One of the hardest things about being me is that often upon hearing of someone’s death I often think of something funny in response and have to restrain myself from saying it. This explains my love of Chuckles Bites the Dust.
I suspect I’m not the only one that has this problem, at least I hope I’m not the only one that has this problem. Do I still have any friends left? In all seriousness that’s a common question I have. How many people think the things we are ashamed of so never say anything resulting in us thinking we are alone in this? This of course makes us feel even more guilty. Can therapists talk about this in general, mentioning no specific people? What things do many, perhaps most, people think or do that are never mentioned? The famous example that we do know about is masturbation. I’m sure there are others. Does everyone wonder about things like that and not talk about it as it is shame adjacent? Related to this, my mind followed this line of thought into politics but I’m not going to get into specifics for the same reasons I don’t make jokes when people die; I fear the consequences of other people hearing the thoughts. That is something I’m sure happens to most people and explains our herd instincts. My friends on the left will be able to see it in the way the right coalesced around the idea that the 2020 election was stolen and minimized the events of January 6. To do otherwise is to invite the approbation of their peers. Once people think that everyone believes something many come to believe it. Oh hell, I’ll invite some approbation from my peers in the cause of seeking the truth. I the aftermath of the killing of Floyd George there was a groundswell of support for Black Lives Matter, something I wholeheartedly support. Then the reaction evolved to “defund the police” and even “disband the police.” I got a lot of pushback when I said those slogans were counter-productive and disbanding the police a bad idea. As the main voices we heard were supporting those ideas and saying you were against them was treated as racist, it became more difficult to go along with them. This reached its peak in Minneapolis where a referendum was taken on disbanding the police and replacing it with a new Department of Public Safety. It failed by a wide margin and by an even wider margin in the majority or plurality black districts. People believed that supporting the initiatives because they “knew” that blacks supported it. They were wrong. They thought they knew it because that’s how they heard people talk.
People are social creatures; our most important interactions are with other people. We evolved to navigate social situations. We value group unity, even if we differ on the group we identify with. The problem is that we try to match the expectations of others, but we don’t know the expectations of others. People in 1920 thought people were for Prohibition and voted like they were. But as soon as it became reality people kept on drinking. We get caught in feedback loop. The opinions that people express are affected by the opinions that others express. But that’s affected by our opinions. This leads to things like mob violence. You get a large group of people together and their behavior becomes unpredictable.
OK enough of that. I am listening in my head to the reactions that I expect from others and that’s affecting what I write. This feedback never ends. My head will explode if I can continue and then I’d have to clean it up and what I really want to do is take a show then get out of the house for the first time in days. I need my walk even if it is not for a donut. The Krispy Kreme free donut to the vaccinated program went out with 2021.
Wise Madness 