Hearts & Minds & Bubbles

 Back in the day, when Mags and I were on the defunct site, Topix, it was kind of a warm bed of conservatism. I don't know if there were paid posters, but there was quite a bit of ordinary weirdos who had really stupid takes on what the US needed in the way of a president. They were the kind of takes that were so dumb, I felt like people could only say them for money. I don't think these people even knew much of Trump then, as I really don't recall his name coming up as an ideal candidate, but they did like to pound on their notion that a businessman should be POTUS. They also admired Vladimer Putin a lot, which was odd because they touted themselves as *American Patriots*. They loved the Constitution and stuff, but some of them would have been quite fulfilled if Vlad (a non-US born person) could step right into the White House and start purging America of liberals and pigmented people. Him, or a businessman. He actually kind of covered both bases as he was and is very, very wealthy and he definitely is the tough guy who would rather have you killed than look at you. I can't really say that I knew what was going on in their feeble minds, but I bet they knew he wasn't really a communist. Even then he had way too much money to be a filthy, bearded radical who truly believed that crap about, "from each accord to their ability, to each according to their needs". These posters were idiots, but they weren't completely stupid. 

Eh, maybe they were.

On most days though, they were capitalists who thought any old businessman was the ticket to prosperity. Again- this was pre-Trump and the escalator. They spent a lot of time defending businessmen whether it was how punitive it was to tax them at all or how they by law had to show a profit to their shareholders or they would be imprisoned! It's hard to tell how serious people are on the internet, but I really felt these assholes were as stupid as they sounded. They were believers. 

Topix left the internet on December 20, 2018. That was close to two years into Trump's first term. He couldn't save the site, nor could I with my frequent posting about spanking women's bottoms or the ladies calling me "Two Nines" because I "was also packing a Beretta". (This was not true, BTW. I favor revolvers for their reliability.) Hegel, Maggie and I had already moved on from Topix before it officially died, having seen the scribbling on the walls. Twitter was still Twitter then, but it was a while before I joined that. Then, like a lot of people, I left it as Elong Mush just made it worse and fucking worser every day. Like Topix, the business model was "Let assholes asshole" because that's where the money is. It's weird, but I really don't remember much about how Twitter was before Mush. I guess it was more like Bluesky is now with a mix of politics and cats and dogs. That's not a formula for success. The media dismisses it as a bunch of libs in their "bubble" and, okay, yeah. What the fuck is wrong with that? Is current Twitter anything more than a bubble of maga assholes? No less an idiot than Bill Maher says *we* (meaning liberals/democrats) don't try to talk to and understand maga and that makes us the baddies. I've talked to these assholes and there's not a fucking thing I agree with them about. Stoners like him think that if I just let them, they'd change my mind. That's what it comes down to in his wake and bake mindset. It's got nothing to do with any detente. It's capitulation. Republicans (like him!) want capitulation. Convert or die. No. You can't make me! That makes me unreasonable, I reckon. 

Metaphorical bubbles exist for a reason. I'd rather have a meeting of minds with people across the country like Kate, Sass, Maggie (and others) along with real journalists like Mark Chadbourn, The Tennessee Holler and Ron Filipkowski (also and others). A bubble is like your home. Home is where the heart is. It's where your heart and soul are safe, and your mind is free to wander. It's the good place.