I used to say that Ronald Reagan was the luckiest guy on earth. He was a mediocre man who got to be a movie star, a governor and then president — the oldest at the time — all based on his ability to deliver a line with manly bearing. Then, after all the crimes and lies and deaths under his watch, he got to forget everything. Alzheimer's was no tragedy for him, it was just another gift to a lucky mother fucker.
O M G couldnt have said this better. there needs to be a solid section in the dsm for these wealthy privileged mofo's delighted to oppress demean humiliate exploit & discard the vulnerable & underprivileged.......so they can feel like theyve had a day well spent. that said - pour one out for j carter.
One of the hardest things for me right now, in addition to grappling with my vast and encompassing anxiety and grief for the country, world, and planet (and even my own little community), is knowing that I'm old (nearly 67), have had a good enough life up till now, and likely won't have to endure the worst of what is coming. But my two beautiful adult children, their loved ones, and any children they may choose to produce together in the near future, will likely suffer terrible, terrible--perhaps unspeakably terrible--things, and perhaps starting very soon. I fear this especially because I see young people and children suffering unimaginable horrors all over the world ALREADY, not least in Ukraine and Gaza. The great Ida B. Wells once wrote, "I felt so disappointed because I had hoped such great things . . . for my people generally. I have firmly believed all along that the law was on our side and would, when we appealed to it, give us justice. I feel shorn of that belief and utterly discouraged, and just now, if it were possible, would gather my race in my arms and fly away with them." I would replace the word "race" with the word "beloveds," but the feeling is the same. Thank you, Sarah.
Oh my goodness, Elizabeth. I am close to your age and feel very similar emotions -- deep sorrow about the diminished future my son and his girlfriend face, bitter disappointment in our government, disillusionment about the lies I was fed about our history, and how our world works; and deep grief and despondency regarding the despoiling of the interconnected webs of life that have sustained us for millennia. Dark times.
As an elder millennial moving back to St Louis after nearly twenty years away, I look forward to introducing my young children to Elephant Rocks and all its majesty. My youth was forged there, and I want the same for them.
In the same vein, thank you for the reflection on our gerontocracy. My parents are both north of 70 years old, and my father has been dealt a bad hand with blood cancer and numerous complications. We laugh on the phone together, though, when I jokingly tell him he needs to keep going because he is not old enough yet to be President.
Ha! I feel you, I am in the same situation with my parents; it is very hard. I am going to steal your joke for next time I talk to them, hope you don't mind!
Several bloggers I follow called out John Stewart for telling the truth about both Biden and Trump's ages. Really pissed me off. John was spot on and I know that because of all of the hollering about it. What did I do? I agreed with them by mentioning how Biden, not once, but twice bypassed Congress to give more bombs to Israel. Odd he can't do that to help Ukraine. I mentioned how he wants to finish Trump's stupid wall and the Will Project (drill baby drill). I mentioned Nancy Pelosi's insider trading and Biden vetoing, again, the UN's call for a cease fire. I forgot to mention that Biden also bypassed Congress to bomb Yemen. All of those issues make all the talk about Biden's age as trivial as they claim it is. I've lost a lot of respect for them. Oh hey, I also forgot to mention that more people have died from Covid under Biden than Trump. Vax and relax, right😷 Thank you for speaking the truth💕
Yes exactly! I was stunned to see the frothing, hyper-defensive reaction to Stewart. It showed how much politics has changed since he was last on air, how people cling to cults instead of listening to arguments. I thought his opinions were fair and you are raising great points here as well!
Yeah, they went off of the deep end. It certainly did. Yep, Biden has his own cult following😕 Which is disturbing on so many levels. Stewart's slap back was spot on too🤣 Using Tuckum's interview with Putin to point out their same bad behavior. A journalist's job is literally to speak truth to power. John Stewart did that brilliantly. Thank you for doing the same🤗
All great points, but perhaps the most glaring act was the inactivity responding to Jan 6, and the appointment of complicit Merrick Garland. When MAGA snaps, “ if J6 was such a big deal, why did you wait over two years to do something?,” I don’t really have a good answer. No other democracy would have allowed the organizers to not only roam free, but continue to “serve” on the taxpayers dime. The weakness on display from the top alone is grounds to wail on Joe Biden.
