This just in: JFK is still dead






Of course, just when you think this society we have here in the United States couldn’t get any weirder, along comes a group that gathered in Dallas waiting for JFK Jr.. They’re followers of QAnon. A once upon a time fringe group that is no longer fringe. Some of it’s adherents almost seem downright lucid, except when they profess what they believe. 





Now, don’t get me wrong. We’ve had our share of many well meaning weirdos before. Flat Earthers, Mayan calendar end of days believers, Y2K devotees, Apollo 11 moon landing deniers, Mormons and so on. 





But, among QAnon beliefs, of which there are many, is the John F. Kennedy Jr. is going to emerge and proclaim that Donald Trump is still the President of the United States, and that he, JFK Jr., is now the Vice President. Together, QAnon supporters believe Trump and Kennedy Jr. will clean up the degenerates in Washington D.C. that stole the 2020 presidential election, amongst other charges. 





They’ve been camped out in Dallas since this summer. On November 22nd of this year, a large group of them gathered at Dealey Plaza, the location of the JFK asassination in 1963, awaiting the arrival of John F. Kennedy Jr. and his father.





The trouble is, JFK Jr. died in a plane crash, along with his wife and sister-in-law, in 1999 while flying to a Kennedy family gathering on Cape Cod. President Kennedy, had he lived, would be 104 years old. 





You can understand how waiting for JFK would’ve been problematic. 





But the QAnon supporters were undeterred. The members that I saw giving video interviews believed in it wholeheartedly. Their conviction was impressive. They didn’t appear to be people that were delusional. They could’ve been people you know. Policemen, firemen, accountants, city councilpeople. Your friends and neighbors. 





The answers that they made to questions of why they were there could make a person question reality. They’ve lost hope in their elected leaders and the media from where they get information. 





Their traditional institutions have been denigrated. They’ve lost hope and are looking for it from literally anywhere. 





It made me think that this is what political leaders and the media could do to the minds of rational people. Taxpayers that go to work each day. Citizens that take care of their families, that have been miguided by an irresponsible media. 





The media is reprehensible, but our political leaders perpetuate it. They cause division for political purposes and the media propagates it. The national news companies don’t report the news, they give opinions. 





If today’s television news channels were yesterday's newspapers, the opinion pages would be on the front page. The actual news would be buried. 





If you’re still reading, thank you. The news corporations are depending on you to be angered and outraged. Those emotions are the easiest for them to access. They get paid when a viewer feels that way by sponsors that thrive on division. 





Go outside. Read a great book. Find a sport to take part of. Use your phone for photography. Our phones are great cameras. Go to a meeting. Find people to talk to. That’s what people did before the media took over. 





Politicians should have no governance over your thoughts.





It’s all theater. Guide yourself.





Try to build a perpetual motion machine in your backyard. It’s been said that to do so is impossible. I don’t know if it is, but at least it’s an excuse to have a few beers with a neighbor. Oh, if you want to make new friends, have a barbecue in your front yard. It’s just a thought,





Have fun again. 


Cecil Stoughton, White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day of the Lawn Lepus

Image
  The icy stare of cold indifference …Photo by  Wei Fukuyama  on  Unsplash   Thursday is a lawn mowing day around these parts. It’s the day before trash pickup, and I wanted to get the fresh cut grass taken care of, so that I won’t have to smell hot clippings in the can all week. The sun was out amid patchy clouds and a cool breeze is ruffling the palm leaves. That morning was perfect for landscaping. It felt like a scene from a Hollywood production about the best attributes of owning a lawnmower . That’s when it happened. I was just getting the weed wacker battery out of the charger; it was now up to full power and awaiting the assault on the wild and unruly grass. Trimming the yard was the first step. Once I finished trimming the yard, I got the abdominal punishing push mower out of the garage to finish the job. It meticulously caps off the blades, resulting in an even trim that appears good until I get in the pool and look at it from ground level. Then I see ...
Read more

Good Mourning!

Image
  You can’t spell funeral without fun! A friend of mine suggested a side gig after a roommate came up short on rent. I had an idea to get something fun to do instead of the usual soul crushing low-pay bore fest that permeates the current want ads. Something where I could be entertained as well as compensated. The previously stated friend had watched the fine movie Wedding Crashers . After looking into if there were such jobs as a professional wedding crasher (there weren’t), he noticed a posting for paid funeral attendees. When a funeral service has little to no attendance, a service can provide paid mourners to go to a funeral, speak well of the deceased to friends or family and to be respectful at the service. Going to funerals wasn’t something that I ever did. If someone that I knew died, I’d usually say I was going, but then back out just before. When a pet died, I wouldn’t even go to that. I’d usually just get buzzed and avoid the whole thing. But the allure of getting paid ch...
Read more

Sweatageddon: The Scorching

Image
  Where the Birds Need Chapstick Hotter Than A Habanero’s Armpit The sun bore down, turning the asphalt into a griddle, the wind a blistering wave and deserted streets into a convection oven set to broil. The air shimmered with heat, as if the entire atmosphere was auditioning for a part in a sci-fi movie about a planet made of lava. Venturing outside was like stepping into a blast furnace; sweat didn’t just drip, it cascaded, stinging eyes and soaking clothes faster than you could say “heatstroke”. It’s so hot outside that even the lizards are wearing oven mitts. Birds panting in the shade of the trees, casting envious glances towards house cats lounging behind cool windows, smugly licking their paws as if to say, “Sucks to be you”. Even the bees, usually buzzing around like tiny drunk pilots, had gone silent, replaced by an eerie stillness that made you think of that creepy moment in a horror movie right before a jump scare. This wasn’t just summer anymore; this was a scene strai...
Read more