Unbelievable

Unbelievable. This is a word that is heard around our house frequently now days. Why? There are so many events that happen in our world almost daily that we find unbelievable. Recently? The false representation of a young man’s actions that

lead his Catholic school to temporarily shut down. The reactions of the media and some members of congress to the false allegations, without corroborating the information, was unbelievable. Literally. The immediate, strategic, hate filled rants blew up into a national confrontation in a matter of hours. The problem? It wasn’t true. It was portrayed as something almost totally opposite from reality, but that doesn’t seems to matter much anymore. It doesn’t matter if something is true or not, spreading rampant lies doesn’t matter any more. What matters is if you can portray information in a manner that will support your viewpoint or purpose, be it good, bad or otherwise.

I ran across this statement recently and it stuck with me. “You do not fear investigation unless you suspect it will give the wrong answer.” Remind you of anything happening in our country? Special counsels, collusion, liars, deceit,

undermining the integrity of our government. Why should anyone be afraid of an investigation or questions if they have done nothing wrong? Now days it doesn’t seem to matter if you have done anything worth investigating or not, it may happen anyway. For years. And who knows what the end result may be. It may ruin a life, end a career, cause the loss of home, family and friends. All based on lies.

All of these events have existed for many decades in our country. I didn’t want to believe it and many days, I still don’t want to see the latest layer of unbelievable corruption and decadence that haunts the halls in Washington, D.C., as well as every office of the country that houses any elected official be it national, state, county or local. One gift President Donald Trump has given us is the peeling back of the curtain that helped to maintain the illusion of honesty, integrity and character in our government offices. I once thought of the nation’s capital as a place of hallowed halls where the focus was the well being of the nation’s citizens. I know, naive, right?

How did it become okay to prevent someone else from voicing an opinion if it differs from your own? When did discourse about differing ideas become hate crimes or reasons to doxx or revile someone on social media to the point of oppression? When did it become almost criminal to be white, Christian, male, veteran, etc.? The list goes on and on. When did it become wrong to be okay with being that pale skin color, that the very appearance of it should bring shame, guilt and a wish to be dead? When did being what we consider to be a regular ole’ American become a terrorist, racist, hate monger?

Unbelievable.

Frank has a new saying. “This is where we are.” This is the new reality in our country. Like it or not, agree with it or not, wishing it away won’t make it so. Tap yourself on the forehead and try to wrap your mind around the new normal, get beyond your normalcy bias like I am trying to do, and wade through the cognitive dissonance that has become the staging area for the changes that have created the new “this is where we are” reality.

I find the reactions of many of our elected officials, from both sides of the aisle, and media personalities to be sickening. Truly sickening. But what I have to come to grips with, is the reality of the condition of our country. There are many people that truly believe what they stand for, just as vehemently as I hold my beliefs. Does that make them wrong? Does that make me wrong? How can it? If I have the right and privilege of choosing what I believe and support, why don’t they? Even if I find their choices to be unbelievable in the extreme. Like Frank says, “this is where we are.”

In some ways, it seems that this is a good time to hunker down, go totally dark, exist in the world as grey men and avoid all unnecessary contact and attention.

On the other hand, it also seems like a good time to stand up and join with others in stating the obvious attacks, retribution, lies and deception that appear to be growing at a phenomenal rate. Keep your eyes open and your wits about you. Always follow Ol’ Remus’s advice to avoid crowds. Don’t take for granted the truth of what you read or hear without doing what you can to verify. It is getting harder and harder to see the truth anymore. I have become very skeptical about anything I read or hear, choosing to wait a few hours or days to see if the information stays the current narrative or is shown to be another illusion meant to draw the attention and emotions of the audience in a particular direction.

Hang in there. The ride continues to be bumpy and full of unbelievable events. Believe it. This is where we are.


Until next time – Fern

Visit Thoughts From Frank and Fern at http://thoughtsfromfrankandfern.blogspot.com/