Yes! I wrote my book THEY KNEW in late 2021 and noted then that the belief that the attempted coup was justified, or that Trump had done nothing wrong, was growing due to the inaction of the DOJ. By comparison, in January 2021, almost the entire country, including the majority of Republican voters, was united in condemnation of the Capitol attacks. But as time went on and Congress did little and the DOJ did *nothing*, public opinion began to change -- because as you noted, they believe that a real crime would be promptly punished, so this must not be a real crime. Three years later, this crisis of perception is so much worse.
Thank you for mentioning that. There's a laundry list of bullshit that needs to be called out. Biden's refusal to abolish the filibuster to codify Roe and secure voting rights. His refusal to expand the Supreme Court. Which is a joke now. The lack of action from the DOJ to curb Abbott and DeSsntis. I still can't wrap my brain around Trump not being in prison and actually running for president again😕
i agree sooo much which is why i havent slept since...2016. in many ways, these biden years have been worse. the realization that the cavalry is just...better dressed more of the same. heartbroken for all kids, the planet, humanity. motherf'rs.
Right. As a disabled person I was so relieved when Biden took office...no more blockades of PPE, a return to public health. Then when they gutted public health and left the vulnerable to 'fall by the wayside'...just the last and ultimate betrayal.
ugh. im so so sorry...& can relate. after being so relieved at the stop of endless chaos & vulgarity, realizing theres no bottom. i now understand revolutions, but from where the energy? im exhausted from yrs of 0 sleep
I keep being reminded of Samantha Bee's interview with Masha Gessen: "There's an old Russian joke: 'I thought I'd hit rock bottom, and then I heard knocking from below.'"
SO depressing. i mean....we knew was f'd for blacks all along...& any poc...but before this horror show...seemed to have hope. how quickly it all descended, y? and now ukr...& gaza...theyre all connected. to these greedy reckless sociopath men of privilege who are obviously mentally ill & devoid of humanity. when i saw bidens response to gaza, i felt he was even worse than the gop. godhelpusall. what a horror show....
It truly is. Women got fucked over pretty badly too. As well as the LGBTQ community. Note the one segment of the population that didn't get screwed over, wealthy, white, men. The very same ilk that "founded" this shit show called the US. The UK is in even worse shape with Sunak selling it off piece by piece to corporations.
Biden was never the good guy. I tried telling people that. They didn't believe me then and I highly doubt they will believe it now.
Do any of you ever wonder what would have happened if: Mitch McConnell didn’t block Merrick Garland from SCOTUS? I mean the first obvious difference is the makeup of the Court, and regardless of his prosecutorial ineptitude, all indications are that he was up for THAT job. Who knows how appointments go after that, but more importantly, and the point I was getting to: MG would not be AG, and though we will never know who would have been, I’d be willing to bet ANYONE else would have showed more teeth and balls towards going after the deep crime pool associated with the previous administration. The Mueller Report made it advisable, and plausible, to go after Trump on Jan 21, the day after he was no longer sitting POTUS, on a number of charges, and this came out BEFORE Jan 6.
I keep wondering why the Dems allowed him to do that. What the actual fuck??? Didn't even try to push back. But yeah, Merrick isn't a "prosecutor", he's better judge material.
Have you noticed that the Republicans play fast and loose with the rules and norms, effectively stomping all over the Dems and us? And the Dems never fight back or use the Republicans techniques to help us?
I'm glad you pointed out VOTING RIGHTS! Ever since Bush v Gore I have been baffled by the dems inaction on universal and free suffrage!! Time to accept that if any of them wanted a true vote they would have done something about it. They haven't and so they don't!!!
Bush v Gore was literally a stollen election. The court caved to Roger Stone, instigator of the Brooks Brothers riot. I still can't believe Gore just accepted that absolutely abhorrent and undemocratic decision. I couldn't agree more!
