Remember that there will be purpose in these promises of destructive and even violent protest (H/T Claire) around the inauguration. And the purpose is not about actually disrupting a party, or even embarrassing the new dictator-elect.
I would argue that it's a longer-term strategy. The Never Trump Army has invested itself way too heavily in the marketing idea that Le Coif du Orange will always, without exception, crack any head at the slightest dissent, and peaceful protests right out of the gate would not fit that narrative.
So: in order for Mein Trumpf to appear the proper oppressor in the opening and subsequent spotlight, he needs something to oppress. What more obvious than cracking down on "peaceful protestors" on inauguration day?
Really, it's the same logic that reminds us (thanks Kit Perez, via Claire) that if ATF really is on the chopping block (cuz...yeah, well, maybe), we should be completely unsurprised at another Operation Showtime any time now.
Sure, maybe nothing will go wrong--so many of these people are all-hat-no-cattle in the first place--but if something does: consider the idea that "the Brownshirts" do have to be seen being Brownshirts.
Friday, January 20, 2017
Just to record the thought...
It just occurred to me that, the way Facebook is currently designed, there may yet come a future embarrassment for these legions of Never Trump Army soldiers who have spent these tiresome weeks since the election in perpetual aaaa-go-neeee, bent over their carefully staged and shamelessly public fainting couches:
Facebook "memories". In which whatever you posted X number of years ago on this day, shows up again on your feed.
Oh, I've no doubt that many of them will rationalize away their own hyperventilations the first time or two, and at least a few will still wear 'em like a tournament badge... No, here, I'm simply thinking about the promised relentlessness of it: just among those people I have seen--not including the ones I've simply unfollowed--there will be a fair percentage who are going to get one of these reminders-of-the-froth-and-spittle every day for nearly two months.
If there is any sort of supreme benevolence up there, then there may be at least a few bozos out on the TwitFace who are ultimately confronted not with counterargument or disapproval, but simply the extended evidence of their own sanctimonious petulance: "Jeez, did I really post about nothing else between November and January?" "Yes, dear, that's right; maybe you don't remember it, but the rest of the neighborhood sure does."
I know, it's a dream. (But a good one, right?) I'm sure that before that happens Facebook will dutifully change its algorithms so that special snowflakes won't be unduly embarrassed by reminders of all that stupid shit they said.
Facebook "memories". In which whatever you posted X number of years ago on this day, shows up again on your feed.
Oh, I've no doubt that many of them will rationalize away their own hyperventilations the first time or two, and at least a few will still wear 'em like a tournament badge... No, here, I'm simply thinking about the promised relentlessness of it: just among those people I have seen--not including the ones I've simply unfollowed--there will be a fair percentage who are going to get one of these reminders-of-the-froth-and-spittle every day for nearly two months.
If there is any sort of supreme benevolence up there, then there may be at least a few bozos out on the TwitFace who are ultimately confronted not with counterargument or disapproval, but simply the extended evidence of their own sanctimonious petulance: "Jeez, did I really post about nothing else between November and January?" "Yes, dear, that's right; maybe you don't remember it, but the rest of the neighborhood sure does."
I know, it's a dream. (But a good one, right?) I'm sure that before that happens Facebook will dutifully change its algorithms so that special snowflakes won't be unduly embarrassed by reminders of all that stupid shit they said.
Being broke sucks: not a proper bleg, just a brief grownup whining.
Although officially employed now, a superior state of being in so many ways to the last two years, I'm still a long way from being anything better than financially broke, and the family is still bleeding it faster than I can make it. (The bleed rate is just a lot slower now.)
One of the greatest frustrations of that greater mess is that my curtailment of shooting activities has been nearly absolute: hell, even my basic airgunnery is sharply limited by funds. I try to take some solace in the memory that my own father had a long, unwanted gunnery hiatus of his own, and between that and the knowledge that this-too-shall-pass, I've been able to keep an only mildly irritable peace with my present reality.
But then the damn SHOT show comes around and torques me around.
This makes little sense, really. SHOT is about the industry and marketing, and anyone who knows my personality and preferences will recognize pretty readily that I am completely uninterested in most of what everyone else comes back crooning about. Even the few exceptions that do pique my interest, I nearly always see either as the basis of a refinement project, or I see the niche in some completely different way than everyone else does.
It's not that, anyway. Really it's the "because-I-can-ness" of it all. Somehow, to me, another SHOT means people are still at it; I may roll eyes at what I'd call silliness, but still, I must, and do, admire them there doing it.
"Because-I-can", when you can't, is wistful and frustrating. It takes all the fun out of having a laugh at what you could do, but choose not to.
Poo. I miss it.
Okay, whine over. Drink water, carry on. (And, truly, it is just whining. Despite all the struggling, we are having a great time with the younglets these days, and I am fully aware of how lucky I am to have that. :-)
Thursday, January 12, 2017
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