“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”
— Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams was an English writer who was born 1952, and died way too soon in 2001, of a heart attack. If you’ve never sampled his writing before, I urge you to try it.
I loved Adams – from the 5 book Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (because why should a trilogy be limited to three books?) to the bizarre Dirk Gently books, and a few other things along the way. He was a keen observer of human behavior, and had a fantastic way of pointing out the absurd. If I had his imagination, and his gift with words, I would surely be famous by now.
Although humorous, the quote is quite apropos as I ponder the continued popularity of Donald Trump among, alarmingly, not just the seriously deranged. There are a few mostly sane people I work with that find value in some of what he says. Argh. Although I used the friendly ‘don’t panic’ hitchhiker’s logo in conjunction with this post, I’m concerned that sane people let Trump spout his crap uncontested far longer than they should have, and maybe it can happen here, after all. Panic is useless – so ‘don’t panic’ is always good advice, but it is definitely time to be concerned – and to act on that concern.
In that, far less humorous, vein, for all of those who think any of what Donald Trump says makes sense, or for those of you dealing with the idiots that think the Affordable Care Act is somehow Hitler-esqe, but that Trump’s anti-immigration, anti-muslim rhetoric is patriotic, I share this meme that came my way on Facebook the other day – perhaps it makes the problem clearer than words alone seem to:
meme courtesy of People who support the healthcare law Facebook page
*a portion of this post previously appeared on January 20, 2015
Time for my thoughts... 
I miss Douglas Adams as well. I’ll drink a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster in his memory as I stick my head in the sane to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bug-Blatter Beast of Traal. Don’t forget your towel.
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and don’t panic
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Reblogged this on Art by Rob Goldstein and commented:
We don’t have to inflict this horror on ourselves and the rest of the world…we can stop this from happening!
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thank you for sharing this
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Thank you. If we let this happen in the U.S. we will actually have to bear more shame than the German people did after WW2. We have all of the history of how this happened at our fingertips.
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thanks, Rob – yes – it is all too possible if we let our guards down
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I said when Bush was allowed to take office that the credibility of the United States as a Nation based on the rule of law was on the line. We had already taken a hit when the world watched the absurd impeachment of Bill Clinton for having oral sex. The rest of the World watched in awe as the American people allowed a political party to bring the business of the nation to a halt in order to sabotage a duly elected president.
When Bush invaded Iraq the credibility of our country took another hit.
This time we had done something we said we’d never do: we preemptively attacked a nation that had not attacked us; in fact we had attacked a nation that had been completely disarmed by us.
I had hoped that with the election of Obama we might investigate that invasion and restore some of that lost credibility by exercising the rule of law…but despite the overwhelming evidence that a war crime was committed we did nothing.
If we allow an open fascist to take office we can kiss our democracy good bye…
And our perhaps our way of life as a free people.
It’s truly horrifying to think that in my lifetime we have gone from the political vision of Kennedy and King to Donald Trump.
Even Reagan had more decency and he was an obscenity whose policies still kill people.
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Yes – we lost whatever moral high ground we held when we went to war with Iraq post-9/11 – we lost still more when the extent of the use of torture was made public.
It’s a sad situation when I began to realize that the terrifying Barry Goldwater of my youth looks left-wing compared to the current batch of conservatives. I’d always considered myself a moderate, but even Reagan is too far to the left for some the GOP these days.
A few years ago, I read John Dean’s “Conservatives Without Conscience” and it became obvious how far to the ‘right’ socially the conservatives had moved. Nixon’s White House Counsel & former Goldwater staffer lays out detailed review of where conservatives derailed.
I only wish that progressives were better at staying on message – that’s where the conservatives – particularly the religious right – excels. That an the notion that a lie repeated often enough becomes fact.
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