Your Personal Rubicon

Having passed mine ...

You should watch this … about America’s steady, daily progression towards fascism … and when you yourself are going to reach the point of no return. And in general you ought to subscribe to @InnuendoStudios, they’ve got a lot of short, clear, useful videos like this.

I’ve thought that our national wake up moment was this:

But one of those bright lines I laid down for my personal involvement was crossed last year.

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Violence.

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Not from the right. An internal dispute. I laughed when I initially heard, because the target had been asking for an intervention, asking for a while, and in a variety of ways.

I’m not concerned about what happened, those involved are not the kind of people that are going to resort to getting the authorities involved. People who are that far out of bounds handle things in their own way.

But among a variety of bumps on the rough ride that was 2024, that one got me fully airborne, and when I landed I was just done. I don’t have any personal concern there, it’s not like I’m next on the list. I’ve just been expecting it to happen, not that one particular situation, but in principle, and it finally did.

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Usually I have some lengthy, usually multifaceted explanation for why things are a certain way. This one, I do not. I didn’t have one when I watched that video in the early hours of February 15th. I didn’t have one when I opened this editor to start writing. I’m likely to finish this, schedule it, go away and sleep, and it’ll be queued but not posted. I am not expecting to wake up with a good explanation.

I stuck to the big picture in Mourning Mankind. What I perceived to be THE existential crisis for our species is not getting attention, and we’re on a cusp, one where we may already be past being able to influence the course of events. Maybe some of you kids see a way around it, for me it looks like the final roll of the dice right before The Jackpot begins in earnest.

A great many of you, here in the year 2025, are going to need to mindfully pick your own personal “no more” point. The danger in not doing this is that it’ll come, pass, and you’ll recognize it in the rear view mirror. Or worse, you’ll reach that point standing in a seething crowd when the tear gas canisters start to fly. And then you’ll do something foolish and impulsive, rather than calculated and at least nominally wise.