Tim Barrus: New York Times
Insanity Is the Status Quo.
The country is collapsing. The culture is collapsing. Institutions are collapsing. The economy is collapsing.
Authority maintains that everything is fine, here in Appalachia. There is no evidence to support this. There is evidence that the opposite is true.
We are the only family on the block that hasn’t bought a slew of guns. I see my neighbors, usually right-wingers, but somewhat sane, unpacking guns from their cars and trips to the booming gun store. No one wears a mask in a gun store. Think about it.
My neighbors have yard signs that tell demonstrators to get off their property or they will be shot on sight.
There has never been a demonstration here. Ever. We grow tomatoes.
Everyone is scared. Washington is not going to save us. We are bitter about it. Health care is not going to save us. They’re overwhelmed and dying, too. Poverty is obviously not going to save us but in a week the money dries up. We are on our own. It feels like we are waiting for a nuclear bomb to hit is, and there is no hope.
Americans are nervous about being able to keep what they have. Like a house.
I threw out my guns years ago. After Newtown, the guns felt like a weight pulling me down.
Americans are armed to the teeth. That is our real response to a virus. That is our response to everything. An assault rifle against a virus. The fear on my block is visceral. We are hunkered down.
My family, mostly boys, has a garden. The food from the garden has to last.
I record everyone’s weight. We get up. I haul out the scales. I want to know right away who’s in trouble. This is my denial that we are all in trouble. We will not leave this property unless we are pushed out by the authority of guns.