Thanksgiving Proclamation
Skip politics, share this with your family instead.
I keep hearing about how so many folks are “devastated” with the results of the election, how they’re in a state of mourning, while others are getting 8 miles to the gallon, waving their punisher flags and crushing beer cans on their foreheads in jubilee.
Politics is a reflection of life, right? That must mean we’re caught in a feedback loop that looks something like this: Politicians participate in purposefully degenerate ways of communicating, the people HAVE to choose their tribe and begin to mimic the behavior of their group, thus inciting the group to continue acting in a reckless, opportunistic manner and fueling the degeneration of communication between regular people (ie voters).
It’s like enabling outrage addicts.
I propose we stop this behavior by not acting according to degenerate principles.
How crazy would it be if regular people started having open conversations without the sensationalization that comes with political theater? What would politicians have as their fuel if everyone stood there looking at them in wonder each time they said something slanderous or ridiculous1?
Politics is absurd to me, as is life, and these opinions incite riot within some people. What makes the most sense to me is compromise.
What if we started by making the next four years a Trump/Harris presidency?
I’ve spent many years avoiding political traps and it’s resulted in a very moderate mentality that’s open and accepting to perspectives that differ from mine2.
The best piece of advice I received about politics was from the owner of Music Shop on Grodzka (Street) in Krakow, Poland3.
One time, after a bit of conversing, the owner asked me to guess his age, so I took a good look at him and offered 60. This took all the steam out of his follow up, probably because he expected me to overshoot his actual age, not nearly nail it4. When it turned out he was 61, he asked me why I thought he looked so young for his age. Obviously to me the guy just looked his age, but I’ll play along when I’m having fun.
So I answered: HEAVY METAL BABY!
Incorrect.
I stayed away from politics, he says. The constant stress and limbo politics has to offer was never his style, the guy just wanted to bang his head and feel alive. And through it all he’s owned a store dedicated to what he loves, without allowing the political landscape of Poland to tear him apart (which would be pretty metal, I guess).
Maybe this Thanksgiving it’s time to stay away from politics.
Here are a few things you can use to bond in gratitude instead of… well… degenerating.
Watch an ICP movie.
Not a joke, this movie is hilarious. I used to listen to ICP when I was young and I never realized they also made movies. My partner and I watched this one evening and found it playful and even a little meta. Shaggy 2 Dope’s character, Sugar Bear rhymes throughout the whole movie, the sex scenes are horribly honest, and the music fits the movie perfectly.
Not into ICP? Then don’t watch the newest clown It: Chapter 2 either, watch The Sentinel.
The new It movie sucks. I had hope when I started it. The beginning has this Disney-esque feel and suddenly the violence begins, and this contrast was spectacular. I thought the movie was really onto something at the beginning: take the current obsession with Disney, use that feeling to build a mood, then proceed to crush that mood with painful, Rob Zombi-ish violence. What a way to play your hand! Instead it pursues insanely stupid CGI, predictable jump scares, and a fantasy that never really seems to escape the screen.
The Sentinel, on the other hand, is visually stimulating and it has a great storyline. There are some 70’s babes, luscious fashion and style, and fun film techniques at work. The story never gives too much away and leads into the twist temptingly. It also features the mom from National Lampoon, Beverly D’Angelo, in a very tantalizing role.
Actually, watch the new It movie too and let me know what you think of it. At the very least this will eat up more of your shared Thanksgiving time and limit the time to degenerate into a political conversation.
Listen to the new Cure album, Songs of a Lost World, and watch Robert Smith crying (@ 7 minutes).
This band is special in so many ways and the emotion I see in Robert Smith is simply beautiful. The Cure has moved me to tears many times throughout my 35 years of listening to them (thank you mom and dad), but their latest release seems to be edging into something greater: when forever meets goodbye.
I’ve heard Shaquille O’Neil say it and Robert Smith express it through song, and they all seem to agree — Life is Precious.
All of the political rage and upset that you feel will mean nothing when it’s time to say goodbye. Don’t allow the precious people of your life to become strangers because of a difference in perspective, you never know if you’ll have an opportunity to repair the damage done, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Listen to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History.
Dan Carlin’s voice is calming, but the history he speaks of is brutal. Maybe hearing the woes of our forefathers will help add a little perspective to the comforts we enjoy. Everyone from your nephew to grandma can get behind a little humbling history lesson.
Watch cat/dog/monkey/FAIL/travel/crafting whatever videos, cut down a tree, redecorate the house you’re in, just don’t talk about politics.
Here’s another reason why. In order to be able to talk about politics sensibly Google suggests you do this:Choose the right moment (read: NOT Thanksgiving)
Establish common ground
Listen actively
Focus on issues, not personalities
Stay humble and open-minded
Avoid emotional appeals
Practice active empathy
Can you even do 2 or 3 of these when discussing political issues?
This is why folks are disowning their grandparents and people are getting politically-based divorces, because no one is practicing anything that makes them better at living a life of compromise, but all of us are really good at getting pissed off and telling a son of a bitch off. Of course, the latter feels so much better, so much more infectious, so much more satisfying in the end.
But you’re just feeding the addict.
Let the only addict showing up be the glutton trying to please every family member that cooked. Break your belt with your belly. Skyrocket your blood sugar into dancing on the razor’s edge of a coma. Take a nap with the dog.
Most of all, appreciate the people you already don’t see all that much throughout the year.
But for the love of god, leave your unoriginal, pieced-together-by-all-the-media-you-consume political views where they belong — off the dinner table.
If at this point you’re only imagining one political party I implore that you question your openness and wonder why your political party is excused from this vision. Got an Us vs Them thing going in your brain?? That’s the problem.
I also have my father to thank for this. In high school and college my perspective swayed toward Marxism because I was into punk, social justice, and anarcho-influenced philosophy, but my father grew up under Russian communism in Poland, so his disdain for socialist thinking is based in actual experience. We shared many disagreements but it never led to either of us disowning or disregarding what the other was saying. When I hear about people distancing themselves from their family members based around political beliefs it sort of disgusts me — it’s really cringe. Where did our ability to tolerate an idea go? Where did trying to understand a perspective, instead of react to it, go?
I cannot recommend this place enough. The owner is a talker and if he likes you he’ll even invite you to lunch at his friend’s restaurant. I first went to his store when I was 16 and it seems that he never forgot me (he always remembers me as the Polish metal kid from Chicago). I’ve been back to Poland 6 or 7 times since my first visit to this store and I never miss an opportunity to go back. The guy loves heavy metal. He worked on many different concerts/bookings/etc (including Gorgoroth’s infamous Black Mass, which led to Poland banning the band from ever reentering the country due to the explicit, Satanic nature of the concert). He has pictures with Metallica, Megadeth, Sepultura, Acid Drinkers, and the list goes on and on. For those familiar with Polish rockers he worked with Kazik and Budka Suflera, among others. His store is very close to the City Center (Rynek) where all the aesthetically appealing history is found (Kościuł Mariacki, Ratusz, Wawel).
I admit it, I am a self-trained age/weight guesser as I aspired to be a traveling carney after reading too much Ray Bradbury as a naive young man.