The Devolution will be televised

The Devolution Will be Televised
(with apologies to Gil Scott-Heron)

You’d best stay home, and lock the doors, brother
Log on, tune in, zone out, get your fix of anti-social media
Lose your mind and take a long deep drink of alt-right Kool-Aid
You are the target audience, and the target is on your back
Because the Devolution will be televised
The Devolution will be televised
The Devolution will be brought to you by the sons of Cambridge Analytica
A four-part infomercial disguised as reality programming
The Devolution will show you pictures of Donald Trump
Blowing a bugle and protecting us from the invading alien horde
General Disorder and Governor Kemp
Will round up invaders in their pickup trucks, along with confiscated voting machines
Yeah, I said that
The Devolution will be televised
The Devolution will be brought to you by Fox News
And available in Mobile Alabama and on your mobile device
The Devolution will call in your college loan
The Devolution will take pictures of you at the Phish concert
And the facial recognition system will track you down
The Devolution will push stamp, file, index and number you
The Devolution has got your number
And that number is Zero
The Devolution will rig the vote, brother
Taking it to the streets will not make the evening news
Your protest action will create no equal and opposite reaction
Because Reality is so twentieth century
The pigs will be happy as pigs drinking beer at the station
While a Robocop from Boston Dynamics busts your head
There will be no pictures of your blood in living color
Because the Devolution has taken control of your television set
And your computer and every other damn screen
Do not attempt to adjust the picture. 
They are controlling transmission. 
If They want to make it louder, They’ll bust your eardrums
If They want you to buy shit, you will
They control the horizontal, the vertical
And every other damn thing
For the next thousand years, sit quietly 
And They will control all that you see and hear
There is nothing wrong with your television set
We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set
Or the Black Mirror in your pocket
Because the Devolution will be televised, streamed and reamed
Don’t go out tonight
The dystopian horrors of the not-too-distant future
Will not be confined to the bad dreams of William Gibson, John Shirley, Frank Zappa, Harlan Ellison, 
Thomas Pynchon, Philip K. Dick, Bruce Sterling and the crazy guy on the bus with tinfoil on his head
Their bad dreams have all come true
And so much more, brother
Ayn Rand is spinning in her grave
With an orgasm that registers 9.7 on the Richter scale
The bullies run the playground
And there is no coach or referee
Don’t bother to complain, brother
The facts are in, and there are no facts anymore
Don’t go out tonight
The Devolution will find you 
In church, synagogue, concert, kindergarten, yoga studio, movie theater
Wherethefuckever
Stay home, brother
The Proud Boys are marching
The Lone Gunman isn’t alone anymore
Charlie Manson is watching you
If you cough in the movie theater
Charlie Manson will shoot you
If the trigger word comes out of your mouth
Charlie Manson will shoot you
If you double-dip in the salad bar
Charlie Manson will shoot you
Play it safe, brother
Stay home and watch
Stay home and buy
The Devolution will deliver direct to your door
Keep buying until the debt is a rock on your neck
Dragging you down in the streaming media sea
Stay home and buy
Stay home and watch
It’s not safe out there
Because the Devolution will be live
And the Devolution will be televised

Copyright 2018, Marty Fugate, all rights reserved

O Florida, O Bollocks

Half of our voters went for Gillum. Based on a random sampling of Facebook, Democrats around the country have a simple explanation. 

Florida sucks. People from Florida suck. We're banjo-plucking inbred mutants. We're racists. Desantis won because we're bad people. 

Seriously. I'm not making this up.

It's bloody amazing how many Democrats have immediately started throwing stones. "Ashamed of Florida." "Floridump." "Florida voters! Uggh! Horrifying!" 

My friends. Artists. Intelligent people. Who should all know better. These bright-eyed specimens of the best of humanity should know there will always be set-backs, reversals and screw-ups. 

This applies to politics, football, and the game of life. Then what? Then you either come together as a team, get your heads in the game, and fight like hell for a comeback. Or you start pointing fingers and saying "You f***ed up!" "No, you f***ed up!" The team that comes together wins. The team that turns against itself loses. And deserves to lose. 

There's enough blame to go around for everybody. 

Hell, we can blame the voters of California for electing Ronald Reagan as governor, thus sending him on the path to the White House — where he gleefully began the process of dynamiting the foundations of the New Deal and the Great Society. And blame the voters of Texas for electing George W. Bush over Ann Richards, and jump-starting his political career. Or, hell, the voters of America for putting Trump in the White House. We all suck.

There's no profit in demonizing any given state or region. (Particularly in making Florida the whipping boy for the nation's sins ... but I digress.) Democrats should stop pointing fingers and come together. Blame is a loser's game. Our focus should be on ideas, political strategy, and winning.