Opinions Are Like A**holes

Everyone has one. Here's mine.

I am of the opinion that a certain social media platform which many of us have allowed ourselves to become addicted to does not have humanity’s best interest in mind. Something called a “fact check loophole” is being exploited at said social media platform and - voila! - bullshit is spreading like sing-a-longs at a Dave Matthews concert.

I am of the opinion that we now have proof our laws and, consequently, our system of government, are toothless when it comes to those with money, clout and mob connections - Russian or otherwise. Even though the Supreme Court ruled in favor of releasing what’s his name’s financials, they kicked it down to a level that fat boy ‘made’ man, Luigi, will have no trouble squelching any kind of real movement just by showing up on somebody’s doorstep.

I have long been of the opinion that today’s polls are mind-numbingly useless. Who fills out those polls? And, if you are talking about exit-polling (as a voter leaves the voting booth), a majority of voters will not tell the truth. No one is going to tell you they voted for the QAnon believer or the former KKK Grand Wizard.

I am of the opinion that places of worship that are receiving government pandemic handouts need to start paying taxes. They also need to separate themselves from the “state”. I don’t have a problem with pastors advocating to their congregants. I have a problem with those pastors showing up in the Oval Office and laying their hands on the holder of the highest office in the land as if he/she/they are god-like.

I am of the opinion the fossil fuel companies are far more powerful of an influence than any of us know. As I have been telling the high school students I take rafting for the past 30 years, almost every other year of my life I hear about some kind of miracle solution to combustion engines or the need for fossil fuels or an alternative fuel - and it never materializes. Just last year I watched a 60 Minutes about an alternative fuel made from some kind of vegetation, backed by former generals and heads of state, created by someone who taught themselves the science (or something of that nature) and, ever since, crickets.

Actually crickets would be louder.

I am of the opinion we are all racist. But some of us are also capable of being polite and civil and courteous. We are aware of our racial outlook. We also understand our reptilian brain is not to be trusted in these matters. I also believe some people just say “fuck it!” and go with their reptilian brain’s first reaction.

I also believe that most of the things we value as a society with our bank accounts and checkbooks are not the most valuable things in reality and this imbalance is what is going to kill us all. Eventually. We are - after all - remarkably adaptable.

Most importantly, I am of the opinion if we do not send a stinging rebuke this November to all of the ‘puppet masters’, all of the reactionaries, all of the monsters that have made themselves at home in the Washington, D.C. swamp over the last 50 years, we are destined, doomed, damned to wander in the wilderness far longer than any of us want to.

It will not be sufficient to excise the insipid squatters inhabiting the People’s House. We need to remove everyone whose first reaction is to say, “No”, or use “Can’t” in a sentence.

It’s time, in my opinion, for action.

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What riled me up this morning was the Reset podcast’s show on F***book’s fact-check loophole. I can’t recall if I have already recommended this podcast or not but, either way, I endorse it.

Also, I read once you ought to leave them laughing. So….

“What do you call two crows?”

“An attempted murder.”