Tag: independence day | A Banana Peeled

It was the Fourth of July today (yesterday now). I have never cared much about this holiday because I have very complicated feelings about my country, but now, my feelings are not as equivocal.

Let me be clear. I am not a patriot. I have never been a patriot. Much as I have no brand loyalty, I don’t understand why I should be passionate about America just because I was born in it. Let’s face it. I am not someone who cares about teams at all. I used to be a Vikings fan. I enjoyed the games and was happy when they won. But it didn’t ruin my life when they didn’t. I remember the year that the Vikings went 15-1, and the state was in a lather that maybe, just maybe they would win their first Super Bowl.

Instead, they shat the bed in the NFC Championship and lost to the Falcons 30-27. Fun fact: apparently they were the first team to go 15-1 and not make the Super Bowl. Great. Just great. The Vikings have also never won a Super Bowl. That much I still remember.

I was sad that they lost, but I got over it in a day or two. At the beginning of training camp for the next season, which, I may remind you, is roughly six months later, one of the local news stations interviewed a devoted Vikings fan. He was in full gear and makeup, and he was still devastated. He talked about how he couldn’t get over it and how crushed he was that ‘we’ had lost.

My dude.

Brah.

….

Look.

I admit that I am the last one to talk about being a part of a team or team loyalty. It is so not my thing, even when I was very into sports. I get the camaraderie and feeling like you’re part of something, but to be brutally honest, you (the viewer) had nothing to do with the win or lost. You’re not out there training every day. You didn’t throw the ball, catch it, or race into the end zone for a TD.

I do know that having fans that root for you can boost a team’s morale and mood, but I have to believe there’s a ceiling to that effect. In addition, apparently, now with the explosion of sports fantasy leagues, players are receiving death threats by people who have them on their fantasy sports league team if they don’t do well. Which, by the way, don’t do that. That shouldn’t need to be said, but here we are.

Continue Reading

democracy is crumbling. — The cracks are showing.

I hate holidays in general, and the Fourth of July is one of my least favorites. There are several reasons for it, including that only some people were truly free at the time, but it’s especially grating this year because of this president. He’s doing everything in his power to destroy our democracy, so it’s kind of hard to be patriotic* right about now. I have no desire to celebrate, even if I were so moved, which I’m not.

I’m tired. Bone tired. Soul tired. Wishing I didn’t have to get up in the morning tired. What is happening in America is not normal, and yet, it’s our new norm. I don’t get American positivity: I really don’t. There’s this naive ‘everything is going to be OK’ mentality that I just don’t understand. “Yeah, this sucks, but he’ll be impeached any day now!” Really? I don’t see any evidence of that happening. And, even if were true, then we have President Pence, who is arguably worse in some ways. Empires do fall. Societies crumble and never recover. Why are we so certain we will survive this regime?

I’m also tired of the constant outrage over everything this president does. His tweets about Mika were heinous, but not unexpected. The one thing I have to give credit to this president for is that he is exactly as he appears. There’s no deeper meaning to what he says and does, and he’s a disgusting pig. It’s also interesting how the media only really gets riled up about this president when he’s attacking one of them (or a news station as in the fake wrestling video).

Is it disgusting? Of course. Is it surprising? Fuck, no. Someone tweeted at me that we have to call it out every time, that it’s never excusable. She totally missed my point which is that it’s a matter of focus and energy. There is so much horrifying shit flowing from the various orifices of this president, it can obscure some of the actions he and this Congress are taking. It’s his one genius, really, muddying the waters to the point where you can no longer remember why you were mad at him in the first place. He’s throwing shit in hopes that it’s enough smoke and mirrors to hide his wrongdoings.

I sympathize to a certain degree because he keeps going lower than most people think is possible. The thing is, though, the sooner you realize he has no floor to how shitty he can be, the sooner you can stop being outraged at everything. I’m not saying to become apathetic, but it’s not helping anyone to be in a constant state of outrage. I should know. I find myself in a better mental state when I limit my social media and news consumption, and I think that’s a good thing. I know I need to keep abreast of what’s happening in the world, but I don’t need it to glut myself in it until I feel completely hopeless. It’s a fine line between being a responsible citizen and doing harm to my mental health.

I have nothing more to say. Instead, here’s a hilarious video of Patrick Stewart explaining how he discovered rather late in life that he’s not circumcised. Enjoy.

*I’m not patriotic during the best of times, and this is definitely not the best of times.

Tag Archives: independence day

Not really in the mood to celebrate

Freedom Isn’t Free on Independence Day