As September ends, we’re already nine months into the Joseph Biden Administration. Former President Donald Trump is still trying to act like he can be reinstated. The Arizona recount proved once again that Biden won the state and won it with more votes, with Trump receiving less votes.
The number one reason people say they like Trump is the saying, “He speaks his mind” or “He says what he means.” Actually none of these are reasons to elect someone. Just because you believe someone believes what they say is no reason to vote for them. What people are really saying, “I like Trump because he’s not afraid to use the colorful language we can’t say anymore.”
And this is mostly spoken Boomers or white men who never understood other things. Recently, CBS Sunday Morning ran a story about a town in North Carolina that has embraced itself as the modern-day Mayberry. The only problem with this is that the Mayberry they thought existed never did. The era The Andy Griffith Show was aired was not the best time for America. People turned into the show for escape.
You can watch the story here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZme-GsKv_g&t=1s
It’s ironic that people think Trump could connect to this show. He’d hate it. I remember less than 30 years ago, the Ku Klux Klan still had rallies in some areas near where I grew up. No one then wanted to be associated with the Klan, but they expressed the same thoughts as the Klan. That’s what some people don’t realize.
They’re agreeing with racism and white supremacy. That’s what got Trump elected. He didn’t speak his mind. He did it for attention. People thought he was saying what needed to be said. He wasn’t. It was all shock value. A lot of people do it for attention.
Ever noticed that Fox News and other conservative shows only allow BIPOC when they agree with the narrative they’re presenting? And I personally think they some of these conservatives such as Titus Ellis Smith or Candace Owens are only saying this to get attention.
I’ve had to interview people I didn’t agree with. I kept their statements in the story as long as it was useful to the story or counter to what someone else was saying. But as one of my colleagues once said, “I’m not going to get in the middle of a pissing contest between two people because I’ll just get twice as wet.”
A lot of times, we only talk to people or communicate with them if they agree with our own thoughts and beliefs. Mainly Fox News has created the idea that those who shout the loudest and longest are correct. That’s the world we’ve come to. I remember when a lot of people didn’t bother to say much out of fear they wouldn’t be taken seriously. It was only about 20 years ago.
Now, we have people claiming the world is flat. The Covid-19 vaccines are magnetic and they’re tracking us. Also, that the flu vaccine causes autism. But yet if you ever try to disagree with them, even presenting the scientific facts, they will dispute you to the point that it gets violent sometimes.
The problem is Boomers were raised in an era where they mostly weren’t allowed to question anything from their elders or the government. They weren’t allowed to debate or argue with older people. They were born on the end of the Jim Crow era and they had different views on the Civil Rights and Equal Rights Era. It was “I’m older so I know more” or “When you’re older, you’ll see why I’m right” or “Because I said so.”
These are not valid arguments. They’re authoritative statements. It’s funny that for a generation that raised mostly in the Cold War as the threat of communism was going to destroy America, they’re the ones using the Soviet Union’s playbook for control.
It’s no surprise many of the Boomers were featured in Dazed and Confused where they felt punishing incoming ninth-grade students with humiliations and violent acts was justified because they had been treated that way. Rather than break the cycle, they continued it. I think the irony that Richard Linklater tried to convey is lost on many audiences.
I also think it’s ironic that John Hinckley Jr., was found not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting a President who is the most responsible for how the mentally ill for the last 40 years have been treated, which is poorly. I’m not condoning or defending Hinckley in any manner but he obviously needed help. He was obsessed with Jodie Foster so much that he tried to kill the President to impress her.
This obsession people have is very common. And many people act on it. Unfortunately, their cases are not as high-profiled because instead of the President of the United States, someone who was just a school teacher or a grocery clerk was the target. People think they should be with someone regardless of how the other feels.
This needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, we want to put people in prison. People can’t take rejection but we need to start teaching them that sometimes, a person just likes you as a friend. And that means, they really just want to know you as an acquaintance. Maybe you’ll be a FB friend or follow them on social media, but you’re not going to be close to them.
When Trump was in office, the public learned more about the Dunning-Kruger Syndrome in which someone who is not knowledgeable about a subject overestimates and overcompensates for it. It’s been around for decades. I’d rather have a car mechanic tell me they can’t do something than have them monkey around with my car and make it worse.
The worst thing we never teach people is to say the three words, “I don’t know.” You’re not a bad person for not knowing calculus or how to code a computer program or how to install a new toilet or how to play chess. We’re not supposed to know everything.
Yet, for some reason, every time someone doesn’t like what you’re saying, they’ll cut you off or they’ll change the subject. They even will berate you and tell you how you’re wrong. It’s funny how that is. They’re don’t care if you present a good argument. They just don’t want to be wrong.
And they’re willing to do whatever it takes not to be proven wrong, even if that means ending relationships, hurting people’s livelihoods or in Trump’s case, nearly destroying a country.
Zane Says 