What I Know Now

It wasn't a war about conflicting visions for the country. It didn't rise out of idealism. It was really just a wrestling match between brands. You chose Coke or Pepsi, Nike or Adidas, Country or Hip Hop - use whatever metaphor makes sense to you - but there were only two. The one you picked became the uniform you wore, the brand you killed for.

We didn't think much at all about who stood to gain, just reacted in anger to the other side. We believed in our logo, and very soon, nothing any deeper than that. We hated. Then we shed blood and reveled in the carnage for awhile. 

But it wasn't the WWE at all, a lot of shit is broken and a lot of people are dead. Now, I'm trying to write something down so I don't forget. Forgetting is how it happened, if you give a shit.

I'm not going to bullshit you, when it all finally came down I was kind of relieved. No more circular arguments, no more lies, no more propaganda, no more stuffing it down and holding it in. Running and gunning. Shouldn't have fucked with a well armed liberal!  We rape, burn, pillage and kill too -with sensitivity and equanimity.

Before it completely went to shit, each side bombed or shot up the other's news channels, gay bars, churches, schools, NBA games, concert venues, and Nascar races over the course of a few years. Riots became so common place they stopped scaring anyone. 

We adapted quickly. Outrage grew tiresome for most of us. Groups of like-minded kids started suiciding on social media as a form of protest, I guess, or just to get the fuck out of here, I don't really know, but the memes the backlash produced were kind of brilliant. LOL. 

I call this historical period The Plunge.

Before that, people had kind of checked out. A few of them got together and elected a show clown to the Presidency while the rest were watching porn or playing video games or keeping up with the Kardashians. He did the bidding of the richest, blamed it all on the poorest and the darkest, mobilized the fearful and the hateful and served them up an enemy with many faces to blame. Some people saw it coming and voted for a change. More didn't.