Such a lovely, living it up place, this Hotel America.

When I was a young father, I read everything I could on being a good father. All the greats including Spock, Freud, Skinner . . . but the ones that struck the deepest chord were the makers of Looney Tunes and Woody Woodpecker cartoons. Under their deep spell I had not turned out to be a homicidal maniac or pyramid scheme charlatan. I loved all their acts of mayhem as well as that era’s shoot ‘em up cowboy and war movies, and I played “war” out on the streets with the guys.

Just like fairy tales of old these toned-down blood-thirsty tales of Buggs vs Elmer and Roadrunner vs Wile E. Coyote satisfied my innocent need for justice. Only as I aged did I become wicked and naturally shift preferences to mercy.

It made sense. Back then, the caricatured violence was never aimed at purely innocent figures. Buggs never took a hammer to a cute little puppy. Elmer Fudd was trying to kill Buggs! Road Runner never dropped an anvil on a cute little kitten. Coyote was trying to kill him! There was justice in those laughs and cartoonish violence that satisfied my thirst for the bad guys to get it in the end.

Nowadays, despite knowing that the best we can hope for is the system giving us our due by doing the law, we want instant vengeance, cancellation and defunding.

With Alice’s Queen of Hearts furious scream of “off with their heads” echoing in the back of my mind, I await the next public statue toppling, military base renaming and US currency and coin engraving changes. America hasn’t seen that spirit here since 1969.

With the televised-live torching of big city Walmarts, Walgreens, Targets and Wendy’s, history says we must go back to the French Revolution’s Terror period of 1794 for comparators.

I think l’ll take a pass on these demos.

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