The Bubble

In regards to the GOP, this last week has been insane.  I never dreamed the party would go full Idaho compound, but it has.  What started as calls for stopping Syrian refugees, has lead to talk of Muslim interment camps, Muslims having to wear badges like the Jews in Nazi Germany, calls for full scale war, a return to torture even if it is just to hurt someone they don't like, anti-Jewish rhetoric, Christianity litmus tests, encouragement of public beatings for people the candidates disagree with, undisguised and disgusting racism, 9/11 lies, calls for the arrest and/or death of 32 million gay people...and a reminder, these people all BRAG about supposedly being Christian!!!

Tomorrow, many of these same people are going to sit down at a table, probably with camera crews, and claim they are patriotic Americans and God fearing Christians.  They're neither.

One might wonder what the Republican candidates are doing.  Eventually they'll need votes from independents, and moderates from both sides, to win a general election, but they seem to be going out of their way to ensure the Democrats have enough video footage of them acting like far right, tea party, nut-bag buffoons, to where they'll have zero chance at the Presidency.

I have a theory; we might've seen the Republicans jump the shark, going past a point of where the important part of running for President isn't winning, but rather creating millions of loyal followers who'll pay anything for a piece of the candidate.  These GOP candidates end up getting destroyed in the general election, but they're happy.  They never wanted the job in the first place, and now they can command millions of dollars in speaker and appearance fees for the next four years.  The majority of the GOP race seems to be only in it for themselves.

Thats fine, I guess, but to build their fan base, they've created a big problem.  What they do, with the aide of far right media, is create an unapologetic, extremist, racist, homophobic, intolerant, simpleton bubble, for which their followers can find solace and reflection away from the real world; a pro candidate safe zone.  In this bubble, America always wins every war, with zero casualties and no cost, the rest of the world worships us, minorities are quiet and know their place, gay people are still hiding in their houses, non-Christian religions are to be dominated, conservative economic policy has been successful, guns solve all problems, all Democrats have always been wrong, the world would somehow continue far better if they didn't ever have to pay taxes, and we're all living in a utopian paradise from the past, just like Little House on the Prairie or the Andy Griffith Show.  It's a Sims world, but the craziest thing is how they have made it real.  They just close their eyes, make sure all of their media is turned to the right wing lie machines and extremist's websites and chat rooms, and they're suddenly in dream land.

The bubble is full of people who are always victims.  It's part of the appeal; denial.  It's how they keep going.  Everything good that's happened to them, they made themselves, but everything bad, or even indifferent?  There's always someone they can find to blame for why they are not more successful.

To a point, I almost want to leave them to their own bidding, but there's a problem.  Every few days, someone comes flying out of the bubble, spinning out of control.  Their anger and hatred at "others" they feel have cost them all of their success in life boils over and they lash out at their perceived enemies.  With the ease and abundance of firearms in this country, the lethal payback they dish out for their made up wrongs has no end to the body count.

In my opinion, that's what happened in north Minneapolis on Monday night when three white people opened fire on African Americans, at the protest over the Jamar Clark shooting.  These three guys didn't live anywhere near that neighborhood.  They had no need to be there.  They came flying out of the bubble and decided it was time to strike back against the enemies who had wronged them; strangers.  They drove up there day after day, to taunt and troll the crowd, hoping they would attack them, giving them the justification for self defense.  On Monday, they opened fire, striking back at the people they deemed their tormentors, until they realized these people had nothing to do with their wrongs.  When they realized they had wounded five, they ran like cowards.  They went back, desperately searching for their safe bubble, but the bubble wasn't about to welcome them back.  The bubble only wants to throw rocks at the beehive.  It doesn't want to take any credit for the bees when they sting.  Three have been arrested.

Here's the real question:  were those three willing to open fire on African Americans prior to entering the bubble, or did they get converted to violence in the bubble?  Did the daily buffet of "you've been wronged, and THEY are the ones who did it" push them over the edge?  Were the screams of "those people are going to kill us all and take all of our money" and "won't anyone stop them" meet up with the "guns will always solve everything" drum beats?  Did the bubble create killers?

We have to pop the bubble.  We need to take all of these delusional freaks and make them look in the mirror and realize they're responsible for all the good and bad that happens in their lives.  If we don't, we're starting to get very close to the edge of paranoid destruction, and at that point, the bubble doesn't break.  Instead, it'll be used to determined the battle lines in the Cheney-esqe war of 'us verses them,' and frankly, there are too many of those unstable fools who are looking for any chance to start firing off rounds.