A "Culture War" Observation

So, who's really behind the 8 Ball?

I wanted to do this on video, but I’m not feeling so hot and I’m not looking even my third best today and my voice sounds like a bad Miles Davis impression, so, y’know, later on the hi-tech. So, I was out walking at 0600 today, temperature right at freezing but I was bundled and buttoned up as befits someone who grew up in the shadow of The City That Daley Built, a.k.a. The Windy City, a.k.a Chicago. Yes, Calumet City and my beloved Gold Coast neighborhood were just this side of the limits of The Greatest City On Earth, as it was known locally. And I’ll tell you pal, it gets cold there in Winter, so best you learn how to dress lest you turn into a Polish-American popsicle before you make your First Communion. But I digress … I recently viewed a video clip of a guy with a MAGA hat and, since he couldn’t manage a mustache, had one of those beards that looks like a badger has nested beneath his chin. Basically, the guy says he still sports a MAGA hat and continues to support Donald Trump because (and I’m paraphrasing) Biden should have warned the Amerikan people that Trump’s policies would be bad “for people like me.” Well, hell fire, son, what can you say after that? And then there are all those damn elites taking away everything and making The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave a hell on Earth for righteous Amerikans. I had to think for a moment. How are these “elites” defined by such poor unfortunates? (1) They tend to have a college education (or, at least, some college). (2) They tend to have what’s considered a good or steady job. (3) Their vocabulary is often sprinkled with “$5 words.” (4) They are often well-read. (5) They tend to “trust science.” (6) They tend to have a broader world view. (7) All of which, when taken together with the fact that they aren’t offended by the “elite” tag can make them as annoying as all-get out. Okay. So, after running these down - “checking off the boxes,” as they say (except for (2) because I’m retired) - I realized I qualify as one of the “elite.” Maybe not at the top of the pyramid - the 1% we hear so much about (or is it 5%?) - but I’m undeniably in the ranks. So, let’s do some profiling, shall we? You’ve seen the MAGA people. I’ve seen the MAGA people. What could they possibly have that I (or any other “elite”) would want to take from them? Don’t have to think about that one. But me and my ilk (a loose association, truth be told) are keeping them down. And then there are the minorities and immigrants who, they claim (because they’ve been told) are trying to take away or are being given what is rightfully the property of the MAGA people, which - to hear them tell it - is a mind-numbing, soul-destroying, deadend, shithook existence. Let’s think here for a moment: Nobody comes to Amerika - legally or otherwise - with that dream. Who’s responsible for this divisive dreck? Who stands to gain from this bullshit? Well, y’know … I can’t blame the MAGA people. The Amerikan education system has been in decline for decades, ain’t what it used to be and isn’t likely to ever be again. What you end up with is literally millions of fellow citizens who are, to use an old Memphis saying, “ignorant to the fact” of most anything and everything that should make Life worth living, and know only that someone must be to blame. It’s a true “with us or agin us” mindset which is continually fed by politicians of both parties and an increasingly subservient media. We’re supposed to care about Gaza. We’re supposed to care about Ukraine. And Russia and China. Everything and everybody except the MAGA people, who nobody gives a damn about, not even what is often referred to as the Amerikan Empire, which doesn’t even go through the motions of providing bread and circuses for them.