Well… the government certainly isn’t nearly as divided as other people would have us believe. I doubt people in the real world are all that divided either. 

But, for some stupid reason (curiosity kills the cat), I decided to scroll the comments sections of the Youtube channels wherein my bill was covered, as well as Facebook and X where republicans announced that the “Right to Try” bill had passed. And, while it was entertaining to read the comments, I couldn’t help but think of when George Carlin so eloquently said, “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of ‘em are stupider than that!”

Long story short, people were mad simply because governor Jared Polis, a democrat, had to sign the bill to make it into a law. Therefore, everyone else in the picture must’ve also been evil, far-left, demon-rats, too. To hell with the facts!

Also, there were quite a few bot comments posted just to stir the pot. Sadly, lots of people were taking the bait (assuming they weren’t bots themselves). 

Meanwhile, things weren’t any better in the comments section of the posts made by democrats. Instead of accusing us of being demon-rats, comments were calling Polis a traitor for “standing with the republicans”, and accusing all of us standing behind Polis of being fascist, Trump-loving, sycophants. Also, there were quite a few comments that were borderline inciting violence. Do with that what you will. 

For the record, none of those comments got to me on a personal level. I was very clear with everyone involved in the media to keep me out of it: keep me anonymous. It was okay (and inevitable) that my face would be plastered everywhere, but I didn’t (and don’t) want my name floating around on the internet for random idiots to look up and do God-knows-what with it (there are a lot of crazies in the world). Plus, even though I appeared in photos and videos, I wasn’t dressed like I typically dress (aside from the paint-stained windbreaker I was wearing), which means people probably won’t recognize me on the street. 

Instead, what bothered me was the ignorance and overall bad behavior displayed in the comments sections from both sides of the political spectrum. Those tribalistic comments speak to the very thing that has been bothering me for years. 

People in those comments didn’t care about the facts. They didn’t know who anyone was in those pictures aside from the governor. They didn’t read any articles, watch any news coverage, or even bother to research the bill itself. They simply saw a bill being signed into law by the “enemy”, or a couple “enemy” senators standing behind a law being signed into law by a “traitor”, and ran with those assumptions in the comments. 

It wasn’t shocking at all, but damn… it was hard to witness. 

In other words, the government isn’t what scares me. Maybe it should, but it doesn’t. Why? Because, this whole experience taught me exactly how the government works- even in the age of Donald Trump. The sensational headlines, the exaggerated articles, the Twitter beefs- all of that shit is political theater. It’s not real; it’s not really reflective of what’s actually going on. 

There’s a reason why everything from CNN to Fox News are referred to as “infotainment”.

Real news, even with Trump as president, is incredibly boring to most people. In fact, that’s the reason why I find it so easy to limit myself to fifteen minutes per day on my local news site. It’s boring, facts-only, non-alarmist news that is not connected to my search history in any way, shape, or form. But, if I scroll down from Google’s front page on my phone, it’s incredibly easy to lose an hour of my day lapping up sensationalist headlines- and not even reading the articles- covering events going on all over the world that are chosen for me by an algorithm that knows what I like. 

Again, I’m not afraid of the government, as much as I detest it, even though many people would say I should be afraid of the government. Instead, I’m deeply terrified of what the Internet has done to us. Because, nowadays, while the Internet itself isn’t real life, it can drive people to say, do, and believe crazy shit that can (and does) impact real life.