The inaction on January 6 is what stuns me to this day. I literally wake up sometimes thinking about it, because the immunity for Trump is mind boggling! Glad to hear that I'm not alone in my concern, because it was a catastrophe!
Masterful, as always . Saddest of all human traits ( and there are too many to mention) is perhaps the failure to learn from history, to evolve and benefit from learned experiences. Nazi Germany was less than 100 years ago,and the history books haven’t been banned or erased (yet) on the subject.
I’m 64, and due to my wilder lifestyle of 20’s and 30’s I never imagined I’d still be here. But I’d like to think I learned something from my litany of blunders and missteps. Trying to communicate life lessons to my college-attending nephews is futile, because they know it all. I could have benefited from someone like today me counseling. But would I have listened? I wish I could say yes, but I doubt it.
Thank you so much for citing the ongoing pandemic and reduced life expectancy. I feel like few writers in the mainstream press are acknowledging the full ongoing impact of the pandemic and how it relates to collapses in climate, democracy, and public health.
I live close enough to the Grand Canyon to do the same.... but it is overwhelming so I spend more time in the old growth forest that leads up to its edge. Brilliant as usual, Sarah.
Brilliant as always! I may have to start reading your articles in two parts, the happy reality (which I love) and later the sad reality (that I loathe, but feel we all need to know).
"What I should feel, when I look at our political leadership, is trepidation similar to that which a Soviet citizen would have felt in the 1980s, as gerontocracy withered their state away." Just yesterday I listened to a Telegraph podcast from late last year of an interview of Professor Snyder, who compared the gerontocracy of the Soviet Union not just with the youthfulness, but the diversity, of Ukraine's leadership: a Jewish president; the defense minister who is a Muslim and Crimean Tatar, etc.
I'd also like to add to that someone I greatly admire--Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, who is 42 and who never tires of speaking out against the slow response of the West to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Oh, if I could clone that man and put each of them in positions of power in the US and Europe! The problem is that the West has paid little attention to the warnings of eastern Europe--the very people who have the most experience with Russia--and we're paying a price for that.
Until today, my favorite expression of a mother's horror at the seemingly endless reign of masculinist toxicity and powermongering was Sharon Olds's inspired poem, "Rite of Passage." But then I just read this, your latest post.
hi sarah im so glad i looked to find you again. when twitter ended i left social media, remaining acutely aware of the ratcheting up/ongoing horrors ... all of which you predicted and i saw clearly (im a behaviour analyst/dont really get distracted from reality). only just now ventured back online....happy (and sad) to find your gorgeous heartbreaking writing. sickened at the craven greed, sociopathy of those in power, that most on the planet are under the authority of greedy sociopaths or greedy pathologically selfish. daily i think: these are among the most privileged men to ever walk the earth - and this is what they are doing. so grateful for you. i now live in AU, highly recommend you have your children come here for uni & live here....if youre all still alive then. im originally from texas - the state that masters greater depravity & barbaric governance exponentially. feel certain if you decide to abscond to AU there'll be spots for u.s. families via political asylum. we've a tiny place but you & yours are always welcome. stay safe & take good care ms S thanks so much for your beautiful writing, your commitment to humanity & your horrible/honest insights. always remember - when in despair, return to bobby banos doing the nitty gritty, and the post of that dance you set to music from all the ages. best thing ever/ ** chefs kiss :)
Absolutely terrific writing again. I'm growing accustomed to the taste of bile behind my second cup of coffee and morning readings, Sarah, and guess it's similar to the flavor of prophetic awareness (which nobody is presently putting in a bottle) (yet). And if it weren't for all the shared commentary of everyone herein, sheesh, I dunno. I'd probably be loading gear onto my touring bicycle again, and this time setting out without a mapped route. Couple of years back, I sat in on several weeks of an outdoor bible study class on the prophet Jeremiah, which struck chords for me for exactly none of the reasons our lecturer was offering the discussions. But that historical prophet's lament and denunciations then were every bit as acidic, and needed, as what you're simmering up for us here. I just don't see how we get out of this un-scarred; and, as you regularly put words to, we're not. Validating your observations today, from the side, was Robert Draper in the NYT: "A Nerve Center for the Right Wing Rises...", which discusses the means being applied to their ends. As to a "why", I'm reading Iain McGilchrist's "The Master & His Emissary", which, in 600 pages, elucidates how this is the third time in Western history that the seizing of the narrative by the left hemisphere of the brain (the bumper-sticker side of consciousness) and utterly displacing the "...well, wait a minute, what about this or that..." right hemisphere's more nuanced considerations. The left hemisphere , enhanced and fed by our "need for the screen" and its ability to give us what we want, now, and the need of The Machine's interconnected-ness to commodify everything into an exploitable thing and turn it all into money, and put all persons into the service of things is running riot. The breaking down of a social order comes to pass, says McGilchrist, every time a culture starts to lie to itself and demand "satisfaction". I'm near 72 now. I've suggested to my thirty-something sons that now is a good time to work toward smallness, and then get still smaller yet, which they're doing. Less dependent on a "system" that is bent on making a world reduced to things, and feeding The Machine less. Thanks, again for this piece and this space. I've got wash to take off the line here, and I'm all out of "things in quotes" for the day.
