BAR LOWERED AGAIN

 

(Charlotte, NC) Yeah, the bar is falling like crazy. Right?

So, this isn't going to be a normal Big Tobacco article at all...

Hi, it's me, the author, Guy Geaux. Obviously, that's not my real name, but I'm not terribly well-hidden as far as anonymous internet personalities go. As an indubitably loyal follower of this site, you'll remember me from such classic fourth wall-breakers as this one.

It's come to this: I haven't posted on here in quite some time because of, well, the same stuff that a lot of other people are going through: massive influx of information coming in from all sides, most of it very negative. My way of combating this sort of situation in the past has been generally to try to improve myself, to make myself equal to it. Usually, this would mean that there would be more articles here, not fewer, because typically that sort of self-improvement (in my case) means writing more.

It's cliché to say this, but my desire to stay sane is really at odds with my desire to stay informed. And, it's a manifestation of my privilege to be able to sign off from the world and ignore the news, knowing that as a white, middle class, straight dude, I'm probably going to be about as fine as anyone can really be. I am insulated.

But, that doesn't mean that I am thrilled with the way that things are going right now. "Less than thrilled" would be downplaying affairs to the point of affecting an English sense of... hypobole. Is that a literary device? It should be. You can figure it out.

I chose the headline that I chose for this piece because it really is eye-opening to watch what the ever descending terraces of new normal have done to us as a people. The GOP somewhat anticipated the public response to their decision to not have a platform for the RNC and the subsequent campaign, by casting its completely literally fascist outline as problematic on the part of the people who will call it what it is. If you are not embracing a series of core goals, but rather taking on the attitude of "America first, we support what the President says," that is fascism. To say otherwise is to ignore the very definition of the term.

So in this dire vein, I'm announcing that I will redouble my efforts to hold myself accountable to this blog. I'm going to stay off of social media, except, perhaps to promote this. The proverbial bar may be in free fall, but I don't have to be. I want to live in a world where a person can afford to go to the doctor when they are sick, where they aren't more likely to be shot for the color of their skin or brutalized for their identity, where the system is designed to support us, rather than our supporting of it. I want to live in a world where people have basic human dignity because they are alive, not because they own things.

But, I don't.

So, we come to this:

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

I am deciding to do the best that I can to help the people who need it, and I am resolving right here and now to not feel guilty about doing what I can - as little as that might be. As I've said a million times, the best thing (My wife hates it when I say things like this.) that you can do from a standpoint of not contributing to a problematic system is to simply die - it's like the Nth Law of Thermodynamics in that way. But, no one living can fault me for being alive.

So, I am going to be more metacognitive about who I am and what I do. I am re-creating myself for the zillionth time - I know. If the past is any teacher, this won't be the last time either. But with this particular re-creation, I plan to put as much of myself as I can into this site. I have had some great ideas on here, whether that's for writing, comics, merch, vlogging, or blogging - I feel like it's, maybe, one thing I can offer. Maybe, it's not much. Maybe, it's just about nothing. Maybe, the bar lowering isn't just the world around me. Maybe, it's me, as well, deciding that my best efforts are place on this site.

Maybe.