The Talking Dog

May 28, 2016, We make our own reality


Or... is it the day that reality t.v. swallowed reality? Thus is the question as Teflon Don Trump told a California audience that "there is no drought." Well, that's the headline anyway... the actual quotes appear to be that drought or not, a President Trump will open up the taps for those he deems politically appropriate (presumably farmers who will vote for him)... overall actual and quite undeniable drought be damned.

The irony, of course, is that there is a certain insanity to American water management, especially in the far West, as it is-- perhaps paradigmatic of so many other American insanities, that represent longstanding power distributions, rather than any kind of sound management practices. Indeed, the very idea that the very same crops that grow East of the Mississippi, an area of the country blessed with usually plentiful rainfall, must also be grown in the more arid regions West thereof, is f'ing crazy... and yet, has been our policy for well-nigh over a century. Just one of countless insane policies-- that are nonetheless politically and culturally sacrosanct.

Whereas some people recognize that the overall American status quo is insane and clamor for anyone-- ANYONE-- who promises to change it (be it Bernie or, ahem, Herr Drumpf)... one hopes there is a subtle difference between the two year old having a tantrum and smashing the toy and the more, ahem, mature, who quietly clean up the mess.

Obviously, the simplistic "solutions" being offered presumably fit well for a population that has been duly pacified through well over a decade of "reality t.v.," and indeed, decades more of deliberate pacification by the aptly named idiot box (and Mr. Trump has been a master of its use, thus far at least.)

Which does make one ultimately ask, "Do androids dream of electric sheeple?"