This is a combination of an observation and a suggestion.
What I am observing, as the national election gets closer,
is a marked increase in hysteria contained in the frequent e-mails and Facebook
pages I see every day. I know there are
many other venues, like Twitter, Instagram, et. al., but there is a limit to how
much information I can take in without suffering overload, so I’m just talking
about the two.
The hysteria comes from both sides, in many forms, all of
which seem to be formulated by experts in crowd psychology and weasle-wording,
who I expect are also making money on their output, which gives them a fatal
conflict of interest in my book. They
always want money, and they often want us to do this survey or sign this
petition, which really means they want us to supply more personal data that can
be packaged and sold on the open market.
More and more, they want us to line up on one side or the other of
President Trump. He is either our Savior
or the Devil, depending on who you talk to, and everyone wants to know whose
side we are on.
I expect this trend to grow exponentially through November. Millions of dollars will change hands between
now and then, as ads are bought, TV spots are filmed and articles are written
and published. I’m surprised there is
not a stock market index following the various companies that generate all
these billings. Since the product is
mostly hot air I would think the markups are quite generous for the principals.
Out of all this comes the germ of an idea: Why not go silent on them?
I have already suggested that there are no minds left to
convince, no voters who have yet to decide, and therefore nothing left about
which to argue, but I don’t see much evidence that that particular seed fell on
fertile ground. But, think about
this: Nothing else matters but the vote
on November 3rd. Like many on
the Democratic side of things, I have deliberately avoided endorsing a
particular candidate until the Convention rolls around, to give all of them the
chance to explain their thoughts and talk about their plans for our money and
society. I know I don’t need to worry
about who the Republican candidate will be, that’s all set, unless somebody
dies, so I stay focused on the Dem side.
So, why not lull the other side into a sense of
complacency? On Facebook, I just block
the trolls as soon as they pop up, without responding to their bs or engaging
in any way. Just shut them down. I don’t need to listen to their shit. There is an argument that the election will
be won by whoever stimulates the most voters to get off their butts and vote,
and the most effective strategy, especially on Conservative types, seems to be
stoke their fears of imminent Lib takeovers and gun grabs. So stop talking about it. There is certainly no use arguing with an
idiot. It only drags you down to their
level where they beat you with experience.
So, don’t answer any emails from strangers, don’t take any
polls, just fade into the background in silence. On November 3rd they will find out
who has been paying attention, and there is absolutely no need to say one thing
until then.
Of course I will continue to ask questions and point out
things that don’t make sense, and laugh at all the nonsense (while avoiding their
hooks). I will slip an occasional
donation to a campaign I like, but you will never see me announcing it and
suggesting you should do likewise. It’s
none of my business. I will vote in our
state primary, probably for someone who will not win, but nobody will know,
because it’s none of their business.
I
will continue to pay attention to what’s going on, of course. At some point, we may all be out in the
streets again. Until then, I’ll just
shut up and vote. :-{)}
