The Weekend in Foolish Attention
DATELINE: Saturday, March 19, 2022
Good morning!
Over on LinkedIn (the one quasi-social media platform I’m still active on because, you know, gigs) a connection from a long time ago posted a quick thought on the idea of having a nemesis. She related her experience of some bullies in high school who teased her and asked the followup question, Who is your Nemesis?
It hit me: I don’t have any.
I used to have dozens but I also used to like to fight for no other reason that I was perpetually pissed about everything and I drank a lot (Happy St. Patrick’s Day, btw).
No enemies? How can that be, Don? Share your secret!
A) Move to another state. Perhaps one with lots of sunshine and less humanity.
B) Eliminate as much social media presence as humanly possible.
C) Embrace the fact that most people aren’t so much against you as they are for themselves.
Probably the most essential piece of advice came from my mother to my sister when, as a traditionally awful big brother, I teased my little sister mercilessly.
“He only does it because you react to it. Ignore him and he’ll stop.” she advised.
Standing on the precipice of the human existence and seeing an entire host of petty squabbles, angry infighting, trolls, cancel culture warriors, and the inflight entertainment of Twitter, this advice seems more prescient than it did back then.
They only do it because you react to it. Ignore them and they’ll stop.
Or at least they’ll find someone else to fight with.
Now the news of my week!
Back to the Future
Wait a minute.
The Russians are the bad guys. The schools and parents are in free-fall panic over the influence of evil influences on their kids. The GOP is banning books. The Dems are accomplishing stuff but are so shitty at messaging it seems like their failing.
Fox News is once again fully embracing their propagandistic mission.
On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities as part of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his neighbor, the Kremlin sent out talking points to state-friendly media outlets with a request: Use more Tucker Carlson.
“It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally,” advises the 12-page document written in Russian. It sums up Carlson’s position: “Russia is only protecting its interests and security.” The memo includes a quote from Carlson: “And how would the US behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?”
Is it the 1980s again?
Should I go back to Kansas and dig up my tattered Journey concert t-shirt? Can I start wearing parachute pants again? Where are my cassette tapes of Satanic backmasking?
I’m OK with this development because I loved the 80s.
Traitors Like Us
The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday to suspend normal trade relations with both Russia and Belarus amid the war in Ukraine.
The Suspending Normal Trade Relations With Russia and Belarus Act, which passed by a 424-8 margin, allows President Joe Biden to increase tariffs on products coming from the two countries and requires the US trade representative to seek suspension of Russia's participation in the World Trade Organization.
Here are the eight Republicans who voted against the bill on Thursday:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona
Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina
Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin
Rep. Chip Roy of Texas
As the true colors become obvious, the big question remains: who the fuck voted for these morons?
I get it. Hatred for the Left is relatively easy. Self righteous academics lecturing everyone about their moral causes is annoying. Setting yourself as outliers to thwart the progressive mindcult makes sense if your constituents eat that like a bowl of gravy. But voting against sanctions on an aggressive nuclear-weaponed invasion? Siding with Putin?
Just stupid for the very sake of stupidity.
I’m thinking of doing an old school magazine advert for LiterapeApe.com and this seems like the right way to go.
Apparently, Green Backs Are What Really Matters
Leading Black Lives Matter activist and her husband have been arrested this week for misusing some of the more than $1 million they raised in grants and donations.
From the Boston Globe: “In a June 2019 ceremony at the Suffolk district attorney’s office, Monica Cannon-Grant was handed a check for $6,000, a grant awarded to her nonprofit, Violence in Boston Inc., to take a group of at-risk young men to a retreat in Philadelphia. But the trip never happened.” Instead the couple took a vacation.
This whole thing reminds me of the BelieveAllWomen hashtag. Have black Americans received the shit end of the policing stick for the better part of a century? No question. Settled facts, man. Does that mean that all black Americans are magical unicorns with no ability to lie and cheat? What’re you, four years old?
In the case of believing all women, that only works if you assume that women aren’t human beings. Same for blacks, Latinos, queers, transgender folks. Humans tend to lie and steal if they think they can get away with it. That’s the sad truth.
Certainly for most BLM activists, black lives matter. Not so much for Cannon-Grant because for her, the only black life that mattered was her own.
Stalled buildings: Second chances in the city of reinvention
As a three-year resident of Las Vegas, the news of the Strip and all her glory is of interest. As a writer here in the Mojave, other writers who shine while writing about this city are always exciting.
Here’s both. Krista Diamond is one of my favorite Vegas authors and she writes about this place better than most.
People are wrong when they say Las Vegas has no respect for its past. What they are missing is that it is something else entirely: a city with deep reverence for its future. This is why we monitor the changing outline of the Strip, why we believe just a little bit that the construction cranes will return to finish stalled projects. This is why we moved here in the first place: Because sometimes when you try to reinvent yourself, it works out.
Sometimes it really does.
That’s the Weekend of Foolish Attention!