Celebrating the Death Anniversary of Common Sense

September, 2019 was when I wrote the "Eulogy for Common Sense". I penned the first paragraph that went:

"Common sense had already sustained a thousand blows and lacerations.  It is time for its last rites and its eventual funeral. The long battle it endured lasted for at least a generation  now.  Its many attempts to fight back was akin to stopping the ebbing of a one-way tide that  had been receding for decades now and leaving behind a drying sand - now almost devoid of a living thought. Its last line of defense - critical thinking - is crumbling and quickly giving way to a horde that can only be described as capable of doing nothing but engaging in "groupthink" (from George Orwell's book, '1984'). If common sense is on life support it is now a matter for society in particular and for all of civilization in general to pull the plug. Yes, we can pray for a miracle but prayer is now  another collateral casualty."

Not long after that, common sense passed away.

Today, we remember its death anniversary months ahead of September, which by then would be merely a little over a month when perhaps this nation has a chance at some kind of resurrection, if that is possible, but it may take a miracle.  Indeed, it will.

It was quite daunting then,

"Common sense is dying from small blows and often lacerated with very little blood. It is now punch drunk from a jab here, a jab there, and body punches that merely stagger the senses without really causing a knockout, not even  a knockdown. Common sense has not gone down for the count. At least, not yet. But it has already had recurring standing counts. And that is worse than being counted out entirely. It is a pitiful sight".

But, it never recovered.  Much of what we can do today, anniversary or not, is open our eyes to the aftermath.  It is not a pretty picture.  It is as if the world has turned into The Twilight Zone, or ruled by Bizarro, who is the flawed duplicate of Superman now dead.  The previous sentence would be bizarre indeed if it was written a generation ago.

However, here we are.  We've written new words, or old words now mean differently.  What used to be moral is now immoral.  What used to be immoral is now moral.  When it used to be the proper and legal way to come by invitation only, to enjoy the privileges afforded by a generous nation, one may now just enter without permission and all legal terms that prohibit it had been put asunder.  Words evolved so that a person entering this great country went from an illegal alien to undocumented person to now dramatically become a "newcomer".

Almost five decades ago,  ten years  after my wife first applied for an invitation to become a resident of this country, we were summoned to the U.S. Embassy in Manila for an interview. Along with all the identification papers that proved who we were, we had with us a resume detailing our work experiences and educational background that was reviewed by, at that time, the vice-consul.  Once approved we were to have a physical exam that included submitting our Xray results to prove we did not have tuberculosis. 

But in a Bizarro world, even during Covid 19 when citizens of this country had with them their vaccination cards, when entering a bank wearing a mask used to alarm everyone, was now perfectly all right, none of those were required of the "newcomer".  Where homelessness was part of the big city landscape, the newcomers were housed in hotels and provided food at taxpayers' dime. 

Speaking of taxpayers' dime, what periphery of Common Sense makes it all right to forgive student loans for those who pledged to borrow money on a promise to pay it back but now it's never mind?  Won't those who did not go to college, worked after high school and paid their taxes during all that time, not mind?  What about those who already paid their loans at great sacrifices; won't they mind too?  Or, is this mainly one crazy idea of buying votes on the taxpayer's dime?  It is an election cycle after all. It is unlawful to buy votes when it is coming from the candidate's own pocket or campaign funds but it is all right if one uses taxpayers' money.  Common Sense will have a hard time resurrecting itself.

Collateral casualty to the demise of Common Sense is the subjugation of the meaning of words.  The word equity was a financial or business bystander.  Anyone who deposited a hundred dollars expects the same equitable amount of interest as everyone who deposited a hundred dollars. Today, it has been hijacked to mean that someone who deposited fifty dollars may expect to get the same interest dividend as those who put in a hundred dollars.  That is what is happening.  Where it used to be equal opportunity to anyone who seeks it, but that it was given that equal results were never guaranteed,  the government is now faced with the proposition that results should be equal for all.

