State of Our Disunion

.... And in summation, that's how you fix all of our political and humanitarian issues. Thank you for reading for the past 2 months. This series has been a big one. Twelve blog posts. Just amazing what steady viewership and dedication will brin- .... (ed note: What do you mean they haven't been posting? What do you mean they haven't even been SAVING?! YOU MEAN I HAVEN'T BEEN ACTIVE HERE FOR 2 MONTHS?!?! MOTHE@$@^&@^@*()$)*(!^(97278^&!*(@!!!!)

Well... this is awkward. It seems that my creative juices needed a pick me up. Yeah. That's what I'll go with. Lets get onto the post. It's about one of my favorite topics: sadness and misery in the world! Yaaaay! ... I need a drink....

52 Shirley Temples later.

So for those who have been living under a rock, or at least have the better sense to not listen to ANY news nowadays, a several thousand people strong caravan of refugees and immigrants has slowly been making its way across Central American and Mexico, with the ultimate intention of crossing into the United States as asylum seekers. They come from a myriad of different countries for various different reasons. Some come to seek refuge from wars and political unrest in their home countries, some to escape drug cartels and corrupt rulers, some to forge better lives for themselves and their families away from the totalitarian regimes they came fro- my god alotta people seem to be running from their governments. (ed note: Can I do that? Is that a thing? CANADA!? Are you accepting applications???)

Either way, no matter where or why they have decided to brave the dangers of many miles of walking and harsh conditions, they are coming. And it's only a matter of time before they reach our border.... okay they reached our border. And let me tell you, no country has ever had a better humanitarian response to refugees in the history of mankin- okkkkaaaay and we are tear gassing kids. (ed note: Seriously Canada. Why aren't you returning my calls?)

Kitten not related. Just thought you'd need something to calm your rage.

Okay. Okay. So, we've done HORRIBLE shit in the past. I've written about this horrible shit. I mean, I had a whole blog post about 90's Superhero comics for crying out loud. But this, coming from the nation who prides itself on being "better" than the rest of the world. Well, let me tell ya, it feels kinda the opposite. Just a tad. Maybe two tads. I think that this whole story needs a little clarifying here. Because I see a  whole bunch of sensationalized news coverage coming out of both the LEFT and the RIGHT camps. So, lets try and break this down a bit shall we?

The crux of the situation is that there are several THOUSAND people in this caravan. Not an even thousand. Several. This is by far the biggest group of refugees at our border in history. That is no laughing matter. From a completely logic based place, I am confident in saying that this would be a nightmare of logistical processing. Even if all these people where to enter asylum legally, they would be faced with so much paperwork that they would be able to clothe their kids in it. And after that, they would need to be placed. Often times, temporary housing is built for asylum seekers. Now obviously, they don't need to stay there. It's not meant to be a prison, but the simple fact is that they are often monitored and kept track of if they leave, and aren't allowed to go just ANYWHERE they wanted. After all, they would be provisional guests of the country under political asylum. They would not be citizens unless they sought out and began the process for US Citizenship.

After all of that, there would still be a great many things to work out, like housing, feeding, work, transportation, schooling, medical care, clothing, etc. All in all, it's not ever as simple as "let them in! Free country for all!" But... why not? I mean, isn't that what this country was built off of? Well, yes. Yes it was. And that's where the disconnect is happening. We have created a country where the tenants and virtues upon which we were founded are only important so long as they fit our current agenda. Our constitution has become a list of suggestions in recent times, rather than the rule of law. In some cases, obviously things need to be viewed through a more modern eye. I doubt the founding fathers expected 12 year old to yell at each other on the Internet when they advocated for free speech.

Why do I feel like i'm on a list now after Googling "Kids playing games pictures."

The real problem with the caravan, isn't whether or not we should let them in, it's whether we should be politicizing it the way we are. So many news outlets have been reporting on this like crazy. Fox news will say "They are invading our country!" CNN will say "They are being treated horribly and should be let in!" Alex Jones says "THEY SHOULD BE LIT ON FIRE AND THEIR ASHES SNORTED TO STAVE OFF THE DEVIL!" .... okay maybe that last one wasn't serious.... maybe. But if you notice this trend of stories, they seemed to reach their peek early November. Somewhat around the time of the mid-term elections. And now, after those elections have come and gone (ed note: Maybe next year Vermin Supreme...) it seems as if the stories have slowed down. Like, way down. Down to one 5 min segment a day. Does that not seem a little fishy to anyone else?

The caravan was politicized the same way Religion and Feminism was politicized for the 2016 Presidential election. Trump galvanized the radical evangelicals in a way that no candidate had ever before, and he did so on the basis of fear and false nationalism. Hillary pushed the female card. She wanted to become the first woman president, and used that to her advantage, causing cheers and fist pumping by becoming a virtual 20th century Rosie the Riveter. But the main problem with both candidates, was that they were lying through their teeth. Trump is about as religious as a frog, and only ever preaches fear on things he doesn't agree with or understand, ignoring topics that are truly frightening and world threatening. Hillary used feminism for her own gain. In 2012, she was no more a feminist than you or I, but once she realized that Trump had a dedicated, if delusional fan-base, she believed that she needed one as well. And she lost, all because she stooped down to the level of a fear-mongering idiot. She focused so much of being a more popular candidate, when she should have focused on being the BETTER candidate.

In the end, we are directly suffering the blow-back from this election two years ago. We are the most divided in this country we have ever been, with a large amount of people on both sides calling for another Civil War, forgetting the bloody and ultimately damning war that was fought between neighbors and relatives. We have massive swaths of the country who believe in anti-science rhetoric, and this in turn is causing irreparable damage to not only our own nation, but the world at large. We have a government in place that is corrupt to the core, and cares more about self interests and image than anything having to do with the affairs of state. We are truly at the lowest point in our nation's history. Not because of new problems that have arisen, but because of old ones that have come back to haunt us. We wish to keep out the caravan because of racism. Through and through. Every valid reason that there is, eventually gets overturned by the simple notion: they aren't us.

Puppies not related. Just thought the kitten needed some friends.

Hearkening back to one of my first posts on this lovely blog, 50 years ago, we thought we had beaten racism. But now it's back, and worse than ever. We are fighting a fight against ourselves. So many of us think that once something gets better, it can never come back, the evil is gone forever. But evil never dies. It can be beaten back, hurt, locked up... but it always comes back. This is because people have the capacity to do horrible, terrible things to each other. To our world. And these people can be born at any second. To paraphrase a classic comic line, "All it takes is one bad day." For many, they've had that bad day, and now the world suffers because of it. But for some, they have had wonderful, cherished days, but those days taught them to be complacent, or worse, think that anything they do could never result in a bad day. These people now run the world. But all hope is not lost. Bad days do not make a madman, unless we let them.

Everyone has their breaking point. But that's were the rest of us come in. In this time of ours, we need to support our fellow human, offer them a shoulder to cry on, an arm to pick them up, a hug to cool them down. We need to treat our world with respect, with the sense that, it could truly be the only one we ever will know. We have to offer our best ideas, our best smiles and thoughts, and work towards a better future. Because it's no longer a voluntary matter, it's necessity. We cannot let our little evils win. The future doesn't happen if we do.

It is true that evil never dies. But neither does hope...