I don't know what to tell you. The hysterical irrationality out there is truly frightening. To me it seems like a complete lack of ability to critically evaluate information, but then I remember that we are all subject to that "confirmation bias" thing. (You know, twisting all evidence to confirm our own beliefs). I read some of this stuff and shake my head at the blinding anger that is (to me) completely irrational, but then I realize: people actually believe these crazy theories. I want to respect other views, but I don't know what to do with that. I almost find the wild conspiracy theories more frightening than the prejudice, though certainly prejudice is fueling much of it.

I have a high school reunion coming up. I haven't seen most of my classmates in 30 years. I thought I would look forward to it, even though I had some conflicted feelings about those years (who doesn't?). But as part of the planning, many in my class have started interacting on Facebook. And the stuff I'm seeing there is making me dread going. It's like, I knew my beliefs didn't fit in where I was growing up, but wow. Just, wow.