Twilight in Northwest Georgia: A Shining Example

Saturday, October 31, 2020

A Shining Example

I've been avoiding political commentary lately mostly because I'm tired of the inane ads coming from both sides and the baseless rhetoric from all candidates. I'm at a point where I just want it over with...let the chips fall where they may. But Trump's comment yesterday riled me. I've grown accustomed to his downplaying the Covid virus and saying that we're rounding the corner as we approach one-quarter million people dead, but his reviving an old conspiracy theory (see my post "If you can't back it up don't say it"), with the words he used is way over the line. He said:

"Our doctors get more money if someone dies from Covid. You know that, right? I mean our doctors are very smart people. So what they do is they say 'I'm sorry but everybody dies of Covid' ". Trump said that, without citing any evidence at a rally in Waterford Township, Michigan.

He didn't say some doctors or a few doctors, his statement was all inclusive...that all doctors are dishonest. By association that must include nurses, technicians and hospital administrators as co-conspirators, because a doctor couldn't get away with it by him/her self. What an incredibly stupid thing to say! But that's what Trump does...he says stupid things.

If you were a parent and your child came home from school complaining about 'crazy Nancy' or 'flaky Freddy' or 'weird William', and dismissed his/her teacher as an idiot or as a disaster, wouldn't you as a parent step in and discourage such behavior? Right now the child has the President of the United States to point to as a model; as justification for obnoxious and irrational behavior. Trump does that daily. And now he not only ignores and denigrates the advice and opinions of nearly every legitimate medical authority, he calls the doctors crooks. If those actions aren't indicators of his maturity and intelligence levels, than what in the world would be? Look up counterfactual thinking, cognitive dissonance, denialism...Trump could be the poster boy for all of them.

And yet somewhere around half of the voters in this country will vote for him. That thought alone is enough to blow my mind, but if the unthinkable happens and he is reelected, well, I won't have enough margarita mix on hand deal with it.

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What this blog is about

Hi. My name is Tom. I am a long-time blogger, having started in my native Wisconsin some fifteen years ago and continuing during my ten years living in Peru. I all but stopped posting to my blog when my wife and I returned to the United States and moved to Rossville, Georgia in July of 2017. We don’t actually live in Rossville. We live in one of those census-designated places, a term I really don’t understand and am not interested enough to learn about. The only practical difference I can see is that the city does not pick up our trash.

I’m starting a new blog because my old one was Peru specific, and that was yesterday. I chose the title ‘Twilight in Northwest Georgia’ for two reasons: twilight because I am old and for me age is playing an ever-increasing role in how I view myself and the world around me. And Northwest Georgia for obvious reasons. It’s not a great title but it identifies and introduces what it needs to. Good enough.

This blog is not going to have a central theme…it’s not going to be about anything specifically. I like to write and will post about anything and everything that may interest me at the moment. I do know that my wife Maribel will be mentioned frequently because she is everything to me.

A comment here about my writing style and philosophy might be in order. We live in an era of political correctness…a time when the broadcast and print media, politicians, and petty people in general are lined up like vultures, eagerly waiting to pounce on anyone for the slightest faux pas, no matter how innocent and unintended. The media do it to sell their services. Politicians do it to advance their careers by degrading others. Petty people do it because…well…because they’re petty people. It is never my intent to be politically correct, politically incorrect, obnoxious or offensive. I can be critical and sometimes very critical but try my best to be objective. I do like to praise when praise is warranted. I do have pet peeves, am very opinionated and can be very vocal about them, which in the past has drawn the ire of some readers on my old blog. But that’s life. We all have different likes, dislikes, values and beliefs. The key is how we handle those differences.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a platform for me to write. I am opening it up to the public simply because someone may find something of interest in my ramblings. Any reader comments or criticisms, provided they are civil, are welcome.