Rural Routes/Margot Ford McMillen

Follow the Bouncing Tweets

The fellow who is not to be named has sent us some tweets this morning, and the news is picked up and bounced from tower to tower all over the land. Something about immigrants and something about senators and something about voters and something about the hamburger he ate, the best hamburger ever made. Or something about Greenland. Nothing about the NRA, but maybe tomorrow.

The tweets are re-tweeted, and the news of the tweets bounces from tower to tower to pundit to pundit, to high priest, from high priest to low priest, giving content. And by content, I don’t mean contentment. Rather, I mean “meaning.” Or maybe I mean “entertainment.” That’s more to the point. Or, in other words, “grounds for discussion.”

Thus, we (who are called “consumers”) discuss. And we call the discussion good. We discuss to the point of numbness, in other words, so numb that when the NRA admits to taking Russian money to expand gun rights in Russia, and gives money to the fellow who is not to be named, we don’t know how to react.

Where is Russia? Where is Greenland? We scramble to find a map. We look on Google Earth. The activity makes us feel smart. Investigative. We’ve determined to get to the bottom of this. Not consumers. We can call ourselves investigators now.

And the discussions, which we call good, those discussions enter the governments. And the financial markets. Up? Down? The fellow whose name is not to be repeated has power over these things, more power and more wisdom, he says, than anyone who has come before, and how would we know? Something happens, then something else, but the pundits and high priests do not reveal how this works. Are the tweets the ravings of a mad man or the prattles of a toddler? Stitched together there’s a sense of similarities in the tone. Content that the folks in the towers can repeat, and dress up with graphics, explosions. We pay attention. And then there’s the discussion. And discussion.

And discussion, bouncing from tower to tower, from priest to priest, from listener to listener, (consumer. Or investigator) is good. And, at the same time, discussion becomes its own way of strengthening the, you know, tweets.

And what of the international impact? Again, mysteries abound. A tweet, a reaction, and perhaps a drone explodes in a wedding party. Or maybe not a drone but someone with a gun. As usual, we have no idea how it happens or why or even what is happening or how to prevent it or how it will happen more. It is almost as if the tweet and the events are connected, or not; we cannot explain it. Is the fellow who is not to be named in charge of everything? Is s/he magic? In charge of magic?

We discuss it. And when there is a dispute about the meaning, we can ponder the disagreement. Don’t forget, the priests say, there were people in the ancient time who disagreed with Moses. Or laughed at Noah. Or crucified Jesus. Disagreement creates discussion.

I see you are confused. Here’s an analogy: When your toddler is having a tantrum, you try to guide the child gently out of the tantrum. So when the being that shall not be named is having a fit, you try to guide him/her out of it instead of arguing/engaging. You try to present a positive alternative. So if you’re arguing about the wall or voter rights or women they (the other side) say you’re just always keeping him from what he wants to do, always critical, and you won’t let him do what he wants to do. And, like your toddler, the mysterious one usually wins.

You say, “I believe it’s important to criticize because s/he is supposed to be working for us.”

But the pundits and priests respond, “tweeting is working for us because it keeps America safe.”

And we (the reasonable ones) respond, “there isn’t really a crisis, this is a multi-ethnic society and America is better when America embraces many different cultures.”

And somebody does something, like taking a knee, or starting a march, or walking out of school and somebody else says, “We shouldn’t be spending our time about responding, we need to be presenting what we want the world to be like and challenge ourselves to have those thoughts.”

Then it is night, and then it is the next morning, and, again, the being that shall not be named sends out a tweet. Or, on a fast news day, many tweets.

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. She also is a co-founder of CAFOZone.com, a website for people who are affected by concentrated animal feeding operations. Her latest book is “The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History.” Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, September 15, 2019

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