Memories of the 28th Century

Satire has become very difficult to write, because actual events have become so absurd, and straight-faced statements are more absurd than anything I could dream up. This came to mind because I saw in the news that Republicans are suggesting that the U.S. should send troops to Ukraine. And I consider that to be insane.

Apparently those people don’t remember that Russia has roughly as many nuclear weapons as the U.S. has. While it would be nice if Russia were to pull their commandos out of Ukraine, Russia’s actions in Ukraine are not causi belli for the U.S.A., but U.S. troops in the Ukraine could be viewed as a causus belli by Russia. Whether it would escalate to a nuclear war is an open question that I would prefer not to get a certain answer for.

While Poland is not Ukraine, it is right next, and I just saw this headline “U.S. ground troops going to Poland, defense minister say” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...minister-says/ (I wrote this a few days ago, and the U.S. troops are in Poland). There are a fair number of other stories about NATO deployment in the Baltics and Poland. The face-off hasn’t happened, yet, but it is a distinct possibility. It would be ironic if a supposedly non-hostile Russia were to start what an openly hostile USSR didn’t start.

But that isn’t the only matter in which actuality trumps satire. Several months ago I was looking for examples of an absurd idea that no one would believe. I dreamed a little and imagined that humans were descended from lizard-like aliens. After I initially used that idea I looked for it online, just to be sure, and I immediately found many examples of things about those aliens and how they took over humanity. Some of the stories were clearly humorous, but it was clear that some stories were completely serious. George W. Bush and Barack Obama are both of lizard ancestry, according to some sites, and the lizards are running the Illuminati, of course. But the people who present that Idea may be kidding; it's hard to tell.

And even more insane is the CIA base on Mars. I was first exposed to this concept by an elderly gentleman who was talking to someone who was standing next to me. I just walked away. I couldn’t think of any other reaction that would be reasonable. Later, I searched for information about the base, and I learned that the Mars base has been in use for quite some time, and Barack Obama served a two year hitch there when he was in his late teens. Apparently the White House has denied that Obama was at the Mars base, and they wouldn’t have made a denial, if there was nothing to deny, so the base must be there.

In these mad modern days when one can’t tell satire from news there are lots of things that probably are too absurd to be serious; although they have been reported as fact in the press. Obamacare couldn’t have been passed by Congress, because it violates the Constitution, and even if it were constitutional it is absurd, because it would push up the cost of medical care to the point where only very few would be able to get any, and that would drive all of the medical personnel out of that profession. Even if the medical industry didn’t collapse for several years, the amounts of money going into the insurance industry would unbalance the U.S. economy. No, Obamacare wasn’t passed. That is so completely absurd that it can’t be real.

That’s the best example that I have seen recently, but there have been other examples of things that are too absurd to be possible being reported as if they had actually happened. I was trying to figure out why this has happened. Then I looked at a forum for writers that I sometimes look at, and there was a question about mental illness in characters. That led me to think that the easy going attitude toward mental illness these days may have resulted in many people who, in earlier times, would had have been in asylums are not confined any more, and some of them are getting into positions where some people take them at face value. Putin may be a sociopath, and it appears that Obama is delusional. Their symptoms aren’t all that bad most of the time, so they can live just fine, if they are adequately medicated.

Is this stretching the point, or has mental patients' liberation movement been too successful?
I will think a little more about this. I have no desire to be disrespectful toward most people, but I think that there is a real, objective difference between delusion and actual fact. I have been thinking about how mentally ill people are treated, but I haven’t found a way to come at the matter.



White House denies Obama went to Mars
http://www.wired.com/2012/01/obama-mars/