Fight or Flight
"Only a fool fights in a burning house."
That pearl of wisdom came from Klingon Captain Kang in the closing episodes of Star Trek's original series. These days, it's a standard part of the Trek fan's phrase book. You can even get a teddy bear that says it.
As the Trumpocalypse grinds on, I've found myself thinking about that proverb a lot. It's foolish enough to fight in a burning house. How much worse is it when the person your fighting insists the house isn't even on fire? Or claims the fire is a good thing, not a bad thing? Or what if you don't want to fight at all, but instead want to put out the fire or at least save the other person from it? And what if that other person doesn't even want to do that? What if that person runs around setting more things on fire, and laughing when you try to put them out?
These days, we are all in a burning house. In fact, you can take your pick of burning houses. The President is a Russian asset, although no one's quite certain where he fits in the range between unwitting stooge and willing collaborator. The Congress is run by craven cowards answering to a network of plutocrats who are more interested in looting the country than in running it properly. And the planet is well on its way toward changes that won't sustain our civilization, but most people can't be bothered to do the hard work of saving ourselves. And that's not even touching on subjects like racism or sexism or growing inequality.
We shouldn't even be fighting. We should be trying to put the fires out. But here we are.
I'm tired of it. I've had enough of the trolls and the bots and the Trumperdoodles. Enough of having to filter posts and block people online. Enough of seeing friends and family get chased away from social media because they can't take it anymore. I have other things to do. Better things to do. It's my hope that my books will help at least some of the people who will have to rebuild the house after it's burned down. If the fools want to stay in the burning house, that's their problem. I can't help them if they won't help themselves.
That's what I'd like to say - but I can never quite get there. Fools are still people, after all, and many of these particular fools are "my" people. I can't understand many of the things they say and do, and that pains me. I can understand other things, and that pains me too, because I don't like the reasons behind them. I keep hoping the tide will turn and they'll come to their senses, but by and large it doesn't happen, and I'm left to shuffle through the bad news that takes up my time and drains my energy.
I've said before that we all have our roles to play in the Trumpocalypse. I need to take my own advice and leave the task of engaging Trump supporters to those who are good at it. I've got my own job to do.
That pearl of wisdom came from Klingon Captain Kang in the closing episodes of Star Trek's original series. These days, it's a standard part of the Trek fan's phrase book. You can even get a teddy bear that says it.
As the Trumpocalypse grinds on, I've found myself thinking about that proverb a lot. It's foolish enough to fight in a burning house. How much worse is it when the person your fighting insists the house isn't even on fire? Or claims the fire is a good thing, not a bad thing? Or what if you don't want to fight at all, but instead want to put out the fire or at least save the other person from it? And what if that other person doesn't even want to do that? What if that person runs around setting more things on fire, and laughing when you try to put them out?
These days, we are all in a burning house. In fact, you can take your pick of burning houses. The President is a Russian asset, although no one's quite certain where he fits in the range between unwitting stooge and willing collaborator. The Congress is run by craven cowards answering to a network of plutocrats who are more interested in looting the country than in running it properly. And the planet is well on its way toward changes that won't sustain our civilization, but most people can't be bothered to do the hard work of saving ourselves. And that's not even touching on subjects like racism or sexism or growing inequality.
We shouldn't even be fighting. We should be trying to put the fires out. But here we are.
I'm tired of it. I've had enough of the trolls and the bots and the Trumperdoodles. Enough of having to filter posts and block people online. Enough of seeing friends and family get chased away from social media because they can't take it anymore. I have other things to do. Better things to do. It's my hope that my books will help at least some of the people who will have to rebuild the house after it's burned down. If the fools want to stay in the burning house, that's their problem. I can't help them if they won't help themselves.
That's what I'd like to say - but I can never quite get there. Fools are still people, after all, and many of these particular fools are "my" people. I can't understand many of the things they say and do, and that pains me. I can understand other things, and that pains me too, because I don't like the reasons behind them. I keep hoping the tide will turn and they'll come to their senses, but by and large it doesn't happen, and I'm left to shuffle through the bad news that takes up my time and drains my energy.
I've said before that we all have our roles to play in the Trumpocalypse. I need to take my own advice and leave the task of engaging Trump supporters to those who are good at it. I've got my own job to do.
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