Sham

      Professional wrestling, with its good guys and bad guys, struck me as illogical as a child.  I had a friend, Sam, who attended matches with his parents.  He showed me wrestling magazines, pointed out bloody faces, hair pulling, metal chairs bonking the heads of good guy wrestlers.  He believed in it; I was skeptical.

     How could one side always lose?  Why did referees allow flagrant rules violations?  Why did referees allow themselves sometimes to be hit, and then they didn't stop the contest?  

     I didn't realize it then, but pro wrestling is a show designed to be the way it is.  Like American politics.

     In the case of the 2020 election the "good guy" Biden has defeated the "bad guy" Trump.  Trump and Biden represent the same interests: Wall Street, Big Pharma, the health insurance industry, the military industrial complex, arms dealers, war profiteers, the wealthy and those even wealthier.  On these points there is no difference between the two candidates.

     I watched a nineteen minute long contentious debate on a Progressive YouTube channel. The subject was who to vote for: Biden or Trump, and who will be more damaging?  I came away from it thinking, "It's like they're trying to determine if a man who murders 100 people is better or worse than a man who murders 101 people."

     Except that, for both of these men, the numbers of those killed by them directly and indirectly is in the hundreds of thousands.

     Since the Biden presidency hasn't yet happened, we don't know if he'll be "better" than Trump or not.  Biden has already inflicted damage on millions of African American lives; he supported and vehemently argued in favor of the Iraq War (meaning he's the moral equivalent of Dick Cheney, a Republican whom Biden admits he likes).  Biden's evil acts are long established; expecting him to change into a good person, not a con man pretending sincerity, is shameful behavior in any rational human being.

     At what point do we say no to these choices?  The brutal and greedy Republican or the corrupt backstabbing Democrat committed to enriching the ruling class further while snuffing out hope?

     Right now, while I don't feel well (could be allergies), I know that if I get Covid-19 in America, my government will do nothing to help me.  A man from another country on Instagram posted a black and white handsome photo of Joe Biden, writing underneath, "Congratulations America! Welcome back to the world!"

     I took it to mean he's happy for us and the world that Trump has been defeated (in spite of what Trump claims).  I commented to him: "The triumph of neoliberalism."

     It doesn't take much time to find out about the character and deeds of a politician.  Since I practice that, I get exasperated with those who are ignorant of the diabolical nature of many of our leaders.  I've been told just in the last two weeks by family and friends they're enthusiastic about Kamala Harris.  They know nothing of Harris's corruption, her commitment to the practice of institutional racism, her persecution of African Americans, her hollow personality revealing a treacherous nature willing to accept donations for policies (Medicare for All for example) which she later disavowed, having taken advantage of citizens who believed in her.

     How can anyone support such noxious behavior?

     Trump, too, is noxious, but his opponents are just as bad.

     The wrestling ring contains only bad guys.

Vic Neptune

The Election Decision

     I've paid little attention to the U.S. election these past few days.  Liar One versus Liar Two.  Rich Man One versus Rich Man Two.  War Pig One versus War Pig Two.  In the One spot I place Joe Biden, because he's been in the business of screwing America for forty-three years while Donald Trump has been doing same for three.  Both men lack compassion, both pretend they care about "the little guy," both have cultivated public images detached from the real crimes against humanity they've both committed.

     We Americans are expected to vote for one or the other.  I voted for neither.  I chose to not vote.  I know this decision of mine will seem irresponsible to some, especially family and maybe a few friends.  How could I not participate in offering my voice to the great democratic tradition of voting for presidential candidates chosen by powerful and wealthy men and women having no concern for the needs of the masses during a pandemic, a looming eviction apocalypse, and Great Depression-style unemployment figures?

     How could I not offer my voice to support either the incumbent's incompetence, or the challenger's settled evil that's been growing since he sold his soul as an ambitious 1970s politician?

     Evil?  Yes, and Trump, too.

     How else should we explain both candidates' firm commitment to health insurance industry executives and stockholders over the will of hundreds of millions suffering through a global plague and all of its connected chaos--our will (supported by polls) to say "Yes!" to Medicare for All, necessary now more than ever before.  Biden and Trump, our two contestants, both reject that policy, meaning they lack interest in saving millions of lives over time; meaning, they're fucking evil.

     I had planned to write in Jesse Ventura, former Governor of Minnesota, former pro wrestler; in fact, a sensible man imbued with honesty and caring for his fellow human beings (he's for Medicare for All, for one thing).  The morning of the election I had to go to work.  I could've gotten up earlier and walked half a block to my polling place, waited in line, but I didn't.  At the time, I didn't know why.  I had planned to vote, but a calmness came over me.  I knew there were state and local races to also vote for, but I couldn't go to the polling place.  

     For the first time in many months of this uncertain, testing year, I felt peace in regard to the political process, in its spectacle, a show I don't believe in.  We are lied to every day.  No one in their right minds would want Joe Biden or Donald Trump to be President.  Neither of them offer anything to ordinary people.  Either of them will provide a gross bunch of unneeded aid to the wealthiest pricks in America. We need Trump and Biden like a lung cancer patient needs to smoke Marlboros.

     Still, the spectacle's entertaining.  I watched a YouTube video analyzing the election results.  As of this writing the outcome hasn't been determined.  I offer the following headline:

          ASSHOLE WINS PRESIDENCY

     Works either way.

     We need to stop admiring the white collar criminals who are killing us.

Vic Neptune