The other day, a friend and I were talking about the state of the world and we agreed that there are a lot more things that don’t make sense these days.
Perhaps you can relate, and you come across strange, unexplainable circumstances more often now than you used to, and you find yourself saying “that just doesn’t make any sense” noticeably more often than in the past.
Like when a computer refuses to do something it has done before numerous times, or does something more or less on its own that it hasn’t done before.
Or when you watch the evening news and some self-professed “expert” provides a reason or explanation for some occurrence, and you clearly recognize that little of it is actually prudent to the subject being addressed and none of it brings anyone closer to any kind of solution or resolution.
It would be easy to create a lengthy list of examples, but you get the idea. Here in 2023, much of that which was formally unusual, irregular, weird or simply unacceptable is now standard.
And there’s no boundaries to the situation. On the contrary, literally everything is involved, including technology, economic influences, food, commerce, laws and everything else humans give a darn about.
Not to mention the general thought processes and actions of lots and lots of people in roles of leadership. This is where I think things are making less sense than ever; I mean, sometimes you wonder just what the heck is being said, and sometimes you wonder why it’s being said and why you’re being urged to listen.
And of course, it’s commonplace to take notice of a so-called leader doing the classic “hypocrisy shuffle” by saying something that’s in stark contrast with something they’ve said in the past, or by doing something that’s in complete opposition with something they’ve said or done before.
Heck, not making sense is even “trendy” with alarming frequency. Sure, if something doesn’t make sense, it must be really cool and worth being a part of, right?
And of course, we’re really not supposed to question all of it, but rather just tolerate and acquiesce. Hey, even though something doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, it’s cool if it’s factual and truthful, right?
I suppose, as long as the “facts” and “truth” involved are real. But something that’s not making much sense these days is how much new truth there is and how many new facts there are.
Not that long ago, I felt as if the nonsensical direction that pretty much everything was headed in wasn’t permanent. I figured it was a glitch on the radar of history and logic, reason and stability would eventually return to the forefront and uneasiness and uncertainty would go away.
As much as I hate it, I no longer believe that. No, I think the things that make us collectively troubled and uncomfortable are likely here to stay, and the kind of assuredness and security we were all used to for so long has been relegated to society’s memory banks.
Anyway, maybe it’s just me, but I feel like that “new normal” you always hear about doesn’t have much to do with normality. In fact, I think maybe what’s now normal is that hardly anything is now normal.
But I also figure we might as well get used to abnormality, because I’m pretty sure that’s what’s normal now.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.