April fool

It is April’s Fool Day here in the good old U S Of A. Practical jokes will abound, and someone will be found with pie on their face while others will be the ones throwing those pies. By April 2, the jokesters will fade into the sunset waiting to plot new tricks of the trade for the naive, innocent and gullible. How nice if all we had was one day to fool one another. But sadly Aprils Fool Day lasts much longer when it comes to the politics of this nation.

There are Americans who hate the president because when they look at him his skin color is too dark for their satisfaction. It is a fact that the president is among many things a black man. Most to many of these same Americans who don’t like the leader of America to be black also dislike the president because they have been told he was not born in the United States, is not a Christian, IS a Muslim. Of course those pieces of information are nothing more than well written and well rehearsed propaganda. But sadly for some who rely on bias and bigotry as their spiritual guide this resonates as truth.

There are Americans who use the Old and New Testament not just as books to seek God and spirituality but as actual accounts of history. They say they read these holy books in their entirety and each word written is like reading dictation from God. If it was not listed in the Book it just ain’t true. And if it is written in the Book then the wording used is the only way to describe events. For these Americans, dinosaurs are a figment of a pagan imagination, the Constitution a secondary dime novel, and anyone who states that man evolved from apes is vomiting pure blasphemy. Truth is selective for these Americans and fiction is always trying to be found.

There are some Americans who thrive on hate to get them through the day. These Americans are always the self appointed victim and always on the search for a propagator of their imagined self imposed sad life. There are some Americans who need a scapegoat permitting them to ignore the truths as to why they have not succeeded in their own lives. They are told same sex marriage will destroy their own opposite sex marriages. They are told working women destroy family cohesiveness. They are told family planning only leads to abortions. They are told they can be vengeful in practicing Christianity but anyone practicing any other religion only does so to seek vengeance. Truth for these Americans is too painful a pill to swallow as if it is taken may lead to self discovery, a real taboo. Fiction is a soothing lotion to ease the ever increasing itch of hate.

Usually once a joke is practiced or said and we all get a good laugh the task to fool is complete. It is over and we move on perhaps a little embarrassed or satisfied with our plot. But in our Nation, since the beginning of the 21st Century, too many Americans have become a part of a huge joke that is seemingly never ending and seems to lead to a very unhappy ending. The pranksters are delighted as the fools either wittingly or ignorantly play along.