The Age Of Absurdity
 Bruce H. Porter
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WARNING:
The content contained herein may be offensive to some age groups, political mindsets, chosen lifestyles, and religious understanding. Feelings and emotions generated by statements read here may cause mental anxiety, anger and in some cases, hatred. Those who are closed minded, and active in the cancel culture should be advised and protected from the freedom of thought expressed herein.
Reader Discretion is Advised.
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âWhen I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!"
(Chapter 4, Alice in Wonderland)
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Historians in the future may describe our day as the âAge of Absurdityâ. Today we live in a world and social environment where it is believed that feelings and emotions determine truth. The belief that a personâs moods and passions determine reality is more than absurd. Just a few years ago an individual that would reject truths for a delusional pseudo-reality would have been considered, as a person that was a sandwich short of a picnic. Today a person can choose to be a male or femaleâ for no other reason than thatâs the way they want to be identified or desire to âdefineâ themselves. For some reason the culture, government, schools, parents, and peers are required to accept and treat every delusion and pronoun as a reality. Perhaps the real absurdity and mental delusion, lies not in the imagination of the person living in their pseudo-existence, but in those who accept and enable the foolishness. When mental absurdity becomes the accepted sanity, rationality becomes the insane. In this age of absurdity, one may choose to be identified as an animal such as dog or cat, and consequently, everyone around them must cater to their feelings and emotions, while accommodating their needs and wants as though they are a mental shapeshifter.
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Feelings and Emotions
I feel that way so it must be true, therefore, everyone must accept and pander to my identity-insanity. If I had tried to identify as a dog with my parents, the first thing that would happen is that I would be slapped back to last Tuesday. My choice of animal identity would have been vocally changed by my father to that of a jackass. Then, if, (and thatâs a big IF) my parents felt kind, Iâd be taken to a phycologist to find out what the hell was wrong with me. More than likely, my parents would have thrown me a bone to chew on and given me dog food for supper. The great outdoors would not only become my bedroom but my bathroom too. Knowing my parents, Iâm sure they would have left the gate open hoping I would end up at somebody elseâs house identifying as a stray dog. Having parents like this, is what I would call âhaving goodly parentsâ living in âthe good old daysâ.
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If a person can choose what they are, or choose to become a different identity (gender or creature) because of thoughts or feelings alone, then we must question how far could this type of thinking go? I am over 70 years old, letâs say that today I want to be identified as a 32-year-old man, thin, athletic, and handsome. No doubt everyone would think I fell off my rocker and hit my head (especially my wife). You might laugh and say, âthat is obviously and visually absurdâ because my body reveals itself to be much older than 32, and I am obviously not handsome. Now, who would have ever thought that my physical body, or the obvious visual appearance would indicate a reality like species, age, gender, or pronoun. The reality is: Iâm overweight, old, and ugly and no amount of fantasizing by me or others will change that. How I might like to be identified in age, gender, or pronoun or what I might want to think, or feel doesnât create the reality. Perhaps, the enabler is more insane than the identity confused believer.
The fact that I may want to escape the real issues and responsibilities of the day by pretending Iâm a dog, cat, or anything else will not change the facts. Of course, if you donât agree with my pretended reality, I might become the offended victim of your unaccepting intolerance for my selfish imagination. Thus, to keep from offending me, everyone must accept, not only my supposed mental reality, but whatever pronoun or creature I may want to identify myself as. Iâm not required to embrace reality, but the rest of the world must not only embrace, but condone, pander, and celebrate my illusions. Today the masses are forced to conform to the fictious realities of the fool in order to avoid offending offending feelings.
The old philosophical phrase comes to mind: âI think, therefore I amâ. This is as ridiculous as saying that today I feel my ânewâ Dodge Pickup should be identified as a 10-year-old Prius so everyone on the road must agree with me. Therefore, my big ugly Prius, (even though it looks exactly like a Dodge Ram) should be taxed accordingly. The obvious is obviously obvious, or at least should be.
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Reality
So, what is reality and what is truth, and what might determine truth? Are truth and reality even connected anymore? âFollow the scienceâ has been the cry during the recent pandemic. We must follow the science to save ourselves from the reality of COVID. However, for some reason, science and biology does not seem to apply when identity becomes a choice. A person who might want to believe they are a bird and jump off a building would soon find out, no matter how much they believe or act like a bird, eating worms and flapping their arms in their new identity, they are not able to fly. The physical truths of the laws of gravity are going to kick in without any respect of what a person might think or want to think that their reality is. People who identify as a bird and prepare to leap off a building should be locked up to protect themselves. If my body reveals Iâm not a 32-year-old, would not a body reveal itâs not a bird, dog, or cat. The obvious lesson of life that many are trying to ignore, is that reality does not cater to mental pretensions.
