This giant sycamore tree on the Pawling farm in the Valley Forge National Historic Park is believed to be a true “witness tree” to the events of 1777-78. At 82.9 feet tall and 21.4 feet in circumference with a spread of 142 feet, it is estimated to be 260-285 years old: Glynn Wilson

Under the Microscope –
By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it really make a sound?

This, of course, is an age old thought experiment that is tinged with the stink of Anthropocentrism, homocentricism, or if you like, human supremacism. It ignores all the other animals in the forest. Which may be one reason for much of the widespread human madness unleashed across the land in these days full of strife.

But let’s just put the critters aside for the sake of playing the argument game, and consider the communications conundrum facing humanity at this critical juncture in time.

If an influential witness tree falls in the forest, will it ever be heard from again? Will the tree be canceled like some humans who piss off the powers that be once or twice in a life?

If a cataclysmic news story breaks, and it’s not covered by all channels, going viral on every social media platform simultaneously, will enough people find out about it for it to matter? Will it be drowned out by the all the narcissistic noise and buzz across the web?

Unfortunately for Democrats, Joe and Jill Biden are not the hottest influencer couple on TikTok. If the social media masses and the anti-news owners of all the platforms really had their way, Taylor Swift would be the next president. She’s already made the cover of Time. Free concerts once a week in the Rose Garden for special guests only of course, including the new first hubby, Travis Kelce. Free football films every Saturday night in the White House viewing room, right by the game room. Old whiskey and cigars welcome. Maybe a stick of legal weed.

Our conversation from a reasonable, intelligent democracy into an idiocracy and a “popularity contest” will be complete. We may as well do away with elections and hold a televised game show like “American Idol” to choose the next president.

Just say no to Trump supporters, please.

As for Trump, his big, bloated orange head and ass are like a rocky rolling stone snowball barreling down a mountain ski slope, gathering no moss, only more ice and rocks. From afar it’s clear to see it wants to destroy everything in its path. The press and media still can’t take their eyes off of it. It’s all over social media. Every news channel too, every day.

What, or who, can stop it?

If only we still had Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider Man or Batman and Robin to save the day.

Unfortunately this is the real world, and Joe Biden really is running for president.

On the Eve of Jan. 6, President Biden Condemns Trump as a Dire Threat to Democracy

But will Trump’s response get even more traffic than Biden’s speech? Probably, since Democrats are loath to share the news link on Facebook, because someone asked them to share, and the Facebook algorithm bot is programmed not to like news links. Crazy, false outrageous statements like Trump’s every utterance get far more traction on social media.

Not to be outdone, and clearly in a Friday afternoon inside Washington attempt to compete with this big news, the conservative guardians of the Supreme Court press office just had to let everyone know the fate of Trump is in their hands, whether a state like Colorado has the power to rule Trump an insurrectionist under the 14th Amendment and bar him from the ballet.

Supreme Court Agrees to Review the Colorado Decision to Ban Trump from the Republican Primary Ballot

It will be a shock if the court does not bail Trump out entirely, since he appointed three of them and another three are on his side. It will be a miracle if the ruling does not grant Trump an election year exemption from the law to appease the revolutionary right. If they do that, in a 6-3 vote, they will have turned the presidency into a monarch-like dictatorship overnight BY LAW, or at least given Congress and “the people” one more chance to try to save it by Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.

The radical MAGA right and their white Christian nationalist friends will celebrate the court, but the court will lose all respect from the rest of the country, including the mainstream establishment. This court is already held in low regard thanks to the corruption of Clarence Thomas and for overturning decades of established precedents in case after case, not just on abortion, but on affirmative action in higher education and the federal government’s power to regulate harmful pollution.

If that’s the way they want it, the way it’s going to be, then you thought the 2016 campaign was big? 2020? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Dog help us all, every one.

“When the going gets rough, head for the mountains,” as I always say.

Have camper van and internet connection, will travel and write. Catch up to me if you can.

“I read, think and write, therefore I am.”
– Glynn Wilson

More Photos

This giant sycamore tree on the Pawling farm in the Valley Forge National Historic Park is believed to be a true “witness tree” to the events of 1777-78. At 82.9 feet tall and 21.4 feet in circumference with a spread of 142 feet, it is estimated to be 260-285 years old: Glynn Wilson

This giant sycamore tree on the Pawling farm in the Valley Forge National Historic Park is believed to be a true “witness tree” to the events of 1777-78. At 82.9 feet tall and 21.4 feet in circumference with a spread of 142 feet, it is estimated to be 260-285 years old: Glynn Wilson

This giant sycamore tree on the Pawling farm in the Valley Forge National Historic Park is believed to be a true “witness tree” to the events of 1777-78. At 82.9 feet tall and 21.4 feet in circumference with a spread of 142 feet, it is estimated to be 260-285 years old: Glynn Wilson

This giant sycamore tree on the Pawling farm in the Valley Forge National Historic Park is believed to be a true “witness tree” to the events of 1777-78. At 82.9 feet tall and 21.4 feet in circumference with a spread of 142 feet, it is estimated to be 260-285 years old: Glynn Wilson

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