Time To Play The Feud

Time To Play The Feud

By: Stephen Tully

Infinities come in a variety of packages. Time recedes endlessly behind us and will continue forward without end. In the spatial dimension, things can be infinitely small, or conversely, infinitely large.  My eighth grade algebra teacher, Mr. Cappel, was infinitely boring – but that’s another story. My point is that we humans occupy certain intersections along the time-space continuum. As contemporaries, those of us living right now happen to share certain products of our time. We drink pretentious coffees, watch movies that are streamed directly into our televisions and laptops and smart phones, and force-feed ourselves baked kale chips as a sort of penance for all our more toxic epicurean dalliances. One complaint you’ll never hear is, “Mom! Tommy ate all the baked kale chips – all he left were these stupid potato chips and I can’t eat then because my arteries will plug up and I’ll die!” You might hear this in certain parts of California – but nowhere else. Most places you can still purchase a bag of Lay’s and still hold you head up in public. Which brings me around to the point of this brief composition. You see, we fellow travelers have also reached another interesting intersection – one that both unites and divides us. A dangerous crossroads where technology and culture have come together to produce collisions in increasing number and severity. Alas, we inhabit an era in which increased communication made possible by the internet has provided a perfect venue for the waging of the Culture Wars.

The incivility and all-around nastiness dumped on the public during the recent presidential election has recruited great swarms of foot soldiers from both sides of the battle lines. Some of the venom these folks spit back and forth is disturbing. I’ve never seen such open displays of hatred and vindictiveness. Many of the “facts” offered from “news” sources posted by hard line propagandists are simply ludicrous. How can reasonable people fall for this nonsense? Yet is goes on, and intensifies over time causing heated arguments and threats and all manner of bad behavior. It is quite sad, but damn it all, and I hate to admit this, but given the safe distance the internet affords, and the anonymity one can choose to maintain, the whole shit show can be quite entertaining. It has turned me into a bit of a cyber-voyeur. The key is not allowing yourself to become emotionally involved in the disputes no matter which side you tend to favor. You can’t allow yourself to be sucked in.  Because once you show your colors, the enemy will be on you.

I’m not blind to the risks involved while peeking in windows and listening to heated exchanges taking place among the hate mongers. Some of them are quite creative and do succeed in getting under my skin. I think to myself, “You asshole!” Sometimes I come up with a perfect retort, you know, a real zinger! God I want to post it! But no. I’m the captain and I must maintain control of my ship. Some captain huh?  Instead of avoiding danger I steer my rocket ship into the particular corner of the universe where all the black holes hang out. I get as close as I can, so I can gawk, entering into near-orbit around each titanic gravity magnet so I can watch stuff getting sucked in and squashed. I’m mindful not to pass within the event horizon because I’m a bit claustrophobic and have an innate fear of being swallowed up, compressed so tightly that my atoms touch, then boomeranged into another dimension. Don’t get me wrong, visiting another dimension would be cool, I just don’t think it would be worth all the crushing and boomeranging it would take to get there. Ok, my computer informs me I’ve reached my extended metaphor limit so I’ll leave it here.