December Column Winner

Riding on the crazy train

By David Stringer, The Lawton Constitution

"Remember when we were the crazy ones?" 

I’m paraphrasing, but that was a question asked at a small get together I attended last week.

The question was only partly tongue-in-cheek but seems more and more apropos. No matter where you look, there’s a seemingly new breed of crazy being more “normal.” Watching the statehouses or U.S. Capitol, or even the line at the checkout counter, we’re treated to more and more outlandish behavior. Folks seem to think they can say any-thing, or act with impunity and no one’s allowed to intervene. “I’m right and you’re stupid.”

I’m part of a generation which came of age before the internet, before smartphones and before social media. Most of us probably have at least one thing in our past we know would be a viral TikTok video today. What’s most astounding is the number of wackadoos that video their own questionable behavior and out themselves as the nutjobs they are.

Today we’ve transitioned from the crazy train to an innumerable number of clown cars, each trying to out-maneuver the other to the front of the pack. From viral “influencers” to elected officials, each one seems hell bent on being memorable. “That’s the best you can do? Here, hold my beer.”

Previously, we might have been allowed to only be a passenger on the crazy train, jumping to safety, rolling down the embankment, then looking back to see if all the cars made the curve. Now, we’re required to stay in our seats until things have come to a full and complete stop, even though the destination is nowhere near your ticketed destination.

I really don’t think we have a bigger dose of crazy than before. It’s just that they’ve all got a broader stage and a platform to brag about it. Most are content to sit on the world’s front porch and watch the parade of lunacy. And when the “fun” spirals and unintended consequences come home to roost, as they often will, you can know you warned them. But somehow I sense the tide is turning.

Because that’s the other side of smartphones. Everything is recorded. Someone, somewhere, has probably captured your stupidity and will bring it up at the most inopportune moment. Maybe we’re finally beginning to get our belly full of crazy and are willing to send those folks back to the dark corners of the internet where they belong.

After all, it IS the season of hope, isn’t it?