Beyond Me
These are confounding times, and there’s so much I just don’t get.
Leadership matters and is done most effectively by example. Why so many Americans choose to follow someone who sets an abysmal example—obsessively self-centered, habitually deceitful and callously cruel—is beyond me.
Why so many are convinced professional journalists are lying to them and propagandists are telling the truth is beyond me.
Why so many feel following the news and voting are a waste of time but shopping, gambling and obsessing over fantasy sports leagues are not, that’s beyond me.
Why so many are eager to let machines think, write, draw, compose and otherwise create for them is beyond me.
Why vice on a modest or even miniature scale offends people more than corruption on a massive scale is beyond me.
Why so many believe those with very little are undeserving of more while those who possess unimaginable wealth deserve all that they have is beyond me.
Why so many are accepting of policies that produce the conditions described by these charts is beyond me.
Why so many think spending $14 trillion on wars in the first quarter of this century alone was necessary but spending small fractions of that amount to provide universal health care and debt-free education, build a nationwide high-speed rail system, house the homeless and end world hunger would be overly costly and wasteful, that too is beyond me.
These are confounding times.
This is hardly a comprehensive list. Feel free to add to it.
Minutes after it was posted, an old friend emailed me to say: "May I add a few?
Why too many are willing to sacrifice abundant, clean air & water and farmland so the uber-rich to build a data center is beyond me.
Why too many are willing to sacrifice their immigrant neighbors to satisfy their inner racism is beyond me.
Why too many fail to recognize fascism when they see it as if they missed that part of high school world history, is beyond me.
Why do so many people fail to understand that their proclivity for online shopping only adds to the inequality of wealth, taking away income from local businesses, is beyond me.
Why so many are offended by 'socialism' while cashing their monthly Social Security check or calling 911 in an emergency to access local police or fire departments...is beyond me."