‘There’s none so blind as those who will not see’

Why does this keep coming to mind lately?

I searched online, believing this must be Biblical The closest I found is Jeremiah 5:21: “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:” KJV So, I DuckDuckGo’d the question and found a website, https://writingtips.org/theres-none-so-blind/ which attributes the actual quote above to John Heywood, circa 1546.

It astounds me that there is so much evidence of malfeasance and self-dealing on the part of the Republican candidate for the United States Presidency—that has been publicly heard in Congressional hearings, impeachment hearings, and criminal trials (his charitable organization, the civil suit brought by E.Jean Carroll, and the recent criminal trial) —and yet men and women that I know to be persons of character and integrity are still determined to vote for a man that they would not otherwise invite into their homes or have around their womenfolk due to his low moral character.

These same people will occasionally—on the rare occasions there are any political conversations with those of us known to hold opposing views—opine on how terrible the current administration and its occupants are. No specifics. Can’t label either of them as adulterers—hmm, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it. Con artists. That’s a problem, too. Divisive—when that is used, it is the pot calling the kettle black. Articulate? even with a childhood stutter, President Biden is far more articulate that the Republican candidate, especially with each passing day. Guess that only leaves them with the following as to Harris: not white and not male. And not pro-Wall Street, nor pro-venture capitalist at the expense of the middle class.

And what is more concerning is the more recent increase in threatening/bullying behavior on the part of Donald, and his continued efforts to inspire his followers to engage in physical violence—that’s not my opinion, it’s his own increasingly hate filled statements of one very rough day/being a dictator on day one/comments on treatment of anyone alleged to violate any law or expression of any anti-Donald opinion. In what universe would we EVER countenance our friend, relative or child speaking to or about another person the way he speaks about other human beings? Why would we ever support such a man’s candidacy? Why would news media give him the time of day, much less print his photo and quote him as though his opinions have any merit? Why would we ignore the statements of top military leaders who have stated that he is a threat to democracy? Do the venture capitalists really despise or fear our democracy so much that they are complicit in its destruction? Or are they wannabe oligarchs, who just want to rake in as much money as possible while they can; no matter from whom or how?

I’d like to think, were I a young person or old adult in 1930s Germany/Europe, I would have been standing up and speaking out AGAINST Hitler’s use of ruffians who he used to intimidate and batter anyone who opposed him, before it became too late. The result of the silence of all those who waited for someone else to speak up? unspeakable human sacrifice and suffering. For what? For the ego of a man who cared only for himself and the acquisition of power. We are watching it happen again; Hitler, 2.0. or 2024, whichever you prefer.

Surely we are better than this! Surely we have taught our children to be better than this! Haven’t we?! Or have we failed? Deuteronomy 6:7 ”And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

And even for those who are not of the Judeo-Christian background: when I go to court, there are rules of evidence. My clients can state their opinions on some things, like parenting or values of personal property. But their statements of what actually happened weigh little unless there is evidence that corroborates that. There have been a lot of statements of alleged goings on, most recently concerning hurricane relief. The theories of recency and repetition tell us that the more recently we hear something and the more often we hear something, the more likely we believe it. But just because some tells us, over and over and over again that the sky is green, doesn’t mean we should stop looking at the sky to see for ourselves what color it is, and asking why this person would want us to believe something that our eyes and our brain tell us just is not so.

Just thinking about what little I know about history of the last 100 years: in a little over 100 years since the end of WWI, Russia’s revolution resulted in innumerable people killed for political reasons, sent to Siberia for political reason; if, like me, you weren’t aware, they starved 3.5-5 million in Ukraine in 1933 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor . No wonder the people of Ukraine do not want Russia taking over an inch of their land. And we should not want a president that aspires to be like Putin in any way.

We need to keep our eyes open. Our ears open. And our brains processing. We need to be engaged. Thinking. Questioning. Interacting. Seeing. Hearing.