Rotten Apples

As a rule I try as best I can to stay clear of perpetually cynical people... 

Their negative slants on life not only are exhausting, but the black cloud they live under will eventually envelope you if you are not careful..

And yet I have become all that I despise... After quite a few decades wandering through life on this planet I am now a hard core cynic so I guess I truly despise myself (it happens)...

Of course we Negative Nellies like to classify ourselves as realists and given the facts of life today outsiders of our dark universe who would try and knock us off our cracked soap boxes would face an almost impossible task..

Let's face it, we live in an "ends justifies the means" world...

Consequence has become an antiquated concept... 

A fifteen year old Russian figure skater tests positive for a performance enhancing drug and of course the rule against this behavior is over ruled and the young girl is allowed to skate in the Olympics... The pressure got to her and she went down in flames, though the conspiracy tin foiled hat guy in me wonders if she was ordered to take a few falls for the team to lessen the heat.. Her Russian team mates finished 1-2 in the event, but who is to say they were not also chemically enhanced(not that it matters) but did not get caught.. It's all a big flashy spangled shit show..

The beloved teddy bear David "Big Papi" Ortiz who previously had failed a steroid test got voted into the baseball Hall of Fame this year.. Prior to this, known or suspected juicers did not receive the needed votes, but that thud you hear are standards being dropped.. Now the cry is louder than ever that past chemical sinners like Bonds, Clemens, and Arod should be in the Hall because "everybody was doing it"... Full disclosure: I believe these guys should all be in the Hall of Fame but as I said before I don't particularly like myself.. 

"Everybody does it" has always been the go to rationalization for those who have been caught in the act of wrong doing.. Kids use it all the time when they get in trouble, but how do parents today teach children that the old "two wrongs don't make a right" counter answer is still in effect? 

The Houston Astros get caught cheating and are allowed to keep their championship, the Patriots in football have been nabbed numerous times for bending the rules... Heck, even Medina's Spirit, the horse who won the Kentucky Derby tested positive for illegal drugs and was allowed to keep racing.. The transgressors just take the short term social media hits, pay whatever fine is levied, and go on their merry way..

Things are no different in business and politics... The corporate financial shysters who nearly took down the global economy in 2008 with their shady accounting tricks all got away with their crimes with nary a one of them doing a moment in jail for their fraudulent actions.. Zero accountability on their personal balance sheets..

Politics is replete with examples of people from both parties breaking rules and laws all the time with few if any ever having to pay the price...Most even get reelected and those who don't leave politics and slide right into the corporate or lobbyist world at mega salaries...Who says crime does not pay?

Along with consequence being an endangered species the same can be said for the concept of shame.. These days instead of the sinner contritely confessing and doing penance for their sins, the modern tactic is to play the victim card and aggressively attack the motives of those who bring the charges.. No deflection is too outrageous or out of bounds... Our previous president is the master of this strategy and his supporters love and celebrate him as the forever aggrieved whipping boy of the insidious Deep State..

Not only do "Nice guys finish last" in America, but they are ridiculed and their motives are constantly mocked and questioned by a jaded populace... One would think that perhaps these righteous unicorns should perhaps enter the priesthood or the ministry, but the pedophile protecting Church may not be the best place for pious morality types...

I offer no solutions of how to stem this tsunami of cynicism nor do I pretend to understand why our frightened species seems to be sinking deeper into this pit of human pessimism...

Maybe we should blame it all on God and call the rest of humanity's trip off...