I sense a political exhaustion. At some point overwhelming stupidity deteriorates from rage to boredom. Rage makes people stupid.

We just get tired of being pissed off all the time. We get tired of the virtue signaling moral supremacists. The need to provoke outrage neuters the potency of evils like racism and fascism.

Juvenile pundits compare immigration raids to Nazi persecutions. Our rabbi compared the detention of illegal immigrants to the Jewish slaves in Egypt. Besides the offensive nature it is just intellectually lazy. There is no attempt to understand the complexity or the history of the problem, put it in perspective, or, god forbid, provide a rational alternative.

I look at a news story and wonder of the likelihood of today’s headline ever being noted in a history book. The 24-hour news cycle is an outrage machine designed to generate clicks. It is not to inform and certainly not to provide perspective or understanding.

My refuge is history books, particularly ones that are at least 20 years old and still pertinent. A good history writer puts you in the mind of the actors at the time. You realize that what seems inevitable today was risky and uncertain at the time. Hopefully you distinguish permanent principles from contingent realities. Fighting for solid principles is heroic, fighting for delusional beliefs is insane. History is moved by both and the difference is often only clear in hindsight.

You learn that certainty is rare, expensive and often dangerous.

print