Status

I am watching who is getting most upset among the liberals, and then who is getting most upset at the liberals for being upset. This giving up of news is going to prove harder than I thought.  I am still drawn to it, as a moth to a flame, with similar results.

I am noticing that the angriest people, other than the ones who are in a direct line of fire on either side, are not those who derive the highest status in their troop, but those of lower status whose place is more precarious. They are elite-adjacent in some way, and want to prove their bona fides by going on the attack every day, over and over. Are they afraid of being cast into the outer darkness if they do not perform?  Are they telling themselves how key they are to the whole operation? I AM STILL ONE OF THEM! I REMAIN LOYAL! I SHOW MY COLORS! Cheep cheep, here I am.

I had lunch with an old friend who is quite liberal, and went in with the idea that even if I convinced her of everyone of my opinions, it would not much improve the world.  She would feel crushed, I would feel bad that I had saddened her, and nothing in America would have changed. Yet when she asked questions and made comments I kept rising to the bait for a few seconds each time before drawing back and re-insisting that I had no strong interest in convincing her, only a residual one.

I hope Lent is curative.  The dry run isn't going so well. 

A clang association in psychology means a topic insertion based entirely on the accident sound.  So "cheep cheep" leads to this, for no reason at all.