After every piece of pie, I think to myself, “self, you really shouldn’t have eaten that last piece of pie.”
It is a gnawing dialogue each and every day. Don’t eat those Doritos. Don’t stab your co-worker in the eye with that pencil. Make sure to call your mother. Eat your vegetables. Your inner-voice is talking to you constantly. It reflects the totality of everything you’ve learned and all of the common sense that you’ve amassed during your time on this earth.
It’s not always right, of course. Kissing Sally Flanders when you were still dating Lucy Seaver was the work of your inner voice. But more often than not, that voice is straight as an arrow.
It is during these times that I find it so mind-boggling that I see people just like you and me acting like fools. There was a video going around last week of a Florida city council meeting where they were taking open comments from the community. Person after person after person stood up and addressed the council spewing nonsensical babble about masks being the instrument of the devil and that 5G was going to send COVID-19 to people. Really science-fiction stuff. This is well beyond logical discussion and debate about whether to allow 20 or 25 people in a restaurant or whether a dog park should be open during a pandemic. This was nut job stuff.
Where is their inner voice? Is their inner voice what got them so nuts? Has reality gotten so whacked out that suddenly anything can become truth? Has the distrust of scientists gotten so out of line that all the fire and brimstone parts of the Bible become talking points for city council meetings?
I believe that scientists, for the most part, put out data that shows accurate… let’s call them “facts” about our surroundings. I believe that state, local, and federal workers in the government do a decent job and try to make the world a better place. That’s my starting point. And for the life of me, I’m unable to understand how a woman who I’m fairly sure I saw in line next to me at the grocery store is on Channel 2 screaming about the rapture because someone wants them to wear a mask at Costco. How does someone get here?
One of the saddest days of my life was when I opened up Facebook and saw that one of my best friends was sharing conspiracy theories about 9/11 being “an inside job.” Something that millions of people went through. Something that we all watched live as it happened. It was like my friend had been grabbed by the body snatchers.
I’m all for a little distrust of the government. I’m all for a little pride in “my side” over “your side.” But it’s a helluva leap between wanting to make the world better my way to our own government imploding our own buildings and citizens.
So here we are, as the country is very clearly at a crossroads. More and more seem to be vanishing into insanity. A public health official wanting you to wear a mask at a Denny’s is now Big Brother sending the little green men to probe your thoughts.
Who needs science fiction anymore? Just watch CSPAN. Or, in some cases, listen to that little voice in your head. That little voice knows better – and so should you.
(Chris Kamler will provide you with more subtle insights when you follow him on Twitter, where he is known as @TheFakeNed)