Five years ago I wrote, "In Awe of Climate", Sept. 4, 2019, during a Climate Town Hall meeting. It and almost all the next get together and discussions to follow will be pivotal in one particular way. One of these candidates could conceivably shape the critical agenda for running the next government in case the present administration is voted out of office. It shall be a huge switch in policy because as one of the candidates said last night, "Every Policy Should Be Informed by Climate Change."  

Sure enough, climate change is dictating or influencing  how the present government is conducting its business today with full endorsement from the press, aka mainstream media.  Just as an example, one daytime talk show host had a "totally out of ('body') Common Sense experience" when she blamed the New Jersey earthquake and the solar eclipse to climate change.  She's a lawyer but should we excuse her for missing a couple of high school science classes?

What some people considered what may have started as a joke is now a raucous point of contention in the realm of sports. You see, it may have started out this way.  A male swimmer who couldn't make it to the men's swim team one day thought, "Hmm, why don't I identify myself as female and compete in women's swimming? I bet I'll dominate the league". And he/she did! At one of the events he/she beat the next female swimmer by 38 seconds. If he/she elected to, he/she could have come out of the pool, toweled off and would have been dry before the next female competitor finished.  Common Sense had no chance at resurrection.

The National Organization for Women (NOW) used to be a serious and potent defender of women.  They were silent for a long time while all of these were going on.  Then they came out recently to say that they support biological male who now identify as female as eligible to compete in women's sports. Their support is solidly encapsulated by the statement that NOW just released, "Trans women are women".  They are serious but the joke's on them, it seems.

In all seriousness, how many biological females who identify as males ever competed in men's sports? None.  There was one exemption of a female's superiority over men, sort of, but it can only be found in Greek mythology.

When Atalanta was born, her father who wanted a son abandoned her and left to die in the forest.  She was rescued by a she-bear that nurtured her to become a powerful huntress.  She became famous when she outran everybody in foot races, including men.  Her father showed up after that and reclaimed her as his daughter.  Then one day he declared that Atalanta should get married.  Atalanta agreed but only to a man who can outrun her in a footrace.  

Enter Hippomenes, the most able competitor, although he kind of knew he can't beat Atalanta. Hippomenes sought the help of Aphrodite (goddess of love).  Aphrodite agreed because she didn't like that Atalanta did not seem to subscribe to the idea of love.  Aphrodite gave Hippomenes three golden apples and instructed him to throw one apple at a time in front of Atalanta during the race.  Sure enough Atalanta stopped each time to pick up every time the golden apple was thrown.  Hippomenes won the race.

Even then, that was the only time that a female could have beaten a man in a race but lost due to one clever subterfuge.  In mythology, at that.  Anyway, as far as I can tell Atalanta and Hippomenes lived happily ever after; despite the deception. Atalanta didn't seem to hold it against Hippomenes.  Now, keep in mind it was a myth.  Today, the truth is biological men in sports will outcompete every woman. That is not a myth. 

Takeaways from the story: Now, we have the word aphrodisiac in the English language.  The USA's busiest airport where running is almost always required to catch your connecting flight is named after a politician's daughter when the railroad junction  later became a town, then a city.  The daughter's name was Atalanta but somehow the extra 'a" was dropped to give us Atlanta, GA and the Atlanta Airport. But somehow, Atlanta is not famous for apples but for peaches. 

There I got carried away with the story.  However, I hope there was enough there to get the reader  to start his or her share of helping resurrect Common Sense from the deep abyss where critical thinking is also buried in limbo. But the reader knows where I'm coming from.  Unfortunately, we don't know where this will lead the world into. We must try to maneuver out of this. The death anniversary of Common Sense must be in our minds if only to keep alive the possibility of a reincarnation.  Perhaps, the reincarnated soul of Common Sense will be upon the land once more and restore our faith that order may once again rule over chaos.