Just me arguing with a meme I saw on Fackbook

Today, I wear black. That's not a new thing. I've been wearing black pretty consistently for years. I'm a kind of dark person, and I've always been rather pessimistic, so this is a pretty seamless transition. When I saw the results of the 2024 election, after watching with rapt horror the hate rallies this summer which preceded it, I saw it as a validation of my less than optimistic view of life. 

Kinda like COVID, when I was already isolated and alone, having very little interaction with the outside world, suddenly the rest of the world was forced into lockdown too, and I was like, "Hey, I'm already here. It's been like this for me the whole time."

This summer, I saw one candidate do everything but take his pants off and shit on stage, waging the worst of all possible hate-spewing campaigns, appealing to the worst in humanity: racism, hate, fear, violence, scapegoating, denigration. You name it, it was on full display.

I wanted to think that anyone could smell the malodorous bullshit and would surely say, "Wait a minute...Did he just say 2 + 2 = 5?" That they'd collectively wake up and walk out, finally closing the door on the MAGA maniac and his delusional power trip. Instead, they breathed deeply of the fumes and became intoxicated.

This is no mere TV game show, though. The consequences are real, and this nightmare is coming to a town, city or suburb near you. There may be pockets of sanity, resistance and pushback, maybe even large scale protests, but there is serious momentum behind this snowball that has been pushed downhill. 

I get it. When you're a reckless hooligan, it's fun to wreck shit. It's your jam. Perhaps you forgot that your own car is parked at the bottom of the hill, where that snowball you and your friends pushed is now headed.

Things were apt to get bad eventually, regardless of who won this election. Our lifestyles were not changing fast enough, and the earth ain't going to put up with our shit much longer. And whether it was a Democrat or Republican in office, the U.S. has been engaging in shady business the whole time. Some really angry chickens would have been coming home to roost either way.

So, at least now, it won't happen on the watch of the first woman president. A small consolation, I suppose. But how much of our humanity will remain when this wave of stupidity has finally washed over and destroyed much of whatever progress we have made? And how many will suffer and die in the process? Humans, animals, whole ecosystems? 

It is anybody's guess just how far we will let it go before we snap back to reality, if we do. Some people hit rock bottom and keep digging, clawing their fingers bloody. They'd pray for a shovel rather than admit that what they really need is a ladder.

I guess I'll continue to wear black for the foreseeable future.