Nurse the Hate: Hate The New Normal

It’s amazing how quickly one can adjust to bizarre circumstances.  I remember when I lived in the dorms in college.  I shared a bedroom with this guy I was randomly placed with named Jim.  I slept on the top bunk.  While I was initially disappointed about getting to the room second and having to climb that perch, I got used to it quickly.  In my first semester, I got mono and spent two months falling asleep reading “History of Civilization I” up in that bunk.  I know a great deal about Mesopotamia and the fertile bread basket where the Tigris and Euphrates met, but almost nothing after that as the text book was a sleeping pill to me. 

One Thursday night I woke up to my bed swaying slightly.  I was confused as it was 2:37am and I had been out cold for a good two hours.  As I became more aware of my surroundings I heard heavy breathing and bed springs.  I rolled over to look down on Jim’s bunk and saw his shiny ass pumping up and down in between some girl’s thighs I knew named Becky.  We made eye contact.  “Hi Becky.”  Jim just kept going ignoring me completely.  I rolled back over and waited for my little ride to end.  It didn’t seem that odd to me.  I was used to things like that after the previous two months of submarine like living in that tiny dorm room.  It wasn’t even that noteworthy at the time to wake up to watch a live sex show.

Another quick example…  About a month ago, Leo had a couple guys crashing out at his house.  One of them was a wildly out of control alcoholic that spoke almost completely in non-sequiturs.  I would roll up with my PA head in tow to find him on the porch drinking and smoking cigarettes.  I would offer him a greeting and his response would be something along the lines of “Don’t count your chickens dude!  Haw haw haw!”.   What?  We would then set up in the basement to work on songs.  He might appear from nowhere with Charlie, Leo’s dog, and start dancing around in the middle of the basement.  We just ignored him and kept moving ahead.  When Krusty and Bobby came over to knock out some Cowslingers material, I was very much used to this guy’s bizarre behavior.  Krusty and Bobby were not.  “What the fuck’s with this guy?”  I had become so used to the insanity, it didn’t even seem odd.  It’s just the way it was over at Leo’s house.

I can’t help but think that the American People have made this type of mental shift with our leadership.  In just the past few days we have a President that has:

·         Used a racial slur in front of Indian war heroes

·         Forwarded British "Alt Right" Party anti-Muslim hate videos on Twitter

·         Attacked the Free Press and suggested boycotting outlets that report inconvenient facts

·         Revived that insane “birther” conspiracy about Obama

·         Suggested that the “grab them by the pussy” video he had already admitted to and apologized for was doctored, essentially denying the undeniable

Yet, it’s hardly a ripple.  The high stakes and complicated North Korea issue is ratcheting up and this man is going to be a final word on a series of dominos falling that will re-shape events for generations.  It’s impossible to have a rational discussion to suggest Donald Trump is competent for his job.  Everyone in government is keeping their distance.  I think that things have now been so crazy for almost a year, so it doesn’t seem odd any longer.  It’s just the way it is now.  Why fight it?  The Leader of the Free World was arguing with LaVar Ball on Twitter?   Huh.  The President is going out of his way to make the obviously false claim that he’s turning down the Time Magazine “Man of the Year” award?  Hey, who wants tacos?

History is going to be a very cruel judge of Trump.  It will likely be an even more unforgiving judge on all of us that continue to do nothing in the face of this obvious danger.