I hear folks, in person and on the Web, despairing about the future because history is a thing. Forces seem inevitable. And it’s easy to believe that monstrous events are unstoppable because they always appear larger than they are. So I’d like to take a moment to unravel a few narratives.
Look, Hitler stumbled into power and barely held the reins for the time he was there. His entire empire was doomed to the same tragic end all of the other European empires met.
The Satanic Panic wasn’t real. At best, a few groups of adolescents, bored nerds, scuffed up some town property to scare their parents.
Everybody, Democrat or Republican, hates pedophiles. Everybody.
Plenty of conspiracies say they rule the world because they don’t. They just want you to follow their orders. And hope you don’t find out that ordinary people, just like you, run the conspiracy.
Communism didn’t work. The USSR fell. China is capitalistic more than not. A dictator runs North Korea. So whenever a person uses the word “socialism!”, they are trying to scare you.
If someone fills your head with lots of promises, get paid in advance. Otherwise, that leader is conning you.
The real struggle is between “are you responsible for your friends, family and community” or “is somebody else responsible for you and them”?