It's Okay to Have No Opinion

There's nothing more American than a shrug

Alright, this is bugging me, so I’m gonna try to type it out as best as I can.

There’s that one guy. You know the one I’m talking about. I won’t say his name, both for my own peace of mind and so as not to offend any delicate sensibilities among his admirers.

That one guy has managed to elevate himself to either America’s Savior or America’s Villain, depending on who you talk to. He really seems to enjoy the attention either way, and the media is more than happy to give it to him. Strong feelings about him, both positive and negative, drive TV ratings and web traffic and every other metric of “success” in America.

So that one guy keeps yelling, and his fans keep yelling, and his haters keep yelling. Everybody’s yelling.

And I’m just exhausted. I don’t want to yell anymore.

I don’t love him. I don’t hate him. I’m just tired of him. I want him to go away.

Now, I realize that’s not going to happen as long as that one guy draws breath. He’s never gonna shut up, no matter who likes it or doesn’t. That isn’t how he’s built. And his fans love it, I guess.

So right now, I’m just trying to find my peace with it. Sort of like a missing eye or a crippled limb. It happened, I have to deal with it every waking moment, and I just need to accept that the constant grinding irritation is part of my life now.

Acceptance, I guess that’s the word. Over the past decade I’ve gone through the first four stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, and depression — and now I think I’m settling into acceptance.

Nothing I say is going to change anything. It certainly won’t change anybody’s mind. If you don’t have an opinion about that one guy in 2024, you’ve been in a coma for 10 years.

If you want to hate me for criticizing that one guy, go ahead. If you want to hate me for pointing out the flaws in the attacks against him, fine. I’ve done both, and I really think I’ve been more than fair. Which hasn’t stopped anybody from hating me, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Some folks just gotta hate somebody, so it might as well be me.

Or, maybe I’ll give myself a break and find literally anything else in the world to think and talk about for the next 10 months to five years.

There’s more to life than that one guy, after all. You don’t need to see the entire world through the prism of one human being. You don’t need to judge everybody you meet based on their opinion about him.

You don’t owe him any loyalty, but neither are you obliged to scream at him till the day you die. He’s like tinnitus. If you ignore him, nothing bad will happen to you.

And please, before you start typing away in the comments: If you’re voting for that one guy, that’s fine. If you’re not voting for him, that’s also fine.

I didn’t ask and I really don’t care. Nothing positive or negative I say about that one guy is intended to sway anybody’s vote. You’re not my enemy either way. You shouldn’t feel any need to defend yourself, or scold me, or anything like that.

So, going forward: I reserve the right to say whatever I want about anybody I want… or not.

I might not have anything to say about the scandal of the day. I might not care, or I might not have the energy to explain why I do care. I might just accept that nothing I say matters, so I might just keep it to myself.

It’s okay to have no opinion. There’s nothing more American than a shrug.

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None of the preceding is aimed at anyone in particular who’s reading this. I’m not angry at anybody, I don’t hate anybody, I’m not disappointed in anybody. I’m just trying to explain where my head is at in January 2024.

I accept it. I’m doing my best. It is what it is.

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In happier news:

Hey, wasn’t that Fargo season five finale great?

No spoilers, if you’re not lucky enough to have seen it yet. But after five seasons over 10 years, the writers and actors and directors have finally managed to capture the full spirit of the original film. All the previous seasons have had their merits, and they’ve all offered glimpses of the unique Coen Brothers perspective. But this is the first time they nailed the landing.

It really feels like Marge Gunderson is just up the road a bit there, probably bouncing a grandkid on her knee by now.

If you’ve never watched the show before, it doesn’t matter. Each season is a new story, with little nods and visual references to the movie. You can go in (ahem) cold. I highly recommend you do.

Yeah, real good now!

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Thanks for reading. I feel better than I did when I started typing. So at least that’s something.