All I can take into consideration is nationwide politics. It’s miserable. And cringey. Like a dystopian novel nobody needs to learn as a result of the writer sucks.
Each time the Nice Orange Man or one among his administration minions speaks, my gears beg for oil. They’ve been working in overdrive. And I’m over it.
Our esteemed “political” events—that are solely throwing pity events in the mean time (nobody likes a pity social gathering)—are launching flaming balls of blame at one another over the federal authorities shutdown. And everyone seems to be making an attempt to border it to attain political factors. Trump and the GOP are blaming “leftists.” Democrats are blaming the administration. And the administration is utilizing your hard-earned tax {dollars} to politicize the difficulty by way of what are alleged to be nonpartisan federal businesses, which is the icing on the fucking cake.
I’m blaming all the politicians. The bloviating, simpering fools. And it’s best to, too!
However then it’s best to look within the mirror, as a result of it’s our fault too. Your fault. My fault. Democrats. Republicans. Independents. Social media. The darkish internet. Speaking heads. Proper-wing nuts. Left-wing nuts. All people’s nuts!
Everybody’s culpable for the present state of affairs.
The actual query is: What are we going to do about it? The blame recreation, which is everybody’s favourite recreation to play, isn’t working. The escalating recreation of one-upmanship isn’t working both—how are we redrawing election districts in the midst of a census cycle in a number of states? And everybody’s OK with their facet doing it however not the opposite facet. What within the precise fuck is that?
All of it’s driving us deeper into our ideological trenches, and it looks as if no person is prepared to return out of their foxhole. Shoot first and final. Ask questions by no means.
It’s ridiculous. I’m so disgusted that I can’t even carry myself to satirize SLO County District Legal professional Dan Dow, who spoke on the current Cal Poly Turning Level USA memorial for assassinated conservative lighting rod Charlie Kirk.
I’m mendacity. I can completely do this.
Dow—the elected district lawyer answerable for prosecuting crimes, together with hate crimes towards the LGBTQ-plus neighborhood—leaned into each Christianity and Kirk’s name to motion towards members of that neighborhood (not very Christian, if you happen to ask me) after Dow’s workplace declined to file hate crime prices towards somebody who went onto somebody’s property, pulled down their Pleasure flag, ripped it, and threw it within the trash.
Dow informed the group that Kirk had “controversially, however honestly” known as transgender girls “cowards,” after which acquired a loud, raucous spherical of applause for the remark. It actually tells you the place we’re at right this moment when the rallying cry at a vigil for somebody who was tragically assassinated is to place down a neighborhood that makes up lower than half a p.c of our total nation.
Simply to reiterate: That’s lower than 0.5 p.c of People. And the hatred towards them has galvanized one social gathering within the two-party system. And it’s the social gathering that’s traditionally been adamantly against the federal government butting into their lives. They appear to be effective if the federal government tries to inform everybody else what to do. It’s wild.
I’m dumbfounded, actually. We now have so many points. The economic system has not improved in any respect. The housing disaster just isn’t getting higher. The job market is stagnating. Our immigration system is in shambles and getting worse. We’re deploying troops in Democratic cities! Our social security nets are additionally in shambles. Our medical and property insurance coverage markets are so costly nobody can afford any of it. Psychological well being points are growing. Mass shootings are fixed. The checklist is a lot longer, too.
And all one social gathering can do is bitch a couple of tiny minority of the American inhabitants that they don’t perceive. Why? Is every thing else too advanced for a rallying cry?
And the opposite social gathering actually hasn’t mounted any of it both. All it could possibly do is blame the Republicans for being fascist, racist, sexist, and spineless.
Get it collectively, America. We now have actual issues that aren’t being solved whereas we lean right into a tradition battle that does nothing however drive us an element. Sluggish clap, folks.
Anyway! The person answerable for prosecuting hate crimes in SLO County engaged in what I’d argue is hate speech towards a minority neighborhood. And hate speech is totally authorized within the United States, so approach to follow your First Modification proper, Dan Dow!
I’m practising mine proper now by criticizing the speech of an elected official and questioning out loud the way it would possibly impression his tax-paid job. Isn’t it nice how that modification has given us a lot? We are able to focus on issues like this out within the open. Reasonably than making an attempt to brush all of it below the rug, cancel it, or censor it.
Nobody needs to be threatening to censor speech they don’t like (Trump and firm, I’m taking a look at you. Progressives, I’m taking a look at you, too.). Speech is allowed till it will get ripped away from us. It’s elementary to our understanding of democracy, of this democracy. It’s not political. It’s our proper.
If we’re simply shouting obscenities into the abyss, name-calling, and abusing one another, we’re losing the proper we got to talk, to criticize, to compromise, and to manipulate ourselves.
With out it, we’re nugatory. ∆
The Shredder practices what it preaches. Ship speech to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This text seems in Oct 2 – 12, 2025.
