Nice to see you too
So during the Trump presidency I wound up FB muting a bunch of my high school friends. I don’t know about in it’s entirety but at least out of the former classmates that had found their way into my FB friend list, the majority of them were guzzling President Big League Very Stable Geniuses every word and asking for more. Early on I would waste my time and energy on trying to discuss the fallacies they eagerly propagated but it grew extremely tiresome and pointless. You can’t change somebodies political disposition via social media, only deepen the divide it seems.
So when given the choice of outright dropping them as virtual friends or just muting them, I chose the latter, taking the “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” route. It was a two way street, this setting would also stop pushing any of my ridiculous greater good ideals across the feeds of the “me first, f everyone else” crowd. Since the election has been over, instead of slowly returning to the realm of relative normalcy, many of these people have instead decided to stay stuck in the world of hate, lies, guns, God (hypocrites), and toxicity that branded US society over the last four years. It makes me sad.
So anyway, one of these individuals who I had not heard from for a long time decided he would leave a comment on my post regarding the bumper sticker I spotted in the wild last week. His comment was as follows:
Sorry you’re so distraught over a bumper sticker. Whatever you do don’t turn on the news. We wouldn’t want you to gain any perspective. Surely even you wouldn’t be very proud of what your vote contributed to today. But don’t lose hope, at least you don’t have to read any mean tweets.
He was inferring my vote contributed to the deaths in Afghanistan from the IS suicide attack.
I thought it was pretty disappointing that THIS was how this individual would reintroduce himself to my circle of awareness. He is a successful business owner who is extremely wealthy. I am sure however that has nothing to do with why he had decided to goosestep to the march of Trump like a synchronized swimmer. However, he is also not an ignoramus. My reply to his warm greeting was:
Please dude, the depths and degree of poison that has become injected into the brains of individuals is truly sad and pathetic. The determination to cling to what was the most despicable human being to ever hold the office will never cease to amaze me. You are too intelligent to think that there was ever a time that leaving Afghanistan was going to be clean. If you are going to be pissed at someone let it be the military contractors that manufactured conflict and did everything they could to keep us in a region for two decades that everyone knew would flip the second we, or any other outside power leaves. Don’t play dumb, it doesn’t suit you.
To be quite honest I was somewhat surprised this person lashed out at me. The last time I knew we sort of had left things at the “agree to disagree” point. However for whatever reason, the image of the Trump supporter bumper sticker invoked feelings strong enough to end the detente. As mentioned earlier, whether it comes to Trump lovers, Covid deniers , or anti-vaccination crusaders, any effort to move their opinions is truly wasted effort in my opinion. People are going to do and believe what they are inclined or conditioned to do. I know I can’t save the world so I just try to focus on the bigger picture and longer term where I can, contributing my tiny part during the brief time I have on the planet.
Tonight I host the fantasy football draft for the first time in two years. The league was outright cancelled last year due to fears that covid would scrap the season altogether. I can’t say I walked around with tears in my eyes last year from not having a fantasy roster to maintain. I then have an abbreviated weekend before I head out Sunday afternoon for a three day work conference, something else I haven’t done in two years. To be quite honest I am surprised they have pushed ahead with it based on the covid numbers in Florida. Maybe they will have one of those monclonal antibody sites on the grounds. I am bringing two PEV’s, my camera equipment and a book with me as I don’t think I will be doing much of the social functions, I am there for some education but not much else.
Next Sunday I get my NEW Model Y. I am looking forward to it, commuting in the Tacoma and Cindy’s car is ok but the Tesla commute is exceptional.