It’s a new era, many people finally see now what is at stake in the loss of a republic- safety. Liberty is not the friend of safety, from safety is born security, then security is monetized or privatized or militarized- and anyone who isn’t being safe is deemed a danger. Smoking, driving without a seat belt on, citywide curfews both in pandemics and for minors- is coronavirus afraid of the dark? Are we giving our night away to predators- rapists, thieves, kidnappers, murderers and the like- are we saying that people under 18 or 16 can’t be out at a public park past a certain time BECAUSE it is when crime would occur? Why then, do we not push back? Because we don’t really care. None of us do. If you think that you do, you are a liar. I call a spade a spade; refusal to accept your sins isn’t the same as absolution of them.
There are children starving and dying and being molested by folks that raise them or school them- there are women beat and raped, blacks are refused business transactions in wholesome small towns and the media is only interested in making money off of the pretense that anyone cares, that you can help others by being indignant about yourself- and in the online realm this is effect. In the real world, people are mostly out-of-touch with our digital layer. I travel often and meet many and I see no hysteria in places without media pressure to present hysteria- I spent a weekend in portland and missed the rioting by 2 days; the riot atmosphere was long gone and the whole thing had taken place in 2 or 3 blocks. Nothing was happening. I have been maskless in every state from Missouri to Nevada, to Washington. The people aren’t rioting- the people are apathetic. They are consuming and working and consuming again.
This is ultimately a systemic issue- because the people in charge do not represent anyone anymore. And now those who spent so long administering the consequences will face some to their own behaviour at the hand of folks to whom there are no consequences. The poor. The desperate. The bored. I for one am keen on watching it all, and writing about it. Talking about it. Travelling about it.
My future is on the open road, and in a mix of rugged adventure and the pursuit of luxury decadence I will find myself. I have no shame being influenced by great men before me, and I know that I will make proud the lot of those souls that inspired mine. With a small briefcase full of Fear & Loathing Satire Props in hand we load the Prius and I write a final entry in Idaho. It’s not my home.