covid – LiviKnit

I wrote this post in September of 2020. This was mid the COVID shutdowns, pre-election, and sometime after the George Floyd protests. I can’t remember why I didn’t post it, but I’m posting it now despite the months gone by because, frankly, not much has changed.

If we really want to bring about change, if we really want to bring peace back to society, as hokie as it sounds, it needs to start at home. And as nearly impossible as it would be to change things at this point, we need to think about the messages being sent and received via the movies, video games, and social media available to our kids and the rest of us. Have you heard about Evil Dead, RoboCop, Natural Born Killers, Kill Bill? Of course you have. And our kids have seen them. Have you ever played any of the violent and graphic video games? They have. I will concede that these types of media do not cause violence in young people. But I absolutely believe that it desensitizes them to violence by way of a reset button. If you think the ratings listed on the jackets of these games and movies prevent teens and pre-teens from being able to watch or play, think again. We didn’t have the vast quantity of these problems before these movies and games. And I’m not referring to racial tensions. I’m referring to the overt violence that’s out there and the overall disrespect, entitlement, and antipathy among so many of our young people across all races.

This isn’t going to be fixed overnight. We’ve a helluva long way to go before the pendulum even begins to swing back. I believe it’ll get worse before it gets better. They’re now calling for the dismantling of police departments. (Who will they call when help is needed?) There will be no more Aunt Jemima (sorry, Nancy Green) or Eskimo Pies. Hey, here’s an idea! How about we keep Eskimo Pies and get rid of excessive violence in movies and video games? Uh, no. Sorry. Too much dinero to be made there. Think of the Seven Deadly Sins, and we’re not far off.

The message is there if we can get back to it through the clutter of Antifa, COVID, hateful rhetoric from both the left and the right. Racial inequity needs to end, so how about we stop referring to people by their color or ethnicity. Refuse to select your ethnicity on all forms. Don’t allow our leaders to politicize ethnicity to get votes; they’ll only bail on you once elected. Look at history, and see who actually did something about change rather than who just talked about what they’d do ‘if elected!’

I’m so tired of it all. I’m not interested in debating one single thing. I don’t know it all, nor do you. I just know it has to stop.

I don’t typically engage in political dialogue. There’s nothing to be gained by a conversation expecting to change someone’s thinking. It just rarely, if ever, happens. So I suppose this is as good a place as any to voice my opinion without too much repercussion.

I am a registered Independent. After my favorite president (Reagan) left office and very post 911 – post us all banding together when Americans briefly felt united after the terrorist attack – what was once considered ‘news’ became more and more opinion with both sides telling us what we should think (like them!) and why. Except the ‘whys’ were usually biased and often interjected with fearmongering and speculation. As the years progressed, it only got worse and more vocal, more obvious seemingly to everyone but them.

Now that the election is over (practically), I will finally admit that, after much listening and reading, I cast my vote for the single-most ill-equipped individual to ever grace a podium. I am with you if you believe President Trump, as a person, is a tactless, mouthy, brash and narcissistic human being. If there ever was an antithesis of Ronald Reagan, it is Donald Trump. I often hear, “He’s no politician.” And a truer statement could never be made. But honestly? I think that’s why I voted for him!

I’m sick to DEATH of politicians; the slick-talking, tell-’em-what-they-wanna-hear, say-anything-to-get-elected politicians who, without flinching, play into Americans’ paranoia and fear that they, themselves create, making lame promises of change they assure will happen, all the while knowing THE BIG SECRET: Just get elected, then do whatever the lobbyists paid you to do. As despicable as Mr. Trump is, I truly believe he’s in nobody’s pocket. Who would have him? And I believe he has the best interest of America – not himself – at heart. Who better to head the business of running a country than a successful, smart businessman? Should someone have banned him from Twitter and all social media? You bet. The man’s a social idiot. But he’s the best idiot around for the daunting job of getting this country moving again.

President Joe Biden? Please. I give it a year, maybe a year and a half, and Kamala Harris will be stepping in, pushing her near-socialist agenda with the full support of the leftist media and social platforms. I have nothing against Ms. Harris. As an American, I sincerely hope she is successful running the country. But I pose these questions:

After eight years of Barack Obama, why was the African American community no better off than before he took office? I’ve never heard a good answer to that question.
If Antifa really was an independent group, why so quiet after the election? Did ‘their guy’ get in?
Wasn’t it reverse discrimination that got Ms. Harris her position? Can you imagine the uproar had she been a white woman? (Perhaps Antifa might have been vocal then?)
With the COVID-caused unemployment rate hovering around 13%, would you rather have a successful businessman or a lifelong politician in charge of your family’s future?

Frankly, I think President Trump needs to concede this election. Despite very clear instances of voter fraud on so many levels (the most obvious being the dead voters), it’s time to put the election behind us and try to crawl the rest of the way out of 2020. Time will tell in the upcoming months and years whether the elected ticket will fulfill all their promises. But I’ve always been a believer in real-life consequences; you couldn’t ask for a better teacher than the real-life consequences of the choices you make. Coronavirus aside, the voting millennials of today have never suffered through a depression, an energy crisis, vast unemployment, or sky-high mortgage and interest rates. They take what they hear at face value with nothing for comparison in their own lives, and they believe what the biased media tells them. In all honestly, with the COVID-caused unemployment currently, you can bet I’d rather have a businessman in office than a life-long politician in the pockets of self-interest groups.

I just want it over. All of it. COVID, the election, the crazy weather (I live in Florida). No one will come out of 2020 unscathed. Believe me, there are no winners here.