I used to say that Ronald Reagan was the luckiest guy on earth. He was a mediocre man who got to be a movie star, a governor and then president — the oldest at the time — all based on his ability to deliver a line with manly bearing. Then, after all the crimes and lies and deaths under his watch, he got to forget everything. Alzheimer's was no tragedy for him, it was just another gift to a lucky mother fucker.
O M G couldnt have said this better. there needs to be a solid section in the dsm for these wealthy privileged mofo's delighted to oppress demean humiliate exploit & discard the vulnerable & underprivileged.......so they can feel like theyve had a day well spent. that said - pour one out for j carter.
Oh Suzanne this is so right on! Gave me a good giggle and a somber nod to the truth of it all.
On the money, Suzanne. And Nancy was president for last two years…
One of the hardest things for me right now, in addition to grappling with my vast and encompassing anxiety and grief for the country, world, and planet (and even my own little community), is knowing that I'm old (nearly 67), have had a good enough life up till now, and likely won't have to endure the worst of what is coming. But my two beautiful adult children, their loved ones, and any children they may choose to produce together in the near future, will likely suffer terrible, terrible--perhaps unspeakably terrible--things, and perhaps starting very soon. I fear this especially because I see young people and children suffering unimaginable horrors all over the world ALREADY, not least in Ukraine and Gaza. The great Ida B. Wells once wrote, "I felt so disappointed because I had hoped such great things . . . for my people generally. I have firmly believed all along that the law was on our side and would, when we appealed to it, give us justice. I feel shorn of that belief and utterly discouraged, and just now, if it were possible, would gather my race in my arms and fly away with them." I would replace the word "race" with the word "beloveds," but the feeling is the same. Thank you, Sarah.
Thanks for reading Elizabeth. I hear you. We’re in it together ❤️💔
Oh my goodness, Elizabeth. I am close to your age and feel very similar emotions -- deep sorrow about the diminished future my son and his girlfriend face, bitter disappointment in our government, disillusionment about the lies I was fed about our history, and how our world works; and deep grief and despondency regarding the despoiling of the interconnected webs of life that have sustained us for millennia. Dark times.
Dark, dark times indeed! Thank you for your lovely comment, and let us all do our best to stay the course, for the youngsters if not for ourselves!
Writing perfection: “Childhood takes a long time to go by so fast.”
Thank you for this.
As an elder millennial moving back to St Louis after nearly twenty years away, I look forward to introducing my young children to Elephant Rocks and all its majesty. My youth was forged there, and I want the same for them.
In the same vein, thank you for the reflection on our gerontocracy. My parents are both north of 70 years old, and my father has been dealt a bad hand with blood cancer and numerous complications. We laugh on the phone together, though, when I jokingly tell him he needs to keep going because he is not old enough yet to be President.
Ha! I feel you, I am in the same situation with my parents; it is very hard. I am going to steal your joke for next time I talk to them, hope you don't mind!
The corporations own us all. And their enablers in office. The rich are ruining the country, the world, and they don't care don't care don't care.
