Sympathy for the Devil

In what circumstance in our modern time, have the Americans  simply ‘sat one out’? Sidelined to grope one's partner — nervously crunching popcorn, gripping your date’s hand... We wince only when our streaming drama lands as real…  Fiction is exercise?, and about all anyone does these days. We are honing our skills at staying home; Ask around and you will find nearly everyone saying no “thank you”.
Well, as history may show, the American Machine seldom if ever “sits one out” -- so why now?
After 24 months of main-lining Cheetos, punctuated with "No Thank you's", is it any wonder we are nursing a good screenplay, over a tangible experience? Americans literally sat on their asses for two plus “pandemic” years in pseudo-slouched stoner posture, voyeuristically snack bingeing. Now we are still ignoring ovations from friends for “Dinner”, a “Walk”, or a “Ski Trip” because we've forgotten how to behave.  We are all either the one declining, proffering a paltry excuse, of convoluted 'caution'; Or we are the one doing the inviting…, without any takers.
We return from the kitchen with snack foods, gazing into that Black Mirror again, believing that our friends are none the wiser -- certain that our reasons to remain home on the couch are legit.
But we are soulless. 
America's ass is growing wider, forming obtuse lobes, like novel pumpkins, taking the shape of a cushion crease in the ultra-suede. All our butts like potted plants, ropy vines tether them into a hydroponic LCD glow.  Our new umbilici hold us fast to the undergrowth of crumbs and food residue loaming beneath the sofa. Our fertilizer truck, comes twice daily with plastic, and foam takeout cartons — Dragged to the stoop by marginalized gig-slaves, whilst we move from series, to news, to sports, and back to dramatic series, before opening he fridge again.
Super Bowl, Olympics, and now we watch the war, in-between episodic fictions cut perfectly to fit upon a spoon rather than a fork,  to reduce the effort of chewing.  We work from home now, and we also do just about everything else there, or nothing at all.

"I am Jack's Complete lack of surprise"

There is this brilliant line from “Fight Club”, where our single serving life is dissected to show just how pathetic we have become.  Our lives are now measured in spork-fulls,  A tiny salt packet, beside an 1/8 ounce ketchup pack, and some mystery hot sauce, accumulate in your fork drawer.  The austerity of our sloven selves, avoiding interaction, built to suffer against our fictional social media; We assemble around our flat-pack bed-delivery, offering ourselves upon our knees at the temple of Some-Assembly-Required.  Our “true selves” are now reflected in the glinting facet of a tiny five millimeter chrome allen key. With this we will assemble a more perfect bed-frame, oblivious to the collapse of our republic.
I suppose we could have ordered a new 'flat-pack' couch for delivery, ...and why not have them both delivered when casper comes to rescue our  spineless, posture-less backs.  Perhaps a massage chair, in lieu of exercise... 
Of course, We could also have stepped up pressure on Putin, well prior to the shit-show, but decided to "Work from Home" instead.
​As we prepare to go to war, for real -- but just before you wave your fucking dixie flag, consider just how big a pussy push-over America have really become.  Exchanging cheap shit for freedom, and cheap gas for a beautiful planet, waiting to be invaded.  Is it any wonder we are now watching the prelude on CNN?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday. Sergei Supinsky/Getty Images

