Authored by Joey Clark via Medium.com,
The top story yesterday (and today) - showcased on the Drudge Report, Google News, all the cable news networks, and many social media feeds - is simply an idiotic parade of self-important and domineering busybodies.
A petite horde of white nationalists and their brethren are at odds with their over-zealous anti-fascist opposition in Virginia. They are so at odds Virginia’s governor declared a state of emergency due to the violent clashes at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
The images coming from the scene are so provocative and full of savagery even President Donald Trump saw fit to send out a tweet calling for unity:
“We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!”
Yet, what most Americans need to do right now isn’t to appeal to some sense of ‘national unity’ against hate or to “come together as one.” Fine sentiments—if you’re into that sort of thing—but excuse me, pardon me for saying I don’t need this President, or any other, to tell me and most of my fellow Americans that “this kind of violence” has no place in America (which makes me wonder, what other kinds of violence do have their place in the USA?)
Most Americans, most people, already know this sort of stupidity and violence on the march in Charlottesville is unacceptable and a waste of time. The people assembled in Virginia do not represent what most Americans think or wish to do with their precious little free time on a Saturday. The brouhaha from the political media surrounding this event is at best overblown by good intentions and at worst being purposely stoked for website hits, TV ratings, and political agendas.
Rather than heeding the hollow calls for peace and unity from ‘our’ dear political leaders or the foolish pleas from left/right activists on the ground in Virginia, what most Americans need to do right now is keep right on doing what they’re already doing - enjoying what little freedom they still have in so many ways too numerous to list completely.
Keep in mind, while a few hundred deluded racists and hysterical ‘anti-fascists’ clash in Virginia, thousands of Americans are attending baseball, football, and soccer events while millions watch from home.
Do not forget, while the despairing political boobs clash in Charlottesville, millions of Americans are attending pop concerts, cheerleading competitions, neighborhood BBQ’s, jazz festivals, movie showings, yoga classes, college classes, dog-training seminars, baby-showers, weddings, funerals, and pool parties.
Just remember, while political nincompoopery reveals its ugly face in one tiny place on the map, millions of Americans are relaxing at home, reading books and guzzling down champagne mixers, sharing high school memories with old friends and smoking hookah pipes, texting the sexy boy or girl they met last night, or emailing a lost love they haven’t seen 10 years.
Americans are shopping. Americans are putting on fundraisers in fun ways. Americans are eating junk food and health food, cheese puffs and brown butter asparagus. Americans are curling their toes in the white sands of the beaches along the Gulf of Mexico or kayaking along little rivers and creeks across this rich and plentiful land. Americans are driving their sports cars or riding their bikes or hiking through the plentiful forests from sea to shining sea.
The point is most Americans don’t give a damn about what’s happening in Charlottesville, VA. And they especially aren’t stupid enough to participate in such a festival of buncombe and blood.
I’m happy they don’t give a damn. And I can only wonder why people with political motives want everyone to pay attention to these petty tyrants in Virginia who would sap Americans’ freedoms in the name of blood and soil or the next great culminating clash of class and racial conflict. Maybe, just maybe, most Americans would be just fine without political conflict. Maybe, most Americans already realize enjoying their freedom doesn’t require being a sheep swift to follow the latest, edgy shepherd who says there is something terribly wrong with world.
Call it apathy or quietism if you like, but if more Americans acted like most Americans who simply enjoy their free time and hard-earned dime, politics would seem very stupid and small indeed - an utter waste of time and energy on something already very stupid and small as it stands.
That said, I’ve wasted enough of my own time and energy by simply writing this.
Time to go enjoy my liberty while I still have it.