This rant has been brought to you by mothers: keeping therapists in business since the beginning of human history.
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Driving around and continuing to see large yard billboards emblazoned with the name "Trump", often surrounded by numerous regular size plastic political printings wrapped around flimsy metal framing with built in stakes; i cannot help but think about Africa or South America. No, it's not because Comrade Pussy Grabber's supporters, who have more signs than brain cells, tend to dislike anyone who's skin is darker than the mayonnaise they mix with pasta and call a "salad". My thoughts flow to those continents for yet another reason.
For far too many of President Orange Chode's supporters politics are viewed with the same mentality as sports and elections are followed like Super Bowl Games. Somewhere along the way they picked a team. Maybe because of where they live. Maybe because it's the team passed down to them by their family. Maybe they just like the mascot better or because of friends peer pressure. However they got there, they now pledge allegiance to that team and root for them to win NO MATTER WHAT!
Who gives a shit how they play or what they stand for. Your team must win. Republicans now act like sports fans from Boston - where sports talk radio has evolved sentience and rules over an army of guys named Sully. Who cares about air pressure regulations, spying, and cheating - WE WON (and Brady can do NO WRONG, even in trading teams). Who cares about the deep seated, institutional racism (your pick, Celtics or Red Sox) - WE WIN. Who cares about the leader getting caught with prostitutes... hold on... i've gotten lost in the comparison here... am i talking about politicians or the Patriots? Your choice i guess, both apply. But he won so all was forgiven.
Like Bean Town's sports fans, President Tubby Golfer loyalists believe if you support ANY other team you are the enemy. Not the competition, not an adversary, THE ENEMY. Seeing someone in a NY or LA hat can't be allowed to go unchallenged. Verbal torment on the streets, subways, and sporting complexes are a given commonplace, and physical altercations are unsurprising. All over a choice of teams. This toxic attempt at bullshit masculine posturing (even among the women) is the norm within the Post-Regan, believe in nothing but winning Republican.
So now, after a record turnout of voters and numerous recounts affirming a decisive win with the most votes in history - THEIR TEAM LOST! And they can't fucking handle it. So they buy more team paraphernalia, make even bigger signs showing their mindless, blind loyalty, and bolt more flags to their pick-up trucks. Any time i actually get to venture out of my home during this pandemic i cannot make it far before encountering some example of this arrested development. And every time, my thoughts drifts to "The Folklore of the Losing Team's Super Bowl T-shirts".
Screen-printing t-shirts is time consuming and the celebratory bliss of World Series level wins only lasts for so long - anywhere from 48 hours to however long it takes the city to plan a parade. Fans NEED their triumphant cotton tops INSTANTLY, so shirts are produced for either outcome before the games have even begun. Urban legend (and several internet sources) tell of those "losing" shirts being given to charities who dispense the shirts to poor communities on the continents of South America and Africa - often alongside heavy marketing for the 'givers' god of choice.
Seeing all those 'losing' signs makes me feel like i'm in a 3rd world country. Maybe that's not all that far from the truth. People questioning the legitimacy of out last 2 elections. A failed healthcare system who's weaknesses are being highlighted by the current pandemic and both developed and developing countries around the world are trying to provide aid for our country. A fascist regime trying to hold onto it's power. Fanatical zealots attempting to subvert people's voices. But all these problems, just like those 'loser' signs didn't come from somewhere far away - they were all made right here.
No amount of wishing is going to make the 'Champions' statements sprawled across the chest of those donated t-shirts true, and no amount of revisionist thinking is going to make those yards signs any less a symbol of ignorance and greed.
