It has been several months since I have written anything for
public consumption. No submissions made to sites I had begun to regularly
provide content for; nothing from this blog that you are reading now. The lack
of production has been weighing heavy on my mind, pushing me deep(er) into a
writer’s block. My thoughts and ideas for articles screaming so loud that I
almost hear nothing at all.
Towards the end of last year, I felt that I had really begun
to hit a creative stride. I began to dip my toe in the waters of providing
“content” for a small-scale marijuana advocacy blog, The Marijuana Free Press.
After a couple of puff pieces for the site (pun sort of intended), I attended
the Trump campaign rally in Chicago. It truly was life-altering and it led to a
piece in which I could not be more proud.
That night, I had a live, front row seat to nearly every
major topic on the nightly “news”. Black Lives Matter, Trump, his supporters, detractors,
and a Chicago police force with their backs to the cliff’s edge; were all in
attendance making the headlines in front of my eyes. It truly was a nightmare.
How everyone made it out alive, I do not know.
Since the day that piece posted, I have been stymied by the
sheer insanity the world appears to be steeped in. Trump, Hillary, gangs, guns.
Orlando. Police shootings, Isis, alligators, and the F.B.I. Couple these things
with the everyday stressors of having a wife and kids, and a day job that might
be pointing me towards degree completion, but also may be shepherding me
towards an early grave, etc…, and my need to “produce content” has nearly
evaporated entirely.
Last night I found myself up late watching whatever MSNBC
show that the spineless shill, Chris Hayes, hosts. The topic that I caught was
on the election- more specifically, the Democratic nominees. Senator Bernie
Sanders was interviewed by Hayes, all but admitting total defeat and his
inevitable endorsement of the presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Of course Sanders will endorse Clinton. That is how this
works. With every election cycle, we go
from “Don’t vote for the other guy because they will be horrible for the
nation!” to “We need to stand behind this person because they are the nominee
and they will be good for the country.” It is so
absolutely predictable and sickeningly abhorrent.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all about finally electing a female
president. We are so long overdue on it, that it is just a hair shy of
disgraceful. But Hillary Clinton? She narrowly escaped indictment by the feds.
The investigation proved that what she was doing “wasn’t illegal”, but perhaps
just unethical. It also proved how many lies Clinton was feeding the country in
reference to there being “no classified information” being sent or received
from her server. What a shame it is; to have Clinton as the inevitable nominee
and potentially the first female president of these United States, and all she
is, is another corporate political shill and a liar. But now, I digress into
redundancy…
So here we stand, folks- on the precipice of quite possibly the most important election of our lifetime; left with a choice between another pair of liars. Another set of selfish ass clowns looking to get themselves inked into the hallowed pages of history, despite the fact that the history books they are chasing after will get swallowed by the sun some day and none of this crap will matter.
I am basically saying, I just don’t care anymore. Republican, Democrat, black, white, Jewish,
Muslim, Martian, I am done. And please know, I hate being the guy who says these types of
things. Deep down I want to be someone who protests and marches and pounds the pavement so hard that it turns the system upside down. Maybe I still can be someday, but as for now, my
faith in the entire process is on life support and I'm staying inside. Call me lazy, call me part of the problem, call me Al. You are probably right.
I hate to be the
cynical one here, but the only way this all changes is with the old system
being burned to the ground- metaphorically, literally, maybe even both. I am
done trying to make sense of it all. I am done trying to justify these names
and elections being used to produce “content”. These bastards don’t deserve it.
To draw this maniacal rant to a haphazard close, I just want
to say this: my hope for a United States that is fair and just and colorblind
and free from a bought-and-paid-for government is nearly completely snuffed
out. How do we get to a better place as a society? Who the hell knows anymore?
One thing I do know is that we don’t get there with safe spaces or trigger
warnings. A more perfect union won’t happen with the quelling of speech that
might offend or the shouting-down of ideas (no matter how ridiculous). And we
sure as hell don’t get to a better place with good police officers standing
tall in front of the vile ones, just for the sake of an unwritten code. Enough is
enough.
I don’t know what to say anymore. Love each other, people.
Stir shit up. Get out there and get weird because none of us are leaving this
place alive.
