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I’m posting this on Milquetoast’s behalf, as I’m not sure I’m ready for him to post on his own. His pieces can use a strong editorial hand. He disagrees with this. He calls me Maxine Perkins; it’s an accurate nickname.

Herewith, Milquetoast Kaczynski:

Democracy rules!  

Please understand that at its heart, when you really understand it (in a way that agrees with my opinions), democracy is all about agreement, about the community coming together; about standing shoulder to shoulder and marching together into the future.  It’s about unity.  A unity that comes together and hates any opinions that disagree with the always correct goal of My Side.

Naipaul once wrote about a character that “he had a lot of opinions, but he didn’t have a point of view.”  He might as well have been describing progressives.  Empty bags of opinions, constantly changing whenever it’s politically convenient or emotionally satisfying.  No firm convictions or ideals that never change.  Just opinions, changing with the current fashions.  

Progressive opinions of the Now:

Science?  

Progressives love science.  They seldom shut up about how they love science, and I’m not sure what they mean when they use the word.  Is it the scientific method?  Is it a culture of careful observation and rigorous skepticism?  I think they just see the phrase “studies show and experts agree” and are very impressed.  Do they track down and read the studies or question who these experts are?  Rarely.  “Studies?  Experts!  Those are science words.  It must be true”.  So progressives love science, right until you put the word “Western” in front of it and it becomes “Western science” or “Western medicine”.  

Then the enthusiasm cools.  “Science is just a Western way of looking at things.  Other cultures and other peoples have ways of seeing the world and organizing the world and understanding the world that are just as valid and just as real and just as true as what we in the West call “science.”  Indigenous peoples have found ways to cure all known diseases with just roots and berries and empathy; far more advanced and holistic than our Western medicine.  Science has done a lot of bad stuff too!  Pollution!  Nuclear weapons! Probably racism!  Instead of putting our faith in science we should instead embrace the gentle wisdom of native peoples.”  

I saw this happen in real time once, at a party.  A woman was going on about how much she loves science and how those stupid conservatives don’t believe in science.  I don’t think it was in reference to anything, just something she needed to blurt out occasionally to prove her bona fides as a Good Person.  Time went by and she started talking about how she was really into acupuncture.  I felt like being a dick so I said, “y’know, there’s no scientific basis for acupuncture.  They’ve done studies and it just doesn’t work.”  She looked confused and a little lost until she finally replied, “Well, science doesn’t know everything!”  

And then she went down the expected paths.  “Ancient Chinese wisdom……natural and holistic……stuff Western science doesn’t even consider…science is just a Western way of looking at things.   A Western form of Western arrogance and Western cultural imperialism WESTERN!”  The more she talked, the angrier she got.  

I was a little astonished.  In just a few minutes she had gone from, “I believe in science!  I love science!  I worship and adore science!”  to “fuck science!  I hate science!  Science is stupid!  Science can’t explain shit!”

Now that we’re halfway through this decade, I’m moving back to long-form blogging and away (a bit) from social media posts. See if you like it. I’ll see if I like it. 

I have two guest bloggers of note:  Milquetoast Kaczynski and Florence.

Milquetoast Kaczynski’s pseudonym was provided by a friend who rarely agrees with him. MK goes hard on politics and culture. If you identify as progressive or leftist, he will not be for you (unless you have low blood pressure and a need to raise it quickly). He also writes movie and TV reviews, which his mother appreciates but does not always understand.

Florence is a little more—measured, we’ll say.  She may or may not be to your taste.  She can be spicy, in opinions as well as cooking.

Ah, poems from when I was in my teens and twenties.  Some are not bad; it’s always a little embarrassing to look back at things I thought were SO GREAT and realize that they’re okay but not THE GREATEST THING EVER.  The confidence of youth.

At Home In The Body

Resident of a half-vacant flat

I watch the mirror for signs

Of use:  who to let in, what

To see.  The postal label peels.

I can’t quite read the letters.

Smoother corners than my room is worn to

Echo upwards in the dull air.

I am a small thing hunched over

A warmth that outlines my life.

I don’t move much.

The windows fall like sunlight

Across the room.  The small thing

Extends a hand, imagines bones

The bars of light shift slightly.

We are property, and property

Is theft:  I cannot cotton the eaves

To shut out sounds of ownership.

Slowly,

Assuredly,

Footfalls rise

On the neglected stair.

Snow Fences

Inside the letters there is no weather.

The deer startle Joanna in the backseat

There on the edge they await her cry.

Don’t you realize it’s the first snow?

High was we are, who knows the others

Seeing what we see.

Inside the words fit like a glove

So frozen it cannot write.

Until I asked, who knew what the fences were for?

Keeping nothing in or out, like blown tires on the road’s shoulder

Explaining why we drive

Until we are driven.

I Worry Over Small Words

I worry over small words

To make them speak to you

As if I cared.

In the light I follow birds

That croak of all things new

I worry over small words

Because I want them heard

The false ones and the true

As if I cared.

Apart from what’s occurred

I look for things to do.

I worry over small words

To make them speak to you

As if I cared.

My friend Cari gently reminded me that I spelled my Keurig’s name incorrectly.  Please be advised that henceforward she is Cari.  Gots to be respectful to old friends.  Cari Cari Cari.  There.  I’ve got it down.