An Idle Rant in Normal entries

Spring came late here, some trees have just started little green buds, some haven’t. According to my weather app we’re under a red flag warning (yeah, I know, my first thought was Communists? Too.). It means the humidity is down to around 25% and winds gusting 25 to forty miles per hour. I lived here, mostly, year-round for the first third of my life, though, honestly, never a full decade in a row. I don’t ever recall a forest fire threatening to burn anywhere even close. It’s hard to tell whether it’s the typical paranoia of the age or, you know, the end of times.

When I hear or, god help me, say, shit like, “when we were kids we didn’t wear helmets” (by we I meant me and anyone who wanted to hang out with me and not get laughed at, and, yes, we wore helmets to play football and batting helmets to play baseball), I don’t really mean that the generation “we” raised are big pussies. I kind of mean the only change in the danger of things is the perception. Wearing a helmet while riding a bike does not prevent accidents. Under the right set of circumstances, it might mitigate a concussion, of course, under the wrong set of circumstances it could cause you to break your neck instead of a concussion. Shit, this paragraph was supposed to obviously tie into the last, it’s so not obvious I forgot my whole thread of thought. Perhaps if I just push on …

A forest fire is a far cry from a bike accident. The conditions have to be pretty fucking spot on. Seeing we’ve been under red flag for almost 36 hours now, I’m leaning towards the paranoia of these times. On the West coast and adjacent states and provinces, most of the summer is Red Flag season. I was shocked when I came back here and saw people flicking cigarette butts out their car windows, live butts. I had actual physical reactions of revulsion and hyper-vigilance.

I almost used the word disgust. I don’t recall ever using the word disgust (-ed, -ing, etc.) regarding a person. I think it’s because I associate disgust with gastro-intestinal discomfort, e.g. milk gone bad is disgusting. And, sure, I have a stronger reaction to human bodily fluids than other bodily fluids, but, say, blood. For instance, doesn’t immediately trigger disgust so much as empathy, sympathy or rage. Someone walking around covered in their own bodily fluids is kind of disgusting, but, pointing it out is counter-productive and kind of cold blooded. Maybe I was a social worker for too long, but, say a sixteen-year-old girl with all of her parent’s resources going out filthy is, very often, a sign of sexual abuse; become unappealing.

Ever since Trump got into office and liberals revitalized P.C. and everyone leaves everything on Facebook, Disgusting has become a commonplace statement. Unwad your panties, I’m not blaming Trump, just setting a timeframe. I’m embarrassed to be a liberal. The morality of liberalism seems to done a 180; it’s ok to be disgusted by a white male for him being a white male. Misandry has come into common usage and with positive connotations, like it was a reasonable stand. White guilt has gone from a kind of funny little quirk of naïve rich kids to a fucking mandate. The morality of my liberalism has parity at it’s core. It’s a little surprising that there isn’t a common word for someone who shares some of the values of a schism but dislikes the agenda of the organized schism. I guess RINO was sort of like that, but it’s an insult, no one wants to identify with an insult. If I were a rino I would be moved to state that I was conservative, not a republican. I don’t give a fuck, however, how anyone votes, I care how they treat people. The vocal modern liberal is an asshole and doesn’t seem to care about parity. If you don’t count just making the social community shittier, the worse outcome is another four years of Trump. He has proven himself to be fairly ineffectual, it’s my favorite thing about him. I think he should wear a helmet.