The past few months have added trauma upon trauma. Already reeling under 3.5 years of an abusive relationship with the *resident that had been forced upon us, we now have the same pandemic to deal with as everyone else. And nearly all of us have understood — all too lucidly — how the two traumas coalesce with the *resident and his minions and cronies literally choosing by their words and inaction to amplify Covid-19’s death toll.
It’s hard, it’s excruciating. And I work in health research, nowadays it’s Covid-19 most of the time. Mentally, I’ve hardly had a moment off since mid-February. So acute mental health crises keep coming and going. The past week feels like one such ongoing crisis.
Generally speaking, Daily Kos has been my ally and support in these times, both with Mark Sumner’s exemplary pandemic coverage, and in general as a progressive, inclusive, news and mutual support forum. But this morning as I glance at the reclist, I wonder whether we are all undergoing a severe crisis that at least temporarily detaches too many of us from reality?
The top 2 spots of the list are now occupied by a diary saying Drumpf has “lost the FL senior vote”, and a diary that reads like a scam ad, discussing the scenario of Drumpf-Barr calling emergency powers to annul their election loss.
Ok folks.
- The election is only 4 months from today. No one has “lost” any vote, and speculations about crazy unprecedented post-election maneuvers are, as the saying goes, Not Even Wrong.
- The source of information for the two posts are a news article with individual anecdotes — not even a representative poll — and someone’s highly speculative blog post.
- What is the impact of both diaries? Either to lull us into a completely premature, unsubstantiated complacency — or a just-as-premature, and frankly completely loco, anxiety-driven debate of pure hypotheticals. Both basically detach us from reality.
Not to call out only these two, the top half of the reclist also has right now a diary with one of those lovely “Drumpf insider quotes” stories, which are a dime a dozen and worth even less as a source to understand and address reality — and a claim that some asshole billionaire has “bailed” on Drumpf because he’s donating less (will this election be decided by any side’s lack of $$? Ya think?), even as he actually says he still supports him.
I hope it’s not a blip and not signs of a collective slip. Anyway, let’s keep it together, ok? A huge strength of this site and community, is a staunch adherence to being reality-based. No one is ever 100% successful at following this principle, but let’s try. Ok?
Happy holiday weekend.