Several bloggers I follow called out John Stewart for telling the truth about both Biden and Trump's ages. Really pissed me off. John was spot on and I know that because of all of the hollering about it. What did I do? I agreed with them by mentioning how Biden, not once, but twice bypassed Congress to give more bombs to Israel. Odd he can't do that to help Ukraine. I mentioned how he wants to finish Trump's stupid wall and the Will Project (drill baby drill). I mentioned Nancy Pelosi's insider trading and Biden vetoing, again, the UN's call for a cease fire. I forgot to mention that Biden also bypassed Congress to bomb Yemen. All of those issues make all the talk about Biden's age as trivial as they claim it is. I've lost a lot of respect for them. Oh hey, I also forgot to mention that more people have died from Covid under Biden than Trump. Vax and relax, right😷 Thank you for speaking the truth💕
Yes exactly! I was stunned to see the frothing, hyper-defensive reaction to Stewart. It showed how much politics has changed since he was last on air, how people cling to cults instead of listening to arguments. I thought his opinions were fair and you are raising great points here as well!
Yeah, they went off of the deep end. It certainly did. Yep, Biden has his own cult following😕 Which is disturbing on so many levels. Stewart's slap back was spot on too🤣 Using Tuckum's interview with Putin to point out their same bad behavior. A journalist's job is literally to speak truth to power. John Stewart did that brilliantly. Thank you for doing the same🤗
All great points, but perhaps the most glaring act was the inactivity responding to Jan 6, and the appointment of complicit Merrick Garland. When MAGA snaps, “ if J6 was such a big deal, why did you wait over two years to do something?,” I don’t really have a good answer. No other democracy would have allowed the organizers to not only roam free, but continue to “serve” on the taxpayers dime. The weakness on display from the top alone is grounds to wail on Joe Biden.
Yes! I wrote my book THEY KNEW in late 2021 and noted then that the belief that the attempted coup was justified, or that Trump had done nothing wrong, was growing due to the inaction of the DOJ. By comparison, in January 2021, almost the entire country, including the majority of Republican voters, was united in condemnation of the Capitol attacks. But as time went on and Congress did little and the DOJ did *nothing*, public opinion began to change -- because as you noted, they believe that a real crime would be promptly punished, so this must not be a real crime. Three years later, this crisis of perception is so much worse.
I believe the DOJ intentionally ran out the clock on Trump's behalf and wrote about it here: https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/servants-of-the-mafia-state
Picking out my favorite book of yours is like picking my favorite child, but with a gun to my head, I’m saying “They Knew”
Wow, thanks!
Thank you for mentioning that. There's a laundry list of bullshit that needs to be called out. Biden's refusal to abolish the filibuster to codify Roe and secure voting rights. His refusal to expand the Supreme Court. Which is a joke now. The lack of action from the DOJ to curb Abbott and DeSsntis. I still can't wrap my brain around Trump not being in prison and actually running for president again😕
i agree sooo much which is why i havent slept since...2016. in many ways, these biden years have been worse. the realization that the cavalry is just...better dressed more of the same. heartbroken for all kids, the planet, humanity. motherf'rs.
Right. As a disabled person I was so relieved when Biden took office...no more blockades of PPE, a return to public health. Then when they gutted public health and left the vulnerable to 'fall by the wayside'...just the last and ultimate betrayal.
ugh. im so so sorry...& can relate. after being so relieved at the stop of endless chaos & vulgarity, realizing theres no bottom. i now understand revolutions, but from where the energy? im exhausted from yrs of 0 sleep
I keep being reminded of Samantha Bee's interview with Masha Gessen: "There's an old Russian joke: 'I thought I'd hit rock bottom, and then I heard knocking from below.'"
I've reached the same conclusion.
I am too😢🫂
SO depressing. i mean....we knew was f'd for blacks all along...& any poc...but before this horror show...seemed to have hope. how quickly it all descended, y? and now ukr...& gaza...theyre all connected. to these greedy reckless sociopath men of privilege who are obviously mentally ill & devoid of humanity. when i saw bidens response to gaza, i felt he was even worse than the gop. godhelpusall. what a horror show....
