Look around. Do you see fewer smiles and laughter?

[blubunyip]

25. Yes

I see a lot of worry and exhaustion. I'm in a university area where so many have lost jobs or funding. A lot of scientists and medical researchers heavily impacted. Not a lot of joy and ye olde Christmas cheer. The frivolities seem jarring to me, also wasteful in these difficult economic times. I have no interest in blowing a lot of money on Xmas this year. The holidays will be simple and solemn where I am.

On the other hand, I do understand why people feel compelled to act like things are normal. I understand the urge to fight the demons with lights and noise and bell ringing, but after this year I don't have much bandwidth for partying on the Titanic. I've never been good at looking the other way, certainly not now when so many are suffering and there is such wealth inequality, and everything I ever cared about is being attacked and deconstructed. This country is in crisis, I'm sure most Americans would at least agree on that. There's a shred of hope in this shit show, because more people are seeing the true shape of things politically, and I think a strong backlash could happen. But so much damage has already been done. Many of the fortunate ones stay cocooned and choose not to see. That's part of the success of the Project 2025 Shock & Awe strategy...you keep trying to act like things are normal when they're not.