I spent my weekend a bit to the west of usual, hanging with the kid at college (it was allegedly “Family Weekend”, but there wasn’t a whole lot of actual events for family going on). We spent some time hanging out, wandering around campus, watching a bit of a field hockey game, visiting with Josie, the campus cat, and attending a pretty good production of Avenue Q the Sweet Briar theater department put on, along with the usual getting the kid off campus so she can eat legit fast food and replenish the dorm room pantry with beverages and cup noodles.

We stayed at a mid-budget Hilton property in Lynchburg, which itself was pretty standard, though Lynchburg itself was pretty frustrating. Besides having Jerry Fallwell’s name on everything, it was also Liberty University’s homecoming weekend, so the place was extra full of people, many of them rude and decked out in full-on alumni gear. There was a lot of rudeness and “I need to speak to your manager”-ness, plus the town itself is really laid out poorly. Merely being there made me angry.

When I said as much on social media that morning, I evoked some questions, though it should be noted that *I* did not conflate rudeness with overt Christian presentatation, though one of our family’s dear friends, an alum of SBC herself and a generally much more pious person than I, jumped right in and made the connection for me.

Anyway, it was nice to see the kid and hang out and meet her friends and generally get to be kind of the cool parents (this was actually a discussion we had with the kid…our alleged coolness is something that comes up, for whatever reason), even if it did occasionally feel like we were a bit in the way – school is a busy thing (especially at this point in the semester), so we tried out best not to overstay our welcome – I think we succeeded.

We did solve the mystery of Mystery Flavor Oreos, so you can all just give that up now (the linked article has it right, btw).

One thing that did percolate through my mind a bit this past week, which I think is contributing to all the recent depressive episodes I’ve been alluding heavily to in this space for the last couple of weeks, is the fact that I, like so many other people in this country and the world, amd suffering from some flavor of outrage fatigue, though I think it’s more just the realization that much of western civilization (especially the parts happening in North America) is a civilization in decline. This weekend alone, we took steps backward in terms of inclusivity, equality, and the ability of people to take care of themselves, and not engage in large-scale military conflict (when the Secretary of State is quoted as saying diplomacy will continue “until the first bomb drops”, it doesn’t exactly add much confidence). Who knows what’ll happen this week. When not talking about removing basic rights from large swaths of people, the news was talking about the latest Hollywood sexual harassment scandal, at least until the next mass shooting happens or the next natural disaster that man’s hubris has had a hand in shaping comes along; it’ll only be another couple of hours, given the pattern.

I’m just really working on coming to terms with the fact that the peak years of American society have likely happened already, and the decline is already underway. There’s not a lot I can do about it. I’m not the only one who’s noticing. I hope things get better, but it’s been going for a while, and those with influence to shape things aren’t in a hurry to do much, to be honest. I dunno, it’s just something I think about, and it’s been popping up a lot lately (especially since I’m currently working in a part of the machine that’s not doing it’s job in a particularly efficient way, which is doing wonders for my psyche, as you can imagine).

Also, apropos of nothing (or maybe a perfect example of what the last two paragraphs were talking about), here’s a prescient comment from commenter Arnheim on this Jezebel story, which, I kid you not, is about public discussion on Sunday morning news shows about the Secretary of State’s testicles:

He has yet to hit Cobra Commander levels of outright, “BWAHAHAHA, I HAVE THE WEATHER DEVICE” villainy, so we’re not entirely through the looking glass yet.

The thread then began to devolve into parodies of the Gaston song from Beauty and the Beast, as things are likely to do given this absurd political environment we live in. It should also be noted, as my friends in the band Foot Pound Force will gladly tell you, it was the Weather Dominator, not the Weather Device.

Oh well.