Overwhelmed by Sleaze
The result of going beyond stupid
While ignorance and stupidity are definitely having their day, they are normal components of American culture. As an example, every war since 1945 has been started by idiots and ended by the slightly less stupid. The initiators always had some grandiose threat as justification, but as the costs and casualties piled up, those costs proved higher than the original threat. This would lead to less stupid people pointing out the logical error in destroying villages to save them, or that nations are, in fact, not dominoes.
American culture has managed to descend through the normal array of stupid mistakes to the level of sleaze. Sleaze is not a mistake; it is fully aware of what it is doing. Sleaze cannot be corrected or improved. It can only be removed and replaced, preferably with a bulldozer.
Sleaze rarely completes whatever it is doing, usually because there is no more than a rudimentary plan. And that rudimentary plan is subject to constant change as new, bright, shiny objects are discovered, or maintenance is needed to keep complex things working.
The symptoms of this are partially deconstructed buildings and random piles of materials, pending the discovery of a plan for their use. Money is often a problem because it is part of the nonexistent plan, so it is paid for by taking money from other projects or allocations that are often far more important than what it is used for.
Here is an example:
Wars started by idiots are, as stated above, a well-known problem, but until they have not fallen to the level of American sleaze, although it is a close thing. George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” marking the abandonment of the Iraq War, was a marker in America’s descent. But nothing like what is happening under Donald Trump, who is pure sleaze but without the need to hock parts of the presidential limos or Marine One ot feed his habit.
But the mentality is the same. Wreckage has already been left all over the Gulf States with abandoned US bases and several hundred million dollars in precision-targeted military equipment. Iran is notably efficient in the new warfare that does not make unnecessary craters.
Places that have descended to the level of sleaze also begin to acquire abandoned vehicles whose wheels are needed for other things. Note that things tend to pile up.
We can only guess what the White House will look like in January 2029:
Hoping for the best, and we need to work to keep Netanyahu and the Zionists from moving into the White House. Looking at the neighborhoods that they have saved shows where you end up after you have exhausted sleaze and fallen through the floor.
Even you, in this valiant attempt, do not capture the full scope of all the damage done to our lives, our culture, our future, and our ability to trust our fellow citizens.
The before and after pictures of Gaza do it best.
The title is awesome...love it. Sad that it's true. And the damage done will live on long after the dust clouds have lifted, with irreversible damage.