June Renew: Day Fourteen
One thing that always bothered me about Trump Era news coverage was hearing pundits speaking about him like they knew him personally. Like they were once besties and now they’re just scorned lovers. CNN and MSNBC would frequently cite “sources familiar with the President’s thinking,” which I don’t even know what that means. Are they employing armchair psychologists? I could see myself doing this perfectly viable option should my producer potential run out. Either way, I think you can interpret anything about anyone if you try hard enough. Strategists can analyze moves and actions, and it can be an important part of the conversation. But as far as pretending you really know what another is thinking when you haven’t even spoken to them is an irresponsible and lazy form of commentary with little place anywhere branding itself as a news outlet.
I mean, when’s the last time this dingus said a word to President Trump? How would he know what he looks like “stressed” at this point? You worked for him pre-pandemic. We were all different people then. How many of us can say we haven’t evolved over the last five or so years? It really says something to watch people, in real time, fill in the gaps to confirm their own biases. We all do it. It’s just a lot of us don’t get paid for it.
The story I’m telling today is not my own, but it’s a good example of what I mean. On one of the “lolcow” forums I used to browse, a thread popped up about an ‘ex-girlfriend’ of one of the funny boys I watch online. They had ‘dated’ when they were both thirteen and would draw back and forth to one another in paint chat. It’s a cute little story of an online love interest. He even mentioned it in one of his older videos. Naturally, as teen are wont to do, they drifted apart, he ended up marrying his manic pixie dream girl, and that’s where it should have ended. Only the ‘ex’ started posting about him almost a decade later and was writing as if she currently knew him. She was making predictions about his current relationship, speaking as though they were still in contact and, well, intimate. It was a bizarre spectacle to say the least, and I can’t say the feeling is all-together lost on me, pining for someone you think you know better than anyone. The difference is I hadn’t gone literal decades without speaking. Just goes to show, even if you once knew someone like that, it doesn’t mean you still do.
The wavelengths we ride with one another may always exist in some respects, but don’t pretend it’s the same it always was, especially if you’re currently on a parallel path. If someone is not currently in your life, you have no idea what they’re thinking or feeling. I don’t need to keep pretending I see the signs everywhere either, though I can’t say for certainty whether I am or not. That truly remains to be seen. The fall is not yet here. Whatever illusions people have built over the years may soon crumble, and then you’ll wish you knew someone well enough to run to them. Perhaps we all have that person. We just can’t know it yet.
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