• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Thursday, August 18, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

In America, Reality No Longer Applies

Stephen J. Lyons by Stephen J. Lyons
10/26/21
in Featured, Opinion
President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden discusses defending the Affordable Care Act and his health care plans in an information convention in Wilmington, November 16, 2020. Photo: Stratos Brilakis / Shutterstock

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

There is so much in this world I will never understand. For example, how do those shiny rims on certain SUVs spin the opposite direction of the car’s forward motion?

But the most nagging quandary is: why are so many of my fellow Americans refuse reality? A recent CNN poll sent me to the liquor cabinet… again. Seventy percent of Republicans polled said that President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected, and 30 percent of everyone, including Democrats and independents believe the same Big Canard. This despite dozens upon dozens of lawsuits and recounts to the contrary. Even a Trump-packed conservative Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly against the lie and in favor of upholding Biden’s obvious landslide victory.

Plenty of blame goes to the former president, and now fulltime Mar-a-Lago greeter and doorman Donald Trump, for muddying the waters before and after the 2020 election by claiming that the only way he could lose would be through cheating. As if all the people in charge of each state’s election conspired to tamper with ballots to ensure a Biden victory by seven million votes.

The January 6 insurrection at the Capitol to stop the validation of the 2020 election, and do real harm to police officers and those legislators willing to defend and carry out a peaceful transition of power, further perpetuated the Deep State conspiracy theories that ran rampant on social media and in the rural compounds of our well-regulated militias.

Conservative media outlets and Trump allies in Congress kept that fantasy alive, and today are paying for it with billion-dollar lawsuits, settlements and on-air apologies.

Should be the end of the story, right?

Not at all. Not in America, where believing in facts is optional. Six months later, seven out of every ten Republican voters refuse to accept that reality.

COVID-19 Vaccine

On to the next sphere of collective stupidity: the fear of the COVID-19 vaccine. Last month a Monmouth University poll found that one in five Americans said they will not get the injection. The numbers break down along predictable political lines: 43 percent of Republicans say no to the vaccine, compared with 5 percent of Democrats, and 22 percent of independents in agreement.

Despite almost 600,000 deaths in the US and 33 million cases, despite the fact that the coronavirus variants currently devastating India are already present here in the States, millions of our fellow citizens do not see the need for protecting themselves or others. Again, the same anti-government-Deep State theories abound. For example, if Bill Gates is involved in financing one of the vaccines then it no doubt contains a microchip (in liquid form I guess and, my, isn’t that clever?) that tracks our every movement.

Let me pause here and break the news to the paranoid posse that the most effective tracking device has already been unleashed. It fits in the palm of your hand. It’s called a cell phone. They know where you are, where you’ve been, and probably where you’re going.

Is history still taught in our schools? I ask because throughout this country’s recent past vaccines have been a force for good in improving the quality of life for Americans. Yet, the resistance continues to grow among the anti-vaxxers, not only to the COVID vaccines, but to other vaccines such as those that protect us from the flu and shingles. No, the flu shot will not give you the flu. Or autism. And, dear reader, trust me, you do not want to experience shingles.

(By the way, a leading anti-vaxxer is none other than Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which proves that intelligent, critical thinking can sometimes skip generations, and that quackery is not limited to some guy belching word salad on a street corner.)

History is a great teacher if one bothers to read it. This nation came together to rally for (wait for it) “the common good” when it rolled out the March of Dimes and other charities in the 1950s to provide polio vaccinations to all children regardless of income level. The polio scourge was finally wiped out. Thank you Jonas Salk and, yes, a tip of the hat to the federal government. Vaccines have for the most part ended measles, mumps, and whooping cough.

But there is still yeoman’s work to be done on developing a vaccine for stupidity. One would think that with all of our available modern medical technology that somewhere in a sterile laboratory the white-coated scientists were working furiously to inoculate the millions of Americans who believe, for instance, that former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was behind a voter fraud scheme that cost President Trump a second term in office.

Until we have an effective cure I recommend the following preventative measures: Social distance from the tin-foil cartel wherever they congregate. If you cannot get far enough away from them, utilize a mask, a face shield, and ear plugs. And do not, under any circumstances, cite history, facts, or anything contained in a book. I hope this helps.

Now, can someone explain those spinning rims?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
ShareTweet
Stephen J. Lyons

Stephen J. Lyons

Author of four books of essays and journalism. His most recent book is 'Going Driftless: Life Lessons from the Heartland for Unraveling Times'

Related Posts

US President Donald Trump
Opinion

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

by Stephen J. Lyons
August 17, 2022
Mar-A-Lago raid
National

FBI Raid on Trump’s Home Ignites Political Firestorm

by Staff Writer
August 9, 2022
Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy
Featured

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

by Stephen J. Lyons
August 5, 2022
US President Donald Trump
Opinion

Owning the Words and the Libs

by Stephen J. Lyons
June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims
Opinion

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

by Stephen J. Lyons
June 3, 2022
A man holding a gun
Featured

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

by Stephen J. Lyons
May 2, 2022
Next Post
Alexey Navalny

Russia to Debate Bill Banning Navalny Supporters From Polls: Lawmaker

Israel violence

Trump Slams Biden 'Weakness' as Israel Violence Swells

Recommended

A demonstrator sprays paint over an upside-down portrait of Chinese leader Xi Jinping

China Use of Psychiatric Hospitals to Punish Activists ‘Widespread:’ Report

August 17, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

August 17, 2022
People carry their belonging on their heads while they walk on a flooded road following heavy rain downpour in Wawa in Ogun State southwest Nigeria

Deadly Floods Kill 50 in Northern Nigeria

August 17, 2022
Marina Ovsyannikova

Russian TV Journalist Faces Jail Time for Anti-Putin Protest

August 10, 2022
Mar-A-Lago raid

FBI Raid on Trump’s Home Ignites Political Firestorm

August 9, 2022
Ukraine nuclear plant

Ukraine Calls for De-Militarization of Occupied Nuclear Plant

August 8, 2022

Opinion

US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

August 17, 2022
Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

August 5, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Owning the Words and the Libs

June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

June 3, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post