How to (Sort of) Stay Sane:
With witless foe
I won't engage;
by doing so
I fuel my rage.
Reasoned attempt
proves of no use -
the thought exempt
are speech profuse.
They rave and rant
their jabberwock,
and won't recant
on foolish talk.
When I explain
with logic sound -
they show disdain
for facts I've found.
Their blissful state
of ignorance
will agitate
my common sense -
so it is best
by far for me
to just protest
non-verbally.
Thus with this ode
I will explain:
This is my mode
of staying sane.
Sharon Flood Kasenberg, April 20, 2018
It's a crazy old world we live in - and sometimes I'm just about driven to distraction by the level of lunacy I see online.
Conspiracy theories abound. Anything or anybody who's made it into the news in the past decade seems to have inspired some kind of nefarious plot of epic proportions. Did Hilary Clinton die, only to replaced by an even more evil doppelganger? Is Michelle Obama actually a man? Is Elvis dead, or is he secreted on some desert island with Michael Jackson and Princess Diana?
A lot of people believe bizarre things - like the earth is actually run by lizard aliens, chemtrails released by jets are gassing us all into submission, the moon-landing was faked, and of course, the world is flat.
I saw an interview with a "flatworlder" recently, wherein he stated that gravity was "only a theory". Science was never my forte, but I'd say gravity seems to be working just fine for me. I mean, if you want to believe the earth is a big old pie plate in the sky that's your problem, but the sad thing is that the guy I saw was pretty rabid in expressing his beliefs. The rest of us are the crazy ones who've bought into a Jewish conspiracy to boot.
Don't even get me started on those sad excuses for humanity that believe the Holocaust never happened.
American political conspiracies run the gamut - 9/11 was an inside job, Obama isn't really American, the US government has alien technology at their compound in Roswell, and JFK might have been shot by a dozen different parties - and heck - he might be on that desert island too!
"Big Pharma" takes a lot of heat. Vaccines are turning our kids autistic, claims a Hollywood blonde and a doctor who was relieved of his medical license decades back - and some still buy it, and do their best to sell it too. Somebody has already cured cancer, but the FDA is withholding the cure just for fun. Pharmaceuticals are killing us all - say the alternative and "natural" medicine crowd. Some of them would have us turn back time and still look to leeches to "bleed us". Others turn to blatant new age quackery, like relying on the healing energy of dolphins. Last week I read a story about a homeopathic practitioner who came under fire for treating a teenager with rabid dog saliva!
I'm not saying that all natural remedies are useless or silly, but a whole lot of people who sell them don't know what they're talking about (thus saith a woman who spent three years working in a health food store), and the customers who buy usually know less. But golly - dolphins and dog saliva? At some point wouldn't a person of average intelligence question these practices?
People adhere to some pretty nutty "religious" beliefs too. (I put that word in quotes, because some of these beliefs are just too over the top to maintain status of "religion". Use Scientology as a comparison, and Tom Cruise and his cohorts begin to look reasonable.) There are multiple groups out there who worship aliens of one sort or another, Jediists who try to emulate Luke Skywalker - or Yoda. At least they have lofty goals, unlike The Church of Euthanasia, which has this catchy motto - "Save Earth - Kill Yourself." On a more amusing note, somewhere in the wilds of Vanuatu there's a tribe who believe that Prince Philip is essentially the great white God. (Apparently he's cool with it, and sends them gifts occasionally.)
Media has introduced me to interesting, but mind-boggling folk who insist on living like dogs, cats or babies. Call me judgmental, but how screwed up would you have to be to go live out your life waiting for someone to change your soiled diaper, or litter box, when you could just get up off all fours and take care of your own business? Yuck.
Sometimes crackpots want you to engage with them so that they can preach the gospel of the inane. These folks are so entrenched in their own variety of lunacy that they can't access any of the common sense they might've arrived with, and I've learned the hard way that you can't talk facts with people who think they're geniuses who've figured out how to debunk all those things we learned in history or science class. No - there's a narcissism at play here that most of us need to back away from - quickly. Sometimes in my mind's eye I can see Will Robinson's robot standing before me with arms flailing - "Danger, Sharon - DANGER!" I speak to both sides of every aforementioned belief here. (And oh - so many more!) Don't waste your breath. I'm really not worthy of your proselytizing efforts - I've got all the crazy I'll ever need. I just can't allow myself to be drawn into your debate.
Nope - not gonna comment. Scroll on by, Sharon.
Simply put - you drive me nuts and I need all the marbles I have left.
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