The Mutterings of a Lost, Dumb Tribe

There is no better time to write about the world than when you are angry enough to kick a puppy.  Even if it isn’t the best or most entertaining piece of literature ever created, it will likely be more honest than prose written by someone freshly returned from skipping through beds of daisies while humming gently- assuming of course that the person humming and skipping is not certifiably insane, in which case it is a toss up.  The reasons for your anger don’t matter; whether your job has decided to slowly and methodically attempt to drive you insane,  you finally realize that the girl or guy you like looks directly through you, or you are on trial for kidnapping and armed robbery and fear a “make up” call when it comes to sentencing because of a little misunderstanding years earlier that started with a leisurely drive down a California highway in your friend’s white Ford Bronco- it doesn’t matter.  Perhaps that is why there are so many political writers active today.

To follow politics takes a certain kind of idiot, the type that will stare at the sun for as long as possible, then lash around blindly as they gamble that the red dot will fade from their vision.  We are not to be trusted.  If you are one too, get out if you still can, otherwise may God have mercy on your poor, dumb soul.  While it is one thing to follow the Presidential campaign- the world of the political tourist- those few, rare idiots among us that truly follow the machinations of world politics, should be followed and tagged for the safety of others.  Watching politics too much can warp your mind and bring about a truly depraved and frightening human being, immune to all forms of misdirection, but cynical to all forms of authority.  If you stop at a crosswalk and stare accusingly at the crosswalk figure beckoning you to walk through the intersection while muttering “not on my watch”, there is a chance that you have been infected.  If it sounds appealing, than I am not explaining it right.  It is a drug, and we are all junkies waiting in the alley for our next fix.  It blinds and consumes you.  If this is the case, seek help.  Drugs and alcohol are also an acceptable form of treatment as well, and thus popular amongst the professionals.

There is a plus side though.  Following politics can act as a microcosm of the world in general.  It could be that politics feed the growing cynicism of our country- my generation did after all grow up in the tainted, sickened shadow of Watergate, with its message that even the most powerful man in the world is not above stooping low enough to fuck over anyone that pissed him off- or maybe politics are simply a reflection of the way the world has become on its own.  After all, who doesn’t have a friend that spoke fiercely against the rights of gay and lesbians people before being arrested for soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom?  It is a common enough situation.  It is after all a common tale.  The truth is most likely a combination of the two, but the word truth has no place in a discussion of politics, and anyone that uses that word, or begins a statement with something like “to be honest”, should immediately be tranquilized and captured for study.

But as with anything where the future of our world and our own lives are hanging directly in the balance, it is better not to take it too seriously.  In fact, seeing politics as a game is possibly the best, and most healthy way to watch.  The truly frightening ones are those that let the infection spread to other topics like religion and current events.  Sweet Jesus, run for your lives.

As both candidates promise, change is coming.  It may not be the change that is promised though.  It is a change in confidence, or perhaps a change in apathy that will lead to a wave of mutilation that will sweep across the world, and no one will notice, or care.  There will come a day, and soon, where there will be a breaking point, and things will go one way or another: either people will begin to pay attention to the greedy fuckos steering our world like a drunken oil tanker captain trying to drift curves in a rock filled harbor, or we will eventually lose interest altogether and turn the world into a video game for the rich, and crazy things will happen like deregulation of financial organizations to allow predatory loans, or we will start attacking random countries all willy nilly while passing on the taxes to the lower and middle classes and creating more loopholes for the people with enough money to hire other, smarter people to seek out loopholes like a pig finding truffles.  Make no mistake, the wave of mutilation is on the way to wash away those foolish enough to see it coming, and all that will be left is the wild mutterings and whispered rumors about a lost tribe of doomed souls that stared too long at the sun.