No Flies on Us

Warm spell yesterday. I was in the yard cleaning up dead sunflower stalks. The flies were out too, one last feast before the freeze. Lots of shooing and swatting.

Change of topic. Thinking about the American election the day after it all went down, I almost wrote the following:

The Orange Cheese is
gonna Make America Grate Again.

Sorry, puns are fun, but I shouldn't have let that one loose.

I was thinking as a neighbour of the USA who didn't get to vote but along with the rest of the world will have to put up with MAGA grating on us for the next few years. My gut response to precedent Trump is to reflect insults back at him. I call him precedent Trump because he has demonstrated what he is good for (trash talk, dominance posturing, lies, misogyny, xenophobia, threats, obscenities, aggressive nationalism) and surprisingly that is what the majority chose! 

I apologize. I won't write any more insults because I don't want to participate in puke politics. Even if Donald walks like a duck and talks like a duck, let's give him a chance. Winning the confidence of the majority might remind him that some people think of him as an actual human. If he behaves like one, we should forgive the occasional quack. I know. Faint hope.

Oh stop it, Dennis. You're still at it.

Well, that's what people do when they are frustrated, threatened, needy. Find someone to blame and let 'em have it. 

So who really gets the blame? "Every nation has the government it deserves." Half of Americans want to give the finger to the other half and also to the rest of the world. Donald is their finger, their weapon of choice grated from a blob of orange cheese by an angry mob who are their own worst enemy. "We have met the enemy and he is us." 

MAGAs be warned: precedent Trump has let it be known that the more you try to redirect his pointy finger, the more likely you are to be its target. Even Trump's friends are not safe (Pence, Milley, Cheney). You chose this, America. Good luck controlling the orange finger.

Get a grip, Dennis. You go too far.

I confess. All I have written so far came from the amygdala, which is where tantrums originate, raw fear and anger as a quick, uncensored response. As the brain matures, the output of the amygdala is processed by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. But if you live long enough, that stops working and you just write a blog like this one so you can get it off your chest.

Is my aggression showing? Can you feel your own ire rising in response to mine? You know, anger can get you into trouble. We know this because of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which evaluates sensory input in the light of experience and responds rationally. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) works hard and makes reasonable choices, but takes its time. Another few decades and I should nail it. I know. Faint hope.

 

Angry amygdalians really like Donald, he who skillfully expresses their contempt for reasonable PFCs. This difference in thinking styles has become the badge distinguishing friends from enemies. PFCs know that it's pointless to point back; but when pressed, they will go amygdalian in self defense, though they aren't as good at it as the pros.

It's catching, an amygdalitis pandemic. Economic and environmental stressors are spreading this dis-ease all over the globe. Common sense says fight to win. Uncommon sense says it isn't a game; if we fight, everybody loses; if we work together, we all win.

Horses solve such problems
with mutual back scratching. 

We should be so wise. 

If we were passionately rational
           and rationally passionate,
there would be no flies on us.