The Great Cracker Barrel Collapse

NOTE: I’m not an investment advisor. This isn’t investment advice. This is my opinion. Take it with as much salt as you care to.

Those of you who aren’t in the stock markets may not even have heard about this, but Cracker Barrel’s share price has tanked recently. There are reasons, and they’re addressing them, but…

…Ah. Yes. I’ve been reminded that some of you don’t have a clue what Cracker Barrel is. Either you’re not from the United States or you live in the wrong part and don’t do road trips. Okay; so let’s start there.

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Joe Biden Is Not Evil

This headline by itself will draw hate from millions of pro-Palestine folks, which just goes to show: partisanship is the death of thought. Many of them won’t even know what the Romeo is or why it’s important.

(If you’re curious, I wrote about it a couple of months back. Go — read and learn.)

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about, at least not today.

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Where Do I Stand?

We see it all over the internet, on people’s profiles and posts: “I stand with Israel!” “I stand with Ukraine!” Pick your champion; someone’s standing with them. Safely outside the line of fire, mind you, but still.

Don’t mistake me: It takes courage to make a moral stand, even online. You lose friends, families get torn apart. People like me, who use their internet accounts to promote their writing/art/business, get blocked and lose customers. As a result, it’s usually also a stupid thing to do, especially since your brave stand with Ukraine doesn’t kill a single Russian soldier.

The difference between courage and stupidity is often so fine a line as to be nonexistent.

And yet…

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They’re Stealing the Truth

“Trump said it, so it must be a lie!”

That’s really not a terrible axiom. Oh, it’s not 100% accurate, but most of what he’s said over the years has ranged from mild exaggeration to only true in certain circumstances all the way up to a bald-faced whopper. He repeats the lie often and loudly, and some will come to believe him — and others automatically disbelieve.

Herein, however, comes a problem: Sometimes, people end up disbelieving what he says even though there’s some truth to it.

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Why Are You…?

People keep asking me (online, for the most part) why I’m on this side or that. I tell them I’m not, and do my best to explain, and they remain confused. It goes like this:

“Why are you defending Israel? They’re committing genocide!”
“I’m not talking about genocide. I’m talking about [insert abstract topic].”
“That doesn’t matter! Israel is evil!”

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White Phosphorus In Gaza

Every few months, the organization “Human Rights Watch” releases a report accusing a major anti-Iranian nation of using white phosphorus rounds against civilians. It’s consistent, well-documented, factually correct, and a flaming lie all at once.

“But how could that be? Is it white phosphorus or not? Is phosphorus illegal or not?”

Glad you asked. I’ll tell you.

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“When Will Israel End Its War?”

I read this question this morning, and it caught me off guard. I examined it, and the context in which it was posed. This was the premise of a thought piece in major media.

And it struck me: People, even those who really ought to know better, really have no idea what’s going on. Strange as that may seem to some of you — especially those with firm, settled opinions — it’s frighteningly, terrifyingly true.

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Room 202, Nighttime

I don’t get it. Something woke me up, but I don’t hear anything.

I mean nothing. Quiet. There’s no sound at all, just the bathroom fan, because if I turn that light out it’s black and I can’t see to get to the bathroom, but any other light shines straight in my eyes, and the fan has no switch of its own. Just as well; kinda smells in there.

I wonder what woke me…

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The Value of Nonsense

“Some people are very good at sounding sophisticated and intellectual while saying nothing of substance. Do you get fooled?”
– Katherine Brodsky, author and journalist

The following may be counterintuitive, but it is nevertheless true: There can be a great deal of value to be found in verbiage that exists for its own sake, or at least appears to.

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