Wednesday, December 13, 2023:  Will We Ever Get Back To Some Semblance of Normal?
We now live in an era where crazy is the norm. Actually, if there was a word that would describe something beyond crazy, I would use it. It isn't that we now have instantaneous access to more information - the idea that it has always been like this, but we just didn't know it. There is some of that. But it feels like crazy begets more bizarre crazy leading to stupid crazy. I keep hoping against all hope that we will wake up from this nightmare world where stupid doesn't prevail.

Here is part of the problem. There is a saying that it takes ten "attaboys" to offset one "awshit". I think the same ratio applies to much of life. Tearing something down takes 10% of the time it took to build it. It takes only one person with an AR15 to kill and wound dozens of innocents. It takes only a small group in power to terrorize and entire population. It takes only one leader with no moral compass to destroy a democracy. It takes only a small amount of stupid to offset a whole lot of smart.

A good part of the problem in America today is that we have vast numbers of people who function in what Renée DiResta calls a "bespoke reality". Their world is one of "bubble realities," groups "that operate with their own norms, media, trusted authorities, and framework of facts." We are now the most comprehensively, voluntarily and cooperatively misinformed population that has ever walked the earth. And here's the thing that makes this scary. We're not misinformed because somebody is hiding or suppressing the truth. We're misinformed because we like the misinformation we receive and are eager for more.

It is an addiction, it drives our behavior and it is destroying the fundamental constructs that keep a society together.

So, for all of you out there who are voting for Republicans because of you are in some bespoke reality, WAKE UP. Whatever point you have been trying to make is leading to the destruction of our democracy. I agree that we need to work on making America a respected world leader again. It's just that the cult of Trump is rapidly taking us down a path of authoritarianism from which there will be no return.