Something is happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear...

For What it's Worth, Buffalo Springfield 1967

Some of us remember this song… it’s time we dusted it off and started playing it again.

Here’s the lyrics:

There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?

What a field day for the heat (Ooh ooh ooh)
A thousand people in the street (Ooh ooh ooh)
Singing songs and they carrying signs (Ooh ooh ooh)
Mostly say, "Hooray for our side" (Ooh ooh ooh)

It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the men come and take you away

We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?

You better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?

You better stop
Now, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?

You better stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?

Written by: Stephen Stills

Album: Buffalo Springfield

Released: 1966

For many of us, this was THE song of our youth. I say it still is our song… but now we are OLD. Replace the words, “young people speaking their minds” with “old people speaking their minds.”

And free speech IS in jeopardy, amongst many other of our rights. If Harris/Walz get away with their heinous plan, a lot of voices will be silenced. Both have stated in speeches or interviews that free speech is not really free and they have plans to modify free speech protections. And oddly, in every search engine I have tried… I cannot find a single solitary article, document, clip or video of this fact. Isn’t that interesting? There’s pages and pages of how wonderful Harris is and how she defends free speech. And no, you are not crazy. You, we, are being manipulated. Gaslit. Our government is forcing private enterprise to censor by way of algorithms. That is already a proven fact. Mark Zuckerberg has already come out and said it just two short months ago. The “White House” forced him to censor Americans by threatening to close his business using a legal trick of revoking something… which I also cannot find. I get pages and pages of links all saying THE EXACT SAME THING. Or it’s behind a paywall and I can’t see it.

I started out wanting to write about a curious phenomenon occurring these last two weeks on Substack. Many of us are being DM’d by bots. Plus a large number of “drive-by” vitriolic commenters posted by vacant accounts and profiles. Someone posited that we are being targeted by an alphabet agency to see if we might be insurrectionists. After some contemplation this morning… I think that is precisely what is going on. I believe Substack has been “hacked”. Not in a sense that they’ve lost control of their business, but that a concerted effort is in play to push us in various directions. To further divide us. To break down society.

Hey, I will be the first one to say that people that vote for Harris/Walz are dumber than a box of rocks. Maybe even slightly deranged. Unhinged. They say the EXACT same things about Trump voters. But in the end, they are my neighbors. Some were former patients in my town. I still have to deal with them albeit on a limited basis if I can manage it. What good does it do to divide us? Well, that is a subject for another day.

So here we are, being told that free speech isn’t really free, unable to verify statements made by both Harris and Walz to that effect, due to algorithms, and being bombarded (maybe a bit of hyperbole) by bots possibly trying to entrap us. If free speech is in jeopardy, then our entire Republic is in jeopardy. We are teetering on the cliff edge. One foot dangling in the empty space. The other holding up a wobbly leg growing fatigued by the constant shifting of the crumbling ground.

But like the song says, “There's battle lines being drawn; Nobody's right if everybody's wrong”. Stephen Stills wrote this song, and he says he did it in response to a “peaceful” protest in LA in 1966 around the closing of Pandora’s box, a local teen dance club. But the words and sentiment smoothly transitioned to the Vietnam war protests. I think it’s time we transitioned it to the loss of the Republic. Because we are surely losing it, incrementally right now, but anticipating massive bulldozers of change after January 20th, if things go south. And who knows, even if things don’t go south, and the President elect is steadfastly for free speech, the opposition isn’t going away. Indeed, I anticipate November 6th 2024 to January 20th, 2025, to be some of the most “interesting times” over the last 10 years. But if everybody’s wrong… where does that leave us? In the end? With our family, friends, coworkers and neighbors who are on the “other side”. Are we done as a civilization? As a people? Are we going to one day in the near future, just forget about it and move on like Emily Oster from The Atlantic entreated us to do regarding the pandemic in her article, “Let’s declare a pandemic amnesty.”

Because that didn’t go over well. Thomas Sowell has famously stated, “People will forgive you for being wrong, but they will never forgive you for being right – especially if events prove you right while proving them wrong.” And with all the data coming out, countries banning the vaccine and other atrocities being brought into the light of day, there are some very angry people. They are angry because they were lied to, manipulated, threatened, gaslit, harassed, bullied, and run out of town. Now add in the fact that free speech is in jeopardy amongst other egregious actions by our government and leaders and we have the makings of a …. oh, can’t say it. Don’t want to invite the thought police. But you know what I am talking about.

I hope you have your bits girdled. Because not only will the next few months be quite ugly, and dangerous, but your brain may explode with the sheer and utter ridiculousness that has become our world today.

You better stop now, what’s that sound, everybody look what’s going down.