Have you watched the news lately? If not, let me fill you in: We are destroying our oceans, our soil, our ecosystems. A few more hot button items:
- Inflation is at an all-time high
- Housing prices as a ratio of take-home-pay is at an all-time high
- Kids have been home from school more days in the past two years than since the Pioneers spun wool.
- International turmoil and chaos are approaching “New World Order” status.
- Local militia participation and the belief that America is heading toward a Civil War have not been so strong since Buchanan was president.
- An impending climate disaster is imminent unless we stop driving to work and all buy solar panels and drive Teslas.
- We also must buy all vegan products; we must buy drinks without straws; we must get a VPN; we need to buy more guns and more ammunition; we need an emergency kit; food storage; a bomb shelter; store away, hoard away, hide away!
Popular trigger warnings include Corporations! Capitalism! Factory farms! The Great Reset! Biden! Trump! Russia! Doom! Gloom! Boom?
Fear-mongering works, doesn’t it? It keeps us glued to our TVs. Fear and emotion and demagoguery in the news make everyone into a political pundit — weighing in politically against the evil political party and estranging our friends. It demoralizes us. Fear can send us into isolation and psychological turmoil. Where we begin to diligently work to collect those who we know who are part of “us” so we can fight against “them”. Fear sells, and it motivates us. It always has.
Why do snakes appear so frequently in ancient literature? Why did we kill off all of the wolves in the western United States? What was holding back the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man? It was fear. If we believe the world is scary, it will paralyze us into submission so we succumb to manipulation. If I’ve managed to raise your heart rate and make you afraid, even a little, here comes the manipulation.
All of the fears we believe in are mostly media products that are marketed and sold to us so that we’ll buy into the hysteria. This way, we become valuable eyeballs that can be resold as mindless consumers of endless products.
Without fear, they have no audience. Without fear, they have nothing to sell. So we remain little fearful creatures, remaining in our caves, hoarding Top Ramen and toilet paper.
But the truth is, despite COVID, despite supply-chain disruptions, inflation, gas-price increases, and political turmoil — scary things that are all indeed real — the truth is that worldwide and at large, humanity has never had it so good. Worldwide poverty and the risk of malnutrition are declining so fast that obesity is quickly overtaking starvation as the greater problem. And today it’s beginning to feel like COVID is in the rear-view mirror, and it’s likely that lockdowns and government mandates are nearly over!
So now, more than ever, it’s time to chill out and drink a beer! Enjoy our beer issue, visit Moab, and seriously, stop watching, stop fearing, and chill out!
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