My dad loved sports and politics equally. He did tend to gravitate toward a game above all else. If there was pick-up basketball in the park, he'd pull over and watch it. He grew up before T.V. though he watched as much as he could as an adult. One day when he was watching ESPN, he confided "They spend too much time talking about this stuff."
I was watching the VICE news January 6th episode and got pretty sick to my stomach between the segment on poll workers being harassed by extremist and footage of the attack on the Capitol. About 20 minutes in, I ate a sandwich and napped while listening to my 4th Cleveland Browns podcast of the week. We all have our drugs of choice.
I was home for a snow day and caught the Harris/Biden speech regarding the attack yesterday. As a non-extremist, I keep asking myself "What can I do?" It really does seem like all the Huxley/Orwell/ Burgess scenarios are playing out while the wealthy colonize Mars and the rest of us fidget with our phones.
I think the best i can do sometimes is to be aware of when I'm wasting time just to escape or consume. I can be of more use to my fellow (wo)man in these moments and kinder to myself. It's that old cliche "Charity begins at home." I'll work on taking the bitter pills along with my gluten free lollipops.