Dark Sentiments Season 12 — Day 2: I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Come to It
Posted By Randy on October 8, 2021
It appears another bastard already came to it. (Source: HERE)
Today’s title is one of my favourite situational sentiments, whether spoken aloud or as part of my internal dialog, and I find it useful in one form or another on a semi-regular basis. People hearing it tend to fall into distinct categories, which is at once unsurprising and annoying, because that is something one should make a serious effort never to do:
- They completely miss that the word “burn” has replaced “cross” and react as though I’ve spoken traditionally,
- They believe that I have misspoken and either silently accept what I “clearly meant” in place of what was clearly said, or worse, have the temerity to correct me in that way people do when they hear me speak another favourite, “God help us, every one.”
- They get that something just happened that they don’t understand and so react as though what they’ve just heard is the funniest thing ever said to them, which in many cases it probably is.
Fortunately, enough vitality remains in the herd to offer up a small but still satisfying demographic who clearly receive the message as intended, whatever that may be at the time. This minuscule subset of the greater whole I view as satisfying because, as you will come to learn about society, one can never go wrong with low expectations (which I would add are not anywhere close to the same thing as underestimation, but I digress).
These cognitive pitfalls that can arise from exposure to a perverse rephrasing of an otherwise familiar turn of phrase are a reaction to its novel departure from the familiar in a manner comparable to an encounter with anything else unusual or unexpected, of any size, in any place and time. Most people will miss it entirely and simply go on with their day, others will notice and either choose to ignore it or rebrand its significance as deserving of little to no further consideration or attention on their part, and those sufficiently aroused to not only notice but attempt to correct its nonconformity soon find themselves engaged in a futile attempt to get the pesky square peg back into a round hole it never came out of in the first place.
The latter mindset is at the root of something I’ve proferred reminders of in the past:
“Everything can’t be quantified into Meaning, and moreover there is no need for it to be unless your world is a Hollywood movie where nothing can be taken as it is and every character needs a backstory.” ~ Winds of Change — Part the Sixth — Epilogue
and
“In truth, not all in life, nor in art, need be explained – for what is wrong with accepting that a situation just is and telling the story from there?” ~ Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 4: The Erotic Art of Yoji Muku
Everyone has had the experience of having two glasses with different contents within arm’s reach, for example one with water and the other orange juice, and of taking a sip from one thinking it was the other. Neither in themselves unpalatable, the alarms set off in the mouth of the drinker will belie the fact, possibly to the point of spitting it out like it’s battery acid.
“What the HELL was that?!”
What the hell indeed.
The times we are now living through, Goode Reader, are a marked departure from anything that might gain relevance by revelation of backstory, awash as they are in existential contradictions, admonishments to “do the right thing”, and a menu proclaiming the special of the day as a choice between the shit sandwich and the shit soup. If ever a sequence of events highlighted the grim Truth inherent in the gleaming pavements of good intentions, this is it.
So now, ready your taste buds for a superb visual representation of a day’s cornucopia of news coverage, public health proclamations, and all the sense they make in comparison to yesterday. In the spirit of Alex’s “therapy” in A Clockwork Orange, and mindful of the aforesaid admonishments, have someone offer you a familiar drink and then hand you something else entirely while you sit back to enjoy the next 8 minutes of ZVP courtesy of Blast Entertainment.
See you next Friday.
El Hansh rages against the system. Current events and all that trivia. Zatoichi and bless his peculiar ass. Poisoned needles and all that jazz.
Absolutely accept a fourth stimulus payoff. That’s right, payoff, not payout. Why? Simple. If those in government can rip off the people then there is no reason why the people can’t reverse the trend and rip off the government, which they have been doing since time immemorial as ways to get around restrictions, mandates, etc.
The ‘shot’? Ain’t no thing because of the mentality you apply to its beneficence or not. If you think it is a ‘kill’ shot then you are subject to propaganda that you or for that matter anyone knows about it in the least with the exception of the manufacturers that are gleaning zillions of dollars from the hype. If you look at it as harmless and you are maintaining your own regimen for immunity, mentally and physically, then you are just as qualified to accept your own immortality without fear of falling down dead from a media hyped bunch of baloney. If ‘they’ are trying to force it down your throat and you are offended, tell them to stash it in their barrack’s bags.
Freedom? Another supposed concept of democracy that does not exist outside of your own consciousness regardless of your presumed level of societal position. Everyone and everything is dependent upon everyone and everything else and it does not matter where you position yourself in the food chain. All are slaves to their own passions and ideals and there is nothing wrong with that as long as you understand that you are the prime reason for the universe having been created and you adapt to the conditions you find yourself in and laugh all the way to the promised land that you yourself invent.
The ‘perfect ‘way’? Attach yourself to detachment. You are finite in physical form and cannot be otherwise until you depart this plane. Acknowledge that you go and come in perfect safety and without delay and are kept from harm’s way and as well, your house is safe from strangers. Just make sure your guns are primed and loaded to repel those who would fear your self-revealizations and would attempt to impose on your devices.
Humanity? We are the virus.
End of story and stop playing with your petunias. (And, gee, I just earned 100% for this rant with the Microsoft Editor score.) Catch on?