Seinfeld, the iconic “show about nothing,” is still good for some laughs, even in perpetual re-run mode. We need to laugh, of course. It is, as the saying goes, the best medicine.
For those whose eyes are wide open, and whose brains are capable of basic logical reasoning, it’s become hard to laugh at what passes for politics, writ large or small. That’s because there’s another “show” that is also about, essentially, nothing, and it is produced and directed, pretty much exclusively by the GOP.
The sickening cynicism and callous extremism that has captured the party with the elephant mascot is a clear and present danger to We the People. Unless you are extremely wealthy. But of course! And white. And male.
Of all the creepy, fascist enactments of anti-democratic policies advanced in the recent past, the banning of books that dare teach historical truths is the most alarming. I cannot imagine being an educator or librarian in many of the blood-red states controlled by the lunatic Right.
Thankfully, Illinois is a fairly safe haven for either of those professions. Critical thinking has yet to be outlawed here. Hopefully never will be. As for that book-banning effort, I noted a quote on the facade of the Riverside Public Library: There Is No Past As Long as Books Shall Live.
Exactly.
Joe Harrington
Oak Park
