If you’re among the 95% of the world’s population1Probably a slight overestimation. that has seen the first Avengers movie,2That is the first MCU Avengers movie, of course, not the 1998 fiasco or the 1942 war film with the same title. then you’ll remember the scene where Bruce Banner finally rolls into town after all hell has broken loose and shares a pithy observation.
Over the past few months, I’ve found myself repeating that phrase over and over because, well… ***gestures at everything***.
I’ve thought about getting back to blogging for a while now, but it didn’t feel right to do so without addressing the general enshittification of the world around us. I don’t want you all to think that I’ve got my head in the sand. It’s just been hard to find the right words.
So here’s my stab at doing exactly that so I can get back to my normal routine of blabbering incessantly about inconsequential things with a clear conscience.
Yesterday, I read something written by someone who lives in the Midwest referencing their daily mid-morning onset of existential angst, and I thought to myself, “Boy, being able to make it until mid-morning would be nice.”
By the time the sun rises over here on the West Coast, those pesky East Coasters have been running amok for several hours and the news is already filled with headlines documenting their latest handiwork. I try my hardest to avoid it, but some of that news usually seeps in during my commute or it hits me as soon as I open up my email, so really there’s no way of not having my spirits broken by 8 a.m. every day.
Then the East Coast post-5 p.m. news dump happens fairly soon after lunch here, so there’s usually something fresh popping up to ruin the ride home as well. It’s impossible for any us to truly escape the 24-hour news cycle, but the current pacing of things seems to be engineered to maximize the suffering throughout the day.
“Maximizing the suffering” certainly seems to be the central theme of 2025 so far. Every day, it feels like decisions are being made and things are being done simply to instill as much fear and mete out as much hurt as possible. Structures that were created to provide protection and stability are now being used to foster subjugation and uncertainty. Each day feels a little more dystopian than the last.
There are a lot of common threads across those actions which seem to suggest that there’s a master plan at work, but I don’t think the people pulling the levers are being guided by any preordained strategy. Policies are simply being formulated and decreed in the spur of the moment as new opportunities to inflict pain are identified. There’s no 7D chess being played here, just a blind adherence to the ideology that “everyone who isn’t me needs to be put in their place.”
Whether you’re leading a kickball team or a country, it’s a terrible way to run things.
60-second manifesto
It’d be impossible to outline all of the things that are happening now that I find abhorrent and unacceptable, so I won’t try to do that here. If you know me, you know how I feel about… ***gestures at everything again*** …all this.
But here’s a short—and certainly not comprehensive—list of some things in which I believe quite strongly:
- The purpose of government is safeguard the liberties and improve the lives of all people. It is not to turn a profit, enforce dogma, or elevate some at the expense of others.
- A person’s inherent worth and rights are not determined by where they were born, whom they love, what they do or do not believe or worship, or how they identify themselves.
- Civil servants should be appreciated, respected, and valued for the incredible work they do to better our society each and every day.
- Science, medicine, education, and the arts are critical to the continued advancement and well-being of humanity.
- Knowledge, experience, and sound judgment are more important than fealty.
- No one is diminished by making sure that others are not.
It’s hard to see any of those beliefs guiding things right now. I hope that they will again someday. Someday soon.
What can men do against such reckless hate?
Well, as Aragorn told Theoden, “Ride out and meet them.”3I’m aware that I’ve been leaning too heavily on contemporary cinema references. I’ll work on incorporating more dated ones in future posts.
If there’s one silver lining to all of this, it has reminded me that there are always people who are willing to fight for themselves and, more importantly, for others. Even when darkness prevails, there’s something comforting and hopeful in the realization that someone else still gives a damn.
A couple of weeks ago, there were a number of peaceful, yet spirited protests around the nation about… ***gestures yet a third time at everything***. As you might expect, there was a sizable turnout here in San Francisco,4As well as at a large number of satellite protests across the Bay Area. We like to protest, yo. and The Wife and I both ventured out to hold up some signs and voice our displeasure with the general state of things.
Did we accomplish anything? Well, no—not in any sort of dramatic, immediately satisfying short-term fashion—but we did find a sense of belonging with a community of people who still care about standing up for basic decency and humanism. And that’s certainly not nothing, particularly these days.
I don’t know where we go from here. I don’t know what the path back to normalcy looks like. But I know that there is a path and that we’ll find it eventually.5Nearly inserted Sam’s hopeful soliloquy about the sun “shining out all the clearer” from the end of The Two Towers here, but I stopped myself.
In the meantime, I’m just going to try and keep doing good and lifting up others where I can. Hopefully that will make a difference.
In other news
- For nearly two decades, Canada has been trying to build a naval base in the Arctic. It hasn’t gone well.
- I’ll readily admit that at least 75% of what I read about quantum physics goes right over my head, but this article on negative time and retrocausality is an interesting trip.
- For reasons that no one really understands, bees in North Carolina are producing purple honey.
- Speaking of bees, apparently they’re really effective at warding off elephants.
- Saturn now officially has another 128 moons, bringing its total to 274 — more than the rest of the solar system combined. When I was a kid, we were taught6By which I mean that I read in a book on my own. Unsurprisingly, the Texas public education system never got much beyond the fact that there were (then) nine planets and a big hot thing in the middle. that Saturn had 17 known moons and we all thought, “Damn, that’s a lot of moons.” If only we knew.
- Add flour and cornstarch to the list of things that can kill you in unexpected and horrible ways.
Last night at the ballpark
The Giants finally returned to the ballpark following a 10-game roadtrip to kick off their second homestand of the season. After only being able to watch games on television for the past two weeks, it was nice to see one in all three dimensions for a change.
It was kind of a quirky game: there were a lot of picked-off baserunners, infield hits, and bobbled balls that broke up double plays but still resulted in single outs. The Giants came out on top thanks to Rhys Hopkins’ inability to catch a baseball, another dinger from Wilmer “Mild-Mannered Destroyer of Worlds” Flores, and a gorgeous triple from the Grandson of the Wind.
The visiting Brewers debuted their hotshot pitcher/swashbuckler Craig Yoho and lil’ Caleb Durbin poked one over the wall to collect his first major league homer, so the evening wasn’t a total loss for them either. Just one of those losses that counts against them in the standings.
- 1Probably a slight overestimation.
- 2That is the first MCU Avengers movie, of course, not the 1998 fiasco or the 1942 war film with the same title.
- 3I’m aware that I’ve been leaning too heavily on contemporary cinema references. I’ll work on incorporating more dated ones in future posts.
- 4As well as at a large number of satellite protests across the Bay Area. We like to protest, yo.
- 5Nearly inserted Sam’s hopeful soliloquy about the sun “shining out all the clearer” from the end of The Two Towers here, but I stopped myself.
- 6By which I mean that I read in a book on my own. Unsurprisingly, the Texas public education system never got much beyond the fact that there were (then) nine planets and a big hot thing in the middle.
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