an Interstate for a while and you look down, you are shocked to see you were doin’ 85 or 90 — and it felt like 55; I call that being “velocitized”. Kamala’s ‘passage of time’ also has a similar quirk, when we make minor changes, almost constantly — then we look up through our windshield, and wonder how the hell we got here!

I think the Democrat party is filled with goodhearted people — in fact I was one, all of my life, up until a mere nine years ago. What changed me? A lot of conversation. No one changes overnight, and to be honest if you don’t think about it, you never will. We are creatures of habit, and are very comfortable landing in a groove - Groovin’… On a Sunday afternoon… ♫ (props to the ‘Rascals, formerly the Young Rascals, until they weren’t — anymore. :-o)

Then there was an interesting turnabout. The conservative party, the granddaddy of groovin’ — who always wanted things to stay as they were, God, baseball and apple pie and the liberal party that was always unhappy with their government infringing on their freedom have gone ‘Freaky Friday’! (2003 film where Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan switch bodies via magic fortune cookies.)

How could that happen? That would take at least an army of philosophical historians to unravel — but the Cliff Notes reveal we, yes you and me, we let this happen. We knew we were letting the rails of sanity widen — it’s okay if we just go an inch, so what if we give some unfortunates that are struggling a little slack. Then, that became the new norm. We stayed on the rails and all was well — no harm done, right? So the next inch was our reaction to the inflated reporting of abuse at clinics.

We elected to close every clinic that had even a single instance of abuse. We never thought about better oversight and stricter penalties for the bad actors, we just blamed the institution and soon there was a shortage of qualified institutions. Just as the closing of hospitals due to the Pandemic was a direct cause of countless fatalities — the direct result of closing so many mental retreats was ignored patients, and that only got worse! Those tracks spread wider, but still our choo choo is chuggin’ along.

This last action did not only widen the distance between the rails, but also started a permanent widening — as dependable as the San Andreas Fault! It was no longer a matter of if, but when this widening would cause a derailing and the inevitable train wreck.

All this was done in the name of compassion — and those that did not agree were painted as Satan, Hitler, or both! If you don’t believe me just read what people say about Thomas Sowell, or Ben Carson — these are not selfish or vindictive men. Their crime was boldly pointing out the unintended consequences of too much compassion. Our norm became total acceptance of any previously diagnosed mental illness or, just keep our fricken mouths shut to avoid community backlash.

Those tracks had now widened to dangerous levels, so far in fact that ordinary people like myself began watching videos of Thomas Sowell and Jordan Peterson. These and a handful of others were laying out a clear case for the extreme damage our decades of acceptance had unintentionally caused. Again, we were ‘velocitized’ and blind to the historically horrendous havoc our acceptance over the years had ushered in.

Now the traditional party of the ‘groove’ was waking up to those ch-ch-ch-changes and began raising awareness — we all need to tighten up those tracks! But, before we could do that we had to stop the spread!

The other party had invested so much into their compassionate acts that they could never take responsibility for its dystopian outcome — and the party leaders took full advantage of this conundrum! Hyperbole? I think not!

Imagine you were in a cool dark 1985 theater — chompin’ on some popcorn and swiggin’ down a coke and footage of a Pride parade, the ‘Summer of Love’ in Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, complete with the torching of a Wendy’s in Atlanta, the protests outside Supreme Court Justices’ homes, the toppling of historic statues, and the destruction and burning of innocent business owners’ stores in downtown Kenosha, Wisconsin came screaming across your screen — I think the ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’ feature film would feel disappointingly tame!

Let’s face it. We did this — and we can undo it.