1984?

I have been insanely busy the last few months which has caused a massive drop off in my writing.  However, it has not kept me from paying attention to what's going on around me.  Over the last two months we have seen a Presidential candidate say that he would actively seek the counsel of the Catholic Church, ultimately he would like to outlaw abortion as well as contraception, and just to called the President of the United States a Nigger.  We've had an ultra conservative talk show host call a female college student a slut.  We have a seen an ultra liberal talk show host donate a million dollars to a Super PAC.  We have seen a Hispanic neighborhood watchman shoot and kill an unarmed black teenager in Miami.  We have seen the true state of race relations in this country flood social media.  We have seen main stream media stop reporting the events of the day and start dictating the coming day's events.  We have seen our elected leaders ignore the public they purport to serve (nothing new!) and serve their own self interest.  How else can you explain why members of congress were ever allowed to buy or sell stocks in companies based on insider information that everyone of us would get sent to prison for?  We have seen a "moderate" Republican rise from the ranks to challenge the first black President.  We have seen gas prices rise.  We have seen unemployment "fall".  We have seen celebrities prove why they should never have any influence over anyone because they lack even basic common sense.  We have seen modern day lynch mobs rise up to crush anyone who says anything controversial.  We have seen our legal system become a poll driven entity.  We have seen record temperatures.  We have seen a documentary about a vicious regime called into question because of the "insanity" of its director.  We have seen the Red Sox get off to their worst start ever (AGAIN!!).  We have seen the Titanic in 3D (Spoiler Alert: IT STILL SINKS AND LEO DIES!!!)  We have witnessed LIN-SANITY.  We have seen Tebowmania come to New York (Even though the Jets play in Jersey).  We have seen the Occupy movement basically die.

Are we so numb that none this makes us sad, nervous or even angry?  I see posts constantly about the Constitution but I don't think the posters do anything more than repost it.  Why is it that people who disagree with liberals are idiot sexist racists and people who disagree with conservatives are godless heathen whore terrorists?  If you aren't capable of accepting that other people have the right to their opinion and they don't have to listen yours then it's really sad.  It's sad because you don't have to listen to them either.  I bring this up because I served in the U.S. Marine Corps and now I am a middle school teacher and I am deeply troubled by the lack of even the most basic form of civility I see from the media, the government, and especially the average citizen. This country holds itself up as an example to the world yet I don't think people see the example they are setting.  Picketing the funerals of soldiers, ignoring the epidemic of gun violence until it goes interracial, actively discriminating against gay people, pretending that a man or the government should have any say in what a woman does with her body (like any man would tolerate being told what to do with theirs?) I say these things because I love this country, I was willing to die for it, I was willing to kill for it, and I currently try to educate the next generation (including my own son).  We can't continue this march we are on towards fanaticism.  If we do then our society will follow that path to its inevitable end, extinction.

Well, if you are still reading this then you must have as much time on your hands as I do and if that's the case, then you have my sympathies.