scijessreads

This is one of those posts where it is mostly me treating this space like a personal journal. Not that blogging isn’t a personal journal of sorts, but there is usually more of a format and theme and stuff that goes on. Lately, though, it’s been hard to focus. The last few posts I had managed to batch over a weekend where I had some rare free time. Now… time is not my friend at the moment. Too much going on at work (not all bad, just busy and a lot). Too much going on in the world.

A lot of it has come down to that second thing in recent days. At this point, there is so much happening in the U.S. at a rate that far exceeds most of our capabilities to stay informed and also take care of ourselves, without wanting to curl up into a ball in the corner and weep for how fast everything has been willfully broken around us. The rugged, independent American streak is not doing anyone any favors. We live in a world. Isolating and cutting off large swaths of said world is not a move that will benefit us in the long run.

Never ending nihilism and existential dread is not a way to get through the day. But, alas, here we are. Everything that we thought could happen is happening, and from the looks of things there is not a lot of push-back or consequences for anyone at the moment, when there would be alarms and hand-wringing if another party were currently in office. I’m just saying… the mental gymnastics and absolute hypocrisy in action should be astounding. Unfortunately, it’s expected at this point. And when the dust settles, I fear it will be far worse than many would like to believe. There can be no such thing as willful ignorance at a time like this. That course of action is a display of extreme privilege that very few actually have.

I don’t know what this means for the future. All I do know is that I will continue to read all the books, support all the groups that are being systematically disappeared, removed from recognition, and outright persecuted. I will continue to be a scientist, an educator, and a champion of learning. I may not speak out all the time, but I am sure by now with the books I read and other things I have posted, it should not be any surprise as to where I stand on business. I will not “obey in advance.” And while I do make considerations as to my own personal safety and ability to continue to survive, I do not blindly follow patriotism off a cliff. I hold to my community and to my morals and values, not to a person or a cult of power. I’ve read too much dystopian fiction to stick my head in the sand at what is happening right now. Hell, I’ve read too much history to do so.