We have lost the capacity to talk about economic despoilment, about social class, about precarity and exploitation.

All there is anymore is sex.

This is why the Left is so obsessed with sexual freedom. They can’t imagine any other kind of freedom any more. This is why there are five million completely invented sexual orientations that are loudly defended by people who rarely have any sex at all.

And this is why the QAnon imagines sexual exploitation instead of speaking of the very real economic depredations that are destroying the standard of living of both the QAnoners and of the gender-fluid polyamorous woke snowflakes.

What the QAnon wants to say is, “a small group of very rich people are refashioning the economy to ensure that our children have no economic opportunities.” But they don’t know how to say that because this language has been destroyed. So they say “the elites are raping our children and bathing in their blood.” The sentiment is absolutely right. But they confuse the metaphor and reality, and as a result will never achieve anything.

Twenty years ago, everybody on the Right and older people on the Left would tell you that America is a force of good in the world.

Ten years ago, the Left crossed over to the side of “America is the source of evil.” There was absolutely no calamity that occurred anywhere in the world and at any time in history that wasn’t America’s fault. At the more outlandish side of the spectrum, I heard colleagues blame the US for Stalinist purges and students blame the Muslim invasion of Spain in 711 on the evil America.

But at least the Right was open to the point of view where America didn’t cause absolutely everything bad that ever happened and actually did some good things.

This is no longer true. It’s rare to see anybody on the Right under the age of 70 who doesn’t share the Left’s knee-jerk reaction of finding America at the root of every evil.

Why this idea was created is obvious. In order to continue to exist, the nation-state must be loved. If we don’t love our nation and think it’s the best, it will fade away. And once it fades away, the democratic institutions lose all power. We become easier to rob and control.

It’s clear who benefits from all this. What’s less clear is why the people who have everything to lose and absolutely nothing to gain from this are so eagerly parroting the moronic lies about systemic racisms and NATO expansions.

I took Klara to Walgreens to get a passport picture. We are going to Canada for the 40-day church service and gathering.

She has a huge black eye because right on the eve of the picture-taking she ran into a friend. It was cold, so I wrapped her in my shawl. Her facial expression was that of extreme misery because she detests having her picture taken.

“You look like a Ukrainian refugee,” I joked.

The photographer gave me a dirty look.

“I’m Ukrainian!” I said. “I’m allowed!”

The photographer is way too young to remember Seinfeld and understand the reference. I discovered today that Seinfeld is only 3 yours younger than my Dad. This kind of blew my mind because I always associated him with Gen X.

Another funny fact: I read an article about the very recent end of Seinfeld and how much everybody was going to miss it on the plane to Canada when I was emigrating. I remember thinking, “what an amazing life it is when people can watch this kind of show and enjoy it.”

I only caught the tail-end of the North American 1990s but I remember them fondly.