Look, I get it — a good portion of what's going on in the world has a heavy ick factor attached to it. More and more, however, I get the impression that people just plain want to be in a bad mood.
In recent weeks especially, I've noticed an uptick in, shall we say, earnestness in emails sent and in the comments section of seemingly every column that I write. Many of my best efforts to either disarm or distract people with nonsensical humor are going unnoticed and/or unremarked upon. I'm sure that plenty of people will say, "Well, maybe you've lost it, Kruiser."
Nah, that's not it.
After a combined 42 years in conservative activism and media, I know for a fact that people on our side of the aisle are a lot more fun than the libs. And I do mean a lot. That's difficult to notice sometimes these days. My fear is that the utter frothing-at-the-mouth lunacy of the Trump Derangement Syndrome Democrats is turning some of our people into constipated scolds, which is the leftist caricature of us that I've been pushing back on for decades.
I think it's important for everyone — including me — to remember that bringing one's blood pressure to a boil in a conservative echo chamber isn't going to save the Republic, nor is arguing with lefties online. Their madness is toxic and will wear on you after a while. At the end of April, I wrote that I would be taking a "brief" hiatus from my workday habit of reading the Opinion sections of The New York Times and The Washington Post. Watching chimps fling feces at each other at the zoo gets old quickly. That hiatus has been extended, by the way.
I am a big fan of doing something recreational every day that takes me away from politics completely. I go for several walks. I play video games. A couple of years ago, I made a conscious decision to stop reading political books. There's enough political reading in one work week of mine to last a long time.
What really surprises a lot of people who meet me in a casual social setting for the first time is that I don't talk about politics unless I'm at a political event. It should be noted that I stopped going to political events four years ago. All of these activities serve as release valves for the pressure cooker of American politics. There will always be negativity waiting for me when I get back to reading and writing about the Dems. For a few minutes or hours, though, I'm in a good mood.
And that's OK.
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