There's a lot of sinister shit going on, on a lot of levels: internationally, domestically, and within our own amygdala!

Steve Bannon's flooding the zone with shit creates an epistemological crisis as there's no shared reality because it's literally impossible to keep up with the bullshit; similarly the siloing of one's media sources warps perceptions of reality; our innate tribalism/xenophobia/othering destroy trust and any willingness to compromise; a disinclination for reading or for those who do read, one's choices are steered by confirmation bias; the lack of institutional trust (government, media, politics); sinister adversaries abroad like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, manipulate social media, fund bad actors everywhere, and present a real danger for democracies; the homegrown nihilists in the GOP and right-wing think tanks (both secular and Christian nationalist)work to destroy longstanding norms and social cohesion. Throw in massive immigration, and the dizzying pace provided by technological, cultural and demographic changes and many are left longing for that simpler time that really never was! 

What's one to do? Take a walk among the trees? Share a conversation with a loved one? Put "Born For Love" on  the headphones? All good antidotes, but when I want the long view, from a both time and distance perspective, I regularly return to Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO5FwsblpT8

Peter T.