Some of us grapple with the fine line between the need to stay informed about disturbing political trends, and the point at which the bad news overload point is reached.  Does the fascist dictatorship win when conscientious citizens reach their limit and stop paying attention?  Or does it even matter if we stay vigilant, when the opposition appears to control and override all the checks and balances that used to work.  I feel strongly that it still matters, but I personally feel helpless to make any difference.

I know friends and family who have already reached their threshold for pain, and can’t take on any more train-wreck reporting.  It triggers too much fear and outrage.  I myself am close to that brink.  I can’t even deal with my select reliable daily news briefs, let alone all the petty politicians and stupid constituents on social media calling responsible voters “sore losers” and “fanatics” because we protest unconstitutional, illegal behavior in our government and demand a legitimate hearing.  I guess trumpsters should know; they tend to be the sorest losers and winners, when they don’t get their way or get exposed for the ignorant rabble they are.

But I realize I sink to their substandard level when I trade cheap insults like that; they don’t even deserve that much of my notice.  Engaging them in any kind of intelligent discourse is also pointless; their propaganda media have already programmed them to repeat delusional nonsense, devoid of actual facts.  It’s like debating with toddlers—they’ll just throw a tantrum and food at you.

If you’ve reached your limit, I sympathize.  Sometimes I’d like to go off-grid altogether, but I know I won’t.  I’m hoping against hope that we’ll get to witness trump and company self-destruct way before they destroy the world.  Also I doubt the rest of the world will just sit by and let themselves get nuked or screwed.  Sadly, it takes the extremism of a  trump to bring out the best as well as the worst in people.  Members of normally divergent points of view are banding together in solidarity to fight this evil, in places you’d never expect to see it.  It’s encouraging to know humans will generally fight for what’s ethically right, when pushed to their limit.

I’m just a powerless nobody, but I’m going to stay here online and speak my mind, for what it’s worth.  If you’re still with me reading my rants and ramblings, I welcome the good company.  There’s no way to know how this will all play out.  All I ask is that each of us hang onto our souls and our good sense, and not give in to this temporary insanity.  If we find ourselves in a position to do some good, however small it seems, we must not lose heart and succumb to fear.  That’s how the adversary wins.  That’s how the world as we know it ends.  “Not with a bang but a whimper.”  (T.S. Elliot, “Hollow Men”.)