My daughter works at the desk in an elementary School. A young student came in recently with her mother who needed to translate for her child, because her daughter identified as a cat that day. It was expected, by the parent and child, that all âthinking, logical adultsâ would respect her desire to be identified as a cat, and at the same time allow that her mental instability could change at any moment, and she become some other creature. My daughter explained that some schools are now considering putting litter boxes in bathrooms for those students who want to identify as animals.
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It goes without question that wanting to live in a pretend world is and should be an age thing. However, to condone and pander the avoidance of reality for the youth in school, can and will lead to the desire to do the same later in life. One of the issues in the alcohol and drug abuse world is the chemically induced ability to ignore the sobering realities of life. It is recognized that there are mental deficiencies or handicaps that produce certain actions by individuals of which they have no control. However, the desire to have an alternate life devoid of the realities of responsibility by choice, leads to a lifestyle of living in a world of handouts and homelessness (this should not be the goal of every parent for their children). Habitually trying to escape reality will lead to individuals becoming more worried more about the next âfixâ than the next meal, in order to escape from the withdrawal pains of reality they, and their enablers have created.
The brain-eating zombie apocalypse shows that are popular on the big screen and television are more real than we think. The brainwashing and brainless fads have created mental zombies that believe they can change their species, and gender at a whim. The scariest part of this Si-Fi drama that is being played out in our schools is that the normal âmugglesâ must accept the absurdity as reality and are forced to have no choice in the matter.
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In my out-of-date way, I foolishly thought that schools were institutions that were staffed by teachers that had a goal to prepare the rising generation for real life, not the nightmares of âAliceâs Wonderlandâ. I was told, (I hope tongue in cheek) that when I was born the delivering doctor took one look at me and didnât slap my bottom to start my lungs working, but immediately went over and slapped my mother for producing something like me. To change the absurd mindset of the thoughtless, illogical, mentally immature, teachers or school boards (they are not educated, they are trained), may be impossible, but perhaps the parents should be slapped back into the world of reality.
The foremost responsibility of a parent and the primary responsibility of a school education is to prepare their children for the realities of life. Children should be trained, and teachers should teach the âskillsâ that will help them flourish in the future. These skills that should be taught ought to facilitate their success in work and business, in their marriages, families, and all social and intellectual interactions and endeavors. Pandering to youthful stupidity and make believe is not a preparation for the realities of daily life. For some subtle and covert reason, the primary focus in the education of youth in public schools, is now identity confusion rather than education. Liberal teachers spend more time teaching the youth state sanctioned morals, and values, (creating a state religion) and redefining personal identities than teaching and reinforcing the talents and abilities needed to face the real world. This radicalization is carefully taught most often by creating confusion in the minds of youth. The technique of creating âmental confusionâ is the process that opens the door for mental programming. The âfocused confusionâ of today, from kindergarten on, is that of identity, gender confusion, and sexual preference. This is done in order to âprogramâ the prepubescent youth before they even have a chance to understand their sexuality, who they are or want to be. This is the main reason that school boards do not want the parents to have any involvement or control in the curriculum. The re-programing of children by separating them from family values may be the whole purpose of teaching, supporting, and protecting school sponsored mental confusion.
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Do moods and mindsets now determine reality? Or has the fear of offending someoneâs feelings become more important than the reality? A culture, society, government, family, or adult that refuses to act on and function in reality, is doomed. Real life is more than fiction or make believe. Just as death is the only diet plan that really works, our demise is the only secure way to keep from being offended. Real life is being prepared for things not going your way. To cancel or silence any alternate voice is not a trait of maturity or reality. Real life requires having a dialogue and discussion of differing opinions.
Personal emotions and feelings do not and cannot ever determine eternal truths. Without a standard of truth there is no real truth, only confusion. If valid truth is not known or accepted, then there is no other option but to believe a lie. Pretending is a childâs game that every âthinkingâ person will grow out of, except for those who are unable to think logically and clearly. In todayâs âWOKE and Cancelâ culture; governments, schools, businesses, and parents are being manipulated into accepting the infantile mental games of absurdity. Governments, schools, and parents should be preparing the rising generation to face a real world with real issues, and real consequences. Has the whole world gone mad? Enough is sometimes enough.
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The Cheshire Cat seems to have more wisdom than our schoolboards, teachers, and politicians whom it seems, have all gone mad:
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âBut I donât want to go among mad people,â Alice remarked. âOh, you canât help that,â said the Cat: âweâre all mad here. Iâm mad.
Youâre mad.â
âHow do you know Iâm mad?â said Alice.
âYou must be,â said the Cat, âor you wouldnât have come here.â âWell, then,â the Cat went on, âyou see a dog growls when itâs angry,
and wags itâs tail when itâs pleased. Now I growl when Iâm pleased, and wag my tail when Iâm angry. Therefore Iâm mad.â
âI call it purring, not growling,â said Alice. âCall it what you like,â said the Cat. (Chapter 6, Alice in Wonderland)
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Today, as things get âcuriouser and curiouser,â the Wonderland Alice found herself in is beginning to look more and more like reality than living in our Age of Absurdity.