A happy, upbeat friend does not watch television news, whether national or local, does not read a newspaper and avoids discussing politics, religion or even sports. Self-employed, he found out about something called the coronavirus while driving to work the day the California lockdown mandate began. That morning he encountered no traffic on the normally busy streets of Los Angeles and said, “What’s going on?!” It seems unthinkable that someone in his mid-to-late 30s could erect news blinders, especially when he, like most everyone else, uses a smartphone for personal and business matters. He even maintains a Facebook page to keep up with friends and family.
He does not know that since Joe Biden became president, five million illegal aliens entered the U.S. from over 100 foreign countries, their whereabouts now mostly unknown. Border patrol arrested dozens of border crossers on the terror watch list, with no telling how many entered undetected.
He does not know that America faces a crisis of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid more potent than heroin by as much as a factor of 50, and morphine by as much as a factor of 100, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. China supplies the precursor chemicals and Mexican cartels process, manufacture and bring the fentanyl into the United States. At 64,000 deaths among those aged 18 to 49 in 2021, fentanyl killed more than those who died from COVID-19, cancer and car accidents combined.
He knows nothing about a Donald Trump-hating Manhattan district attorney who might arrest and indict the former president under a legal theory that even The New York Times called “untested.” He does not know about the “weaponization” and collusion of the DOJ and Big Tech social media platforms to attack conservatives, stifle dissent about vaccine and mask mandates and suppress the cost-benefit debate about COVID-19 lockdowns. Among other things, the student learning loss suffered due to virtual versus in-school learning.
He knows nothing about communist China’s growing aggression, its increasing world power and our growing dependence on China for things not made here. We rely on China for vital “rare earth minerals” like lithium, cobalt and nickel — used in cellphones and electric vehicle batteries — that are either mined in China or in places under China’s control. Likely encouraged by Biden’s disastrous pull out of Afghanistan, Russia invaded Ukraine with Chinese support. World peace and freedom are now challenged unlike anything seen since World War II.
He knows nothing about how Iran, the world’s largest sponsor of terror, stands on the brink of making a nuclear bomb.
He knows nothing about how inflation, still at 40-year highs, decreased the value of bank holdings, is a major contributing factor to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and threatens the solvency of several more.
He is oblivious to today’s cancerous “cancel culture” professors, who disagree with reparations, race-based preferences, critical race theory and the DEI agenda, face denunciation by students and fellow faculty and termination by woke school administrators.
He, of course, knows about high gas prices but knows nothing the main contributing factor, Biden’s attack on oil and gas and his imposition of anti-fossil fuel policies and regulations.
My friend has a short drive to work in a fairly safe area and knows little about rising crime, including violent crime, and the soft-on-crime policies of the current Los Angeles County DA. This denunciation of the “systemically racist” police has triggered an upsurge in crime not just in Los Angeles, but in other cities.
California has the country’s highest state income tax, ranks near the bottom in K-12 government schools despite spending over $20k per student, has a budget deficit of $20 billion and an unfunded pension liability at over $1.5 trillion, the highest in the nation. Housing prices at 175% above the national average helped drive a net population loss of 500,000 in the last three years.
My happy friend resembles the chain-smoker who grew tired of reading newspaper articles that linked cigarette smoking to cancer. So, he decided to stop… reading newspapers. Who knows? Maybe my friend has a point.
The Romans had a term called IDIOT to describe fellow citizens who took no interest in politics ; your friend is a latter day Idiot who should NEVER be allowed to vote !
Wow … a bit ‘judgy’ don’t you think? So everyone should do what you do …. I understand …
You are confusing judgment with discernment, and putting words Banastre’s mouth.
So, is it never wrong to discern? To judge? Or condemn? Why should blind voting in ignorance of the issues or implications be off limits?
Typo. I should have written, is it EVER wrong, not never wrong….
Apologies.
You’re a simpleton too
I believe many many years ago before a person was permitted to vote they had to prove that they had a functioning brain. That means democratic would most likely not be in power.
Larry,
Nailed it again.
Unfortunately this is where we are.
A uninformed, illiterate, uninterested populace.
We are living The Walking Dead in real time. Only difference is we look and smell better.
Minds are indeed a terrible thing to waste.
IT IS A WASTELAND OUT HERE!
Your friend sounds like me without FPM who needs to listen to the fear mongers in legacy media?
Ephesians 2:2. Without knowing it, we were lackeys of the devil. What felt like freedom was indeed bondage. the Bible speaks straight to twenty -first-century fads, fun and addictions when It says, “They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves to corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” 2 Peter 2:19. The resounding cry of freedom in the Bible is, ” Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Romans 12:2. (In other words, be free! Don’t be duped by the gurus of the age.) They are here today and gone tomorrow. One enslaving fad follows another. The Wisdom of this age is folly in view of eternity. “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. 1 Corinthians 3:18. “THE WORD OF THE CROSS IS FOLLY TO THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING. 1 CORINTHIANS 1:18.
I think the complete quote is “WHERE ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.”
Your friend is living in irresponsible bliss on the fumes of the greatest civilization in world history, and he is part of its destruction.
Your friend is likef all the economic immigrants who come here only to enjoy what was given to legacy Americans with much blood and hardship by our ancestors. We are a peculiar nation whose unique blessings and obligations require a people who know and understand our history and wish to become one of us.
We are dying because people see us as the magic dirt of economic opportunity without the undergirding work, sacrifice, philosophy and religion of its founders. We can live in ignorance for just a little bit longer, and then the idiots will bring destruction for everyone.
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in your.
-Pericles
Yes, we are a divided, uninformed, no interest in studying the real issues facing this nation. That is why the vast majority go and vote for someone based on slogans and quick 30 second advertisement on TV. That is why the American people continue to vote for the wrong people. That is why one politician said something on the order that they count on the ignorance of the American people to keep them in office.
America will become a Third World hellhole in the near future. When that happens, life in America will never be the same.
Every democrat is like your friend when confronted with facts that PROVE them wrong – I live with one!