Social media isn't completely saturated with fakeness. I occasionally happen across posts that make perfect sense to me and I suspect many others who haven't lost their capacity for common sense and reason over "feelings."
For instance, there was this recent tweet from James Woods (@real James Woods): "Why in God's name are we having to negotiate with our own government to obey the law? We have laws for legal immigration. Anyone who breaks those laws or enables another person to do so should be deported or imprisoned respectively. Why is this concept so damn difficult to grasp?"
Hmmm, well, I'd say just because we supposedly are a democratic republic of laws doesn't mean there aren't those who believe it's just fine to violate the ones they deem unacceptable.
Fox commentator Tucker Carlson, who once upon a time worked for the editorial page staff of this newspaper, is credited with asking an equally relevant question: Why should American citizens have to live in a country where people who sneak in illegally from other sovereign nations get to vote to help determine who runs this nation?
Any reader got a logical answer for that question? Should we be allowed to enter their nation illegally, collect benefits from their taxpayers and vote in their elections?
Then I happened across this thought-provoker: So if only non-essential persons are being affected by the partial federal government shutdown, why are they employed to begin with?
And how about this one: You should have to pass a drug test to get welfare because I had to pass one to earn it for you.
Or a photograph of a large herd of sheep standing behind a large sign that reads "No wolves!" and the caption "Gun control--yes, it's that stupid." That characterization seems a bit harsh. I would say both illogical and unrealistic.
Equally sensical to me is this meme that asks: How does a statue being in the same place for 100 years suddenly become offensive while men walking around in public with their rear ends showing is not offensive? Are people really this ignorant?
I'd say many of them must be. Yet I doubt it's the majority who likely still understand the value that lies in understanding and preserving American history.
And lastly, my own posting on the matter of walls. It's both stunning and revealing to me that so many public servants and Hollywood narcissists rail against protecting our sovereign nation's border with a wall, even calling it "immoral," when their own palatial estates are surrounded by high walls designed to keep them safe. That includes even the Vatican. Anyone else see the gross and unacceptable hypocrisy?
Economic neophyte
My concept of economics boils down to that of an admitted simpleton from the Ozarks. It goes like this: When people lose their jobs, various businesses who had been selling them goods and services no longer would have them as customers, right?
So those selling the goods and services would have to react accordingly to remain afloat. That means they too would have to eliminate employees from their payroll, leaving more unemployed.
And so goes the spiraling cycle. You're right, my theory is far from Nobel material. Yet it does hearken to the theories of the late respected macroeconomist, John Maynard Keynes who, before dying in 1946, cited capitalism as a good economic system where people earn money from working, thereby allowing people to spend it on things they want and creating more demand for products.
Sharing lovelight
Speaking of things we want, you probably wouldn't suspect a full-growed man would get excited by a lamp as a present. But my ever-thoughtful daughter Anna, who lives in a Memphis suburb, this Christmas pulled it off when she gave me one of the most original and heartwarming gifts imaginable. It is so meaningful, I'm moved to share it.
Called a decorative Filimin lamp, just touching it allows me to connect with Anna any time I think about her. All I do is gently lay an open palm on its top.
The lamp immediately responds to my touch by changing to one of many colors while at the same moment, through the wonders of wireless Internet and speed of light, her lamp glows in the same color, and vice versa. This nifty invention works worldwide with others in a group who have compatible lamps. A pair runs about $170.
A tad costly for many. But I say it's money well spent when its result only serves to tighten the bonds of affection between families and friends.
About one in five
Considering the combative nature of our national political dialogue nowadays, I wasn't that surprised to read the National Alliance of Mental Illness findings that 18.5 percent of us, or roughly 43.8 million, experience some form of mental illness in a given year.
These include disorders of mood, personality, anxiety and eating, along with schizophrenia, psychosis and dementia. The scourge stays off the public radar because most of those afflicted are concerned about the stigma and how they might be perceived and/or treated. This sad statistic could help explain a least some of the widespread contention in our midst.
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Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 01/01/2019