Civilization

“There is such a thing as too much civilization.” — Anon.

Do you get the sense that the patina of the world’s civilization is wearing thin? Watching cable TV would certainly lead one to conclude that it is ... given the barrage of insults that one hears there.  Of course the obvious culprit is President Trump who is not shy about expressing his thoughts, however hostile. This encourages his haters to wade even deeper into the wallow ... and so the back and forth.

A validation of this swing toward vulgarity is that Trump’s VP, Mike Pence, possibly one of the most honorable politicians around, hasn’t a snowflake’s chance in South Chicago of taking over from his boss in the 2024 election.

But is Trump’s behavior  a cause or a symptom? I suggest the latter. Civility is disappearing all around the world ... Hong Kong, Paris, Ecuador, Iran, Chile, London, Iraq, Venezuela, the House Intelligence Committee, etc. And Trump is but a bystander to these events.

Perhaps it is because civility must run in cycles? As civilization’s veneer is built up layer after layer with fairy-tale memes, it finally becomes too ridiculous for commoners to tolerate ... and the people revolt ... and this precious pretentiousness is scuttled.

To me, kind reader, it seems that we have hit this silliness ceiling ... which has spawned a huge partisan food-fight ... at the obvious cost of our country’s comity. Things won’t return to sereneness until all the fops are guillotined.