The world seems upside down and I keep hearing people asking “how in the world did we get into this mess?” Before I elaborate on that, the faint of heart and the easily offended should better not read this and stop right here. For all the other brave souls, I have a few theories to share.
Over the weekend I watched a documentary on “evil” people. This included the boy who shot up Sandy Hook. What stood out to me was that his mother repeatedly ignored warnings and reports from numerous sources about her child having severe issues and well, being an asshole (yep, I’m over simplifying this, so don’t get all worked up). As I listened to this, it dawned on me that this is a common theme I have watched over the past 25 years of living in this country:
Basically, people raise assholes! Chances are this is due to the fact that they, too, were raised to be assholes. America demonstrates this concept more than any other Western Country I’ve lived in or visited and I believe THIS is the reason for the mess we are in.
Let’s start with the fact that a very vast majority of Americans are raised to believe that they live in the greatest country on this planet and that no other country could possibly be better; and that this country, and the inhabitants of it, cannot do wrong. Believing otherwise means you are not a patriot, and people who are not patriots are assholes. They also never lose. No, everyone gets a trophy and recognition that isn’t deserved, because god forbid we hurt someone’s feelings! They grow up believing that the world owes them something and that they are better than others. They are always right, which leads to the belief that their OPINION is equally important as PROVEN FACTS, and that it’s OK to force their opinions and beliefs on others, because hey, they are never wrong. Fact checking is for the weak and if someone proves me wrong, I attack the person, belittle them, put them down, unfriend them on Facebook, and get an opinion poll from all the other assholes I’m surrounding myself with.
I’ve had people argue with me that net neutrality is socialism. I’ve had people argue with me that Sikhs are Arabs, definitely not Indians, because “Indians are from this country,” and I’ve had people argue with me that the majority of European countries are communist, which is, BTW, the same as socialism. Other gems included people arguing with me that India is technically not really an Asian country; even though the Indian woman I was talking to at the time confirmed, that India is, in fact, an Asian country. These are only a few examples, trust me, I’ve got many more. The absolute ignorance and self-righteousness of many in the US is downright astonishing. Sure, I’m as opinionated and self-righteous as they come, but I stand corrected if someone presents me with evidence and shows me the error of my ways. This happens here, NEVER!
This form of ignorance and douche baggery spreads freely throughout every part of the American life. People wrong others, they lie, they cheat, they game the system, they hurt others, they screw others over and it wasn’t their fault, or they just didn’t do it. I watch and observe this everywhere I go, not counting the fact that I work in fraud prevention! For example, ever went shopping at any place with EV parking or charging stations? Watch how assholes with gas guzzling cars park in them, because hey, this is ‘Murica and I’m entitled to do whatever I want, because I’m better than you, which means your rules don’t apply to me! And, in order to make sure that I’m never confronted with my lack of knowledge, my ignorance or just mean spirited douche baggery, I make sure that I surround myself with people that agree with me and have the same low bar, lacking decency, common courtesy and integrity, thereby creating the root cause of a lot of evils, tribal alliances.
I also make sure that I run my mouth behind people’s backs, or better yet, on the Internet, in some stupid comment, because I feel super strong behind my keyboard and I’m overall a coward when it comes to face-to-face confrontation. If it gets too uncomfortable, I can quickly block and delete a person, then go to my friends to share how I was wronged, have them agree and rinse and repeat, thereby creating an endless cycle of people never learning or growing; an endless cycle of douche baggery and asshattery.
Speaking of tribalism, look at religions for a moment. I’m not going to single any one of them out, because they operate predominantly in the same fashions. Isn’t it rather astonishing how people justify hypocrisy and downright evil in the name of their religion? First of all, ask anyone who belongs to an organized religion why they are in it. It’s very rarely “I chose this because it works for me,” but instead a “my way is the only right way and all the others are evil.” Just like with science and flat earthers, where there is absolutely no fact that can prove to them that the earth is, in fact, round, you can present a religious person with their own hypocrisy by pointing out that a) their scripture never stated x, y or z, and b) that they are flat out ignoring other parts from said scripture. They pick and choose to create a model that justifies how they treat others and surround themselves with plenty of other asshats that believe the exact same way and pat them on the back for each hurtful word or action they are freely spewing into the world. It is never enough to simply believe whatever, no, we must FORCE said belief on the entire rest of the country, regardless of how they feel about it, because hey, we know what’s right for everyone, because we are always right!
The truth is, in this society, people DO get away with murder and they get away with being an asshole, because there are usually no consequences to any actions. The rich can do whatever they want, the poor are happy with being ignorant and insuring they never break the cycle, leaving a few brave souls that attempt to fix things by speaking up or otherwise acting, and they get their asses so severely kicked, that they just end up giving up. The apathy we witnessed in the last elections are the direct result of good people doing the right thing and getting severely beaten up for it – on an ongoing basis. Once they learned that nothing matters they figured voting wouldn’t matter either. Because in America, we are not only OK with never learning and defending our bullshit, we also must make sure that those who hold a mirror up to us get their teeth kicked in. We are not really all that good with honesty and integrity and it’s OK to ridicule those who are.
What does it all mean and why continue to give a shit? As long as people are willing to make excuses for downright shitty behavior, for assaulting women, for lying, for cheating, for being cruel, unkind and greedy, for being a racist, for discrimination against those that are different, for shunning the poor and the sick and, my newest favorite as a German, being a Nazi, we’ll be stuck in this hellhole of a place. Our hope are the kids! This year alone, 4 MILLION kids are going to be eligible to vote. The new generations have the Internet at their disposal; and they are reading and learning at a pace that will eventually overwrite the BS that is being passed on. Yes, we’ll lose many to asshole parents who a) should have never had kids and b) will make sure to pass on their own bullshit and dysfunction, but I believe that this is the minority.
Meanwhile, I’ll make sure to continue learning and growing, because truth, integrity and decency mean more to me than being seemingly popular in a huge crowd of assholes.
