Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

General Discussion

Showing Original Post only (View all)

PCIntern

(28,890 posts)
Sat Jul 11, 2026, 08:29 AM Yesterday

Wake the hell up... [View all]

Ever since I was a teenager, every time I heard the phrase “This is not who we are.” after some miscreant or group of miscreants did something reprehensible, I would roll my eyes in disbelief that someone other than a member of the clergy would have the temerity to say that.

Why would I be cynical at age 13? I was born in the early 1950’s: all we saw on TV were outlaws, murderers, thieves, liars, adulterers, child molesters, kidnappers, embezzlers, abusers of women (both societally sanctioned and criminal), shoplifters, assassins, malicious pranksters, tax cheats, angry and resentful teenagers and adults, traitors, perjurers, con men, blackmailers, and a whole bunch of creative and innovative villains of all stripes which the police, state police, FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and mysterious governmental agencies were employed full time with tens of thousands on the payroll had to battle.

Of course, in early TV and film, the bad guys would have to be somehow defeated but we knew that that wasn’t always the case. Many of us were acquainted with people and even whole families who’d gotten away with all kinds of stuff for years. All the righteous sanctimony was out the window as far as I was concerned: the laws were enacted to attempt to dissuade most people from doing what they’d really like to do, which is harm. Harming people, harming family, harming retail establishments, harming insurance companies and the rest.

This tinhorn Mussolini we’ve got in what’s left of the White House allowed a great number of Americans to live their fantasies of lawlessness, adultery, lecherousness, overindulgence, outright denial by almost proudly lying, and the constant expression of both victimhood and the id as Freud defined it. It is the realization of the Twilight Zone episode “It’s A Good Life” which Rod Serling himself wrote. It is a horror beyond horrors and we are living, somehow, through this.

It is however, the beginning of the end for him. Entropy, both political and physiological is increasing. The McConnell situation is a portent of coming attractions. The next chapter of this saga is in outline form and about to be written. I would say however, that if anyone had written a series of scripts for a miniseries and simply had had a glimpse into this future, it would have been rejected at every level as being too unbelievable even for a gullible audience. That is how absolutely outrageous this time has been.

29 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Wake the hell up... [View all] PCIntern Yesterday OP
rec for the billy mumy reference rampartd Yesterday #1
Yep. calimary Yesterday #2
You are so right. FalloutShelter Yesterday #3
Excellent point... PCIntern Yesterday #4
We are sharing a brain, John. FalloutShelter Yesterday #5
If it's like some people here.... durablend Yesterday #7
Always nice to hear from you, S. PCIntern Yesterday #14
Will do. FalloutShelter Yesterday #16
Everybody breaks and bends laws. OC375 Yesterday #6
It's driving me mad purr-rat beauty Yesterday #8
So often I have commented that what we are experiencing with Trump and his cohorts is surreal. Bumbles Yesterday #9
More coma than nightmare,IMHO. BattleRow Yesterday #19
Hear, hear! ZDU Yesterday #10
Very well said PatSeg Yesterday #11
And then...and then we had the rise of the antihero PCIntern Yesterday #13
Oh yes! PatSeg Yesterday #17
Acquiescent accomplices. BattleRow Yesterday #22
"They will never get rid of Roe v Wade, they won't dare touch the Voting Rights Act, people are not going to vote dalton99a Yesterday #12
It is a disease and it has infected so many. twodogsbarking Yesterday #15
Righteously right-on piece! Just Jerome Yesterday #18
I just saw your reply... Pluvious Yesterday #24
How much cruelty, violence, and murder did children see on TV? Martin Eden Yesterday #20
I have a very specialized education: I went to Catholic schools, taught by nuns FakeNoose Yesterday #21
Correction on writer of the story... Pluvious Yesterday #23
Rod Serling wrote the teleplay. PCIntern Yesterday #25
And the SF mags are now gone orthoclad 19 hrs ago #29
I agree. I was born in 1947. OLDMDDEM Yesterday #26
We ARE living in the Twilight Zone. usonian Yesterday #27
Creatures of the id orthoclad 19 hrs ago #28
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Wake the hell up...