Department of Bad Ideas

October 2 is the 275th day of the year. There are now 90 days left until the end of 2021.  This is the day for meditation on stillness.  Meditating on stillness, we do not disturb the mind.

The waning crescent moon is only 15% full.  The Harvest Moon's remaining days are few.

It's Richard Hell's birthday!  The New York punk rocker (Television, Richard Hell and the Voidoids) recorded the punk anthem Blank Generation in 1977 and turns 72 today.  Coincidentally, on the day in 1949 that Hell was born in Lexington, Kentucky, photographer Annie Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut.

On a sadder note, today is also the day that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered (2018), rock star Tom Petty OD'ed (2017), and comedian Nipsey Russell left this mortal realm (2005). Impermanence is swift.

An interesting note about my neighborhood (interesting to me because I live here, but maybe, perhaps, not as interesting to you) - I've lived here for 17 years and have never once seen a political campaign sign up in anyone's yard.  Demographically, we're a pretty homogenous little community, mostly (but not exclusively) white.  Most are married couples, most are straight, and about half have kids living with them.  Almost all are white-collar professionals and I'd guess that almost all have been to college, and we even have at least two medical doctors (M.D.s) in our midst.  It's pretty vanilla.

Yet, despite that demographic sameness, I suspect there's a wide range of political orientations.  We don't talk politics (at least not with me), but this election precinct went for Biden last year and for Obama during the last presidential campaign.  I've seen enough eyes roll on the few occasions when Trump's name has been mentioned to guess that most of my neighbors are Democrats, and possibly even progressive Democrats.  But I'm also pretty sure, based on a few other comments I've heard, that some are probably Republics, possibly even full-blown MAGA Tea Party conservative Republicans.

But everybody is super nice to everyone else, and everyone makes a concerted effort to get along and maintain a harmonious neighborhood.  Therefore, we don't talk politics at our monthly social events down at the cul-de-sac or when we run into each other out for a stroll or walking dogs.  

And we don't put up campaign signs. After all, those signs polarize and antagonize some people just as much as they show solidarity and create good will in others, and I don't think many people have changed their minds about politics based on seeing someone else's campaign sign.

The campaign for Buckhead to secede from the City of Atlanta is already partisan and polarizing.  It may, if the campaign's strategy is successful, come up for election in 2022 and I think it's going to become only more bitter as the campaign progresses. Just like so many other issues these days, one's position on the issue seems to fall along party lines - conservatives and Republicans endorse the plan, and progressives and Democrats oppose it.  And the redder one is, the more fervent one's support, and vice versa.  

There's already a lot of chatter about the pros and cons on social media and local op-ed pages, but no one listens to the other's side.  Everyone's mind seems already made up, and no amount of argument, explanation, oratory, propaganda, or misinformation seems to change anyone's mind.  It's a gut-level, intuitive position (the subconscious elephant), not a logical, rational decision (the monkey mind).  

One of my neighbors, about three houses down, put up a "Buckhead City" yard sign today, the first political yard sign I've seen going back to 2004.  My first reaction was a desire to tear it down, but I don't want to be like that (clarification: I don't want to be caught doing that).  My second reaction was to put up a "No To Buckhead City" sign in my own front yard to counter-balance and neutralize theirs,  but I can already see that's the beginning of polarization and disharmony in this otherwise friendly little neighborhood.  I'm not putting up a "No" sign, at least not yet, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see signs on both sides of this issue starting to crop up around the block.  

And we're still over a year away, at the earliest, from a vote on this issue. It's only going to get worse.