This week I’m going to take on somewhat of a challenge that was presented to me by my dear friend Judith M. Villeneuve of Maine.
My “regulars” will remember this woman as she has visited here in real life and has also filled in for me when my gray cells left the building for a slight vacation.
I must give you some background so that you know what on earth is unfolding here. Judy and I were more or less joking around recently about how it seems like EVERYTHING in life has become politicized. It seems like any topic has morphed into some kind of “right” versus “left” male bovine excrement no matter what said topic or word might be.
We agreed that it might be kind of fun to see if I could demonstrate that any word can and has become a point of argument or a bone of contention between the fake left and right. Yes, I said it. I honestly think that the left-right paradigm doesn’t really exist. Things that the “right” has done in the past were praised by that group of supporters; if a “leftist” says the exact same thing or pushes a policy that is the same, the “other side” freaks out. It’s just so clear that this divide isn’t real but the powers that be have put it in place to keep people fighting with each other.
In reality it’s the common folk (proletariat) against the establishment and the higher ups like the infamous 1%, etc. Rather than let humanity realize this fact, the “hidden hand” pushes this left-right crap so that regular citizens don’t turn on THEM. I hope this makes sense.
Also, before I launch into listing the words and tying them back to a political party or philosophy, I have to remind the reader of something rather important. I have said this to the point of absurdity but feel I must reiterate at this time.
I am NOT on a side at all. I don’t support a person or a political party. That way I can truly be objective and honest when I impart my sincere hatred for all of it. I am not put into the position of defending what I consider to be indefensible. I don’t have to ride to the defense of Donald Trump or anyone in politics. I don’t suffer from TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) either as I can equally point out the sins of those in “the resistance.” To quote (or at least paraphrase) Gore Vidal, we have two parties, both of them right wing and both of them beholden to the business class. WOW! OK I’m finally going to move along.
(I have to interrupt myself here for a moment. I urge you to check out how the so called resistance has not resisted. They have gone along with President Trump’s agenda including, but not limited to, saying OK to the Patriot Act for another allotted period of time and giving a gazillion dollars for “defense,” to name two only. You can look up their RECORDS on your own. So when Nancy Pelosi dramatically tore up a speech on national TV, just keep in mind that she totally went along with government spying on citizens, regime change wars and many other hideous policies. This is all a show ladies and germs.)
OK back to your regularly scheduled program.
Judy provided a list of words. I will list them and preface each with “First word,” then “Second word,” etc., wash rinse and repeat. Let’s see if indeed any word can/has become political! The sentence structure might be a tad odd so just bear with me.
First word is Ice: This could go in several different directions so I guess I will explore two of them. A republican (R) might turn to a democrat (D) and casually mention that the area lakes don’t seem to be icing over this year. “There is no ice on the lakes so I haven’t been able to go ice fishing,” said R to D, rather innocently to boot. D then responded, “Well if you ‘climate deniers’ would wake up, you’d realize that this is all your fault! CO2 is the downfall of humanity and yet you won’t vote for any changes to save the earth!”
That was point one. The other “ice” situation could go along the lines of how supposedly all of “the left” wants to see open borders (this isn’t true, by the by), and they must get rid of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
On a side note, (and you knew there would be plenty), I’m a bit surprised over how some people who objected strongly when it came to the Department of Homeland Security being established and rallied against the Patriot Act, somehow live for the idea of ICE. They go hand in hand ladies and gents.
Second word is Kittens: This one is pretty easy. Kittens and cats are associated with femininity and independence which puts some in mind of the feminist or “woman’s lib” movement. Any mention of cats or kittens could (at the very least) put a person in the mind of the above mentioned. This is especially true if they are hardcore old school conservatives who don’t like the idea of woman power. Whew!
Third word is Barn: This is a bit tougher but I think something is coming to mind. Barn or barns remind people of how the family farm has been all but erased from the landscape. Corporate and/or factory farming has taken over. This is the fault of the Republicans, according to the Democrats but is also the fault of the Democrats, according to the Republicans. “Farm Aid,” and other attempts by various rock and roll artists to raise awareness, are associated with “the left” thereby making it a target of “the right.”
The fourth word is Asphalt: Is it dangerous to use this material? Does it aid in poisoning the environment? Couldn’t other substances be used in place of this jazz? These might be questions posed by one of those “radical environmentalists.” Any conservative will tell you that those types of people are insane. Also the word puts people in the mind of pot holes which is directly connected to the politics of local governments or at least state governments.
There might not be enough money in the budget to fix the roads which makes some people think of the “starve the beast” game plan. This means that funding is cut from Program X and when Program X fails to work due to the lack of funds, it can be blamed on the inefficient government. This is a pathway for the privatization of public entities, so to speak. Both parties are beholden to the donor class which is directly connected to the private businesses that could profit from said privatization. WOW!
OK, Judy gave me more words but I’ve already taken up quite a bit of this column space so I’m going to do one more of these and save the rest for another time. I will, however, leave the list of words here for you so that you can take a stab at this challenge or game or whatever this is.
Last word is Evening Gown: This one is fairly straight forward. Evening gowns are linked to President Trump because he owned one or more pageants. Therefore they are all horrid and must not be worn, EVER. Also, many on “the left” are against women being judged by their beauty instead of on their brain power whilst those on “the right” are OK with all of this and find it to be quite harmless. So this would be another way for a big old fist-fight to break out between these two groups.
I hope you all realize that in this piece I was going by the stereotypical reputation of all political sides. I am quite certain that many Republicans love kittens and and are firmly against beauty pageants. I bet I can drum up a few Democrats who are perfectly fine with ICE and who question “climate change” too. Please refrain from clutching pearls.
Here is a list of the words provided by Judith M. Villeneuve: Ice, Kittens, Barn, Asphalt, Flower Pot, Coconut, Hang Glider, Tree, Evening Gown and Tranquility.
I think that maybe next time I will associate all words with an ongoing “conspiracy theory.” This idea came to mind as I was typing wildly.
THE END (Interstate Crosscheck, “War is a Racket,” by General Smedley Butler, “Unsettling Truths,” by Mark Charles – Independent running for the office of President of the United States, and Soong-Chan Rah)