I’m somewhat surprised that I had such a large sense of relief over the results of the California recall nonsense, since I was pretty sure Newsom would be OK. But secretly, in the depths of my optimistic soul, I wanted the “OK” to be massively obvious.
And it was.
Subsequently, the rage.
As you all know — because I’ve repeated it endlessly for years — it’s my strong belief only 30 percent or less of this country is undergoing an episode of mass psychosis. Maybe even 25 percent. But even I yearn for some data, or only one datum (I’m not greedy) confirming my strong belief, and the California results gave it to me: 63.9 to 36.1.
Sure, 36.1 is somewhat higher than my belief but hey, it’s California. I grant a higher degree of, uh, eccentricity among Californians than New Yorkers. Something to do with the drought, the fires, the earthquakes. Hard not to go a bit nuts when your home is under constant assault from Mother and human Nature.
As for the rage? Well. Less than one-third of this country’s residents have taken it upon themselves to scream crapola louder than the rest of us can speak rationally. Ergo, they grab media ears with their dopey craziness. I.e., they get much more attention than their acts of violence and stupid pronouncements deserve.
Years ago, I walked from my house to a major intersection in the West Village. On a sunny day. Peaceful. Safe. Except on one corner stood a man yelling and swinging a machete. He belonged in St. Vincent’s psych ward and most likely wound up there shortly after several of us dashed across the avenue to avoid him.
Couldn’t ignore him. Can’t ignore someone flourishing a dangerous weapon. All we could do was run away from the menace while listening to the sirens, and — in my case — do the shopping I’d headed out to do.
It’d be irrational for the media not to do the equivalent of running across the street. They have to report on the dissolution of one-third of this country. They have to. But it makes me rage that they must. Because the media are forced to make a rational narrative out of neologistic screeching which presents no revolutionary point of view, no actual objections, no intelligence, no purpose any of us in the 66 percent can make sense of.
Unlike their Revered Leader, they can’t even articulate their delusions.
They are less a screaming mob than a screaming blob.
But isn’t that what the GOP has become? They don’t profess anything, they don’t do anything. Everything they mouth is…”No!” In effect, the GOP has been reduced to a party of two-year-olds, but unlike two-year-olds, they are not cute.