In 1828, utopian socialist Robert Owen is supposed to have remarked to his business associate William Allen, “All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.”

For obvious reasons, today we substitute mad or crazy for queer in that quotation, but the meaning remains the same. And despite Owen’s strange political beliefs, this quote does concisely summarize the state we now find ourselves in.

When I’m reading the news online every morning, Owen’s remark often comes to mind. The world, the United States in particular, really does seem to have taken a nosedive into crazy town. Just this week, for example, our government permitted a Chinese surveillance balloon to fly across our country until an Air Force fighter jet finally shot it down off the coast of South Carolina. Meanwhile, America is now $31 trillion in the hole with an administration that wants to keep digging that pit ever deeper, and old Joe Biden has just declared, “More than half the women in my administration are women.”

And the culture? It’s cloud cuckoo land come to life. The wokesters keep baying about full-term abortions, gender issues, pronoun changes, and men having babies. Many schools have gone all in on reviving racism through critical race theory, and prophets with too much power and too few brains tell us Mother Earth is on her death bed, a victim of our vehicles and cow flatulence.

This madness is as contagious as the COVID virus. Case in point: In Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, Abigail Shrier describes the rapid spread of transgenderism among girls and young women, a dangerous fad caused in part by mass delusion and social media.

Of course, most of us aren’t as crazy as these leaders and trendsetters—at least, that is the hope—but they have shown a knack for seizing the headlines and political power, driving debates, and instituting changes. So, here’s a question: When we’re locked up in Bedlam and the inmates are in charge, how do we retain our sanity?

Here are a few ideas that may help us keep our minds intact and our spirits healthy.

Shut the Door on Our Bananas Republic

Take a vacation from the present by heading into the past. Reading an old novel or a biography can provide a temporary sanctuary from crazy.

A project now underway requires that I watch some episodes of Little House on the Prairie. Within 15 minutes of viewing the pilot of this television series, I found myself not only in a covered wagon on the Kansas plains but also back in an American living room in 1974 when the show first appeared. This series was a major hit, running for nine seasons. Little House remains extremely popular today, and I can understand why. Watching the Ingalls family is a tall, cool glass of water in this desert we call our culture.

Meet Madness with Reason

The next time your greenie friend or relative says, “We need to get rid of petroleum,” quietly point out that nylon, diapers, eyeglasses, skateboards, aspirin, soap, gum, and credit cards are all made with petroleum products. If you want to ramble on for several more minutes, you can search online and find much longer lists of such items.

Remember, the objective here isn’t to convert your pal. The objective is to protect yourself, to stay clear in the head. Reminding yourself of facts and truth helps keep delusion at bay.

Keep a Sense of Humor

Laughter really is the best medicine for keeping our sanity intact. Try reading one of P.J. O’Rourke’s books. The material is dated, but the humor is there. Visit satiric websites like the Babylon Bee. Search online for “conservative comedians,” and you’ll find a solid roundup of videos and podcasts.

Connect

Treasure the merry, the bright, and the compassionate people in your life. Share time, stories, laughter, and tears with family and friends. Love and companionship are two of the most effective antidotes to the madness of our age.

“You are free to be a drunkard, an idler, a coward, a backbiter, a fornicator,” wrote George Orwell, “but you are not free to think for yourself.” We live in a time when many of our leaders and elites prefer blind obedience to thought and debate, and these elites wage war on reality by means of propaganda, fear, intimidation, and the mangling of meaning in our language. They want everyone marching in lockstep in their parade of crazy.

We resist them by keeping alive our reason, our sanity, and our joy in living.

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Image credit: Flickr-Stig Nygaard, CC BY 2.0

ITO