We knew all about this shit in 2016, and yet we all looked away, as swaths of land was stolen from a peaceful country (somewhere) across the globe.  We picked our teeth and gave thanks and praise to our isolatory hemisphere, where no such event would occur. We watched it on TV, and then flicked back to a mini-drama remake of something we'd already seen on PBS. Americans only learn about geography, and diversity when brushing up on the latest war.  Another single serving primer which makes everyone an expert.
Now, the hottest show on TV is a live stream from the most human of human beings:  Volodymyr Zelenski. 
American Military personnel remain profoundly stunned that Zelensky, (comedian cum commander in chief), would actually risk his own skin—let alone brashly announce, (When the United States offered him safety), -- That he needs “ammunition, not a ride.” Who the fuck is this person?  Perhaps the only leader on the planet with the balls to be human, and the grace to give a fuck. Zelensky, in the midst of fighting like hell to survive, has already forgiven the Russian Soldiers who are coming for him, saying, 'Enemy soldiers deserve sympathy'.  “These are not warriors of a superpower,"  Zelensky says, "These are confused children who have been used. Take them home.”  We can all quote some great film scripts at this point, and even some great lyrics, but as lyric poetry goes, our beloved Ukrainian President is becoming Eastern Europe's Bob-Fucking-Dylan. Zelensky is equal parts mensch & antihero, and i'll light a candle daily with him.
​"Jagger sings in first person narrative as the Devil, who boasts his role in each of several historical atrocities and repeatedly asks the listener to "guess my name." The singer then ironically demands the listener's courtesy towards him, implicitly chastising the listeners for their collective culpability in the listed killings and crimes."   -Sympathy For The Devil Wikipedia
 Zelensky said at a press conference, “Even simple farmers are capturing Russian soldiers every day, and all of them say the same thing: They don’t know why they are here,” 
So we can agree that it's a bit less profound to decide between Ramen or Sushi, than to choose to shoot or be shot..., and while no decision comes easily, nor without risk -- The "West" sitting on their hands while watching a bully kick the shit out of the sensitive kid on the playground, is total fucking bullshit! 
History, is hard to fudge, when everything, and everyone is recording it.  Our complacent world is some mega-cellular neuro-collective of data, we each leverage trillions of packets of fact and fiction, storing & sorting myths and facts in our phones and in our brains -- pushing data back and forth in one giant organism. These facts will however outlive our excuses and betray our lack of shame, for not getting involved sooner. 
Putin's list of demands are not finite. There is no capitulation where troops retract, and peace & serenity return, in exchange for "only these things". Leverage has already been lost, and amidst a maelstrom of war crimes & destruction... -- Captives, and capital become the bounty of the bully who took the first swing.
History will show the irreparable damage to our fictional peace & tilted equality. Immense time has been squandered, since 2016, and we are behind on the preparations for house-guests.  We agree that this is about as sticky a geopolitical mess as the Cuban Missile Crisis... and "History" will show that in early 2022, the world went to hell in a hand-basket, while we watched TV.  Somewhere in the split second between the first shove, and the first swing... an enormous fight broke out, but nobody tried to break it up.
Fuck yes I'd follow Zelensky, even watch his six, in lieu of sitting through yet another fucking Netflix mini-series. To believe in something real again is about all the reason I'd need to lace up my boots and shoot or be shot for authenticity.  We should be so lucky as to find 'Zelensky two-point-O' running for US office in 2024.  What the world needs now, are less people, and more human beings.
One rank-and-file Marine followed in a USMC subreddit ,“Volodymyr Zelensky is about as motivating of a leader as I’ve seen in our lifetime,”  followed with, "Yep, I'd follow that guy into hell".
Before The U.S. can take a bow for corralled sanctions, can we please  review what is about to happen?  There is no outcome here, involving the male ego of a classic Bond Super Villain which will end peacefully.  The game is not a play of, "right time" politics, where pressure builds and a hot genie pops the fuck out of the kettle to whisk this away with wishes.  Rather, historically, the game reads back as a transcript, showing both kids shoving, until a swing in taken.  TRUMP (the moron) said we should paint Chinese on our planes and bomb them, and they'll never know it was us, right after diluting our stake in NATO, and Kissing Putin's ass at each opportunity.  When we compare notes, our history will gloss over the part where we allowed the fight to start in the first place -- (without interfering), perhaps just to have something new to watch on TV.
Look, I get it -- Nobody wants a war, and no good stories ever come from the bully pulpit.  But barely reading into this shallow human conquest reveals what we all know to be true today, and nobody wants to speak of, The shit has yet to hit the fan, and as in all Fist-Fights, the one who swings first, generally wins.

"I stuck around St. Petersburg, when I saw it was a time for a change, I killed the tzar and his ministers, and the nation screamed in vain"
"Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name."

-Mick Jaggar

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