It’s a strange time of extremely divided political views. But not a division along any of the usual lines. Not rich and poor, nor educated and ignorant, nor young and old, not even exactly urban and rural. Yet the demarcation is so bitterly set that rational discussion is almost impossible .
On the one side are all the folks – generally older, rural, or underemployed men – who want the world to be like they remember or think the world was like in 1950. They imagine a world of America as king, lots of money and leisure, only high class European immigrants (and only a few of those), no government taxes or regulation – a sugar-coated vision of life as satirized in Back to the Future.
On the other hand are those who remember or know what that era really was, with racial problems, pollution, and atomic threats among lots of other issues. They don’t quite know what to do next, but trying to revive that 80-year-old corpse will not work .
But both sides are actually too well off to risk much or to take up arms. so it’s fashions and cosmetics for all. Flags of different colors. Social slogans that fit on placards. Hairstyles and specific attire. And – new to the era – only select circles of internet “friends” egging each other on in a fantasy virtual environment .
I tend to side against fake nostalgia, but I admit both sides have gotten a little crazy. So we talk, when we talk, about weather and health .
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 