Worst-writer’s choice of title is playing, of course, with the title of the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Who else hasn’t played with it, e.g. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent maybe? Which I can’t wait to see. Or what about my second choice for title?
How the big lie swats away truth like its the baby’s bottom of communism version two point zero
Or how bout this one.
Under threat of state and authoritarian persecution, in the united mistakes of #Americant , are you ready to retract?
As I’ve worst-written here and here, I really dig Milan Kundera. I had a great time back in the day reading those novels. As a child of the Cold War he was part of my understanding of how that war played out in the minds of a whole bunch of #Eurowastelanders. Reason? Just as I was moving across the pond (expatriating) the wall fell. I got to know a few Eastern Europeans during and after that. Who doesn’t love peoples from western territories of the former Soviet Union all lusting for Marlboro reds, Levis, fun, and a ride across Berlin in a taxi that is also a Mercedes? And you gotta admire all those cute little countries that found their way to the west, aka as far as possible from what would become Soviet Union v.2 aka Vladimira Pussytina. But let’s not get-on about Latvia, Estonia, Moldova or, heaven forbid, Ukraine. More worst-writing about Ukraine here and here.
Milan Kundera’s work became even more profound for me as the realities of the post Soviet experiment came to light. Having moved to western Germany, it was all kinda close, don’t you know. Remember that whole East German Stasi thing? What a $hitshow that was. In other eastern countries things were getting worst and worse and worster. Remember Georgia? You know, Stalins birthplace. Oh yea. What about Yugoslavia? Croatia is the best place for hiking and mountain biking these days. Let’s not forget what’s happening in Ukraine that’s been brewing for the last decade. But. Again. I’m off worst-subject. And this worst-post ain’t about worst-writers mis-understanding of über-novels, commies or how fcuked-up #Eurowasteland really is.
After watching the video above, my worst-writer hat is off to Rachel Maddow. And don’t worry–I’m only a farfetched fan. There are times when I have to turn her podcast off (which is how I get her shows this side of the pond) on account she can carry on and on and on about whatnot. Is that what journalists call carrying-on, rambling, shootin the $hit, or is it all just editorialising? #Nomatter.
The juicy part of the vid that motivates this worst-post is at about 4:10 when Maddow shows how a journalist is being targeted for investigation by police because the journalist did some journalism. Now. That’s fine and dandy. These are worst-times to be living in, eh. What with #fakenews this or the media-that or CNN sucks or why the fcuk is Wolf Blitzer still on air? Wasn’t he on air when I expatriated thirty-five-friggin years ago? Anywho.
Maddow, at the beginning of the vid, makes it clear how/why so many #Americants hate the press. Again. Fine and dandy. Stupid people gotta live too, right? But here’s the thing. Maddow doesn’t make it clear how/why this is bigger than the press. Ever heard of death by a thousand cuts? Or what about creeping normality? Indeed.
So #Amercants hate the press because former prez pee-pee-hair said loud and clear, year after year, the big lie. #fakenews Maddow does a great job explaining that. Authoritarian rhetoric is to those of us who have a bit of knowledge about history exactly what authoritarians, totalitarians, dictators do best–especially to the dumb down masses. #Maga The thing is, though, they (authoritarians) aren’t just attacking the press. They drill the lie so deep into people that no one can think straight anymore. So who or what, in the vid, at the behest of the LA Sheriff, need be investigated for? Or. Put another worst-way. Who/what need be investigated or arrested or brought to justice because a journalist did her job reporting police abuse? Wait. What? Police abuse? What police abuse? Wow. So many unanswered worst-questions. Go figure. #FakeNews #Americant #Maga #Trump
Almost The Question
If/when succeeding with the big lie becomes the norm, what are the rest of us (rational thinking peoples) gonna do about the seventy-four or so million Cheeto-Jezus lovers and the guys that want to be just like him–as in the video? At the least, everything fake is here to stay for a while, eh. And now the police are not only abusing citizens but they are getting so bad at doing it that their over-reach is blatantly anti constitutional, anti freedom, anti antifa–but never anti-pee-pee-hair former presidents. Are these authoritarian types starting to show their true colours? Have they already and worst-writer missed it? Na. Don’t think so.
The Question
That brings me to the essence of my worst-question, dear worst-reader–that may or may not have to do with the video above. How were the police going to question the journalist if/when she has to face what ever it is the police do when they put someone under investigation like this? Keep in mind, as I worst-write this post, the situation seems to have simmered down because the police have faced a pretty significant backlash from lawyers of the fourth estate. But my question still remains. What is the intention of police investigating a journalist who has 1) broke no law or 2) has freedom of the press? Take her in a back room somewhere and interrogate her about her beliefs? Who she voted for? Is she part of the red scare? Does the journalist pictured, the one the policeman points to the most, look like a commie? See how he points his stick at her? Who are her sources? Who is the policeman talking to? #MAGA THE LAND OF FREEDOM TO BE STUPID, baby?
And now. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. In the book, dear worst-reader, Tomas (no relation) is apprehended by local goons (government minions) under the auspices of the totalitarian Soviet State that has occupied Czechoslovakia in the late 1960s. The reason he’s apprehended? He wrote some kind of an essay or manifesto that made objectionable comparisons to the communist takeover of his country with some Ancient Greek tell-tale about sons sleeping with their mothers and killing their fathers. You know. Typical literary stuff that puts chills into the spines of authoritarians since most of them couldn’t intellectually fight their way out of wet paper bags made from the foreskin of… And so they just get everyone to pledge their allegiance to Dear Leader. Or else.
I’m only guessing that the police, while publicly threatening a journalist, without cause, even showing her picture as though she was a suspect in a crime–which she clearly is not–because she’s a journalist and there is this thing known as freedom of the press and and and… Bare with me as I try to work through this.
I don’t know what the police want to investigate. And I don’t care. After seeing the video, dear worst-reader, all-things unbearable started to appear before all my worst-eyes. Are they after her sources? Did her story insult the police? Has she pulled a Snowden? Again. Don’t care. The thing I do care about is if things in my beloved & missed united mistakes of #Americant get so right-wing bat$hit that there is no no way out. Are we almost there? Are the police gonna start rounding up people and make them retract–their stories, their posts, their tweets? I mean. The definition of freedom has pretty-much been turned upside-down, especially considering how right-wingers use it to promote everything #fakenews or lost elections or voting rights. At the worst-least, is what I’m failing to get at in this worst-post in anyway comparable to goons that want to suppress all forms of dissent in a totalitarian state? Tomas, btw, was a doctor. When he wouldn’t publicly retract his manifest he lost his license to practice medicine and he never gave up on that conviction. Are we just a hop-skip-jump away from that? I know I’m stretching things here. But that’s how I feel after watching this video. That policeman looks like someone who wants to interrogate another person NOT for crimes but for her beliefs, her loyalties, her bent knee, who’s your daddy, obey, etc. Wow.
The thing that scares me the most with what’s happening to my beloved & missed #Americant is the creeping normality, the death by a thousand cuts that so many #Americants can’t see because they can’t see straight anymore after not only the big lie but their own inability #okboomer to get it together intellectually, socially or politically. Wow. And to think I saw it all coming forty years ago–a good ten years after I had to live in what Ronald Reagan began.
Good luck suckers.
Rant on.
-T
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