HE WAS NOT WRONG

 

Yes, it's one of the more horrifying photographs you'll see for some time. The media was rightly all over it, criticizing the president for completely failing in his ending of the twenty year war. The piling onto President Biden was pretty much unanimous. And Biden responded that this was the right thing to do, history will show that, and that it never would have been an orderly evacuation. I now think he's right about that.

Initially I wondered why the evacuation did not begin in secret once it became clear that the Taliban, from a distance at first, was steadily working toward encircling Kabul. That was my criticism.

But think about that. What would have happened if Americans and their ancillary staff and Afghan allies just began disappearing in the night? Instantly it would have been noticed, and the rumors would have flown, with panic breaking out everywhere. I agree with Biden that it all would have happened anyway. 

And those who say stay - STAY!? We were warned that Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires. Yet we came in with such hubris anyway. The military should have had an anthropology department. Scholars would have pointed out that cultures with roots thousands of years deep, will not likely transition to a modern democratization. No amount of money, no amount of weapons can do that. But we had to have our revenge, and I don't disagree with that. Once revenge was achieved however, we should have begun a withdrawal. I love Obama, but that was his mistake.

Eisenhower's warning about the military industrial complex was spot on. The military arms suppliers, support contractors, and providers of mercenaries surely made billions in profits during this twenty year period. It is certain that those companies leaned hard on congressional members and senators to keep the conflict going. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Money, money, money. Death, death, death.

And now we have yet another full generation of military personnel, volunteers yet, who struggle with PTSD from doing their patriotic duty in a nightmare struggle in a land and culture so foreign that it could have been on another planet. All that time, money, misery, and death for just a few tangible positive outcomes.

Yes, we worry for those Afghan citizens who helped support our efforts. Even more, we are worried that the women of Afghanistan will once again become for all intents and purposes slaves under Sharia law.

Since WWII the U.S. has self-identified as the savior of the world. But we are now only 4.2% of the people on this planet, and are as deeply divided as we've been in 156 years. In 2021 we need to focus inward to try and repair our country. Help other countries? Of course. Can we solve every problem across the globe with our might and our dollars? No we can't. We must see that reality and accept it.

Biden did the right thing for this exact time. 

 

NOT LIKE IN THE MOVIES

 

Well, I really like disaster movies. It's not for dark reasons. Up until now, I liked imagining what the world would be like if there were a really big disruption. This is a product of my relatively secure American life. People in other parts of the world do not have to imagine this.

In my reality though, every time a big disruption has indeed occurred in my region, such as an earthquake, a wildfire, a power shutdown, I hate it. Go figure.

But this time it's different. Unlike in a movie whose scenario is exciting and action packed, we're now living through a slow-motion disaster. We can't even see it. We can only see its outcomes.

First there were the empty streets. Then vacant restaurants and shops, our cities looking like ghost towns. Hospital ICUs began filling up. Medical personnel were desperate for enough supplies. More and more people were struck down by the virus. Eventually though, horrifically, society began getting used to it all.

And denial reared its stupid head. First, the college kids would not be denied their Spring break partying. Then townspeople would not be denied their 4th of July celebrations. Beaches again drew summer crowds. Like a nation composed of nothing but adolescents, Americans would not be denied their traditional fun times, even though their lives were at stake. Finally, the big holidays! We absolutely would not forgo those!

So, like stupid, childish buffoons, we made matters worse. UNTIL! The vaccine finally arrived to save us all. Excruciatingly, we each waited our turn for it. 

Then the most bizarre movement was born. The Denier in Chief of course caught Covid-19, was then hospitalized, and subsequently was secretly vaccinated. He stunningly next proceeded to court his voters by defining freedom as choosing not to be vaccinated. And his followers took him up on that! And they are now dying in throngs! That's right. Kill your voters! Wait, what?

Now there appears to be an unspoken decision by American society to just move forward. If we just go about our normal activities, we can somehow will the pandemic to go away? That's not following the science. And I'm still not comfortable joining the throngs. I want to be alive on this planet a while longer, and for myself, gambling with this virus is not the way to ensure that.

After four years of the most dangerous and dysfunctional leader in U.S. history, and now with close to two years of deadly pandemic, if our nation was a person, we would need intense therapy sessions for years to come in order to even half understand what we have been doing (or not doing) to ourselves.

This is not the disaster movie I was expecting to watch.

DEMOCRACY SLIPPING AWAY

 

Trust in each other is gone. Trust in science is gone. Trust in community is gone.

Almost exactly one year ago from this day, I penned a post about our country's plunge into the pandemic. The U.S. had lost an astounding 186,000 souls to Covid-19 in six months. Now one year later we have lost 480,559 more people, totaling 666,559 Americans gone from this virus in the span of 18 months.

There should be total unity in a warlike effort to stop the spread of this deadly and cruel disease. But stunningly there is a solid block of citizens who believe it's all not real, and therefore are not cooperating in this effort. They wear psychological blinders instead of the literal masks they should be sporting. Their "freedom" is priority number one. They are aiding and abetting the delta variant of Covid-19.

How did we cultivate such people? Were they scuttled through the public school system without ever learning anything about science? In their upbringing didn't they ever learn to care about their communities?

Packed Labor Day beachgoers. Packed football stadiums. Packed music festivals. All going on today. All willing to risk their health, their lives, and those of their loved ones and their communities, just for some good fun. It seems we have a national adolescent mindset. 

As if that were not more than enough, there is an evil and dangerous political/social disinformation campaign spreading like yet another virus. And it's coming from within. Putin must be laughing with glee to see the outcome of what he started. We are in a shit storm of peril.

I fear that we are seeing the beginning of the end of our democracy. I didn't see any of these horrid events and trends coming, even though I keep myself aware and thoughtful. Heaven help us.