It truly is. Women got fucked over pretty badly too. As well as the LGBTQ community. Note the one segment of the population that didn't get screwed over, wealthy, white, men. The very same ilk that "founded" this shit show called the US. The UK is in even worse shape with Sunak selling it off piece by piece to corporations.
Biden was never the good guy. I tried telling people that. They didn't believe me then and I highly doubt they will believe it now.
Horror show is an accurate assessment😕
Do any of you ever wonder what would have happened if: Mitch McConnell didn’t block Merrick Garland from SCOTUS? I mean the first obvious difference is the makeup of the Court, and regardless of his prosecutorial ineptitude, all indications are that he was up for THAT job. Who knows how appointments go after that, but more importantly, and the point I was getting to: MG would not be AG, and though we will never know who would have been, I’d be willing to bet ANYONE else would have showed more teeth and balls towards going after the deep crime pool associated with the previous administration. The Mueller Report made it advisable, and plausible, to go after Trump on Jan 21, the day after he was no longer sitting POTUS, on a number of charges, and this came out BEFORE Jan 6.
More from the world of what-ifs………🤔
I keep wondering why the Dems allowed him to do that. What the actual fuck??? Didn't even try to push back. But yeah, Merrick isn't a "prosecutor", he's better judge material.
Have you noticed that the Republicans play fast and loose with the rules and norms, effectively stomping all over the Dems and us? And the Dems never fight back or use the Republicans techniques to help us?
George Carlin figured this out 12 years ago:
https://youtu.be/-54c0IdxZWc?si=tkwrDxXyxsPRSHA7
I'm glad you pointed out VOTING RIGHTS! Ever since Bush v Gore I have been baffled by the dems inaction on universal and free suffrage!! Time to accept that if any of them wanted a true vote they would have done something about it. They haven't and so they don't!!!
Bush v Gore was literally a stollen election. The court caved to Roger Stone, instigator of the Brooks Brothers riot. I still can't believe Gore just accepted that absolutely abhorrent and undemocratic decision. I couldn't agree more!
Yes😡
The inaction on January 6 is what stuns me to this day. I literally wake up sometimes thinking about it, because the immunity for Trump is mind boggling! Glad to hear that I'm not alone in my concern, because it was a catastrophe!
*Willow. Damn autocorrect😤🤣
Masterful, as always . Saddest of all human traits ( and there are too many to mention) is perhaps the failure to learn from history, to evolve and benefit from learned experiences. Nazi Germany was less than 100 years ago,and the history books haven’t been banned or erased (yet) on the subject.
I’m 64, and due to my wilder lifestyle of 20’s and 30’s I never imagined I’d still be here. But I’d like to think I learned something from my litany of blunders and missteps. Trying to communicate life lessons to my college-attending nephews is futile, because they know it all. I could have benefited from someone like today me counseling. But would I have listened? I wish I could say yes, but I doubt it.
I was immune to good advice at that age too.
Heh, at 48, I still can be immune to it from time to time. Luckily, my wife has my back :)
Thank you so much for citing the ongoing pandemic and reduced life expectancy. I feel like few writers in the mainstream press are acknowledging the full ongoing impact of the pandemic and how it relates to collapses in climate, democracy, and public health.
I live close enough to the Grand Canyon to do the same.... but it is overwhelming so I spend more time in the old growth forest that leads up to its edge. Brilliant as usual, Sarah.
Yes, dear Sarah, you are an exception. An exceptional exception.
Brilliant as always! I may have to start reading your articles in two parts, the happy reality (which I love) and later the sad reality (that I loathe, but feel we all need to know).
I love the shout-out to Dylan Thomas.
Thank you again Sarah!
