Different Point Of View
Muhammad Naeem | Contributed
There is a nasty outbreak of graffiti all over town. Wherever you look, properties are being defaced, lawns are being littered with signs, and sidewalks are being trashed in the worst possible way imaginable. This is not your traditional graffiti, with walls scrawled with gang names and an indicator of gang activity. This is more nuanced and marks the territory of much bigger criminals than your ordinary gang members.
I am talking about the graffiti that comes in the form of political signs and posters, vandalizing fences all around town and cluttering up our sidewalks, our empty and unattended lots, and even parking lots of some businesses. Criminals are at work and there is nothing that we can do about it.
These signs are popping out of the ground like weeds after a good rain, and just like weeds they are taking over as much available area as possible. There are places around town where these signs form a visual wall, leaving very little space to distinguish one from the other, and all we see is noise.
Yes, election season is here, and we are expected to vote for these nobodies, who all of a sudden are vying for our attention, hoping to catch our interest. Let the lying begin, I say, and almost all of them are good liars, throwing around slogans that will resonate with us and make us think that they are on our side, that they are our friends, that they care about our families and our well-being. While deep down, all they hope for is to get elected, and once elected, abuse the heck out of our system to enrich themselves and their cronies.
As you can see, I have very little faith in our elections. It’s not because of these shysters, who have no self-respect to speak off, and who spout all kinds of nonsense just to win us over. They are scammers and they play out their scams. I don’t have a big problem with that. I do, however, have a big problem with the voters. Yes, that’s you. You are the one I consider to be the main problem with our elections.
With each passing year, as the world becomes more savvy, as the technology puts the knowledge of the world at our fingertips, you, the voter, has become more and more stupid. As the social media, with its rigged algorithms, tries to first predict your interests and then put forward garbage for you to click on, you seem to have lost the ability to distinguish between good and evil. You seem to have lost the ability to even think reasonably. You can’t even see the snake oil salesman, as he or she or they or whatever it is, is picking your pocket, corrupting your mind, defrauding you, and treating you like a total and utter moron.
Politician, spokespersons, show-hosts, and influencers, all have learned that if they say a lie over and over, you’ll eventually come to believe it, if you hear it repeated often enough. You, the viewer, the voter, have lost the ability to think: “you know, it doesn’t sound right,” or to say: “hey, that doesn’t make sense”, or to question: “that can’t possibly be right.” You swallow every piece of [S-word] that is hurled at you, just because it is coming from someone that you think is speaking for you, even though the grift that person is using, is so obvious, and you’d clearly see it if you were to just get your head out of your behind and think for a moment, just think, about the validity of any claim being put forward to you.
America used to stand for honor, respect, and dignity. Look around you, look at the people running for elections, look at the people talking to you through your chosen medium of streaming, look at the person trying to make you think how the world around you is behaving, and see if you can spot the ones that do possess some honor, some dignity, and some shame. See if you can spot those that are telling blatant lies, twisting words to sound noble, religious, and forthright, and most of all, see if you can spot those that think you are an idiot, and they can say whatever they want and you’ll act like a sheep and follow them into whichever ditch they may choose for you.
Our leaders are supposed to mirror our values. See if these fraudsters mirror your values. Look hard and see if you, yourself, have any honor, respect, and dignity. That’s my challenge and let’s see if you have what it takes to standup for what’s moral, decent, and honorable.
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