I had two separate conversations over the last few days that summed up a lot about what is going on and how people are reacting to it. I was working on the astonishing litany of events that have occurred over the last week for the Swamp Postcard feature I have fun with each Wednesday and thoroughly immersed in all the craziness here and abroad. My friend expressed a growing anxiety. I assured my pal that considering what was going on in all spheres of public and what used to be our private lives it was only natural to have anxiety levels spike a bit. I know mine have.

I am not going to repeat the causal factors here- the list is too long- but suffice it to say it includes the entire spectrum of menace from nukes on rockets possibly headed this way to savage weather event that is threatening the live of millions of American citizens in the Caribbean. And play that all out against a civil society that appears to have lost it’s mind, shouting down speakers in the name of free speech, rioting for tolerance and disrespecting the flag that I served for three decades. And a President that doesn’t mind being un-Presidential regularly.

Personally, I find it refreshing, but there are others who are completely consumed with rage so profound I am concerned for their health. And mine, of course.

The second conversation was about the relentless pressure to conform to the views of a vocal minority.
The guy I was talking to summed it up nicely: “There is a third of the population who don’t give a crap about being politically correct and say what they want. There is another third who are determined to shut them up by any means necessary. Then there is the last third, who just want to be left alone and keep their mouths shut so that they aren’t slimed with some awful name.”

I had to nod in agreement. I put myself in the last third. I won’t talk to pollsters and keep my views to myself except at the Front Page Bar at Happy Hour when the vodka truth serum loosens my errant tongue. Thank goodness it is too early for that this afternoon or we might both be sorry.

So where do we all go from here? I am not all that concerned with the NFL. I enjoy the games and won’t stop watching while there is still a big enough market to justify televising them. I certainly will not shell out the bucks to actually go to one in person, nor buy gear or regalia. I am supportive of the players and their right to peacefully express their views, though I am not sure what they are. I think it started out as being anti-cop, and probably still is, in part, but now has morphed into mostly anti-Trump.

I am fiercely supportive of any citizen’s right to free speech, right up to the “fire in a crowded theater thing” opined by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. But what troubles me is that there seems to be a growing insistence that saying anything that might upset anyone is somehow the same life-threatening thing.

I look at it like this: the players at game time are in the workplace. Had I dragged my Neanderthal views in the office to display in front of my co-workers, my employers would have been equally within their rights to ask me to clean out my desk and exercise my constitutionally-protected rights elsewhere.

I noticed ESPN and Fox did not show the crowd reaction to the whole thing. The Networks said it was a decision made by the local crews covering the games. I do not believe that for a second. It is getting cumbersome having to examine every public utterance and story that exudes from this town for some element of truth.

I suppose it is a lot easier once you realize it is all composed of self-serving narratives designed to advance some political goal. I am no rookie in dissecting it all, and venom has flowed in the political arena since the country was founded. But it has now turned into a weaponized stream of agitprop, with a vehemence that is a non-stop, take-no-prisoners blood sport.

I have been thinking about that while reading reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s new book “Smear.” She does a nice job in presenting how we got to this place, where the personal destruction of your opponents is the regular order. She covers some interesting ground on how it all works, and personalized stories of who does it, and who was destroyed by it.

Current AG Jeff Sessions got the first modern treatment when he was nominated for a Federal judgeship years ago- it was a sort of test drive for slurring people’s character. The method was perfected with Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court, and whose name has become a verb. It is even in the dictionary.

Of course, smearing it has evolved into an art form over time, and both sides practice the methodology now. It is still appalling that we put up with it. But of course, that is how our officials get elected, isn’t it?

I have no idea how to fix it. We are in some really deep kimchi.

There is an upside to some if it. According to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Congressional testimony, the North Koreans won’t have a nuclear delivery system that can reach the continental United States (and Washington) until December of next year. I will worry about that later.

Copyrigt 2016 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com

Editor’s Note: The story yesterday dropped a word. It is not “3.6 Puerto Ricans” preparing to flee to mainland (they are US citizens) but the total population of the Commonwealth is 3.6 million. If you are interested in how things work in these sad times, I commend this book to you. It is a good and chilling read:

Title: The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote
Author: Sharyl Attkisson
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2017