"What I should feel, when I look at our political leadership, is trepidation similar to that which a Soviet citizen would have felt in the 1980s, as gerontocracy withered their state away." Just yesterday I listened to a Telegraph podcast from late last year of an interview of Professor Snyder, who compared the gerontocracy of the Soviet Union not just with the youthfulness, but the diversity, of Ukraine's leadership: a Jewish president; the defense minister who is a Muslim and Crimean Tatar, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuBNkA3-Ddw
I'd also like to add to that someone I greatly admire--Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, who is 42 and who never tires of speaking out against the slow response of the West to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Oh, if I could clone that man and put each of them in positions of power in the US and Europe! The problem is that the West has paid little attention to the warnings of eastern Europe--the very people who have the most experience with Russia--and we're paying a price for that.
https://twitter.com/GLandsbergis/status/1759533791133974709
"They eye each other, seeing themselves
tiny in the other’s pupils. They clear their
throats a lot, a room of small bankers,
they fold their arms and frown . . . "
Until today, my favorite expression of a mother's horror at the seemingly endless reign of masculinist toxicity and powermongering was Sharon Olds's inspired poem, "Rite of Passage." But then I just read this, your latest post.
Thank you again and again, Sarah.
P. S. Here's a link to the poem, which will probably stay with you too: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47055/rite-of-passage.
hi sarah im so glad i looked to find you again. when twitter ended i left social media, remaining acutely aware of the ratcheting up/ongoing horrors ... all of which you predicted and i saw clearly (im a behaviour analyst/dont really get distracted from reality). only just now ventured back online....happy (and sad) to find your gorgeous heartbreaking writing. sickened at the craven greed, sociopathy of those in power, that most on the planet are under the authority of greedy sociopaths or greedy pathologically selfish. daily i think: these are among the most privileged men to ever walk the earth - and this is what they are doing. so grateful for you. i now live in AU, highly recommend you have your children come here for uni & live here....if youre all still alive then. im originally from texas - the state that masters greater depravity & barbaric governance exponentially. feel certain if you decide to abscond to AU there'll be spots for u.s. families via political asylum. we've a tiny place but you & yours are always welcome. stay safe & take good care ms S thanks so much for your beautiful writing, your commitment to humanity & your horrible/honest insights. always remember - when in despair, return to bobby banos doing the nitty gritty, and the post of that dance you set to music from all the ages. best thing ever/ ** chefs kiss :)
The last line gave me chills. Relatable
Absolutely terrific writing again. I'm growing accustomed to the taste of bile behind my second cup of coffee and morning readings, Sarah, and guess it's similar to the flavor of prophetic awareness (which nobody is presently putting in a bottle) (yet). And if it weren't for all the shared commentary of everyone herein, sheesh, I dunno. I'd probably be loading gear onto my touring bicycle again, and this time setting out without a mapped route. Couple of years back, I sat in on several weeks of an outdoor bible study class on the prophet Jeremiah, which struck chords for me for exactly none of the reasons our lecturer was offering the discussions. But that historical prophet's lament and denunciations then were every bit as acidic, and needed, as what you're simmering up for us here. I just don't see how we get out of this un-scarred; and, as you regularly put words to, we're not. Validating your observations today, from the side, was Robert Draper in the NYT: "A Nerve Center for the Right Wing Rises...", which discusses the means being applied to their ends. As to a "why", I'm reading Iain McGilchrist's "The Master & His Emissary", which, in 600 pages, elucidates how this is the third time in Western history that the seizing of the narrative by the left hemisphere of the brain (the bumper-sticker side of consciousness) and utterly displacing the "...well, wait a minute, what about this or that..." right hemisphere's more nuanced considerations. The left hemisphere , enhanced and fed by our "need for the screen" and its ability to give us what we want, now, and the need of The Machine's interconnected-ness to commodify everything into an exploitable thing and turn it all into money, and put all persons into the service of things is running riot. The breaking down of a social order comes to pass, says McGilchrist, every time a culture starts to lie to itself and demand "satisfaction". I'm near 72 now. I've suggested to my thirty-something sons that now is a good time to work toward smallness, and then get still smaller yet, which they're doing. Less dependent on a "system" that is bent on making a world reduced to things, and feeding The Machine less. Thanks, again for this piece and this space. I've got wash to take off the line here, and I'm all out of "things in quotes" for the day.
Tim Long, Just up the Hill from Lock 15.